Friday, January 29, 2010

Periods 6 & 5 Work!

Read this document below (you may have to download it first) then answer the questions that follow. If you did not attend the field trip today (period 6), then you must do it in class, finish it and give your work to the teacher. Those on the fieldtrip for period 6, as well as ALL of 5th period, MUST TURN THIS IN next week. (Per 6 - 2/2; Per 5 - 2/3). Period 5, you will also have homework on Monday night, so you may want to do this now.

Getting ready to head to school for our field trip to the Zora Neale Hurston Festival! SO EXCITED!!!!! Love you all. Standby for photos. :o) Miss you!

The Whistle

Thursday, January 28, 2010

OUR FIELDTRIP!

5th and 6th period kids - Be here NO LATER THAN 6:30 a.m. We will meet by the bus loop. You can wear jeans (NO SHORTS), a nice t-shirt and a jacket. Wear sneakers, too (we will be taking a walking tour). Bring $20-$30 for food, as we will be eating breakfast and dinner off the Turnpike...and you can buy lunch at the festival. Tell your parents that we will be back between 10 and 11 p.m. You can give them a definite time when we stop for dinner.

I cannot wait! Bring your cameras!!!!! Love you!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Periods 3 & 4 - Assignment :o)

In the first of the journal entries in TFWD, there is talk about sororities and gangs. In sororities, Greek letters symbolize their "club." In gangs, however, graffiti often is their tag. In both sororities and gangs, they use symbols and letters to indicate their affiliation, and they serve as a part of their identity.

You are going to put Greek symbols together to create a name or nickname, or you can create a graffiti version of your name. Remember, color is just as important as letters, as they symbolize certain personality traits.

Create your name on an 8.5 x 11" sheet of paper, and spruce it up nicely! Can't wait to see them!
This is due Friday for 4th and Monday for 3rd.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Periods 3 & 4 Home Learning Questions

Period 4 has already read the first few excerpts in Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl , as well as the "Foreword" and "Freshman Year; Fall 1994" in The Freedom Writers Diary (TFWD). Period 3, that will be your charge Tuesday night. With that said, your homework is to answer the following questions using specific examples or details from the text.

1. What is the theme (life lesson) of the "Foreword" and "Freshman Year; Fall 1994" of TFWD? Which statement from the section supports that theme? You should also use details to bolster your claim. (short response)
2. Do any of the entries in "Freshman Year; Fall 1994" support the ideas that Zlata expresses in the "Foreward"? Use details to support your response. (short response)
3. Select one of the personality traits (hardworking, innovative, flexible, caring) and show how it helped Ms. Gruwell better meet the needs of her students. Use details from the entries to support your response. (short response)
4. Compare and contrast any of the themes, events, feelings, OR concepts that you've read about so far in Anne Frank: The Diary of Young Girl and TFWD. (extended response)
5. If you had to do a research project on an event, theme, issue or concept in TFWD, what would it be? Use details from the entries to support your choice. (short response)

Grammar, punctuation, and spelling WILL count!

Period 4's due date is 1/27; Period 3's is 1/28. You must write the questions and underline your answers. You can type it if you choose. LOVE YOU ALL!

Periods 3 & 4

Taken from www.about.com, here are 33 facts about the Holocaust. From each of the five sections, list one fact that you were not aware of, or one fact that shocked you. Be sure to explain why. Grammar will count! You must post by Thursday (2/4/10) at 11 p.m.

What Does Holocaust Mean?

