Mrs. Perkins' Literature-based

Units of Study

Hmmm...Let's see what we can learn today....

7th grade units

8th grade units

19th Century Literature

Introduction to some "classics" and their authors

Civil War

Reading and writing about

The Civil War

Social Issues

What kind of society do we want to create?

Immigration in the Early 20th Century

What was it like to be an immigrant to the U.S. in the early 1900s?

Return to Mrs. Perkins' Main Page

19th Century Literature

You may ask what can we learn from reading stories and poetry written by a few dead white men? Well, I'll tell you: "Reason" wins over superstition; Ravens who say "Nevermore" over and over again don't really mean it; it's best to live life with a generous heart; and don't believe all you hear. Seriously, we have a lot of fun creating timelines of each author's life, learning some extraordinary vocabulary, and acting out scenes from the stories. These classics have withstood the test of time and teach us important lessons about life.

Title

(Clicking on each of the titles below will link you to the actual text we will read.)

Author

(For more information about the author, click on the author's name below.)

Genre

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

You might have heard about the Headless Horseman, but did you know that this story is mostly about a love triangle between the beautiful and rich Katrina van Tassel and her two suitors, Ichabod Crane and Brom Bones? Washington Irving also devotes a good deal of the story describing the bucolic setting of the Hudson River Valley in the late 1700s. We still like the build up of suspence and can't help but read Sleepy Hollow around Halloween time.

Washington Irving

Short Story

The Raven, Annabelle Lee, and The Bells

Edgar Allan Poe is an interesting guy no matter how you slice it. His stories can be pretty creepy, but our Poe Poem Packet shows the author's gift for using meter and rhyme as a way of dealing with the death of so many of the important women in his life.

Edgar Allan Poe

Poetry

A Christmas Carol (adapted)

I haven't found the play online yet, but I'll keep working on it. Charles Dickens is another author worth getting to know. He wrote The Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist, capturing the essence of life in London, England during the height of the Industrial Revolution there.

Charles Dickens

Play

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

Have you ever visited the Mark Twain House in Hartford, CT? The museum exhibits and multimedia presentations are very impressive and the house tour is really fun. So is this tall tale about a guy who sits down in a tavern in California and gets an earful of tall tales about a guy named Jim Smiley.

Mark Twain

Tall Tale

Go to top of page

Social Issues Unit

We will be looking at different perspectives on how humans structure their societies to keep order and allow its members to survive. We will choose from the following list of books, as they raise important questions for our class to consider.

Title (Click on the title to link to Nancy Keane's booktalks.)	Author (Click on the author's name to link to author's website.)	Genre
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry	Mildred D. Taylor	Historical Fiction
The Giver	Lois Lowry	Science Fiction
Witness	Karen Hesse	Historical Fiction
To Kill a Mockingbird	Harper Lee	Historical Fiction
Tangerine Scholastic Authors & Books	Edward Bloor	Realistic Fiction

Go to top of page

Civil War Unit

The culmination of the Civil War Unit will be to write your own ballad about the Civil War. This is an interdisciplinary unit that goes along with the 8th grade social studies curriculum.

Title

Author

(For more information about the author, click on the author's name below.)

Genre

Pink and Say

Pink does not refer to a color, and Say is not a verb. Patricia Polacco has created a memorable story about two boys who come together at the time of the Civil War.

Patricia Polacco