Parent note ~ 

February, 2005 

Dear Parents or Guardians:

 House 8B eighth graders are about to start a unit on Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.  Students will be reading an average of three chapters, or about fifteen pages, from the book for each day of class.  We will begin reading in class and should cover about half of the night’s assignment each school day.  On the back of this letter you will find the calendar for the month of March and the Mark Twain unit so that you can know what homework is due at any time.  We hope you find that helpful.

 It would help us out greatly if you would please check to see that Tom Sawyer is coming home regularly and being read.  Making sure your child is keeping up with the reading is one of the keys to your child’s success in the Mark Twain unit.  I thank you in advance for your help.  If you have any question, please call (262)-970-3249.

 Sincerely,

Kathleen M.. Miller   

   Themes:

 1. The conflict between freedom and responsibility

 2.  The importance of friendship

 3.  Good vs evil 

4.  Celebration of childhood  (hymn to boyhood)

 5. Honesty is the best policy 

6.  Being true to ones self 

7. In order to make a man or boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make that thing difficult to attain. 

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

                                by Mark Twain                                             www.satirewire.com/news/ feb02/images/twain.gif  

In many ways Mark Twain and his unique style of writing is an inspiration to us all.  Young readers/writers are especially aware of his descriptive passages, which can be humorous as in the tale of the “poodle dog” and the beetle in church, or awesome as the passage concerning the storm on the island, or nearly poetic as Twain describes in detail the “inch worm” and the “parade of ants” Tom observes as he lies in the grass on a summer day.

            Your assignment then is to write a descriptive two page paper in which you describe some scene that you remember with careful detail just as Twain did in the above examples.  You will need to search your memory to recall a scene that you can clearly visualize.  This could be a recent impression or one from your early childhood.  You will want to use as many colorful adjectives and adverbs, similes and metaphors as they will make the scene clear to the reader.  

            Remember to use the pointers you have learned about good paragraphing:

1.                  Topic sentence that identifies what you are going to describe.

2.                  Details with colorful adjectives and adverbs.

3.                  Transitional terms such as- at first, alongside, on top of that, next to, then finally, etc.

4.                  A final sentence with “punch” that will sum up your impression of what you have described.

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Quizzes / Tests:  

Daily quizzes on chapter reading and vocabulary

Final exam is objective test

Final vocabulary exam

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Vocabulary:  Words on final exam-regular 

                      Modified

*Chapter 1

1.  vexed - troubled; distressed

2.  singed - burned lightly

3.  sagacity - wisdom

*Chapter 2

4.  melancholy - sadness

5.  insignificant - not important

6.  vigor - energy

7.  ridicule - make fun of

8.  gait - step

9.  comprehend - understood

*Chapter 3

10.  balmy - gently soothing

11.  virtuous - morally good

12.  hastened - hurried

13.  evanescent - disappear like vapor

14.  absurd - ridiculous

15.  immunity - not obligated (liable)