  • The Holocaust began in 1933 when Hitler came to power in Germany and ended in 1945 when the Nazis were defeated by the Allied powers.
  • The term "Holocaust," originally from the Greek word "holokauston" which means "sacrifice by fire," refers to the Nazi's persecution and planned slaughter of the Jewish people. The Hebrew word "Shoah," which means "devastation, ruin, or waste," is also used for this genocide.
  • In addition to Jews, the Nazis targeted Gypsies, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, and the disabled for persecution. Anyone who resisted the Nazis was sent to forced labor or murdered.
  • The term "Nazi" is an acronym for "Nationalsozialistishe Deutsche Arbeiterpartei" ("National Socialist German Worker's Party").
  • The Nazis used the term "the Final Solution" to refer to their plan to murder the Jewish people.
The Big Numbers

  • It is estimated that 11 million people were killed during the Holocaust. Six million of these were Jews.
  • The Nazis killed approximately two-thirds of all Jews living in Europe.
  • An estimated 1.1 million children were murdered in the Holocaust.
Persecution Begins

  • On April 1, 1933, the Nazis instigated their first action against German Jews by announcing a boycott of all Jewish-run businesses.
  • The Nuremberg Laws, issued on September 15, 1935, began to exclude Jews from public life. The Nuremberg Laws included a law that stripped German Jews of their citizenship and a law that prohibited marriages and extramarital sex between Jews and Germans. The Nuremberg Laws set the legal precedent for further anti-Jewish legislation.
  • Nazis then issued additional anti-Jews laws over the next several years. For example, some of these laws excluded Jews from places like parks, fired them from civil service jobs (i.e. government jobs), made Jews register their property, and prevented Jewish doctors from working on anyone other than Jewish patients.
  • During the night of November 9-10, 1938, Nazis incited a pogrom against Jews in Austria and Germany in what has been termed, "Kristallnacht" ("Night of Broken Glass"). This night of violence included the pillaging and burning of synagogues, breaking the windows of Jewish-owned businesses, the looting of these stores, and many Jews were physically attacked. Also, approximately 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps.
  • After World War II started in 1939, the Nazis began ordering Jews to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothing so that Jews could be easily recognized and targeted.
Ghettos

  • After the beginning of World War II, Nazis began ordering all Jews to live within certain, very specific, areas of big cities, called ghettos.
  • Jews were forced out of their homes and moved into smaller apartments, often shared with other families.
  • Some ghettos started out as "open," which meant that Jews could leave the area during the daytime but often had to be back within the ghetto by a curfew. Later, all ghettos became "closed," which meant that Jews were trapped within the confines of the ghetto and not allowed to leave.
  • A few of the major ghettos were located in the cities of Bialystok, Kovno, Lodz, Minsk, Riga, Vilna, and Warsaw.
  • The largest ghetto was in Warsaw, with its highest population reaching 445,000 in March 1941.
  • In most ghettos, Nazis ordered the Jews to establish a Judenrat (a Jewish council) to both administer Nazi demands and to regulate the internal life of the ghetto.
  • Nazis would then order deportations from the ghettos. In some of the large ghettos, 1,000 people per day were loaded up in trains and sent to either a concentration camp or a death camp.
  • To get them to cooperate, the Nazis told the Jews they were being transported to another place for labor,
  • When the Nazis decided to kill the remaining Jews in a ghetto, they would "liquidate" a ghetto by boarding the last Jews in the ghetto on trains.
  • When the Nazis attempted to liquidate the Warsaw Ghetto on April 13, 1943, the remaining Jews fought back in what has become known as the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The Jewish resistance fighters held out against the entire Nazi regime for 28 days -- longer than many European countries had been able to withstand Nazi conquest.
Concentration and Extermination Camps

