1. Stories of Life, Love and Learning

2. The following as, assignments require you to read the directions carefully and asking your classmates and the guest teacher for help in understanding the assignments. Read carefully, think and persevere (keep trying). Don’t give up, but persevere. The following as, assignments require you to read the directions carefully and asking your classmates and the guest teacher for help in understanding the assignments. Read carefully, think and persevere (keep trying). Don’t give up, but persevere.

3. On Friday we read a short story and filled out 2 graphic organizers. TraitRevealed by Directions: In the left-hand column, write the character traits of the one of the characters in the story. In the right-hand column, list how the trait is revealed in the text. (Traits can be revealed by events, actions, words, thoughts, attitudes, and feelings.) Character:________________________________________ adventurous, afraid, ambitious, arrogant, bad, bold, bossy, brainy, brave, brilliant, calm, careful, careless, charming, cheerful, childish, cowardly, cruel, curious, demanding, depressed, dishonest, eager, easygoing, energetic, evil, faithful, fearless, foolish, friendly, funny, gentle, giving, gloomy, graceful, greedy, guilty, happy, healthy, helpful, honest, hopeful, imaginative, impatient, impolite, innocent, inventive, intelligent, jealous, kind, lazy, lonely, loving, loyal, lucky, mature, mean, mysterious, nervous, nice, noisy, obedient, peaceful, pleasant, polite, poor, proud, quiet, responsible, rough, rowdy, rude, sad, scared, selfish, serious, shy, silly, sly, smart, sneaky, spoiled, strange, sweet, talented, thoughtful, thoughtless, trusting, trustworthy, unfriendly, unhappy, upset, warm, weak, wicked, wise, worried, zany Character Map Says ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ Actions ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ Feelings ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ Appearance (looks) ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________

4. Create a Google doc Create a Google doc or Google Presentation and share the document with me at michellemi@students.susd12.org michellemi@students.susd12.org Rename your document “Sparky”. Read the power point slides and complete the assigned tasks in your Google doc called “Sparky”.

5. E.Q.: How do I determine the author’s purpose and use that purpose to compare texts?

6. Read “Sparky” by Earl Nightingale Highlight and annotate as you read. Take notes to help you answers questions about the characters and the author’s purpose for writing.

7. 1For Sparky, school was all but impossible. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He flunked physics in high school, getting a grade of zero. 2Sparky also flunked Latin, algebra, and English. He didn’t do much better in sports. Although he did manage to make the school’s golf team, he promptly lost the only important match of the season. There was a consolation match; he lost that too. 3Throughout his youth, Sparky was awkward, socially. He was not actually disliked by the other students; no one cared that much. He was astonished if a classmate ever said hello to him outside of school hours. 4There’s no way to tell how he might have done at dating. Sparky never once asked a girl to go out in high school. He was too afraid of being turned down.

8. 5There’s no way to tell how he might have done at dating. Sparky never once asked a girl to go out in high school. He was too afraid of being turned down. 6Sparky was a loser. He, his classmates…everyone knew it. So he rolled with it. Sparky had made up his mind early in life that if things were meant to work out they would. Otherwise, he would content himself with what appeared to be his inevitable mediocrity 7However, one thing was important to Sparky — drawing. He was proud of his artwork. Of course, no one else appreciated it. In his senior year of high school, he submitted some cartoons to the editors of the yearbook. The cartoons were turned down. Despite this particular rejection, Sparky was so convinced of his ability that he decided to become a professional artist.

9. 8After completing high school, he wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios. He was told to send some samples of his artwork, and the subject for a cartoon was suggested. Sparky drew the proposed cartoon. He spent a great deal of time on it and on all the other drawings he submitted. Finally, the reply came from Disney Studios. He had been rejected once again. Another loss for the loser. 9So Sparky decided to write his own autobiography in cartoons. He described his childhood self — a little boy loser and chronic underachiever. 10The cartoon character would soon become famous worldwide. For Sparky, the boy who had such lack of success in school and whose work was rejected again and again, was Charles Schulz.

10. 11He created the “Peanuts” comic strip and the little cartoon character whose kite would never fly and who never succeeded in kicking a football — Charlie Brown.