16.  exultation - rejoice in victory

17.  wrath - anger

18.  perplexed - confused

19.  audacious - bold

20.  reproach - to express disapproval

21.  construed - explained; interpreted

22.  desolate - lonely

23.  contemplated  - consider thoughtfully

24. stealthy - secretively

25.  discordant - unharmonious

26.  deluge - great flood

*Chapter 4

27.  tranquil - peaceful

28.  grievous - serious

29.  peculiar - odd

30.  subsidence - die down with intensity

31.  smitten - strongly affect

32.  prodigious - extraordinary

*Chapter 5

33.  simpering - silly smiling

34.  supplication - prayer to God

35.  monotonously - boringly

36.  formidable - causing fear

37.  vagrant - homeless

*Chapter 6

38.  perennial - occurring yearly

39.  alacrity - liveliness

40.  furtive - sly

41.  portentous - foreshadow an event

42.  turmoil - agitation

43. ostentation - showy display

*Chapter 7

44.  smote - strongly affect

*Chapter 8

45.  zephyr - gentle breeze

46.  pervading - spreading throughout

47.  gaudier - tastelessly showy

48.  zenith - high point

49.  incantation - magical spell

50.  perplexed - confused

51.  cogitating - thinking

52.  futility - uselessness

53.  treacherous - dangerous

54.  accouterments - equipment

*Chapter 9

55.  ingenuity - cleverness; skillfulness

56.  dismantled - taken apart

*Chapter 10

57.  lugubrious - mournful

58.  flogged - whipped

59.  colossal - huge; gigantic

*Chapter 11

60.  miscreant - villain with no conscience

61.  meddle - interfere

62.  balefully - deadly

63.  plausibly - believably

64.  aversion - reluctance

*Chapter 12

65.  inveterate - habitual

66.  quack - one who pretends to have medical skills

67.  clandestinely - secretively

68.  crestfallen - sad

*Chapter 13

69.  succumb - give up

70.  conspicuous - obvious

71.  foe - enemy

72.  avert - turn away

73.  imminent - immediate

74.  purloined - stolen

*Chapter 14

75.  credulous - believable

76.  conflagration - great  fire

77.  ravenous - very hungry

*Chapter 15

78.  sumptuous - delicious

*Chapter 16

79.  plausible - believable

80.  expectoration - spit

*Chapter 17

81.  musing - thinking carefully

82.  abashed - embarrassed

*Chapter 18

83.  repentant - to feel sorry

84.  menagerie - collection of wild animals

85.  notoriety - fame

86.  reconciliation - a chance to be on  good terms again

*Chapter 20

87.  urchin - mischievous youngster

88.  vexation - anger

89.  imminence - about to take place

90.  perplexity - confusion

91.  vengeance - retaliation

*Chapter 21

92.  vindictive - seeking revenge

93.  retribution - deserved punishment

94.  foliage - leaves on trees or bushes

95.  conspicuously - obviously

96.  gesticulation - gesture

97.  unpalatable - not agreeable

98.  relentlessly - unendingly

99.  pious - holy

100.  tempestuous - violent

101.  boisterous - noisy

102.  garret - attic

*Chapter 22

103.  convalescent - recovered health

104.  mesmerizer - hypnotist

105.  forbearance - patience

106.  endurance - suffer patiently

*Chapter 23

107.  discreet - able to keep a secret

108.  mum - quiet

109.  lynch - hang a person by mob action

110.  captive - one who is held in prison

111.  dismal  - gloomy                                   

112.  sauntered - strolled

113.  haggard - worn out

114.  perplexity - confusion

115.  delirium - mental disturbance

116.  trifle - small amount

*Chapter 24

117.  fickle - changeable

118.  omniscient - all-knowing

*Chapter 25

119.  ciphered - figured as math

120.  befitted - fitting or appropriate

*Chapter 26

121.  desolation - barrenness; loneliness

122.  unkempt - untidy; sloppy

123.  eloquent - forceful, expressive speech

124.  intolerable - not tolerated

125.  palpable - capable of being felt or touched

*Chapter 27

126.  attrition - exchange of going over something mentally

127.  ostentatious - unnecessarily showy

*Chapter 28

128.  auspicious- favorable

*Chapter 29

129.  giddy - dizzy, or silly

130.  laden - heavily burdened, oppressed

131.  anticipations - expectations

132.  inclination - leaning towards something

133.  labyrinth - passageways and alleys (cave)

134.  elaboration - an action done with great labor and care

*Chapter 30

135.  crevice - a narrow opening from a split in a rock

136.  reverberations - echoes

*Chapter 31

137.  sinuous - winding

138.  frescoed - written in smoke

139.  appalled - overcome with fear

140.  moiety - a portion or part of

141.  abundance - a great number

142.  whetted - made eager for something (food)

143.  tedious - difficult and tiresome

*Chapter  33

144.  abounding - in great quantity

145.  vestibule - entry hall

146. oblivion- lost consciousness

147.  precipice - very steep or overhanging place

148.  chasm - a deep cleft in the earth

*Chapter 34

149.  clamorous - noisy

150.  effusive - flowing out

151.  perplexed - confused, bewildered

*Chapter 35

152.  conspicuous - obvious to the mind or eye

153. prodigious- extraordinary in size or  degree

154.  magnanimous - courageous, noble

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