1. Do Now:
Check out the quotes on the 8th Grade board. Decide on your favorite and write it on the last page of your writer’s notebook.

2. Discuss with your tablemates:
Which quote did you pick? Why did you choose that one?

3. Stars
Please go to the quote you liked best, a put a star sticker around it

4. What Will This Year Be About?
Based on the quotes on the board (and all of these are from authors and texts we’re studying this year), what will we be learning about this year?

5. Clear your desk of anything but a pencil, and complete practice quiz
Do Now:
Clear your desk of anything but a pencil, and complete practice quiz

6. Quiz
When you are finished your quiz, turn it over and draw on the back or read your independent reading book

7. The House on Mango Street
The Power of Language
The House on Mango Street

8. Sandra Cisneros

9. Consider the excerpt from yesterday
Talk with your group:
Consider the excerpt from yesterday
What was it about?
What did it tell you about the book?
What did it tell you about the author?

10. Take out your Six-Word Summary
Share with your table group: what chapter did you read?
Read your summary to them
Discuss what kind of character this girl is, what kind of life she has, and what kind of environment she’s living in

11. The House on Mango Street

12. “Hairs”
Follow along as I read aloud

13. Read “Boys & Girls” and “My Name” Silently
Then answer one of the following in your journal:
Why does the narrator explain her mother’s hair so much? What does it tell you about the narrator and her mom?
When the narrator talks about the differences between brothers and sisters, reflect on why you think those differences exist. Tell a story of a time you’ve noticed this in your life.
Think about “My Name” and reflect on your own name—what does it sound like in different voices? Your parents’, your friends’, your coaches’, your teachers’? How does a name change depending on who speaks it?

14. Share Out!
Why does the narrator explain her mother’s hair so much? What does it tell you about the narrator and her mom?
When the narrator talks about the differences between brothers and sisters, reflect on why you think those differences exist. Tell a story of a time you’ve noticed this in your life.
Think about “My Name” and reflect on your own name—what does it sound like in different voices? Your parents’, your friends’, your coaches’, your teachers’? How does a name change depending on who speaks it?

15. Reflect with your group members:
How is this book similar to those you have read in school before?
How is it different?

16. Vignette
a brief evocative (haunting/deep) description, account, or episode

17. Cisneros’s Writing How would you describe it?
What could you compare it to?
What is the point of writing this way?

18. Homework
Read pages
Chapter titles: “Cathy Queen of Cats”, “Our Good Day”, “Laughter”, “Gil’s Furniture Bought & Sold”, “Meme Ortiz”
Pick your favorite sentence from each chapter, and write it down on a piece of scrap paper. Be prepared to explain why you liked that sentence best.
For example, in “Boys & Girls”, my favorite line is, “Until then I am a red balloon, a balloon tied to an anchor” because I think it is a beautiful line.