  • Although many people refer to all Nazi camps as "concentration camps," there were actually a number of different kinds of camps, including concentration camps, extermination camps, labor camps, prisoner-of-war camps, and transit camps. (Map)
  • One of the first concentration camps was Dachau, which opened on March 20, 1933.
  • From 1933 until 1938, most of the prisoners in the concentration camps were political prisoners (i.e. people who spoke or acted in some way against Hitler or the Nazis) and people the Nazis labeled as "asocial."
  • After Kristallnacht in 1938, the persecution of Jews became more organized. This led to the exponential increase in the number of Jews sent to concentration camps.
  • Life within Nazi concentration camps was horrible. Prisoners were forced to do hard physical labor and yet given tiny rations. Prisoners slept three or more people per crowded wooden bunk (no mattress or pillow). Torture within the concentration camps was common and deaths were frequent.
  • At a number of Nazi concentration camps, Nazi doctors conducted medical experiments on prisoners against their will.
  • While concentration camps were meant to work and starve prisoners to death, extermination camps (also known as death camps) were built for the sole purpose of killing large groups of people quickly and efficiently.
  • The Nazis built six extermination camps: Chelmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Auschwitz, and Majdanek. (Auschwitz and Majdanek were both concentration and extermination camps.)
  • Prisoners transported to these extermination camps were told to undress to take a shower. Rather than a shower, the prisoners were herded into gas chambers and killed. (At Chelmno, the prisoners were herded into gas vans instead of gas chambers.)
  • Auschwitz was the largest concentration and extermination camp built. It is estimated that 1.1 million people were killed at Auschwitz.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Grades

Grades are done for all periods.
I want you ALL to have A's next quarter!
Smile.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Periods 3 & 4

Here is what you need to do this weekend:

  1. Print out pages 12-19 of this packet...if you haven't done so already. Click HERE for the packet!
  2. Get your copy of Freedom Writers and bring it to class Monday/Tuesday.
  3. Do you vocab homework (4th period); it's due on Monday.
  4. Enjoy your day at FCAT Writing Camp if you are attending!

SMILE!

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

I need the following students to see me ASAP (if you see your friend's name on the list, motivate him/her make the time). The little sweeties listed below need to come to me before or after school THIS WEEK for a much-needed opportunity!!!
Period 5 - Anthony, Javier, Sylvia, Kevin, Rosa, Mayara, Tahimi, Gabriel, Nahobi
Period 6 - Chris, Aman, Pedro, Ernest, Silvia, Henry, Marvin, Richard, Blanca, Barbaro, Kristy, Angel & Jame.

To all students in periods 5 & 6 - IF YOU MISSED THE WINTER BREAK READINGS' QUIZ, AND/OR THE LAST QUIZ FOR THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD, the make-up will be next Wednesday morning at 6:50 a.m. (and your absence must be excused for 1/4 or 1/5). Start making arrangements now because it's a one-shot deal.

Let's finish the nine weeks strong!!!! Love you guys and gals!

You guys are going to do well; I feel it in my bones! You only have one hour, so get busy! We will return to the room for more!

Periods 3 & 4 - Click HERE to take your exam!

Period 5 - Click HERE to access your exam!

Period 6 - Click HERE to access your exam!

Monday, January 11, 2010

A Head's Up

Hello to my beautiful children. FYI ~

  1. Period 5 - In case there was any confusion, you MUST turn in the 3 times each (midterm review) on 1/12/10.
  2. Period 4 - you need to come and pick up your review packets to write out one more time. I will try to catch you in reading class, but just in case. You also need to read "The Monkey's Paw" on your own.

Smile...love you!

Monday, January 4, 2010

HOMEWORK - PERIODS 5 & 6

For your homework assignment tonight, read the final draft of "The Declaration of Independence" on page 215 of 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. If you do not have the book, click HERE to read it.

After you read this document, answer the following question: How it support or challenge the ideas presented in EACH of the winter break readings, Their Eyes Were Watching God, and the cartoon (see a couple posts below for the list)? Use quotes from EACH of your sources to bolster your arguments.

Whether you were absent or not on Monday, January 4th, you will be responsible for this work , which is due next class. Due date - January 6 (period 5); January 7 (period 6). Love you!


Periods 3 & 4

Here are our upcoming assignments:
1. You need to get your copy of "Freedom Writers' Diary" (see the post a few down from this one).
2. You need to finish your midterm review (due 1/6 and 1/7).
3. Click HERE to print a portion of the packet you will need for next class. Only print pages 4-11. You will need this for 1/6 (per 3), and 1/7 (per 4).