Three Versions of the Perseus Myth

Today in class we will be writing an essay about the three versions we have been working with of the Greek myth of Perseus. Your essay should take the following form.

Paragraph 1 - An introduction.

Paragraph 2 - A summary of the myth as told by Geraldine McCaughrean in her book Greek Myths.

Paragraph 3 - A summary of the myth as told in an episode of the television series The Storyteller.

Paragraph 4 - A summary of the myth as told in the film Clash of the Titans.

Paragraph 5 - A conclusion including comparison and contrast of the three versions.

Reading Log - Monday December 14

Please submit your reflective writing from today's reading time here.

Please also remember to submit any other work you may be missing as comments to the appropriate places on the blog!

Group Presentations!

This week we will be working on projects that will involve the retelling of Greek myths by small groups. We will give oral presentations of these retellings on Thursday and Friday. Each retelling will have a poster that has the following.

The TITLE of the myth.

The CONFLICT of the story. (Conflict = Problem)

The RESOLUTION of the story. (Resolution = Solution)

At least one illustration corresponding to the BEGINNING of the story.

At least one illustration corresponding to the MIDDLE of the story.

At least one illustration corresponding to the END of the story.

The following will be our groups and their respective myths.

Luke B, Isabella - "The Wooden Horse"
Michael, Max - "Arachne the Spinner"
James, Oceane - "KIng Midas"
Albert, Luke W - "Atalanta's Race"
Alex, Charlotte, Begimai - "Odysseus"
Denis, Celine, Amber - "Jason and the Argonauts"

It is important to remember that in these presentations, you will be retelling the story of the myth, but you WILL NOT be READING. You need to know and understand the beginning, middle, and end of the story as well as the CONFLICT and RESOLUTION. Please do not include sentences or paragraphs of summary on your poster that you plan to read. Your group should be retelling the story in your own words with every group member speaking for about the same amount of time. Be sure to plan who in your group will be retelling what parts of your story, who will be explaining which illustrations and who will be discussing the CONFLICT and RESOLUTION. There should be more than enough for every group member to do!

Let's have fun with these projects!

Reading Log - Wednesday, 25 November

Please leave your ten minutes of reflective writing on today's reading as a comment here.

Comapare and Contrast - "Perseus"

For homework this weekend, please spend fifteen to twenty minutes writing two paragraphs comparing and contrasting the written and filmed versions of the Greek myth of "Perseus".

Paragraph 1 - Similarities between the two.

Paragraph 2 - Differences between the two.

Compare and Contrast : Theseus and the Minotaur

Please spend fifteen to twenty minutes writing two paragraphs comparing and contrasting the written version of the myth of "Theseus and the Minotaur" and the filmed version.

(Please do not concern yourself with how many words you write. This writing should represent fifteen to twenty minutes of good 6th grade thinking and writing. You know what fifteen to twenty minutes of your good thinking and writing look like!)

Reading Log from Friday, November 20

Oh no. I forgot again to post this to the blog on time! Don't worry. We'll find time for you to post your work this week.

Reading Log from Wednesday, November 18

Oh no. I forgot again to post this to the blog on time! Don't worry. We'll find time for you to post your work this week.

Compare and Contrast - "Daedalus and Icarus"

Please write the following two paragraphs.

Paragraph 1: Discuss similarities between the written and the filmed versions of the Greek myth of "Daedalus and Icarus".

Paragraph 2: Discuss the differences between the written and the filmed versions of this myth.

Orpheus and Eurydice

Put your "Orpheus and Eurydice" comparison and contrast paragraphs here.

Paragraph 1: Discuss similarities between the written myth and the filmed version.

Paragraph 2: Discuss differences between the written myth and the filmed version.

Homework - Biography!

For your day of the dead project, please write a first draft of an essay about your historical figure. Please complete this essay for homework tonight and have it take the following form.

Paragraph 1 – Your first paragraph should be an introduction that includes the name of your subject, when your subject died, why your subject is/was important, and why you chose him/her.

Paragraph 2 – This paragraph should be a short biography of person in your own words.

