YOU NEED TO: *DAYPLANNER – COPY ASSIGNMENTS *PENCIL!!!!!! ** 2 sheets NOTEBOOK PAPER…. *A CHRISTMAS CAROL study packet *ACC text

WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS 12/6-10/2010: Monday: Review STAVE 1 and quotes; mark with post its in text; Read Stave 2 and finish packet HOMEWORK: READ PAGES FOR HOMEWORK. Tuesday: Stave 1 & 2 Quiz Wednesday: Read Stave 3 and complete packet Thursday: Review Stave 3 & discuss & post it notes in text; complete review packet Friday: Read Stave 4 & discuss with post it notes in text complete study packet.

JOURNAL WRITING: Pretend you are a REPORTER from a London newspaper and interview Scrooge. In your news article ask Scrooge and answer in Scrooge’s words (“….”) the following questions: Mr. Scrooge, you are known as a “squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous old sinner!” How would you describe yourself? What would you say to those people that label you as such a cruel man? What would it cost to make you change to be nicer?

CHARLES DICKENS: *born February, 1812 *poor childhood; worked in blacking factory putting labels on bottles *dad in “Debtors’ Prison” due to unpaid loans *taught self shorthand writing *loved theater *had a pet RAVEN (blackbird) *famous novelist *married 2 times

POVERTY: *poor, no money, housing, clothing, food *would sleep 5-6 to room, on floor, cold and damp *experienced high death rate (mortality) *low paying jobs

DANIEL WEBSTER: *author of DICTIONARY

WESTMINSTER ABBEY: *burial site for Charles Dickens and many other famous poets and writers

ASYLUM FOR THE HOUSELESS POOR: *poor put here when could not pay debts *widows and women would be separated from their children; babies, too *300 people taken in each night

FACTORY ACT OF 1847: *law that DID NOT ALLOW children 9 years old or younger to work in the factories any longer *shortened work hours for children

CHIMNEY SWEEPS: *small children would climb up nine-inch chimneys to ‘shoo’ out small birds that clogged the smoke release. *many children DIED from this job

CHOLERA: *DISEASE contracted due to poor sanitation, dirty water, spoiled food *death

MORTALITY RATE: *numbers of deaths each day, month, year *very high rate of death mostly in women and children

UTILITARIANISM: *belief that the ‘greatest happiness for the greatest number of people’ *government should decide what is happiness *Jeremy Bentham creator

PUBLIC HEALTH ACT OF 1848: *PROVIDED for adequate drainage of street/sewer filth, refuse collection, and clean water supply.

QUEEN VICTORIA: *RULER in London from 1837 *ruled until 1899 *strong matriach and well-respected

PRINCE ALBERT: *married Queen Victoria in 1840 *brought new Germanic traditions *Christmas tree put up and decorated at their home, Windsor Castle *gingerbread men, hard candies, cookies, fruit, cotton Santas, paper fans, strings of popcorn and cranberries, glass icicles… *Angel on top of tree

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: *oncoming effect of factory work, railroads, industry *city life over farming

CHRISTMAS TREE: *1841 windsor Castle *German tradition

JOHN C. HORSLEY: *1843 designed the first formal Christmas Card

What holidays are most important in your family? In your culture? In your own beliefs?

Money makes the world go round. Show me the money!

A preface is a part of the beginning of a book where the author tells why he/she wrote it and how the book came into being. Read the following preface from ‘A Christmas Carol’ by Charles Dickens silently to yourself. On a sheet of paper, write down anything about this quote that you notice or that stands out to you. (You do not have to copy the quote) I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it. Their faithful Friend and Servant, C.D. December, 1843.

Charles Dickens & the play “A Christmas Carol” Background

In his later years, Charles Dickens traveled throughout England and America performing public readings of his writings.

B ecause Dickens grew up in poverty and witnessed his father go to jail for owing money, he wanted to tell the story of people like his family. He wanted to help poor people by writing about their situations.

For those who could not afford even the worst housing, there was the “Asylum for The Houseless Poor” which could take in only 300 people each night.

More than a quarter of the houses in London had no water supply. Half of the houses in London had no sewage system. The streets were filled with dirty cesspools, or gutters, which people used as a source of water.

A Cholera outbreak prompted the Public Health Act of 1848.

After the British queen married a German prince, the citizens of England quickly adopted the German traditions as their own. In 1841 Prince Albert had a Christmas tree set up in Windsor Castle.

The first Christmas card was designed by John C. Horsley and they cost one penny to send.