ELA: 6th grade Travels with Charlie & How Grieve Assignment Name is: TWC Save As: (homeroom-assignment name-last,first) For example: L2-TWC-O’Meara, Katie Due Date: 4/3/15 Friday @ 3:00pm Monday/Tuesday: Lesson 24: Primus Latin. Priimus means “first.” 1. primary 2. primer 3. prime 4. primate 5. primitive 6. prima donna Quick Review: Denotation: Dictionary meaning Example: Woman and lady both refer to a female adult. Connotation: Feelings and ideas that have become attached to certain words. Example: Even though woman and lady both refer to a female adult, lady suggests one who is well-mannered and refined or proper. Connotation Impacts Tone: What tone does the following excerpt evoke? How does the connotation of the underlined words impact the tone? “He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can’t be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart” (204). Analyzing Connotations in a Text: 1. In groups of 2-3, choose a paragraph of text from The Lightning Thief to analyze. You may select a sections from one of the options below, or any excerpt of your choosing. 2. Read your excerpt and consider the author’s word choice. Focus on words that have a strong positive or negative connotation. What additional information or feelings do these words carry, versus other synonyms the author could have used instead? 3. Create a short i-movie (2 minutes or less), where your group: 1. Explains the difference between connotation and denotation 2. Analyzes the connotations of at least 3 words in your chosen piece of text, describing all the details and feelings those words evoke. 3. Analyzes how the author’s word choice impacts the overall tone of the excerpt. 4. Your movie must include the text, visuals to illustrate the connotations of your chosen words, and narration. 4. Post your groups video to Haiku. It is under the shared discussions and presentations page. Only one group member needs to upload the work. Put all groups members names on the post. 5. Individually view other groups video and reflect by commenting on their work. Consider: Did the group follow the directions?

Do you agree with their described connotations? Why or why not? Do you agree with their assessment of how the word choice impacts the tone of their text? Why or why not? Cite evidence to support your ideas.

6. Make sure your group work and your individual comments are posted below in your document. Suggested Text Selections: (You can choose a smaller piece of one of these or another text entirely. However, you should make your selection quickly so you can get started.) 1. "Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades- and I imagine Poseidon does-they couldn't retrieve the bolt them-selves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it. No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through ?” (p. 145) 2. "The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told me. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep.” (p. 189) 3. Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with two teenage accomplices. His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture. (p.197) ——————————————————————————————————————— Wednesday/Thursday: *Read Travels With Charlie on StudySync and watch the SyncTV video. Then answer the questions that follow. Travels with Charley, by John Steinbeck Think: ! 1. About how long ago do you think this selection was written? Highlight textual evidence and make annotations to identify details that reveal the time period. 2. Why does listening to the radio give the author a better idea of what people are thinking than visiting local roadside restaurants? Cite textual evidence to support your answer. 3. What does Steinbeck love about the weather in New England? Refer to evidence in the text to support your answer. 4. Use context to determine the meaning of the word alternative as it is used in Travels with Charley. Write your definition of alternative here. 5. Remembering that the Latin prefix inter- means “between,” use the context clues provided in the passage to determine the meaning of intervals. Write your definition here. 6.In this clip, Isaiah questions why Steinbeck would want to eavesdrop on people. Isaiah says, “eavesdropping is so...boring.” Does he modify his own view after listening to Connor? Explain. 7. In this clip, Mia suggests that perhaps Steinbeck is trying to, “let the world make a mark on him.” How do Connor and Haley respond to Mia’s suggestion. Does Mia’s idea elicit strong text analysis? 8. In this clip, Connor and Mia state that Steinbeck is claiming that we need to be able to compare and contrast things to truly understand them. Does the group believe Steinbeck’s claim is well-defended and relevant? Write: Imagine that you could just get in a car and travel anywhere you wanted in the United States for a month. Where would you go? What would you want to see? Write an essay of at least 300 words that tells about your plans for your journey. Compare what you want to learn from your trip with what Steinbeck learns from his. Tools for Narrative Writing #1: Study what strategies a fellow writer uses. Focus on small moment being detailed not the reverse. ______ Friday: Vocab Quiz Reading Quiz, Ch 13-18: This quiz will focus on comprehension of the reading assigned over Spring Break, integrating focus skills of connotation, denotation, shades of meaning, etc. Tools for Narrative Writing #2: Map an important place in your life, and think of the stories that happened there. ______Homework: Due with document to dropbox on 4/3 @ 3:00pm *Read: “How Animals Grieve” on StudySync and answer the “Think” questions, #1-5, that follow. Then complete the “Write” assignment below the “Think” questions. Think:

1. Explain why King believes ants are an extreme example in the kingdom. How do they differ from most other animals? 2. According to King, how has science underestimated animals? 3. King advises that humans, , and should not be viewed as the “gold standard” for expressing . What is she concerned might happen if we compare animals in this way? 4. The Greek prefix “eco” refers to the environment. Based on the contextual clues provided in the passage, determine the meaning of ecosystem. Write your definition of ecosystem here. 5. Use context to determine the meaning of the word hierarchy as it is used in How Animals Grieve. Write your definition of hierarchy here. Write: Strong writing often has the ability to make us consider a familiar subject in a new way. In the opening paragraphs of How Animals Grieve, King describes ant behavior with such specific and surprising details that the ants are almost unrecognizable. or observe an animal and then write at least 300 words about that animal’s behavior. Do your best to imitate King by focusing on what is fresh, strange, and unexpected. ______ Additional In-class Activities During Spare Time 1.Take AR Quizzes/Do AR reading 2.vocabulary.com and SpellingCity.com activities/practice for Greek/Latin root words 3.Homework 4. Extra Credit ______ELA Extra Credit: 2pts for each activity **Both of the following writing assignments deal with the StudySync readings this week. Travels with Charlie 1. Steinbeck writes about his preference for living in a place with a changing climate rather than a steady one. Write a letter of at least 300 words to Steinbeck that explains whether you agree of disagree with him. Use quotations from the excerpt to support your ideas. How Animals Grieve 2. The word anthropomorphize means to attribute form or personality to non-humans. For scientists, the temptation to anthropomorphize animal subjects is high and can compromise the quality of the scientists’ conclusions. In your opinion, does King anthropomorphize the ants, chimpanzees, elephants, and/or goats she describes in the excerpt? Use specific examples from the text to support your argument in at least 350 words. ______ Reading Extra Credit: 2pts for each activity **Both of the following comparison assignments deal with The Lightning Thief and the StudySync readings this week. Travels with Charlie 3. In an essay of at least 300 words, compare the travels of John Steinbeck and Percy Jackson. What kinds of observations about people and places does each one make? How does each character move about? In what ways are Steinbeck and Jackson’s experiences similar? How Animals Grieve 4. Compare how Barbara J. King and Percy Jackson relate to animals. What is each one’s opinion of the emotional capacity of animals? How does Percy’s relationship with animals change over the course of The Lightning Thief? What new experiences and abilities influence his increasing compassion? Answer in at least 300 words. ______ How Animals Grieve, by Barbara J. King From the Prologue: On Grief And Love

One individual lies immobile, apart from the group. Everyone else rushes about, doing her work and keeping the high- functioning community running at top pitch. But the lone one lies dead— and ignored

After about two days, a smell begins to waft from the body, a strong chemical odo r. Soon, another individual comes by and carries the corpse to a nearby graveyar d, where it joins many others—an efficient process of disposal. No one mourns.

Is this a scene from a zombie thriller, that often revived standby of Hollywood, Bu rbank, and, recently, the publishing industry? What real- life culture could treat its dead in this cold, mechanical way? Humans everywhere engage in elaborate rituals: preparing the body, comforting the bereaved, usheri ng the newly dead into an afterlife (or at least the cold, hard ground).

No, this graveyard scenario comes not from humans but from ants. Biologist E. O . Wilson observed the pattern in the 1950s: an ant dies, it lies ignored for some d ays, and then another ant comes and carries the body to the ant equivalent of a c emetery. The release of oleic acid from the body, about two days after death, trig gers the carrying response in the other ants, Wilson told Robert Krulwich on Nati onal Public Radio in 2009.

Should a curious scientist borrow an ant, dab oleic acid onto its body, and return i t to an ant trail, that ant—very much alive— will also be carried off to a graveyard, struggling all the while. Death- related behavior in these insects is, as far as we can tell, driven purely by chemic als. While it’s possible that entomologists just don’t know how to recognize displa ys of insect , I’m comfortable hypothesizing that ants don’t feel grief for th eir dead comrades.

Within the animal kingdom, ants are an extreme example. No one would expect a or an to respond so mechanically to a whiff of chemicals. Chimpanzees and elephants are veritable “poster species” for animal cognitiona nd emotion. Intelligent planners and problem-solvers, these big- brained mammals are emotionally attached to others in their communities. Finick yabout with whom they spend their time, they may shriek or trumpet their joy whe n reuniting with preferred companions after a separation.

