7^th Grade Writing
Ms. Smith
November, 2008

We will start this month by doing a cross-curricular writing activity. In Social Studies the students are studying the Civil War, and in Reading they are examining Civil War poems and songs. In writing, the students will be doing a performance response that relates to the Civil War. They have to choose one of the following options:

1. Write a poem about the Civil War. Refer to the packet Mrs. McManus gave you that outlines the various types of poetry written during the Civil War. You may wish to model your poem after one of these types: early poems of unity, calls to arms, poems about women’s contribution to the war, poems about individual soldier’s experiences. The poem must be at least 100 words.

2. Write a letter from someone who lived through the Civil War to someone else who lived through the Civil War. Some possibilities may include a letter:

-         from a soldier to his family that tells of conditions on the battlefield

-         from a wife to a soldier that tells of conditions at home

-         from a southern state to Abraham Lincoln that tells of their intention to secede

-         from Abraham Lincoln to men in the North that urges them to join the army

-         from a free African American to Abraham Lincoln thanking him for his efforts to free the slaves

-         from one southern citizen to another southern citizen that expresses their anger over Lincoln’s effort to free the slaves

These are just a few possibilities. Feel free to come up with your own idea for a letter. The letter must be written in letter form (greeting, body, closing), and must be at least 100 words.

3. Print out the lyrics of an appropriate, modern-day song that you feel relates to the Civil War.  Write a detailed explanation of how this song relates to the war. (Example: The first two lines relate to the Civil War because…) Your explanation must be at least 100 words.

We will then go on to study the second half of the pronoun chapter, which covers interrogative, relative, indefinite, and distributive pronouns. One of the main topics covered under interrogative and relative pronouns is the correct use of “who” and “whom” – a commonly misused word.