Imagine that Alex is keeping a journal during his time in the larder. Please write a journal entry (at least 10 sentences long) that describes how Alex is feeling at the end of chapter 16 from Alex’s point of view. Use details from the story to support your ideas.

Some questions to ponder:

1. How do you feel at this moment?

2. What are your greatest fears?

3. How do you view yourself? Has that viewpoint changed?

4. Do you still hold out hope that your dad will be coming to get you? Do you ever doubt he will come?

5. Of all the people you have met since you were separated from your dad, who have you like the most? Learned the most from?

6. What do you want to do with your life after the war? How has the time you have spent in the abandoned ghetto impacted your hopes and plans for the future?

Please post your journal as a comment to this post. Remember: Use only your first name to post.

Also, make sure you have completed and submitted all other discussion assignments.

This week, you will have to work independently because of the reading testing in the classroom. Here is your to-do list.

- Take this week’s quiz. Your quiz is available for download. Instructions are in the post below.

- Finish your work from last week’s discussion post (the fact-finding mission on ghettos). Make sure to post your response in the comment box for last week’s discussion.

- In the comment box for this post, please an explanation of each quotation below. What do you think is the meaning behind each quote? Please number your responses to match the numbers on the quotations.

1. “If you don’t use your head, you’ll have to use your legs.” (pg. 76)

2. “Mother always claimed that,  ‘strenuous mental work was as fatiguing as any other kind’.” (pg. 77)

3. “The binoculars were just a little pair of opera glasses. When I found them in the bunker I never dreamed that they would be worth as much as a good book, or even more.” (pg. 87)

Make sure to only use your first name when you post. If you finish early, you can begin reading the assignment for next week and filling in your story map.

Please take your quiz for chapters 9-12 by clicking here and following the directions below. (Link should open in a new window so that you can still refer to the directions below.)

After the page loads, please go to the file menu. Click on “Download As”. Select “text”. When a pop-up screen comes up, chose to “Open with” and then select “NeoOffice” from the menu, and click “Open”. When another window pops up, click “Ok”. Then, once your document is open in NeoOffice (this might take a minute to load), go to “File”. Click “Save as”, and give it a name that you will remember.  Save the document to your LA/SS folder on your desktop.

Then, please take the quiz. Please make the font 12 point size before you print.

Print your quiz when you are done. Please be sure to spell check your work and put your name on the top of the document.

When you are finished with your quiz, please come back to the blog and work on today’s Discussion Post.

Thank you!

In chapters 5-8, Alex spends a good amount of time exploring the abandoned ghetto. Although this is a fictional story, it is based on the real life experiences of people living in a ghetto during WWII.

Please visit the websites below and make a list of facts about life in the ghetto. Include information that you think Uri Orlev (the author of Island on Bird Street) used as part of his setting for Alex’s story.

Please list at least ten facts about what you think life was like in a ghetto in the comment box. You may work on this independently or as a pair or large group.

Life in the Warsaw Ghetto

Warsaw: Holocaust Museum

Ghettos

First Person Podcast Series (Make sure to keep your volume low.) You may want to listen to other Podcasts in this series that relate to life in the ghetto.

The Warsaw Ghetto

Please make sure to only use your first name when you post.

Please take your quiz by clicking here and following the directions below. (Link should open in a new window so that you can still refer to the directions below.)

After the page loads, please go to the file menu. Click on “Download As”. Select “text”. When a pop-up screen comes up, chose to “Open with” and then select “NeoOffice” from the menu, and click “Open”. When another window pops up, click “Ok”. Then, once your document is open in NeoOffice (this might take a minute to load), go to “File”. Click “Save as”, and give it a name that you will remember.  Save the document to your LA/SS folder on your desktop.

Then, please take the quiz. Print your quiz when you are done. Please be sure to spell check your work and put your name on the top of the document.

When you are finished with your quiz, please come back to the blog and work on today’s Discussion Post.

Thank you!

Good morning!

You can work on this assignment independently, as a pair, or as a whole group.

In chapter 2, on page 9, Alex tells us that one of his favorite books is Robinson Crusoe. Read one of the summaries of the plot of this book at the links below. Think about Alex’s situation as you read. Please answer the following questions in a comment box. Please number your responses, and only use your first name when you post.

Summary #1

Summary #2 – Look under “plot summary”.

1. How is Alex’s life like the experiences of Robinson Crusoe?

2. Why do you think Alex re-reads this book over and over? Why do you think it is one of his favorites?

3. Is knowing that Alex enjoys this story lead you to make any predictions about what will happen to Alex in Island on Bird Street? Describe your predictions.

You can also find the full-text of this story at the site below if you would like to read the whole story of Robinson Crusoe.

Full text

Please define the following words in the comment section below. You can look up the definitions at a dictionary website (such as http://www.dictionary.com ) or in an actual dictionary. Please do not cut and paste definitions from this site or copy word-for-word from the dictionary. Please put the definitions in your own words. Also, please label each definition with the vocabulary term.

Vocabulary:

1. Genocide
2. Curfew
3. Extermination
4. Depot
5. Zionism
6. Selection
7. Transport

1. Please look at the front cover of your Island on Bird Street book. As a group, formulate at least five predictions that you have about what will happen in this book. Please write your responses in the form of a list. Please post your list as a comment in response to this post. Make sure to include adequate detail so that we can return to your predictions later and determine if they were accurate… or not.

2. Next, read the Introduction to the novel (begins on page vii). You may read together out loud or read silently and then discuss together. Read the introduction through page xi. Then, refine your original list of predictions. Which predictions may need to be altered or changed? Which predictions may still be accurate? Post your updated list of predictions as another comment to this post.

*By the end of this assignment, you should have submitted two comments below.

Thank you.