11. ad venturous, afraid, ambitious, arrogant, bad, bold, bossy, brainy, brave, brilliant, calm, careful, careless, charming, cheerful, childish, cowardly, cruel, curious, demanding, depressed, dishonest, eager, easygoing, energetic, evil, faithful, fearless, foolish, friendly, funny, gentle, giving, gloomy, graceful, greedy, guilty, happy, healthy, helpful, honest, hopeful, imaginative, impatient, impolite, innocent, inventive, intelligent, jealous, kind, lazy, lonely, loving, loyal, lucky, mature, mean, mysterious, nervous, nice, noisy, obedient, peaceful, pleasant, polite, poor, proud, quiet, responsible, rough, rowdy, rude, sad, scared, selfish, serious, shy, silly, sly, smart, sneaky, spoiled, strange, sweet, talented, thoughtful, thoughtless, trusting, trustworthy, unfriendly, unhappy, upset, warm, weak, wicked, wise, worried, zany

15. Your next jobs:  Watch the YouTube video “The Great Pumpkin” with Charlie Brown, the cartoon character that Charles Shultz says he based upon himself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdpfpiAvJLQ  Then read the Charlie Brown comic strips at http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/ http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/  Written Task 6: As you read and watch, make a list of Charlie Brown’s character traits.

16. You are still using the same Google doc you named “Sparky” & this will be your 7 th answer.  Written Task 7: Write two paragraphs in which you compare the character traits of Sparky with those of Charlie Brown.

17. Zuri at Bat by Nikki Grimes  Read the following poem “Zuri at Bat” by Nikki Grimes.  You will be comparing Charlie Brown and his football to Zuri at Bat in your next writing tasks.

18. Zuri at Bat by Nikki Grimes Dear Danitra, At the softball game last week, smart-mouth J.T. snickered loud and said, “What makes you think a puny girl like you can help us win?” “Exactly where you been?” I asked him, stepping in. When the pitch came, I slammed the ball so far, it ripped through the clouds and headed for a star. I strutted ’round the bases, took my own sweet time. My new friend, Nina, laughed and bet J.T. he couldn’t hit a ball as far as me. He can’t, and that’s a fact. First appeared in Danitra Brown Leaves Town, published by Harper Collins. Copyright ©2002 by Nikki Grimes. Used by permission of Curtis Brown, Ltd.

19.  Now watch Charlie Brown, Lucy and the Football. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=055wFyO6gag  Charlie finally kicks the football in “It’s Magic, Charlie Brown. In this episode Charlie become invisible. Beginning in the time frame 7:17/10:01 Charlie kicks the football and Lucy is livid (very angry). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkSqy4ZVpeI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkSqy4ZVpeI

20. Written Response: Comparing Traits After you read “Zuri at Bat” answer the following questions in complete sentences.  Written Task 8: Who do you relate to more Charlie Brown or Zuri? Why?  Written Task 9: Create a comic strip for the poem “Zuri at Bat”. You can use paint, any other program or hand draw a cartoon of “Zuri at Bat.”

21. Final Notes:  Now you have completed all 9 written tasks using complete sentences.  Reread each question and your answers to make sure that you answered the question that was being asked.  Share your answers with the people at your table and make corrections. This assignment will be graded and will be the first grade for next quarter.  If you did not finish save your document as a Word file (if you do not have internet at home).  If you did not complete all 9 tasks using complete sentences, you have homework over break.

22. Have a wonderful, restful break. I’ll see you next Tuesday!

24. Character Traits Word Bank adventurous, afraid, ambitious, arrogant, bad, bold, bossy, brainy, brave, brilliant, calm, careful, careless, charming, cheerful, childish, cowardly, cruel, curious, demanding, depressed, dishonest, eager, easygoing, energetic, evil, faithful, fearless, foolish, friendly, funny, gentle, giving, gloomy, graceful, greedy, guilty, happy, healthy, helpful, honest, hopeful, imaginative, impatient, impolite, innocent, inventive, intelligent, jealous, kind, lazy, lonely, loving, loyal, lucky, mature, mean, mysterious, nervous, nice, noisy, obedient, peaceful, pleasant, polite, poor, proud, quiet, responsible, rough, rowdy, rude, sad, scared, selfish, serious, shy, silly, sly, smart, sneaky, spoiled, strange, sweet, talented, thoughtful, thoughtless, trusting, trustworthy, unfriendly, unhappy, upset, warm, weak, wicked, wise, worried, zany