Wishing you health and wellness in the coming days!

• Instagram: @misshamer
• Email: cdhamer@mnps.org
• Phone: 615-625-6120
• Remind

 

• Welcome! - https://youtu.be/gluBLVyiOF0
• Newsletter, Weekly Activities and More - https://youtu.be/MUtAUYHMtjQ

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Weekly Activities

Week of  Mon, March 30 - Fri, April 7, 2020 | 8th Grade Newsletter 3/30-4/03

• Learn Zillion Activity 
  • If the link doesn't work, click this link https://learnzillion.com/p/ and type in the code 2FD8755
  • Learn Zillion Text (Audio Version)
  • Learn Zillion Text (Print Version)
• I-ready | Analyzing the Development of Theme in Literature
• No Tech Activity | Thematic Statements (reference newsletter for more info)
• Narrative wrting Focus | Find three songs from different genres of music (R&B, country, folk, pop, gospel, contemporary, etc) that have a narrative structure and identify at least 3 narrative characterstics in each song.
• Office Hours w/ Miss Hamer and Mrs. Slater will begin next week, Tuesday, April 7, 2020 from 11am-1pm on Zoom. More details to come.

  • ZOOM

    • Meeting ID: 822 334 336; Password: 033014

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• Listen to  Kwame Alexander read his book The Crossover Monday-Friday at 10:30 am EST -OR- Listen to Jacqueline Woodson have Facebook Live chats about literature.

• Learn Zillion Activity
  • If the hyperlink doesn't work, click this link https://learnzillion.com/p/ and type in the code JH23924
• Listen to  Kwame Alexander read his book The Crossover Monday-Friday at 10:30 am EST -OR- Listen to Jacqueline Woodson have Facebook Live chats about literature.
• Office Hours w/ Miss Hamer and Mrs. Slater will begin this week, Tuesday, April 7, 2020 from 12pm-1pm on Zoom.

  • ZOOM

    • Meeting ID: 822 334 336; Password: 033014

• I-ready |Log on to Clever to complete lesson on Figurative Language and Allusions 
• No Tech Activity | Figurative Language Activity
  • PART 1 - Write a list of the ways the poet describes death—as a hungry bear, as an iceberg, as the “measle-pox.” Explain why the poet chose those words or phrases. Do you think the poet is afraid of death? Why or why not? Pick a topic and create a list of words or phrases to describe that topic. For example, a baby might be a squeaky mouse or a wrapped present. Have them use the lists to write a poem.
  • PART 2 - Pick a song or poem and create a list of words or phrases to describe that theme. For example, a baby might be a squeaky mouse or a wrapped present. Have them use the lists to write a poem.
• Listen to  Kwame Alexander read his book The Crossover Monday-Friday at 10:30 am EST -OR- Listen to Jacqueline Woodson have Facebook Live chats about literature.

• Poem Writing Focus
  • Read Langston Hughes’s Harlem and Notorious B.I.G’s Juicy  by Notorious B.I.G and answer the questions below: 
    • Identify how Hughes uses imagery for all five senses in his poem.
    • How does the sum total of all of the imagery add up to answering the question put forth by the speaker in line one, "What happens to a dream deferred?"
    • In the poem, what is the unspoken message the speaker is telling the reader about going after their own dreams?
    • Line 16 of Juicy, the lyrics claim that birthdays are the worst days. Why do you think the artist felt this way?
    • What images from the lyrics does the artist use to evoke images of the poverty he endured prior to achieving hip-hop fame?
    • What images from the lyrics does the artist use to evoke images of the rewards of wealth and hip-hop fame in the reader's mind?
    • What message do both Hughes and B.I.G. send with their poems?

OR

Read Dylan Thomas’s Do not go gentle into that good night and Me Against the World  by 2pac Shakur and answer the questions below.

• What is the essential, overall meaning of Dylan Thomas's poem?
• How does repetition emphasize the meaning in Thomas's poem?
• In your own words, what is the line, "Do not go gentle into that good night," really saying?
• In your own words, what is the line, "Rage, rage against the dying of the light," really saying?
• What is the essential, overall meaning of Tupac's lyrics?
• How does Tupac suggest we overcome oppression?
• What are some of the common beliefs that you believe Tupac Shakur and Dylan Thomas share about life?
• Put your playlist of shuffle. Now write a poem using the first phrase of that song.
• Listen to  Kwame Alexander read his book The Crossover Monday-Friday at 10:30 am EST -OR- Listen to Jacqueline Woodson have Facebook Live chats about literature.

