Formative Assessment 1: Explaining and Justifying (A.i.); Researching (A.ii.
)
                             In class, we will take about 25 minutes to read and/or listen to the short story “All Summer in a Day.”
                                                              Story Text               Story Audio
Take the important qualities of this story and boil them down into just a few simple phrases. These are your BIG IDEA WORDS
Answer each question below with a few sentences. When needed, use examples from the book to back up                                              Protagonist   Margot
what you are saying.                                                                                                                             name(s)
                                                                                                                                                 Antagonist    Children
                                                                                                                                                 name(s)
Who is the protagonist, (good guy) and       In my opinion, the protagonist of the story is found as Margot, who was born                        Protagonist   Sun
what do they want?                           on Earth. When Margot said “she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she                            wants         Warmness
(Just a few words is fine)                   knew they were dreaming and remembering... But then they always awoke to          3 words or less                 Empathy
                                             the tatting drum, the endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the
                                             roof…”(All Summer in a Day, pg.1) we can sense that Margot does not see
                                             other children at fault for feeling insecure and wary of her memory of the sun
                                             when it has always been an unknown legend-like existence for them;
                                             something they are desirous and scared of at the same time. She knows that
                                             as much as she misses the sun back on earth, the children here who “had
                                             been only two years old when last the sun came out” were also dying to feel
                                             the golden sunshine on their bodies.
Who is the antagonist, (bad guy) and         The children, especially William, can be seen as the antagonist here. The                           Antagonist    Venging
what do they want?                           drops of rain that keep on pouring down on Venus filled them with fear, envy,                       wants         Sun
(Just a few words is fine)                                                                                                     3 words or less
                                             and anger about Margot’s experience with the sun. In the paragraph where
                                             the children and William were shouting back and hurting Margot because of
                                             her words describing the sun: “ ‘You’re lying, you don’t remember !" cried
                                             the children “(All Summer in a Day, pg.2), it is shown through their diction of
                                             denial that they are blocking out Margot’s words because they are scared of
                                             her difference and jealous of her so-called precious moments with the
                                             warmness and sight of the sun. Innocent children like them do not have the
                                             actual intentions of hurting someone but blinded by jealousy and rage, young
                                             ones can terribly hurt one another without carefully considering others.
Describe the type of conflict that is used   The conflict in this book can fall in the category of Person vs. Society, as we                     Type of       Person
in this book. How do you know?               can see that Margot struggles to fit in with her classmates and is bullied                          conflict      Society
                                                                                                                               3 words or less
                                             because of her experience and difference. Margot was narrated as “an old                                          Bullying
                                             photograph dusted from an album, whitened away…”(All Summer in a Day,
                                             pg.2) for her memories isolated her from the rest, making her seem like an old
                                             soul to who no one can relate. The children, unlike her, have never been
                                             exposed to that precious sunlight, “But [Margot] remembered and stood
                                             quietly apart from all of them...they knew her difference and kept away.”(All
                                             Summer in a Day, pg.2) The more she relishes in her memories, the more
                                             they “knew her difference and kept away”(All Summer in a Day, pg.2).
How does the main character change           Margot in the beginning was wary of her presence around other children,                             Character    Anger
from the beginning to the end? How do       fearing how they would hurt her if she were to talk about the sun; and                               change       Suppressed
                                                                                                                               3 words or less
you know?                                   therefore “the children hated her for all these reasons of big and little                                         Resistance
                                            consequence. They hated her pale snow face, her waiting silence, her
                                            thinness, and her possible future.”(All Summer in a Day, pg.2) Albeit, when
                                            the children locked her in the closet from seeing the sun come out, we can
                                            foreshadow that she must be more than furious with how they chose to hurt
                                            her this time, for everyone knows how much each of them on Venus treasures
                                            a moment with the sun now that they have experienced it themselves.
Is there an object or symbol in the book    The sun and rain are two very important symbols in this book, as the sun                             Object or    Sun
that carries particular significance?       represents happiness, warmness, and light, while the rain symbolizes                                 symbol       Rain
Examples:                                                                                                                      3 words or less
                                            isolation, sadness, loneliness, and darkness. On Venus, all the children have                                     Closet
Hunger Games: Bow/Arrow or Mockingjay
Ready Player one: Keys                      ever seen was the “loud wet world”(All Summer in a Day, pg.2) and “the
Harry Potter 4: Wand, Glasses, or the Cup   endless shaking down of clear bead necklaces upon the roof, the walk, the
                                            gardens, the forests” (All Summer in a Day, pg.1). It’s all they have ever
                                            known, and it’s all Margot has been seeing since her she left earth.
                                            Meanwhile, the sun, of course, is the golden treasure in their lives; it’s what
                                            they have always dreamt about. Moments occurred where they had “read in
                                            class about the sun. About how like a lemon it was, and how hot.”(All Summer
                                            in a Day, pg.1) Dreaming of something precious comes if many imaginations
                                            of how it looks and how it feels to actually be with it, showing us how much joy
                                            the sun brings to the children. Moreover, the closet that Margot was locked in
                                            is also another significance, where it symbolizes isolation and separation
                                            between Margot and the other children. And when the children let Margot out,
                                            it was like they broke down their wall against her and “ turned through the
                                            doorway to the room...blue and terrible”(All Summer in a Day, pg.4), now that
                                            they understand her.
Where and when does the book take           Taking place on Venus, the second planet from the Sun, the story is on a                             Setting      Venus
place? (Setting)                            timeline far in our future, when humans have developed to a point where we                                        Future
                                                                                                                               3 words or less
                                            are sending humans “to a raining world to set up civilization and live out their
                                            lives”(All Summer in a Day, pg.1).
Describe a moral or lesson of the book.     Personally, I feel that the moral lesson of the book is about empathy. The                           Moral or     Empathy
                                            children never meant to hurt Margot purely because of who she is; they were                          lesson       Understanding
                                                                                                                               3 words or less
                                            all just afraid and jealous of her precious past and “her possible future”(All
                                            Summer in a Day, pg.2) with the sun, something they have been awaiting their
                                            whole lives. However, what they needed to learn, was empathy for Margot.
                                            They needed to know and understand how Margot was more in pain for her
                                            memories than she was having a privilege over them as they thought. Margot
                                            herself felt more for them because she knows exactly how precious the sun is
                                            to all humans; like how “She knew they thought they remembered a
                                            warmness”(All Summer in a Day, pg.1).
Describe some of the emotions you felt      While reading this book, I felt pity and empathy for Margot and the children                         Emotion(s)   Pity
while reading this book                     throughout the whole story. For Margot, I felt empathy for how alone and                                          Empathy
                                                                                                                               3 words or less
                                            trapped she feels, not only resented and punished by the weather, but also by                                     leniency
                                            her classmates every minute she’s with them. Whereas for the children, I felt
                                            no anger on them despite their actions. Not because they’re just children and
            they are young, but because all their emotions are escalated by the one thing
            is the unknown. They fear the unknown at the same time they are so curious
            about it that it scares and makes them jealous for someone to claim to know
            what is unknown to them their whole lives. And choosing not to see them at
            fault, I can say that these feelings can intrigue anyone, no matter what age, to
            act irrationally and dangerously, especially with something so significant.
                                                                                               Score      Teacher
                                                                                               Yourself   Score:
Teacher                                                                                        6
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