January Learning Guide Key

Teaching Objective: Students will study the novel The Wednesday Wars to learn knowledge and understanding of literary elements:  character, setting, plot, rising action, conflict, climax, turning point, falling action, resolution, RL 8.2

Learning Objective:  Students will use sticky notes to follow along with the story then using the sticky note they will be able to complete their Learning Guides.  Taking notes on literary elements from the white board and continue working in small groups to complete Wednesday Wars - January Learning  Guide.

Starter: adeles cousin recently took a rafting trip on the colorado river



KEY:  Wednesday Wars – January

A.  Vocabulary:  Become familiar with the words.
*fortifying - strengthen                                              *vengeance – punishment/retribution
*intercepted – cut off/obstruct                                    *ample – more than enough/plentiful
*consonant – speech sound that is not a vowel

B.  Identify if the italicized word is a predicate nominative (PN), or a predicate adjective (PA).
1. Holling Hoodhood is embarrassed.  PA
2.  Doug’s brother is a mean, mean bully.  PN
3.  Holling’s sister was upset. PA
4.  Sycorax and Caliban are loose. PA
5.  The Home Town Chronicle is a home town paper.  PN
6.  Doug is a good friend.   PN
7.  Holling’s dad says that having a kid in school is a big plus.  PN
8. The busses were late.  PA

***Underline and label the complement in the following:
9. “Malice is not always small and petty”.  PA
10. Mr. Guareschi is the “dictator-of-a-small-country”.  PN
C.  Apostrophes – answers will vary
D.  *she would/she’d                    *cannot/can’t                   *they are/they’re
      *did not/didn’t                           *will not/won’t                 *you will/you’ll
      *we have /we’ve                       *there is/there’s              *that was/that’s

E.  Rewrite the phrases using an apostrophe to show ownership.  Will somewhat vary
1.  The book belonging to Holling /  It is Holling’s book.  / The book is Holling’s.
2.  The books from the library. / It is the library’s book. /  The book is the librarie’s.
3.  The dusters used by the teachers.  / It is the teachers’ duster.  / The duster is the teachers’.
4.  The cream puffs bought by Mrs. Baker.  / They are Mrs. Baker’s cream puffs.
5.  The plays written by Shakespeare. / They are Shakespeare’s plays.

F:  Figurative Language:  Underline and label the figurative language. There may be more than one in each.
1.  “There was a flash of inspiration and ambition (personification) – which was, according to Shakespeare, what Macbeth (allusion), was feeling a day or so before he murdered Duncan.  (allusion)
2.  “Let’s keep you on your toes,” (cliché/idiom) she said cheerfully.
3.  “Fix this or you die,” (hyperbole/cliché ) she said.
4.  I walked home under gray clouds whose undersides had been shredded.  They hung in tatters and a cold mist leaked out of them.”  (personification)
5.  “…and then the rain started to spatter (onomatopoeia) thickly on the window, and then all sounds of it faded away, and my room began to grow cold.  (personification)
6. “…he couldn’t control the Long Island Power Company, which that morning was spending its time not giving electricity to most of its customers – including Camillo Junior High.” (personification)
7.  “Now,” said Mrs. Baker, “While the sugar is coursing through your veins.” (personification)
8.  “Not that she had suddenly become filled with the milk of human kindness. (metaphor) (That’s from the Tragedy of Macbeth, by the way).  (allusion)
9.  “The wind sculpted the snow first into low mounds and then into strange, sharp shapes.” (personification)  (strange sharp shapes – alliteration)
10.  “At times the Long Island Power Company would muster up some electricity and send it out.” (personification)
11. “…the four of us huddled together under blankets like the pioneers .” (simile)  (pioneers – allusion)
12.  “I hiked through knee-deep drifts to school, (hyperbole/cliché) the wind still wailing and throwing itself against me.” (personification)
13.  “Right away the radiators began to clank (onomatopoeia) and pound as if Mr. Vendleri was going at them with a wrench.”  (simile)
14.  “The radiators were giving off that hot iron smell, (personification) sort of like a southwest wind that blisters you all over.” (personification, simile)
15.  “Most of the water component of my body had been sucked (personification) into the little cotton compartments of my thermal underwear.” (personification, metaphor – water component compared to cotton compartments)
16. “…the flakes that were coming down were the kind that really wanted to be rain but couldn’t quite get there.” (personification)
17.  “…and so the clock clicked (alliteration, clicked – onomatopoeia) down to the end of the school day. (clicked down to the end of the school day – personification)
18.  “I headed outside, watching, watching, watching (alliteration) for Doug Swieteck’s brother, his words hovering  (personification) like the snow in the air. (simile)
19.  “They stood in line like a platoon, (simile) and each one lifted up his left arm and pointed at me.  In their right hands they held snowballs as big as bowling balls.” (simile)
20.  “There were pictures of soldiers capturing a Vietcong POW. (allusion)  There were pictures of soldiers standing (alliteration) around supply catches.”