• Choose from at least one of the opitions below to publish your poem!

1. Instagram and tag Miss Hamer (@misshamer)

2. Flipgrid using this hyperlink or go to flipgrid.com and enter code 0e45b800. Become more familiar with Flipgrid here

3. Your home - on your bedroom door, front door, refridgerator, or bathroom mirror

4. TeenInkN.com, an online magazine for teen work

5. Email/Text chain - send out your poem to friends and family to shar wiht others

• Listen to  Kwame Alexander read his book The Crossover Monday-Friday at 10:30 am EST -OR- Listen to Jacqueline Woodson have Facebook Live chats about literature.

You made it through another week! Go enjoy your weekend.

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• Find for a poem you believe has a narrative structure in a magazine, online, in a book, or use a suggested poem from a family member or friend. Once you’ve found your poem, identify the characteristics that give it a narrative structure.

  • Reminder: A narrative structure poem tells a story. It has a full story line that includes characters, plot, conflict and resolutions.

• 10 MIN Reading Challenge 😊 | Prefer audiobooks? Start listening to free audiobooks here! Narrow your book search to age friendly books by clicking “teen” or “tween”

  • Log your reading progress with this template!

• Learn Zillion | Complete LearnZillion. If the hyperlink doesn’t work, go to learnzillion.com and enter in this code: XN36355
  • You will need the following resources to complete the assignment:

    • "Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

    • Blank Evidence Chart

    • Example Evidence Chart

• 15 MIN Reading Challenge 😊 \ Prefer audiobooks? Start listening to free audiobooks here! Narrow your book search to age friendly books by clicking “teen” or “tween”

  • Log your reading progress with this template!

• I-Ready | Complete Analyzing Poetry Structure on I- Ready using Clever 

• 20 MIN Reading Challenge 😊 | Prefer audiobooks? Start listening to free audiobooks here! Narrow your book search to age friendly books by clicking “teen” or “tween” 

  • Log your reading progress with this template! 

 

1.  Register online for the Nashville Public Library (NPL) summer reading challenge
2.  Select a book (or magazine, article, etc.) or download an ebook from limitless libraries library card number=school ID number; pin=Month/Day of your birthday.  April 17= 0417). Find a cozy spot and read for 20 minutes.
3. Download the ReadSquared app to record the minutes you’ve read! Be sure to select Nashville, TN as your library.  (You can also download and print a paper reading log OR visit one of these locations and request a paper log in person)

Extra Goodies w/ Jason Reynolds!

Extra Parent Info

 

 

Our GOAL for the week is to create a one-pager capturing author’s purpose for the book/article/ magazine you’re currently reading.

Let’s start with exploring the author’s purpose in the article below.

 

1. Review author’s purpose. As you read The Death of Reading... OR It’s Time to Rethink Our Schools'... highlight quotes that best communicates author’s purpose.
2. 20 min Read
   • Record the minutes you’ve read in ReadSquared app!

• For the next 2-4 chapters in your book or in the next article you read, make a note of quotes you believe convey author’s purpose. You’ll be using them later this week.

 

Let’s dig into what to consider for creating a 1-pager.

 

• Review mood and tone.
• Review the criteria for one-pagers ( last page on the document) here. Decide if you want to use a template or start with a blank page.
  • On the back of your blank sheet of paper or one-pager template, write in 1-3 sentences how you can use mood and tone to help convey author’s purpose. Hang on to this paper for tomorrow.
• 20 min Read
  • Record the minutes you’ve read in ReadSquared app!
  • For the next 2-4 chapters in your book or in the next article you read, make a note of quotes you believe convey author’s purpose. You’ll be using them later this week.

Extra Goodies w/ Jason Reynolds!

 

 

Let’s map out the contents on yesterday’s one-pager.

 

• No Tech Activity
  • Gather at least 2 quotes you’ve collected over the past few days of reading and map out where you might want them to go.
  • Recreate or develop a rough sketch that represents the author’s purpose for your book.
  • Draft a comment, connection, or interpretation of your quotes expressing how they represent author’s purpose.
• 20 min Read
  • Record the minutes you’ve read in ReadSquared app!

