Prepare for tomorrow's exam!

Tomorrow is our last TKAM exam! I want to emphasize that this is a skills-based exam. That means that I do not expect you to memorize every page of the book. There will be no detailed "gotcha" questions, like: "What color were Dill's shorts the first time they met?"

Instead, you can study the following:

• Know the main characters and how they generally interact with the themes. Scroll down to April 27 for a list of themes and associated notes.
• Know academic and content terms, such as theme, tone, inference, mood, personification, metaphor, (most/except/primarily/prevalent), imagery, evidence, quotes, prejudice, conclusion, context clues, conflict.

Although I'm not asking you to memorize the whole book, you still do need to know the plot. There will be writing, as always. If you are still unsure about any plot points, my favorite book summary website is:
http://www.shmoop.com/to-kill-a-mockingbird/

If you click "Summary" on the side, you can then read summaries by chapter. The cold reads on the exam will be from a chapter in Part II that we did not read.

Here is a link to the skills review activity we did today. The correct answers are highlighted.

To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapters 24 and 28

Chapter 24 is a sad one.
Aunt Alexandra has been in Maycomb for a while now, and she's made a lot of friends. On this day, she has a lot of friends over for what they call a Missionary Circle - basically the ladies sit around, eat dainty little cakes and cookies, and gossip. Sounds fun to me! Except that the trial has just ended, so everyone naturally wants to talk about that. As you can imagine, gossip turns nasty and racist and they even talk some smack about Atticus. Alexandra and their close neighbors don't, but it hurts everyone's feelings to hear what some people are saying. Scout is there, too. She's learning how to be a lady.

Here's the audio for Chapter 24:
Start at 13:36 - that's at the bottom of 234 in your book.

Chapter 28 is a scary one.
It's Halloween, and Scout is going to be a ham in the school's Halloween pageant.

Here's the audio for Chapter 28:

To Kill a Mockingbird: Themes Activity of Packet #2

These are the themes in the packet. I've provided some hints to help you find quotes:

 

1. Innocent people can be destroyed by contact with evil. Find quotes: Who are the innocent people? Who or what is evil or bad in this book? Find some quotes that show that the innocent are negatively influenced or affected by the bad.
2. Education can both help and hinder. Find quotes: Who is being educated? Who is learning? What are they learning? Find some instances where the learning his helpful and some where the learning is hurting.
3. A social hierarchy based on race and economic status serves no constructive purpose. Find quotes: How are the people of Maycomb separated by their economic status? How are the people of Maycomb separated by race? How do these separations help or benefit the people of Maycomb? (Spoiler alert: They don’t help. Find quotes that prove that these separations are hurtful.) 

To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapters 17-19: The Trial

These chapters contain the testimony from the trial and its four witnesses:

1. Sheriff Heck Tate
2. Robert E. Lee Ewell (aka Bob Ewell)
3. Mayella Ewell
4. Tom Robinson

Chapter 17 audio (Sheriff Tate and Bob Ewell):

Chapter 18 audio (Mayella Ewell):

Chapter 19 audio (Tom Robinson):

To Kill a Mockingbird: Chapter 15 audio

Chapter 15 happens the weekend before the trial of Tom Robinson. Everyone is nervous about it; the people who live in town are worried and concerned for Atticus and his family (and Tom and Tom's family, too), and the people who live in the country (Old Sarum) are mad and generally ugly and racist about the whole thing.

Some townspeople - friends of the Finches - come to the Finch house and stand around in the yard and talk to Atticus about their concerns. Atticus waves them off and pretty much says everything will be fine. Atticus' kids are worried about it, too.

Later, some Old Sarum people confront Atticus at the jailhouse.

Here's the audio for Chapter 15:

To Kill a Mockingbird Chapters 11 and 12

Chapter 11 is a curious one.
Mrs. Dubose is a mean old white lady who lives down the street. Every time the kids pass, she yells mean things at them. She yells about a lot of things, but nothing bothers the kids like when she says ugly things about Atticus and their deceased mother. One day, after Mrs. Dubose says something especially bad, Jem loses it.

Chapter 11 - Part 1 of the audio.

Chapter 11 - Part 2 of the audio.

Chapter 12 begins Part II.
Atticus is out of town working in the legislature, and so the kids are left home with Calpurnia. Calpurnia decides to take them to church with her, and the kids have to encounter ugly racist moments - this time, from a black person.

Chapter 12 - Part 1 of the audio.

Vocabulary #10 Quizlet

 

Quizlet for Unit 10

 

TKAM Test #1 Tomorrow

I want to emphasize that this is a skills-based test. You do not need to memorize minute plot details in order to do well.

You do, however need to know the characters:

• Jeremy "Jem" Finch
• Jean Louise "Scout" Finch
• Walter Cunningham
• The Cunningham Family
• Miss Caroline
• Charles Baker Harris "Dill"
• Calpurnia
• Miss Stephanie Crawford
• Atticus Finch
• Arthur "Boo" Radley
• Mr. Radley (takes care of Boo)
• Burris Ewell
• The Ewell Family
• Miss Maudie 
• Sheriff Heck Tate
• Aunt Alexandra (Atticus' sister)
• Uncle John "Jack" Finch (Atticus' brother)
• Cousin Francis
• Tom Robinson

You should also study the quote hunts. The packet for chapters 1-10 is due tomorrow. 

If you need a copy of the packet, or the text of the book, click here.

Here's the audio of chapter 9:

Here's the audio of chapter 10:

To Kill a Mockingbird - Audio!

I found links to the audiobook - Free!

Click here for audio.

You're welcome. <3

Introduction: To Kill a Mockingbird

The Finch family, which is modeled after Harper Lee's Family IRL
Jem is four years older than Scout

 

Here is the link to all the stuff for To Kill a Mockingbird.
This includes the packets, the background notes, a copy of the full text, and some of the other stuff we're using in class.