English Work for Farm Weeks—Fall 2009
During the fifth floor farm weeks, you will work on several long-term English assignments. This work includes homework for the next few weeks as well as class work both for school and farm. While the amount of work is certainly manageable, it is important that you spread this work out over the two weeks! Please email me if you have any questions at tgrattan@manhattancountryschool.org.
Triplets
- Read the following stories from your Short Story packet: “Brownies,” “Through the Tunnel” & “Mrs. Sen’s” – Due Monday, 10/5
- Answer blog posts for both “Brownies” and “The Tunnel” – Due Monday, 10/5
- Bring in three significant quotes from “Mrs. Sen’s.” Quotes should focus on character, theme or symbol. Due Monday, 10/5
- Write your own memoir piece inspired by Sandra Cisneros’ “Eleven”
- In “Eleven” Cisneros focuses on a particular moment where the eleven-year-old narrator didn’t just feel eleven, but also “ten and, nine and eight and seven.” Write about a time when you felt this way too. Though the Cisneros story is fictional, yours will be a memoir piece focusing on one moment that stood out for you, a moment you felt young and old at the same time. For the narrator of “Eleven” it was the moment when she was forced to take a sweater that wasn’t hers. Reflect on a moment in your life when you felt different your selves surfacing, and turn it into a memoir. Your draft should be between two and three pages long. Due Monday, 10/5
7th Grade Writing and Grammar
Writing
Your writing work needs to take place at the farm, so be sure to bring your three-subject notebook to the farm with you!
q Take two walks at the farm with your notebook and something to write with. It would be great for you to take these walks at different times of day. It’s amazing how much the farm changes from first thing in the morning to twilight. Find a place at the farm that interests you, a place full of details that stand out.
q During each walk, write a 1-2 page freewrite in your notebook. This is not something that needs to be polished. Focus on finding as many details as you can. Write about the larger, immediate details you observe, but focus on the smaller ones too. The more details you can cull the better. Be sure to move beyond the visual. What sounds and smells make this place unique? What does it feel like to sit where you are sitting?
q After you’ve completed both of the freewrites, look back at what you’ve written. What images seem the strongest? What details from the natural world might serve as a symbol for something else?
q Next, write the first drafts a two poems inspired by the poetry of Robert Frost. The first will be an homage to his poem “October.” Since you will be at the farm primarily in September, however, it should be about September. What are the main symbols in the “October” poem? What does October represent? How can you write your own poem using September to symbolize an idea or emotion?
q The second poem should also incorporate symbolism from the natural world, yet it needs to follow the same rhyme scheme and meter as Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” The actual rhymes don’t need to be the same, but the structure should be. Remember that the rhyme scheme of that poem was AABBCCDD and that each line except for the eighth and last had the same number of syllables. So for this poem, the subject, tone and theme are up to you, but you’re following Frost’s structure.
q Bring both poems to class on Wednesday, 10/7.
Vocabulary
- Complete the Wordly Wise Lesson 2 exercises, Due Monday, 10/5
- Wordly Wise 2 Quiz – Wednesday, 10/7
8th Grade Writing
Writing
- While you are at the farm, complete a two-page freewrite in the writing section of your notebook about the farm. What memories do you have about your time at the farm? How has the farm changed you? What lessons have you learned there (both positive and difficult ones)? What is your favorite part of visiting the farm?
- After you have completed this freewrite, go through what you’ve written and pick out lines or ideas that seem especially important. Highlight or underline. Expand on the ideas that stand out to you.
- Complete a draft of an essay answering the following question: How have your experiences at the farm been significant for you? Due Wednesday, 10/7
- Many high schools ask you to write an essay as part of the application process, often about a significant moment or place. Writing about the farm could end up as the foundation for one of these high school essays. Even if it doesn’t, it’s good practice at writing a particular kind of essay, a personal essay with an emphasis on self-reflection.
- Some questions and ideas to consider when writing the essay:
- Make it personal. Focusing on the farm in general is fine, but this is about you and how/why it matters in your life.
- What specific moments and examples stand out to you the most? Focus on those. Include a lot of detail and insight. Try to turn those details into a story.
- Connect the farm to your larger experiences. How might your experiences as a NYC resident who has spent several weeks a year at a farm influence who you’ll be in the future? How has it changed you already? Taught you a lesson?
Vocabulary
- Complete the Greek and Latin Roots Sheets. There will be a quiz on Greek and Latin Roots on Monday, 10/5
- Wordly Wise Lesson 2 exercises, Due Monday, 10/5
- Wordly Wise 2 Quiz, Wednesday, 10/7
