1. Bellringer • Journal Entry: • Families in Jonas‘s community share a feeling they had during the day. Picture yourself as a member of Jonas‘s family and write in your R/W Notebook one feeling you had since class met last. Your response should include the event(s) that caused you to have that feeling and what, if anything, changed that feeling.

2. In The Giver Jonas’s community thinks it is very important that everyone uses precise language. • “Jonas was careful about his language” (p. 3) • Read the last paragraph on page 4.

3. Timed-Pair-Share • Why do you think it is important to use precise language? • Can you think of a time that you used the wrong word in a conversation that led to misunderstanding?

4. Connotation vs. Denotation • Denotation- the dictionary definition of any given word. Copy the denotation for the words school and home and write them down (leave a line under each to add to the definition later). • Home: the place where one lives permanently, esp. as a member of a family or household. • School: An institution for educating children

5. Connotation • Connotation- the secondary, emotional meaning of the word. • When you think of the words school and home, what do you associate them with? • The connotation of a word can change the mood of the word from positive to negative.

6. Write down each pair of words and put a plus sign next to the word that sounds more positive, and a minus sign next to the one that sounds more negative: • Plain-Natural • Clever-Sly • Cackle-Giggle • Cop-Officer • Skinny-Slender • Smile-Smirk

7. Rank the following group of words in order from most positive words, to most negative words • Group 1: Thin, slim, lanky, skinny, bony, slender • Group 2: Aggressive, assertive, dominating, forceful, pushy • Group 3: Soldier, guerilla, mercenary, terrorist, freedom fighter

8. Changing the words that have a negative connotative meaning in a sentence can change the sentence from sounding negative, to sounding positive. • Positive: There are over 200 people living in Cabot who’s address is unknown. • Negative: There are over 200 homeless people living in Cabot.

9. Rewrite the following sentences to change the connotation of the words,1. She was less favored by beauty than her sister __________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Someone borrowed money from my locker without asking me. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. I just bought a pre‐owned car yesterday. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. I just won a lunch reservation from Mr. Simon. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. The caretaker does an excellent job at Braden. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. I got in a bit of trouble for stretching the truth about the broken lamp. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Now I’m headed for the correctional facility again. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Where do I work? Actually, I’m between jobs at the moment. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Now that I’m getting up there in years I don’t like birthdays so much. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 10. Eric’s driving skills leave plenty of room for improvement. __________________________________________________________________________________________