Paragraph 3 – An explanation of your art project with an itemization of all the items in the project and why you chose each of these items represent your subject.

Empathy - "Echo and Narcissus"

Please submit your one paragraph empathy retelling of "Echo and Narcissus" here.

I'm Dead!

In beginning to work on our Day of the Dead projects, please place the two paragraphs you have written about a historical figure who died thirty years or more here.

Reading Log - Friday, November 6

Please submit your reading log entry for today's reading here.

Homework - A Little More Reading and Reflection!

For homework, please read and consider W.H. Auden's poem "Musee des Beaux Arts". After you have read the poem, write a short reflection on it. (3-5 sentences) Don't worry if you feel as though you don't understand everything. Just write down those ideas you have. (Hint: By "Old Masters", Auden means the great painters, like Breughel, from long ago.)

About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters; how well, they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Breughel's Icarus, for instance: how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.

Empathy!

Now for fifteen minutes write a first person account of being in this scene. Maybe you are on one of the boats or islands. Maybe you are in town. Maybe you are the ploughman or the shepherd. Let this be a paragraph of 4-6 sentences.

Description

Look carefully at the painting above. Its title is "Landscape with the Fall of Icarus" and it was painted by Peter Bruegel in about 1555. (So the painting is hundreds of years old while the myth is thousands of years old!) If you want to look more closely, you can see it here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bruegel,_Pieter_de_Oude_-_De_val_van_icarus_-_hi_res.jpg

For fifteen minutes, write a detailed description of what you see in this painting. This should be one paragraph of 8-12 sentences.

Empathy - "Daedalus and Icarus"

Please retell the story of "Daedalus and Icarus" in the first person from the perspective of one of the characters. Please finish this writing by Thursday night.

Empathy - "Persephone and the Pomegranate Seeds"

Today, we read the Greek Myth of "Persephone and the Pomegranate Seeds". For homework, please retell the story in the FIRST PERSON using "I". You can tell the story from the perspective of any character you like. You can be Persephone. You can be Demeter. You can be Zeus or Hermes or Pluto. Have fun and have a great long weekend!

Compare and Contrast Creation Stories

Please write two paragraphs comparing and contrasting the Greek creation myth and the Bible creation story. Your paragraphs should take the following form.

Paragraph 1: Compare "In the Beginning and Pandora's Box" and "Genesis and Paradise Lost". What are some of the similarities between the two?

Paragraph 2: Contrast "In the Beginning and Pandora's Box" and "Genesis and Paradise Lost". What are some of the differences between the two?

Recipes - Final Drafts

Please submit the final draft of the text of your recipe assignment as a comment here. Please remember that the full text of this assignment needs to be on your poster and that we will be presenting posters on Friday.

Reading Log - Entry 5

Recipes!

In our next project, we will work with writing recipes for dishes we enjoy eating. The final version of this project will involve a poster that will be presented to class, but for the moment, we will concentrate only on the project’s written component. On the day next week when we present posters, you may bring in and share prepared recipes. This means that, on that day, we will eat in class. However, you will not be assessed on the quality of your food and you are not required to bring food.

In class today, please think of something that you like to eat that you could write a recipe for. (Maybe someone at home could help you.) By the end of class, please submit the name of your recipe, and the ingredients and materials you think will need to make it. (You may need to change some or all of this later. This is not a problem. Consider this the first of several drafts.)

When we begin writing, your recipe should have the following parts.

1. A title (This will be the name of the dish.)
2. An introductory paragraph – This will tell your readers about why you chose this dish, when you have eaten it, what it tastes like, what it looks like, what it smells like, etc.
3. A list of at least four ingredients.
4. Directions – This will include at least four ordered steps written in full sentences using imperative verbs.
5. An original labeled illustration in color of your ingredients.
6. An original labeled illustration in color of your final dish.

When we have all the parts, we will make posters for presentation to the class. As with previous projects, your work will be assessed with reference to language, content, structure and style.

Here’s an example of what your recipe might look like.

