Center for the Humanities

Dear Humanities Freshman,

The purpose of these assignments is to get you thinking about and interacting with the humanities. We’ve tried to make the work interesting and fun, but, yes, we realize that these assignments require a bit of effort on your part. However, you will begin the year with Socratic Seminar on To Kill A Mockingbird (TKAM) and your brochures will be posted and reviewed in Mr.Thackston’s World History class. Your time and your work are valued! If you have any questions about these assignments or any other issue, please contact the appropriate teacher or Ms. Tilton. In order that you may focus on the summer assignments (and some of you also have PE/Health 9), you do NOT have any service hours to complete this summer. Your “service” begins in September. 

We hope that you are as excited about the upcoming school year as we are. Orientation will be held on August 18th. You will receive a letter with details in mid-July. We look forward to a fantastic year!

Please check each assignment for particular due dates.

Ms. Clare Tilton

Ms. Julia Coleman

Mr. Mark Davis

Ms. Bonnie Natale

Mr. Scott ThackstonWorld

Summer Assignment

World Literature – 9

Bonnie Natale

Reading Assignment: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Please follow these guidelines regarding the summer assignment:

  1. Prepare answers in essay format. Answers should be at least two complete paragraphs long.
  2. Type all questions and subsequent answers. Please use Times New Roman and 12 font. This assignment should be neat and professional in appearance.
  3. Use two specific examples from the book for each answer and provide page numbers with the examples. Put the page number(s) in parenthesis after each example before the endmark.
  4. Be prepared to discuss the questions and answers in a Socratic Seminar the first week of school. The first seminar is a “no-stress” seminar. Just be prepared with your summer assignment.
  5. Have assignment ready to turn in on the due date: September 13, 2010.

Questions: Answer ALL of questions 1 - 5

Note: remember to give 2 specific examples from the book for each answer. Quotes are good!

  1. What does the setting of this novel have to do with its message?
  2. Determine the 3 most important characters in the story. Give a brief description of each personality and explain why the character is important to the story.
  3. What do Scout and Jem learn about the realities of the adult world in this story?
  4. What is the theme of this novel?

Note: no examples needed for this one-

  1. Harper Lee chose not to title her chapters; instead, she simply used numbers. Choose 8 of the chapters and create titles for them. The title will reflect the events in the chapter.

Answer 2 of the following questions: Remember to use specific examples from the book.

  1. Create a plot diagram for the novel. Attach as an illustration to the typed discussion answers. Be sure that the diagram is neat and readable.
  2. How might the story change if it were set in a different place and time?
  3. Who is the most important minor character and why?
  4. What is the difference between tone and mood?
  5. What is the mood of this story? Does it change?

Summer Assignment

Perspectives of the Human Experience I

Class of 2014

Instructor: Mr. Mark Davis

______

  1. Read Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird.
  1. Create an original work of visual, two-dimensional art (painting, drawing, photography, etc. – anything that can be presented on a flat, paper surface) in response to a character or theme in Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mocking Bird. Do your best to create a polished, finished work. Be creative!
  1. Describe your original work of art (in no more than two typed pages). Please write an introduction, body, and conclusion to your paper. Your writing should elaborate upon the following:
  1. What is the subject of your art? Why did you choose this?
  1. What parts of the novel inspired your art? (Include at least two quotes from the text and the appropriate page numbers).
  1. What materials did you use? Consider painting (acrylics, water color, oil pastel, etc.), photography, drawing/sketching (graphite pencil, charcoal, etc.) digital art using Photoshop or other computer programs, etc.
  1. How would you describe the style of art you used in your creation? Did you try to make everything look realistic? Did you purposefully emphasize certain attributes of your image to create an effect? Did you symbols in your work? If so, explain them.
  1. How does your art illustrate, analyze, or evaluate the theme/character you selected?

Have fun and be creative as you create your work of art! The essay and your original work of art will be due on September 7 (7th period) and September 8 (6th period).

We will be using your original work of art in class during the first two weeks of school.

Vacation to an Ancient Civilization

Imagine that you are a travel guide in charge of encouraging people to visit your civilization. In order to meet your company’s quota of travelers, you need to advertise about your culture. You will need to create a brochure that will entice people to come to your corner of the world!

The brochure needs to be typed, with at leastthree colored illustrations. The illustrations may be printed or drawn (creativity & originally are encouraged!). Please make the brochure from a landscape orientation and tri-folded (you may print on both sides). Include a title, your name, and a design/illustration on the front cover. On the back of the brochure, include your reference materials. You may cite the Internet, texts, books, or an encyclopedia. Use the following topics as a guide for what you may want to include within your brochure.

Location & Climate

Where are you located?

Be sure to include a map (preferably drawn … does not count as an illustration).

What natural features make your region exceptional?

Economy/Society

What do your people do for a living?

What is your class structure?

Tourist attractions

Give examples of famous cities, monuments, and other features.

What are some forms of entertainment?

System of writing

Be sure to include the style of writing you use.

Does your culture have any famous documents?

Religion

Explain your customs, deities, and beliefs.

Are there any special holidays that you celebrate?

Law & Government

Are your laws fair?

What type of government do you have?

Who have been some of your more prominent rulers?

Achievements

What have your people accomplished?

Perhaps you could quote a famous citizen or two …

Please note the following civilizations and time periods to choose from. Stay in the region and time frame as they are noted. Please follow the assigned civilization per last name. If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me at . Good luck on your travels!