These animals do not just “exhibit social bonds” as the stilted language of animal - behavior science often suggests. The that chimpanzees and elephants feel for others are closely bound up with their complex cognitive responses to the world. Chimpanzees are cultural beings who learn their tool-use patterns— fishing for termites, cracking hard nuts, or spearing bush babies in tree holes, de pending on where they live— in ways specific to their group. And just like the old cliché, elephants never forget. They remember events vividly, to the point that they may suffer with post- traumaticstress disorder, as when their sleep is disrupted by nightmares after wit nessing the killing of relatives or friends by ivory poachers.

Chimpanzees and elephants feel grief. Pioneering women field scientists Jane G oodall, observing chimpanzees in Tanzania, and Cynthia Moss, studying elephan ts in Kenya, reported years ago firsthand observations of the sorrow these animal s felt at the death of loved ones. It’s only natural, then, that chimpanzees and ele phants appear in this book. The newest science adds fascinating new depth and details to Goodall’s and Moss’s original reports on grief in these species.

Animal grief is expressed and observed far beyond the African forests and savan nas, however. In this book, we will visit a variety of ecosystemsto discover what i s known about how wild birds, , whales, monkeys, buffalo, and bears— even turtles— mourn their losses. We will also peek into homes, and venture onto farms, in ord er to discover how our companion animals— cats, dogs, rabbits, goats, and horses—experience grief.

Historically, science has badly underestimated animal thinking and feeling. But n ow, scientists, often armed with videotaped evidence, are showing us that more a nimal species think and feel more deeply than we’d ever suspected.

Take goats and chickens, two animals whose potential for thinking and feeling I h ad, for years, barely given a second thought. How many times had I seen goats c lustered in farms or yards, near my home in Virginia or on my travels in Africa, an d yet not really seen them— and the same for chickens? Like most people, I create an implicit, mental hierarc hyof animals when it comes to cognition and emotion. My working, if subconscio us, assumption was that chimpanzees and elephants, on this scale, tower over a nimals like goats or chickens, who are just there in the background— or on our dinner plates.

Goat is the most widely consumed meat in the world and a dietary staple in Mexi co, Greece, India, and Italy. It has also, over the last several years, been edging i ts way onto upscale plates in the United States. I have not eaten goat; I’ve been near- vegetarian for a while now. Only recently, after hanging out with some nearby go ats, corresponding with friends who have raised goats, and reading Brad Kessler’ s memoir Goat Song, have I begun to see goats as the complicated creatures the y are.

I met Bea and Abby, mother and daughter goats of unknown breed, one sunny af ternoon last year. They reside at the 4BarW Ranch, the home of Lynda and Rich Ulrich, near my home in Gloucester County, Virginia. When I met Lynda and Rich , I felt instantly that I was in the presence of like- minded souls. Rescued goats, horses, dogs, and a cat roamed the ranch, and m y hosts were full of the good stories that animal-rescue people love to exchange.

B e a i s a p r e t t y o f f - white shade, with a wispy beard and a calm manner; her daughter, Abby, is the s ame color but beardless. Lynda and Rich acquired Bea first, and only six weeks l ater did Abby join the other goats at the ranch, where they roamed together throu gh a large enclosure. When Bea and Abby reunited, they expressed what can onl y be called goat joy. They coo- vocalized, rubbed their faces together, and cuddled together in an explosion of m utual affection that brought tears to Lynda’s eyes.

In his book, Kessler put it this way:

The longer I spent with our goats, the more complex and wonderful their emotion al life seemed: their moods, desires, sensitivity, intelligence, attachments to place and one another, and us. But also the way the communicated messages with the ir bodies, voices, and eyes in what I can’t try to translate: their goat song.

Greek tragedies were once known as “goat- songs,” perhaps because goats were given to winners of Athenian drama compet itions— and then sacrificed. When that happened, people offered a ritual song, but as we will see later on, goat voices too may lamenta death.

Goats do not make tools like chimpanzees do, and it’s probable that they don’t re call past events or experience traumatic memories to the degree that elephants d o . T h e i r s e l f - awareness is not as developed, and they wouldn’t, for example, recognize their o wn images in a mirror. But should chimpanzees and elephants be the gold stand ard for animal thinking and feeling? Good animal- behavior science has forced us to rethink the tradition of judging apes’ and eleph ants’ ways of thinking and feeling by the nature of our own. It’s no better a practic e to judge all other animals by what chimpanzees and elephants do. Goat thinkin g and feeling is thinking and feeling.

______Travels with Charley, by John Steinbeck I soon discovered that if a wayfaring stranger wishes to eavesdrop on a local pop ulation, the places for him to slip in and hold his peace are bars and churches. B ut some New England towns don’t have bars, and church is only on Sunday. A go od alternativeis the roadside restaurant where men gather for breakfast before g oing to work or going hunting. To find these places inhabited one must get up ver y early. And there is a drawback even to this. Early- rising men not only do not talk much to strangers, they barely talk to one another. Breakfast conversation is limited to a series of laconic grunts. The natural New E ngland taciturnity reaches its glorious perfection at breakfast.

