Tuesday, 10-17

1. Today we continued practicing our verbals by identifying gerunds and gerund phrases. Once we identified the phrase, we had to determine how that phrase was functioning in a sentence. Because a gerund functions as a noun, the entire gerund phrase also functions as a noun. Nouns can be found in four different places in a sentence. 1) the subject of a sentence; usually placed before the verb 2) the object of a verb; usually found right after an action verb 3) a predicate noun; found after a linking verb 4) the object of a preposition; found at the end of a preposition phrase (click here for more about prepositional phrases). We practiced this using IXL Level J (8th Grade) D.14 Gerunds & Gerund Phrases

2. Next, we discussed our responses to the Analyzing Theme questions. We talked about which quotes from the novel used the word CHAINS literally and which ones used the word figuratively. Then we discussed which characters in our novel were in literal or figurative chains, and why the author, Laurie Halse Anderson, may have decided to title her novel, Chains.

3. Finally, we segued from the chains felt by Madam Lockton and Lady Seymour as women in a male-dominated society to our nonfiction reading for the day "Women of Early America" by Howard Zinn. We read through it annotating for text connections to our characters and plot events and also looking for examples of difficulties that women faced in the history of our nation.