Mid-term exam review sheet

If  you have lost your review sheet for your mid-term exam, you can print another one by clicking on the picture below. Remember, the completed review is worth five points extra credit on your exam. We went over the entire review sheet in class, so you will need to check your answers against mine or one of your classmates if you haven’t checked yours yet.

Essay for Mid-term exam

As a reminder:  The essay portion of your mid-term will be written in class on Thursday and Friday, December 12 & 13.  You may not work on this at home. I will have copies of Of Mice and Men available for you to use for your essay.  Please bring your graphic organizer and outline to class. 

The grade for your essay will be determined by the following:

10 points – completed graphic organizer and outline turned in with essay

5 points – an arguable thesis is present in the introduction

5 points – five-paragraph persuasive essay structure is followed

5 points – 3 supporting reasons are well-developed and supported with information and quotations from Of Mice and Men

Extra Credit:  Including at least 6 different sentence openers in each paragraph and including at least 3 different dress-ups in each paragraph will earn you up to 5 extra points.

***Please bring regular notebook paper and a pen or pencil to class to write your essay.  No typewritten essays will be accepted.  You must write this in class.  I want to know your thoughts, not the thoughts you can search on the internet.

Topic for essay for mid-term exam:

Choose one of the following themes and write a well-developed five-paragraph essay demonstrating how that theme is exhibited in Of Mice and Men. Make sure to include an arguable thesis statement in your introduction and quotations from the book in your supporting paragraphs.

1. friendship & moral responsibility

2. individuals & community

3. power vs. powerlessness

4. loneliness

5. The American Dream

Notes over “How to Write a Persuasive Essay”

Click on the picture to go to the notes over writing a persuasive essay.  We took these in class on December 3rd and 4th (Tuesday and Wednesday).

Notes and worksheet from Thursday, December 5

Here is a link to the powerpoint notes we took in class on Thursday.  These are notes over sentence structure (clauses, dress-ups, and sentence openers).  I am also linking the worksheet we did as homework (just in case you lose yours).

Written assignments over the trial

Click on the picture to view a description of the different written assignments to be completed after the trial.  Remember, you only need to complete the assignment that fits the role you are fulfilling during the trial.

The Trial of George Milton

If you click on the picture below, you will go to a document that explains our entire trial project over Of Mice and Men.  Feel free to print out any part you feel will be helpful to you as we prepare for the trial.

Practice Quiz for Chapters 5 and 6

Here is a link to a practice quiz for chapters 5 and 6.  This will definitely help you study for your reading quiz!!! Just click on the picture to get to the practice quiz.

Link to Study Guide for Chapters 5-6

Click on the picture below to go to a printable copy of the Chapter 5-6 Study Guide. The study guide was distributed in class on Friday, Nov. 15.

We will be going over it on Monday, November 18.  You must be through reading the book by then.

 

 

Links to practice quote quizzes

Click on the quotation mark pictures to go to interactive quote quizzes over Of Mice and Men.  You can take these as many times as you like for practice before our quiz in class.  Each time you load the quiz, the question order and answer order changes.

 

 

Chapter 4 Study Guide Link

Click on the picture below to go to a printable version of the study guide for Chapter 4.  I gave these out in class on Wednesday, Nov. 13.  If you did not get one, lost yours, or were absent feel free to print it.  We will be going over this on Friday.

A Few More Due Dates

Wednesday, November 13 – Be through reading Chapter 4

Thursday, November 14 – Be through reading Chapter 5; Study Guide for Chapter 4 due today; Reading Quiz over Chapter 4

Friday, November 15 – Be through reading Chapter 6; Study Guide over Chapter 5 due today; Reading Quiz over Chapter 5

Monday, November 18 – Study Guide over Chapter 6 due today; Reading Quiz over Chapter 6

Friday, November 22 – Quotation Test over entire book

Final Assessment / Project – Tuesday, November 26

Study Help for Chapter 3 Reading Quiz

Click on the picture below to go to an interactive quiz over Chapter 3.  You can take it as many times as you like.  When you are done, you click ‘check’ at the bottom of the page and your paper will be scored.  Then you can try correcting yourself until you get all of the answers correct.  If you practice on this several times, you should do really well on the quiz on Tuesday, 11-12-13.