_________________________________________

Super Chunky Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Nothing is more delicious at lunchtime than a nice sticky, crunchy, peanutty peanut butter and banana sandwich. Whenever I play football on the weekends this is what my mom makes for me. One of my favorite things about this dish is that, since it has two halves and isn’t served hot, I don’t have to eat it all at once. I eat one half at “half time” and the second when the game is over!

Ingredients

2 slices of white bread

4 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter

1 large ripe banana

2 glasses of your beverage of choice

Materials

1 small kitchen knife

1 toaster

1 butter knife

1 bread knife

1 plate

Directions

1. Peel the banana.
2. Using the small kitchen knife, slice the banana into about ten circular slices about 4 cm. thick.
3. Using the toaster, toast the two slices of white bread.
4. Using the butter knife, spread 4 tablespoons of chunky peanut butter on one side of one piece of toast.
5. Place as many banana slices as possible without stacking on top of the spread peanut butter.
6. Eat leftover banana pieces.
7. Put second piece of toast on top of banana slices.
8. Push down gently on sandwich until peanut butter begins to squeeze from its sides.
9. Cut the sandwich diagonally into two equal triangular halves.
10. Serve with two glasses of your beverage of choice. (Peanut butter sticks inside your mouth!)

"My Memorable Day" - Final Draft

Please submit the final draft of your autobiographical essay, "My Memorable Day" as a comment here by Thursday, October 15. Please also bring a printed copy of your final draft to class on Thursday. Have a nice day off on Wednesday!

Reading Log - Entry 4

Today in class, we read independently and wrote reading log entries again. Please submit today's reading log entry as a comment here.

Reading Log - Entry 3

Please post your reading log entry from today as a comment here.

Reading Journal - Entry 2

Whoops! I almost forgot! (Thanks for reminding me, James.)

Please write reflectively for ten minutes about today's reading and submit your writing as a comment here.

Reading Log - Entry 1

Please submit your "Reflective Writing" on last week's independent silent reading as a comment to this entry. Be sure to include your book's title and author. Remember that while reflective writing may include summary, it should be more than just summary. Try to include something more than just description (your personal reaction, predictions, what it reminds you of, etc.).

"My Memorable Day" - First Draft

(We have fallen a little bit behind schedule, but don’t worry. We will finish oral presentations tomorrow.)
_______________
In today's class, please write the first draft of a short non-fiction prose essay titled “My Memorable Day” about a day that you will never forget. This first draft should take the following form and be as close as possible to complete by the end of class. It is not for homework!
________________
I. Introduction: What was your memorable day. Why have you chosen to write about it. Why might the story of this day be interesting to your readers (your classmates, for instance)?
II. Setting: Where and when did this story take place? Be descriptive. Were there any special features to this place? Buildings? Other things that were important to what happened? What time of day was it? What time of year? What was the weather like?
III. Characters: Who was there? Again, be descriptive. What are some words you would use to describe them to someone who never met them? How old were they? What do they look like? What is your relationship to them? Why were they there?
IV. Action. What happened? (You may want to use more than one paragraph for this.)
First?
Next?
Next?
Next?
Next?
etc.
V. Conclusion: Why was this day so memorable? Was it an important day in your life? Did you learn anything important on this day? Did this day change you in some way?

Introduction to a Classmate - Final Draft

Here is the place to leave the final draft of your introduction to a classmate. I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post this. I also have not yet given specific written feedback on earlier drafts to everyone, but will do this by this evening. I am confident, though, that you all understand the assignment well and will all be able to produce a strong final draft. Remember to meet the word minimum (250 words) and to have at least four paragraphs including strong "opening" and "closing" paragraphs.

Please try to have this EITHER printed OR submitted to the blog by Monday and BOTH printed and submitted by Tuesday. (If you have big, big computer problems, please just write it out by hand for now.)

I also noticed on Friday that the door to our room was being repaired and that a few incomplete posters were left behind. If you couldn't retrieve your poster from the room, please don't worry. We'll make what accommodations we have to and have fun with our oral presentations.

Have a good weekend!

Introduction! - First Draft

Please submit the first draft of your introduction to a classmate as a comment here.