Seventh Grade Short Story Unit

Review the Six Elements of a Narrative

Journal Entries and Homework Assignments:

Write an epilogue to the story "Seventh Grade" by Gary Soto.
Journal Entry 1: First, answer Questions 1 & 2 in Analyzing Literature on p. 75. Each question should be answered in a minimum of three sentences. Then, compare "Broken Chain" to "Seventh Grade," also by Gary Soto. Write a paragraph comparing the characters and their motivations in these two stories. What do you think Soto is saying about growing up?
P. 195 # 1-9 and Critical Thinking # 1-3 (from "Hallucination")
P. 109 # 1-9 (from "All Summer in a Day")
Setting Web from "All Summer in a Day"
Book Cover Illustration for "All Summer in a Day"
Dialogue Exercise: write down a barebones conversation you eavesdrop on. Don't worry about quotations, since copying it down as you hear it is difficult. Use shorthand and abbreviations to help keep up with the conversation.
Now, turn that barebones conversation into actual dialogue & narrative by adding speaker tags (he said/she said) and action/description. Use the model on the overhead as an example.
P. 34 #1-8 and Analyzing Literature #1-4 (from "The Ransom of Red Chief")--Not assigned in 2007.
Conflict Map from "The Ransom of Red Chief"
P. 23 #1-9 from "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"

The Short Stories

Main Characters: Victor, Teresa and Michael. Victor takes French because Teresa will be in his class. He lies about his ability to speak French in order to impress Teresa. Mr. Bueller does not reveal Victor's lies because he remembers trying to impress a girl in a similar way in college.

Main Characters: Alfonso, Ernie and Sandra. A young boy living in California seeks to impress a girl from school, but he must also deal with his brother in order to borrow the bicycle he needs.
Be able to discuss how Soto characterizes Alfonso, and be able to compare "Broken Chain" to "Seventh Grade."

Main Characters: Sam, Donald Gentry and the Commander. After the Central Computer sends him to Energy Planet, Sam must learn the source of the hallucinations.
Be able to discuss theme (main idea) in this story, and explain how Sam uses logical reasoning skills.

Main Characters: Margot. Margot is the only child in her class on Venus who remembers what the sun is like. Her classmates don't believe her, and lock her in a closet on the only day the scientists predict the sun will shine for another seven years.
Be able to discuss how setting is particularly important in this story.

Main Characters: Red Chief, Sam (the narrator) and Bill (his partner). Two men kidnap a boy in order to raise money to commit a fraud in another state. They get more than they bargained for, however, for the kid is hard to handle. Eventually, they must pay the father in order for him to take the boy back and allow them to make their escape.
O. Henry is known for unusual plot twists like this at the end of his stories.

Main Characters: Teddy (the boy), Rikki-tikki-tavi (mongoose), Darzee (tailorbird), Nag (cobra), Nagaina (Nag's wife), Kariat (small snake), and Chuchundra (muskrat). Set in India, a young mongoose must protect the human residents of the bungalow.
Be able to discuss the conflict, and important elements of the plot, such as climax and resolution, that are related to the conflict.