Extra Goodies w/ Jason Reynolds!

 

 

Let’s put it all together!

 

• One-Pager Activity
  • Review the examples and criteria for your one-pager
  • Using yesterday’s draft, decide where to place your quotes, sketch, and personal response. In the remaining why space at more color, quotes, or doodles.  
• Choose one of the platforms below to share your work!
  • Instagram and tag Miss Hamer
  • Email Miss Hamer or Ms. Slater
  • Your home - on your bedroom door, front door, refrigerator, or bathroom mirror
• 20 min Read
  • Record the minutes you’ve read in ReadSquared app!

 Extra Goodies w/ Jason Reynolds!

 

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Kwame Alexander's "The Crossover"

How I Got My Nickname
  I’m not that big on jazz music, but Dad is.
  One day we were listening to a CD

of a musician named Horace Silver, and Dad says,

  Josh, this cat is the real deal.
  Listen to that piano, fast and free,
  Just like you and JB on the court.
  It’s okay, I guess, Dad.
  Okay? DID YOU SAY OKAY?
  Boy, you better recognize
  greatness when you hear it.
  Horace Silver is one of the hippest.
  If you shoot half as good as he jams—
  Dad, no one says “hippest” anymore.
  Well, they ought to, ’cause this cat
  is so hip, when he sits down he’s still standing, he says.
  Real funny, Dad.
  You know what, Josh?
  What, Dad?
  I’m dedicating this next song to you.
  What’s the next song?
  Only the best song,
  the funkiest song
  on Silver’s Paris Blues album:
  “FILTHY
  McNASTY.”

At first
  I didn’t like
  the name
  because so many kids
  made fun of me
  on the school bus,
  at lunch, in the bathroom.
  Even Mom had jokes.
  It fits you perfectly, Josh, she said:
  You never clean your closet, and
  that bed of yours is always filled
  with cookie crumbs and candy wrappers.
  It’s just plain nasty, son.
  But, as I got older
  and started getting game,
  the name took on a new meaning.
  And even though I wasn’t into
  all that jazz,
  every time I’d score,
  rebound,
  or steal a ball,
  Dad would jump up
  smiling and screamin’,
  That’s my boy out there.
  Keep it funky, Filthy!
  And that made me feel
  real good
  about my nickname.

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Poetry Writing Tips:

The Power of I

• You are the only one who can tell your feelings, observations, ideas and stories.
• First person experiences need a first person. 
• Wave your I flag; put “I” and “me” into your work.

Conclude Strongly

• The conclusion of a poem often conveys its deepest meaning. It needs to be strong. 

• The conclusion should leave the reader with a a feeling, idea, image or question. 
• Consider an echo structure: repeat significant lines from the poem in the conclusion.

Use your white space

• When breaking lines and stanzas, remember that poetry is written to be read and spoken.

            •    Break lines to emphasize pauses or silences.

• Break lines on strong words: nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs; avoid ending on “and,” or “or.”
• Experiment with the size, shape, and length of lines and stanzas.

Cut to the bone

• Be concise; poetry is about efficiency and economy of language
• Weigh every line and every word; does it do anything for the poem?

Use Repetition

• Use repetition to:

             •Stress an important word, phrase, idea, or theme.
             •To build a poem’s momentum.
             •To create rhythm.

Day 2                                                         Day 3

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 Enrichment Opportunities

​​​​​​Nearpod Tutorial

Nearpod Writing Lessons

• Greek and Latin Roots | Lesson Code: LNXHU 
• Argument Writing | Lesson Code: BFHSQ
• Narrative Writing | Lesson Code: JWTEI
• Informative and Explanatory Writing | Lesson Code: GHUDE 
• Building an Arguement | Lesson Code: AYUXH

Nearpod Reading Lessons

• Using Resources to Understand New Words | Lesson Code: CILRW
• Making Inferences | Lesson Code: TBMDP
• Authtor's Purpose | Lesson Code: DUIMX
• Summarzing Informational Texts | Lesson Code: ETVGK
• Context Clues |Lesson Code: VXAUS
• Synthesizing Information | Lesson Code: TFWYJ

I-Ready Lessons

Lesson Deadlines: 03/23/2020 - 04/30/2020

• Determing Word Meaning from Context Clues
• Understanding Connotative Meanings
• Using Greek and Latine Roots and Affixes
• Understanding Relationships Between Words