Edgar Allan Poe--"The Raven"

Before we read Poe's famous poem, "The Raven," watch The Simpson's version in their House of Horrors series.


Click here to read "The Raven" 

Click the image below to read "The Raven"online.  Use the interactive tool to enhance your understanding of the poem.

Introducing the expert of horror...Edgar Allan Poe

EDGAR ALLAN POE

 "Poe is the supreme short story writer of all time."

     ~Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

"What a strange, though enormously talented writer, that Edgar Poe!"
     ~Fyodor Dostoevsky

"You might call him the Leader of the Cult of the Unusual."
     ~Jules Verne

Today you are going to begin learning about the great American Short Story writer, Edgar Allan Poe. He is best known for his horror stories and his haunting poems.


You can also watch this biography from Scholastic

Use the resources below to complete the Scavenger Hunt.
Scavenger Hunt Worksheet
 
Resources
Poe Museum Student Page
Poe Museum Poe's Life
Knowing Poe
Life and Times of Edgar Allan Poe 

The Tell Tale Heart-
How well do you know the story?  Click here to take this trivia quiz to find out!

Creating Tweets about your Reading

Find out what your friends are reading and share your books... in 140 characters or less!
This week your job is to create at least three tweets about the book(s) you are reading.

• What would someone need to know about the book? 
• How could you convince someone to read your book in only 140 characters (a character is a letter or space)?
• Create some catchy hashtags to go along with these tweets. 

Write your tweets on the Twitter Handout.  Be sure to write clearly and neatly and check for spelling.  These will be displayed on the bulletin board.

NOTE:  You are writing your tweets on PAPER and putting them on our classroom bulletin board...not creating a twitter account to post your TWEETS...

Neal Shusterman

Try to see things differently -- It's the only way to get a clearer perspective on the world and on your life. - See more at: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Neal-Shusterman/1531698#sthash.oDgVfAYM.dpuf

"Try to see things differently.  It's the only way to get a clearer perspective on the world and on your life." ~Neal Shusterman

Try to see things differently -- It's the only way to get a clearer perspective on the world and on your life. - See more at: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Neal-Shusterman/1531698#sthash.oDgVfAYM.dpuf

Try to see things differently -- It's the only way to get a clearer perspective on the world and on your life. - See more at: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Neal-Shusterman/1531698#sthash.oDgVfAYM.dpuf

The 8th graders are going to hear Neal Shusterman speak about his writing and books on October 15th at Winnacunnet High School.  To prepare for the field trip, we are going to research Neal Shusterman and his books.  You can view our presentation below.

 Click here to add to our PowerPoint.

National Parks

Today you are going to learn more about our country's National Parks. 

Click here to watch some more video clips from the documentary 

Click to learn more about the Park Profiles-

   
Other Resources:
List of National Parks 
National Parks Timeline 

Your assignment:  Create a slide for our National Parks Presentation.  You will need to find at least one image and five facts about the National Park you chose. Put your information on a Google Drive document and share with Ms. Casassa.  Then use this information to create a Google Presentation as a class. Click here to go to the Google Presentation.

Welcome Back!

The Year in Review-Create a Jeopardy Game!

It's hard to believe that we are entering the final week of the school year.  This week as a review, you are going to create jeopardy questions for a Jeopardy Review Game.  First we'll brainstorm a list of all the topics we covered this year, and then write questions in the format of a jeopardy game.
Example:
Answer:  Brian used this to create fire.
Questions:  What is a hatchet?
Click here to go to the Jeopardy Lab 
The 6th grade Template is barnardla (username & password)

Click here to play the 5th Grade Jeopardy Game
Click here to play the 6th Grade Jeopardy Game
Click here to play the 7th Grade Jeopardy Game

Example of a Jeopardy game--

Learning about William Shakespeare

On Wednesday, grades 5-8 will be learning about William Shakespeare.  We will watch a video that gives an overview of his life, learn about the rich language we have inherited from Shakespeare and read some famous scenes from a few plays.  I hope you all enjoy an afternoon with the Bard!

Learn About William Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre

Do you use any of these common phrases and sayings from Shakespeare?

Ready to see what you know about Shakespeare. Try taking this quiz. Stumped? Go on line and find the answers! Click here to take the quiz

Anne Frank: What happens after the Secret Annex?

We finished the play version of The Diary of Anne Frank on Monday.  Today, we will learn what happened after they were discovered in the Secret Annex.

Anne changed the names of the occupants in the Annex.  See the real names below:

View the video clips below to learn what happened after their fateful arrest.

Video 1- Discovered and Arrested
Video 2- The Fate of the People in Hiding
Video 3-Two Helpers Arrested Too
Video 4- Otto Frank tells his Story

Click here to read Meip Geis Interview 
Watch Meip's Interview below:

Independent Reading Book Project

For your next Book Project, you are going to create a "fake" social media site for a character in your book.  Choose an important character--probably the antagonist--and create either a Fakebook page, a message exchange between that character and another in the book, or a fake twitter account for the character.  Remember to speak like the character would speak.  For this assignment it is appropriate to use abbreviations that you would see on these sites/mediums.  The links to the three projects are below.  Have fun, be authentic, and show me your best work!

 Click here to go to the Fakebook generator.  be sure to add a password so you can go back and edit your work.

Click here to go to the SMS generator and create a message exchange between the character and a friend (or for)

Click here to go to twister--the fake twitter generator--to create tweets from your character.

Learning about Anne Frank

The Diary of Anne Frank:  Exploring the Secret Annex:

  Today you will begin to explore The Secret Annex and learn about its inhabitants.  Visit The Secret Annex and answer the questions on the handout.  Please take your time, explore the different sections, watch the videos and read the descriptions.  There are so many interesting things in this site to do and learn about.  Click here to download the worksheet.

 

Click here to visit The Secret Annex