I fed Charley, gave him a limited promenade,and hit the road. An icy mist covere d the hills and froze on my windshield. I am not normally a breakfast eater, but he re I had to be or I wouldn’t see anybody unless I stopped for gas. At the first light ed roadside restaurant I pulled in and took my seat at a counter. The customers were folded over their coffee cups like ferns. A normal conversation is as follows:

WAITRESS: “Same?”

CUSTOMER: “Yep.”

WAITRESS: “Cold enough for you?”

CUSTOMER: “Yep.”

WAITRESS: “Refill?”

CUSTOMER: “Yep.”

This is a really talkative customer. Some reduce it to “Burp” and others do not an swer at all. An early morning waitress in New England leads a lonely life, but I so on learned that if I tried to injectlife and gaiety into her job with a blithe remark sh e dropped her eyes and answered “Yep” or “Umph.” Still, I did feel that there was some kind of communication, but I can’t say what it was.

The best of learning came on the morning radio, which I learned to love. Every to wn of a few thousand people has its station, and it takes the place of the old local newspaper. Bargains and trades are announced, social doings, prices of commo dities, messages. The records played are the same all over the country. If “Teen- Age Angel” is top of the list in Maine, it is top of the list in Montana. In the course o f a d a y y o u m a y h e a r “ T e e n - Age Angel” thirty or forty times. But in addition to local news and chronicles,som e foreign advertising creeps in. As I went farther and farther north and it got colde r I was aware of more and more advertising for Florida real estate and, with the a pproach of the long and bitter winter, I could see why Florida is a golden word. As I went along I found that more and more people lusted toward Florida and that th ousands had moved there and more thousands wanted to and would. The adverti sing, with a side look at Federal Communications, made few claims except for th e fact that the land they were selling was in Florida. Some of them went out on a l imb and promised that it was above tide level. But that didn’t matter; the very na me Florida carried the message of warmth and ease and comfort. It was irresistib le.

I’ve lived in good climate, and it bores the hell out of me. I like weather rather tha n climate. In Cuernavaca, Mexico, where I once lived, and where the climate is a s near to perfect as is conceivable, I have found that when people leave there the y usually go to Alaska. I’d like to see how long an Aroostook County man can sta nd Florida.

The trouble is that with his savings moved and invested there, he can’t very well go back. His dice are rolled and can’t be picked up again. But I do wonder if a do wn-Easter, sitting on a nylon-and- aluminum chair out on a changelessly green lawn slapping mosquitoes in the eve ning of a Florida October— I do wonder if the stab of memory doesn’t strike him high in the stomach just belo w the ribs where it hurts. And in the humid ever- summer I dare his picturing mind not to go back to the shout of color, to the clean rasp of frosty air, to the smell of pine wood burning and the caressing warmth of kitchens. For how can one know color in perpetual green, and what good is warm th without cold to give it sweetness?

I drove as slowly as custom and the impatient law permitted. That’s the only way to see anything. Every few miles the states provided places of rest off the roads, sheltered places sometimes near dark streams. There were painted oil drums for garbage, and picnic tables, and sometimes fireplaces or barbecue pits. At interv alsI drove Rocinante off the road and let Charley out to smell over the register of previous guests. Then I would heat my coffee and sit comfortably on my back ste p and contemplate wood and water and the quick- rising mountains with crowns of conifers and the fir trees high up, dusted with sno w. Long ago at Easter I had a looking- egg. Peering in a little porthole at the end, I saw a lovely little farm, a kind of drea m farm, and on the farmhouse chimney a stork sitting on a nest. I regarded this a s a f a i r y - tale farm as surely imagined as gnomes sitting under toadstools. And then in Den mark I saw that farm or its brother, and it was true, just as it had been in the looki ng- egg. And in Salinas, California, where I grew up, although we had some frost the climate was cool and foggy. When we saw colored pictures of a Vermont autumn forest it was another fairy thing and we frankly didn’t believe it. In school we mem orized “Snowbound” and little poems about Old Jack Frost and his paintbrush, bu t the only thing Jack Frost did for us was put a thin skin of ice on the watering tro ugh, and that rarely. To find not only that this bedlam of color was true but that th e pictures were pale and inaccurate translations, was to me startling. I can’t even imagine the forest colors when I am not seeing them. I wondered whether const ant association could cause inattention, and asked a native New Hampshire wom an about it. She said the autumn never failed to amaze her; to elate. “It is a glory, ” she said, “and can’t be remembered, so that it always comes as a surprise.”

© John Steinbeck 1962