GRADE 7 MODIFIED MATERIALS

PVMS

Circle of Stories

Genres of stories

Genre is a fancy name meaning type of story.Several types of stories are:ComedyRomanceTragedySatire/Irony

Comedy – funny/humorous

There are several elements of a comedy. They are…

Verbal comedy – people say things that are funny or use funny words

Physical comedy – characters may fall, slip on a banana peel or do something else funny

Surprise – unexpected things may happen

Story 1

The Night the Bed Fell by James Thurber

A young man lives in Columbus, Ohio with many funny relatives.

His father sleeps in the attic, his grandfather disappears, his cousin was afraid he would stop breathing when he slept, and one of his aunts threw shoes down the hall.

One night the boy fell out of his hammock when he was sleeping. His aunt thought his cousin was in trouble, his cousin thought he wasn’t

breathing, the dog bit his cousin, his brother thought something happened to his mother.

His mother thought the bed had fallen on his father and killed him, and father thought the house was on fire.

No one even noticed it was the boy that had fallen out of his bed.

It was a crazy, crazy night…at least grandfather wasn’t there!

Story 2

Who’s on First… A skit by Abbot and Costello

Watch it here:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8342445135331678445#Listen to it here:http://www.phoenix5.org/humor/WhoOnFirst.html

Tragedy

There are several elements of a tragic story:-Downfall of a hero-Lesson or revelation to the hero

The Sniper by Liam O’Flaherty

It was June in Dublin, Ireland. There was a war going on and as the sun set, people could here gun fire in the distance.

The two sides were the Republicans and Free Staters and they were in a civil war.

A sniper, lay on a rooftop near a bridge. He was hungry, tired and had not eaten all day.

Finally, he decided it was safe to eat. He also needed to decide if it was safe to smoke.

As he lit the cigarette, a bullet was shot at him. He got to safety and saw that there was another sniper trying to kill him.

An armored car with a big cannon pulled up on the street below. An old lady, who was an informer for the enemy, went to give them information. The sniper shot the driver and the old woman

The Sniper was hit in the arm by a bullet, from the enemy sniper across the street.

The sniper cleaned his wound and quietly looked for his enemy.

He saw his cap, took a shot, and the enemy was dead.

The sniper was curious as to who the dead man actually was; he walked across the street and turned over the dead body.

The sniper looked at the face of his dead brother.

Romance

Elements of a Romance

There are several elements that make a story a romance:

- Hero/Heroine has extraordinary powers.- There are one or more villains (bad guys).- The story has non-stop action and events.- The hero does brave/courageous things.- The story has an exotic and exciting setting.

Rikki Tikki Tavi

See Ms. Goldberg or Mrs. Chrobak for audio file