Mr. Thackston

Last name

Bo-BrMesopotamia (Sumer)-- c. 3500-2000BCE

Bu-CarAncient Israel/Judah-- c. 2000-900 BCE

Cat-DKingdoms of the Fertile Crescent-- c. 2000-336 BCE

(Babylon, Assyria, Persia)

E-FaAncient Egypt-- c. 3100-332 BCE

Fi-GardAncient India-- c. 2700-180 BCE

Gran-HiAncient China-- c. 1500 BCE-220 CE

Hu-KAncient Greece-- c. 2000 BCE-323 BCE

L-ManThe RomanRepublic-- c. 1000 BCE-27 BCE

Ma-McThe Roman Empire-- 29 BCE-476 CE

N-PoiThe Byzantine Empire-- 313-1453

Por-RiThe Islamic world-- c. 600-1453

Ro-SaThe Early to Late Middle Ages in Europe -- c. 450-1500

Sc-StAfrica (Axum, Zimbabwe, WestAfricanKingdoms)-- c. 1200 BCE-1500 CE

V-WaThe Americas (Maya, Inca, Aztecs)-- c. 1200 BCE-1500 CE

We-YRenaissance Europe-- c. 1300-1600

Honors Biology Summer Assignment

The first science you will study as part of your four year curriculum is biology, the study of LIVING THINGS! Soooooo...Your summer assignment is to look at some! Observe a LIVING THING and record your observations. Hmmm...That's pretty broad! Let's get a little more specific!

1. Find a camera. (digital is best, but film will work if you don’t have a digital camera)

2. Decide on the living thing that you want to observe. It MUST be WILD. It CANNOT be a pet or caged, nor can it be a farm animal, nor can it be at a zoo. Your dog Fido does not count! It must be a non-captiveWILD animal. However, it doesn't have to be exotic or unusual. Birds and squirrels are easy to find and do lots of cool stuff if you've got the patience to pay attention. Chipmunks are also around in most people's yards. Even invertebrates like spiders, insects, crabs, etc. can be good subjects. Birdfeeders are GREAT locations for observing lots of different wildlife! Who KNOWS what cool animal you'll observe IF you keep your eyes and ears OPEN! If you are near water over the summer, look for ospreys or herons or egrets! Don't know what one is? LOOK IT UP! THEY ARE COOL!

3. Make sure you IDENTIFY the thing you've chosen to observe. Don't just say "bird" or "spider". What kind of bird? What kind of spider? Be SPECIFIC! (For example, “seagull” is general. What TYPE of seagull?) Look it up in a field guide (available at your local library or even on the web. Use Google! It is your friend!) 

4. Observe the thing you've chosen for a total of at leastone half hour and record these observations using your camera. You will make better observations if you observe longer. If the animal totally leaves your observation location, stop timing until you can observe it (or another individual of the same species) again. While you're observing, pay attention to the animal's behavior. Take photos of the animal doing as many different things as you can observe. If it doesn't do many different things over the half hour, that's fine. Just be sure to take as many good pictures as you can.

You may want to observe some work of wildlife photographers to get an idea of what wildlife pictures can look like. National Geographic is a wonderful resource as are many web sites. Just search "wildlife photography" on the internet and you'll come up with many beautiful examples of wildlife photographers' work. Be as artistic and creative as you wishwhile keeping in mind that the focus of the photograph is still the animal.

5. Prepare a presentation of your photos in ONE of the following ways:

CHOICE 1 - Mount your 5 best photos NEATLY on paper

CHOICE 2 - Present your 5 best photos in a PowerPoint presentation that could be posted to our class web page. I encourage this option, but you will in NO way be graded down if you choose the paper option.

In either case, find the instructions on the next page that pertain to the format you wish to use and follow them!

Paper Presentation Instructions

  • Provide a cover sheet that gives the following information:

a) name of the species you were observing

b) the time(s) of day/date(s) when you observed it

c) the location in which you observed it.

d) description of the type of habitat in which you observed it.

e) your name

  • Mount your best 5 photos neatly on 5 individual sheets of paper
  • Give each photo a detailed captionexplaining what each photo is showing.
  • Attach a page at the end of your photo package that gives a brief summary of your experience and observations. Please thoughtfully reflect on what you learned (or didn't learn) about this animal, about making photographs of wildlife, etc.

OR

PowerPoint Presentation Instructions

  • Slide One should be a title slide that gives the species of the animal you observed and your name.
  • Slide Two should be an Introductory Slide that gives the following information:

a) name of the species you were observing

b) the time(s) of day/date(s) when you observed it

c) the location in which you observed it.

d) description of the type of habitat in which you observed it.

  • Choose your five best photos and have a slide for each.
  • Give detailed captions with each picture explaining what each photo is showing.
  • The last slide should give a brief summary of your experience and observations. Please thoughtfully reflect on what you learned (or didn't learn) about this animal, about making photographs of wildlife, etc.

6. IF YOU NEED HELP WITH THIS ASSIGNMENT PLEASE E-MAIL MRS. COLEMAN AT: Please don’t be afraid to contact me! I would love to hear from you! It’s hard to learn without COMMUNICATION!

7. If you would like to check out the web site for this class,please go to:

Some sample wildlife photos are there. Click on the button labeled Mrs. C's Wildlife Photo Page.

PLEASE REMEMBER: The animal you choose MUST BE WILD! NOT CAPTIVE! NO ZOO ANIMALS! NO PETS! If you give me a project that involves a captive animal, you will be asked to redo it.

DUE DATE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010