Links to some worksheets we have done over Of Mice and Men:

  

Found Poem – Samples

Below are some examples of the “Found” Poems.  DO NOT plagiarize and try to copy these for your own assignment.  Write your own!!!  These are here just to show you some ways to write these poems. The first example is in the context of our novel, Of Mice and Men.  The second example is not in that context at all.  Both are great. 

Mindy Wara
April 3, 2011
The gnawing sound did not alarm Lennie
until he felt the prick
of the mouse’s teeth sink into his hand.
He instinctively squeezed.
The snapping noise echoed in his ears
as he reluctantly pried open his his fist.
He stroked its sleek, greasy gray head
as if he were denying it had ever happened.
Silence fell as he delicately placed the freshly crushed
mouse in his left pocket,
picked up some sticks,
and headed back to camp.
The sound of his heavy footsteps died away
as he came out of the night and into the clearing
and rejoined his friend,
as if nothing had happened.

 

 

Waiting for Father's Day
Mindy Wara
April 3, 2011
The raindrops rippled on the edge of the deck
as I stood outside of the screen door of my father’s house.
My sister and brother waited in my crappy red convertible
on the darkening pavement staying dry.
I knocked twice. He wasn’t home.
Silence cut through the rain.
I jogged back to my car. Drenched.
I wrung out my gray sweatshirt
before taking my place behind the wheel.
The keys in the ignition lay silent.
I leaned my seat back and stared at the ceiling.
A minute passed, and another minute.
They felt like hours in my soggy socks and shoes
as they lightly rested on the peddles.
The silence came into the car.
It crept in from outside.
The snapping noise of Megan’s seat belt snapped me back to life.
The cool worn leather of the steering wheel seemed to pulse
under my hands as I gripped harder. Finally tired
of waiting I smashed the palm of my hand into the horn.
A gnawing sound bleated from the car, harsh, brittle,
and telling of the car’s age.
The lights of the house finally flipped on
as he came out of the night and waited by the door.
We reluctantly spilled out of the car
and shuffled to the house with our gifts,
the wrapping paper growing damp with every soggy step.

Notes over Point of View from November 6

Click on the picture below to go to a printable copy of the notes over point of view that were taken in class on Wednesday, November 6.

Chapter 3 Study Guide

Here is the link to the printable version of the study guide for Chapter 3.  We will be working on this in class on Friday.  If you would like to get ahead, feel free to print this yourself and begin working on it.  If you lose your copy, this link is here for you to print yourself another study guide. Just click on the picture of George and Lennie to go to the study guide!

 

Chapter 3 Information / Discussion Questions to Think About!

The following questions do not have to have written answers.  You will need to be able to discuss them intelligently in class on Wednesday and Friday (November 6 & 8).  I will post a study guide for Chapter 3 very soon.  Be watching for it! The study guide is due on Thursday.  On Thursday, we will be checking the study guide. We will be having a reading quiz on Friday followed by a discussion of Chapter 3. We will also have group time on Friday to read our completed poems.

Chapter Three (part I)

• (Page 39) Why does George put himself down when talking to Slim?
• (Page 40) What is the correlation between smarts and niceness?
• (Page 41) Does George trust Slim? Why?

• What are Carlson's reasons for shooting the dog verses Candy's reasons for not wanting to shoot the dog?
• How are Candy and his dog similar?
• Who is being literally silenced? Who is being metaphorically silenced? How? By who?
• What effect does the personification of silence have on this scene?
• What does this say about how Whit thinks/feels about work?
• What does this say about George and Lennie and how they feel about their work?

Chapter 3 (part II)