G.  Understanding What You Have Read
1.  Often people are excited to get their picture on the front page of the newspaper.  Why didn’t Holling like it?  Holling felt very embarrassed.
2.  What did Doug Swieteck’s brother do with the newspapers he stole?  Doug’s brother had cut out and colored the newspaper pictures of Holling as Ariel, and put them all over the school.
3.  What further evidence is there that Doug is a good friend to Holling?  Doug took a black eye from his brother when he refused to color the pictures.
4.  Compare Holling’s sister’s attitude toward his front page fame, with her attitude toward him when he suggested he would go to military school.  __________________________________________________
 When Holling’s picture in yellow tights gets taped to her locker his sister is mad and embarrassed.  When he talks about military school in front of their father she says it is no more ridiculous than the school they attend.  When she talks with Holling privately she realizes he could end up fighting at war and she “couldn’t stand it…”  (if she were to lose him).
5.  Describe the setting (time and place) and tone (feelings/mood).  (p. 110-112).  Ice storm, slippery, mad bus drivers, no electricity, gray, cloudy, uncomfortable/miserable
6.  About Holling’s Ariel photo, Mrs. Baker says it is a “wonderful picture of you playing a wonderful part,” and “people will soon forget about Ariel.”   Holling says, “It’s not like it’s your picture in the halls, or that you have all that much to worry about.”   What evidence is there that this is upsetting to Mrs. Baker?  What would upset her about it?    Mrs. Baker tells Holling to go sit down and she doesn’t speak to him the rest of the day.  Mrs. Baker’s husband is away at War.  It is insensitive for Holling to think she has nothing to worry about/it is a reminder to her that it is a worry that he is in harm’s way.      
7.  When Holling alludes to Macbeth, Mrs. Baker claims Shakespeare is showing “that pride combined with stubbornness can be a disater” (p 109).  What evidence is there that this statement might apply to Mr. Guareschi?   Mr. Guareschi refuses to close the school when it snows and the roads ice over, forcing the buses to continue running and all teachers and students to attend school for standardized tests.
8.  Since cause is what happens, and effect is the result of the cause, what indirect effect is there regarding Holling and Mr. Guareschi’s stubbornness in keeping the schools open?   Holling getting hit by an out-of-control bus while trying to save his sister.
9.  Who goes with Holling to the hospital?  Mrs. Baker and Mr. Guareschi
10.  In regards to Holling going to the hospital, explain which character you think is there out of genuine concern for Holling’s well-being, and which might be more concerned about being liable for the accident.  Answers vary - Mrs. Baker out of concern.  She drives him and waits with him.  Mr. Guareschi might be worried about liability, because school probably should have been closed.
11.  Foreshadow is when the author gives hints or clues about things that might happen in the story.  When Holling notices Mrs. Baker watching TV in the waiting room (pg 127), what is inferred?   This is not the first reference to Mrs. Baker and her unspoken emotional reaction.  What might the author be foreshadowing with these inferences?   Mrs. Baker is watching the new and worrying about her husband.  It might be foreshadowing that something will happen to her husband.
12.  During the snowstorm, Holling sees a chance for revenge against Doug Swieteck’s brother by throwing a snowball at him. How does Doug’s brother know it is Holling who hit him with the snow ball?  When Holling goes into the bathroom an eighth grader recognizes Holling as being the one and tells Doug’s brother
13.  Holling compares himself to Malcolm, the son of the murdered king in Macbeth, who has no more need for vengeance after Macbeth is killed and he finally becomes king. Why do you think Holling no longer feels a need for revenge on Doug’s brother?  Since pictures were posted of Holling saving his sister, Holling probably feels that his reputation has been saved.
14.  The chapter begins and ends with Holling walking down the hallway and everyone smiling at him.  Compare and contrast how the two situations are the same and how they are different.
Same:  involve photos of Holling “flying” in the air…different:  The first one was out of vengeance to be mean and Holling was upset and embarrassed.  The second showed him as a hero so he was proud.


Novel:  Wednesday Wars - February, with Learning Guide (Use sticky notes to mark important things in the chapter while listening to the audio).