Transcript Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul

Stories of Life, Love and Learning
• 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.
On Friday we read a short story
and filled out 2 graphic organizers.
Character Map
Actions
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Says
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Feelings
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Appearance
(looks)
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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:________________________________________
Trait
Revealed by
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
Create a Google doc
• Create a Google doc or Google Presentation
and share the document with me at
[email protected]
• Rename your document “Sparky”.
• Read the power point slides and complete the
assigned tasks in your Google doc called
“Sparky”.
E.Q.: How do I determine the author’s purpose
and use that purpose to compare texts?
 Written Task 1: In your Google doc, make a list of character traits
that would be used to describe you.
 Written Task 2: Then in the same Google doc, write a paragraph
describing yourself.
 Use these adjectives (words that describe nouns) to help you
answer Task 1 &2. 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
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.
1
For 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.
2
Sparky 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.
3
Throughout 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.
4
There’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.
5
There’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.
6
Sparky 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
7
However, 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.
8
After 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.
• 9 So Sparky decided to
write his own
autobiography in
cartoons. He described
his childhood self — a
little boy loser and
chronic underachiever.
10
The 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.
11
He 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.
adventurous,
 Written Task 3: What is
the author trying to tell
us?
 Written Task 4: Write a
sentence identifying the
author’s purpose.
 Written Task 5: List three
(3) details from the story
that supports your
purpose.
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
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/
 Written Task 6: As you read and watch, make a list
of Charlie Brown’s character traits.
You are still using the same Google doc you
named “Sparky” & this will be your 7th answer.
Written Task 7: Write two paragraphs in which
you compare the character traits of Sparky with
those of Charlie Brown.
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.
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.
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
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.”
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.
Have a wonderful,
restful break. I’ll see
you next Tuesday!
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