• (Page 51) Why does Curly's wife spend so much time around the men? What is she looking for?
  • Do you think she will find whatever she is looking for from any of the men on the ranch?
  • Who is most likely to fall for Curly's wife?
• Why do minor characters, even Susy the prostitute, and the dog Lulu, have names, but not Curley’s wife?
• (Page 56) George and Lennie's dream of owning their own land is becoming a reality. Lennie is obviously very excited - he has been waiting for his rabbits for a long time. How might George honestly feel about his dream actually being in reach?
• (Page 58) When George and Lennie are talking about their dream, Lennie reacts violently to the hypothetical idea of the cat hurting the baby rabbits. What do we learn about Lennie through his reaction?
• (Page 59) We discussed the parallels between Candy and his dog and now Candy sees this parallel himself and wants to join George and Lennie on their potential land. Why does Candy want to join George and Lennie - who he just met - so badly?
  • How does George feel about letting Candy in on his dream?
  • Why does George decide to let him in on it?
• (Page 61) We have seen George lie before. Why does he choose to keep the dream and Candy's involvement from the other ranch hands?
  • Why does he choose to keep it from Slim who we have seen him confide in before?
• (Page 62) Carlson suggests Curly's wife has no place outside of the house. What does this say about his opinion on women? What does this say about the 1930's opinion on women?
  • Has this opinion changed since the 1930s? How so? How is is similar?
• (Page 64) Who has the most power and influence on this ranch?
• (Page 65) Respond to Lennie's reaction to the fight.
  • Would Lennie have fought back if George had not told him to?

Found Poem Exercise

Click on the picture to go to a printable document with the instructions for the Found Poem exercise.  I will put some examples of poems up later in the week, so keep watching!  Your poems are due on Friday, November 8.

Character Notes through Chapter 2

Click on the picture below to go to a printable version of the notes we took in class on Monday, November 4.  You are responsible for this information.

Our Tentative Unit Calendar for Of Mice and Men

Chapter Study Guides

Here you will find links to printable copies of the study guides we are doing over each chapter.  Feel free to print these and complete them as assigned.  If you are absent, you may print these as needed instead of waiting until you come back to school to get the paper copies. To access the printable pages, just click on the “Study Guide” picture above the chapter you need.
                
    CHAPTER 1                CHAPTER 2
Chapters 1 and 2 Study Guides are due Friday, November 1.

Help for when your book is missing!

With the following links, there is no excuse to not complete your assigned reading.  Left your book at school? No problem.  Dog ate your book?  No problem.  Lost your contacts and can’t see to read?  No problem.  There is a print version link below and an audio version link.  Use these as needed.

 

Click on the book image below to go to a .pdf version of the book:

 

 

 

Click on the music notes to go to a free audio version of the book:

A Few Dates to Remember

Thursday, October 31 – Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 reading should be complete and reading questions should be complete.  We will be discussing these in class and completing a more thorough review of the reading.

 

Friday, November 1 – Chapters 1 and 2 Study Guides due today. We will have a quiz over the reading from Chapter 1 and Chapter 2. We will also begin reading Chapter 3 today.

(More will be added as we go along.  Just keep checking!!)

Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 Reading Questions

 

Copy the following questions into the literature section of your notebook.  After reading chapters 1 & 2, answer the questions thoughtfully. We will be discussing these in groups on Thursday, October 31.

 

Chapter 1 Reading Questions  (For a printable version, click here.)

(Page 1) Why does Steinbeck describe the setting with such detail? ◦What is the relationship between George and Lennie? ◦Describe how their "voices" differ.

•(Page 5) What observations can you make about Lennie based on his attachment to the dead mouse?

•(Page 7) What do you think could have happened in Weed to make George and Lennie leave?

•(Page 9) Steinbeck compares Lennie to a terrier - What does this comparison say about Lennie? ■What does it say about the view of handicapped people during the 1930s? ■How have views on the handicapped changed/stayed the same today?

•(Page 11) George complains about having to take care of Lennie. Why might George keep Lennie around?

Chapter Two Reading Questions (For a printable version, click here.)

•(Page 20) What can we assume about the boss from Candy's description of him? ◦Candy claims he is a nice man - What evidence do we have for/against this statement? ◦Is Candy a reliable source of information? Why/why not?

•(Page 22) Why might the boss jump to the conclusion that George is taking advantage of Lennie? ◦Why doesn't George simply tell the boss the truth about Lennie instead of claiming to be his cousin?

•(Page 25) Why is Curly hostile towards Lennie? ◦Is Curly's attitude justified? Why/why not? •

(Page 31) Lennie thinks Curly's wife is "purty" - Should the sexual attraction of a handicapped person differ from that of a non-handicapped person? Why/why not?

•(Page 33) Slim is described as a talented, good looking, well respected man on the ranch. Does this give him reason to flirt with Curly's wife? Why does he seem to get away with it?