25 ! will mark

chapter i, the beginning of things

they were not railway children to begin with. i don't suppose they had ever thought about railways except as a means of getting to maskelyne and cook's, the pantomime, zoological gardens, and madame tussaud's. they were just ordinary suburban children, and they lived with their father and mother in an ordinary red-brick-fronted villa, with coloured glass in the front door, a tiled passage that was called a hall, a bath-room with hot and cold water, electric bells, french windows, and a good deal of white paint, and 'every modern convenience', as the house-agents say.

there were three of them. roberta was the eldest. of course, mothers never have favourites, but if their mother had had a favourite, it might have been roberta. next came peter, who wished to be an engineer when he grew up; and the youngest was phyllis, who meant extremely well.

mother did not spend all her time in paying dull calls to dull ladies, and sitting dully at home waiting for dull ladies to pay calls to her. she was almost always there, ready to play with the children, and read to them, and them to do their home-lessons. besides this she used to write stories for them while they were at school, and read them aloud after tea, and she always made up funny pieces of poetry for their birthdays and for other great occasions, such as the christening of the new kittens, or the refurnishing of the doll's house, or the time when they were getting over the mumps.

these three lucky children always had everything they needed: pretty clothes, good fires, a lovely nursery with heaps of toys, and a mother goose wall-paper. they had a kind and merry nursemaid, and a dog who was called james, and who was their very own. they also had a father who was just perfect—never cross, never unjust, and always ready for a game—at least, if at any time he was not ready, he always had an excellent reason for it, and explained the reason to the children so interestingly and funnily that they felt sure he couldn't himself.

you will think that they ought to have been very happy. and so they were, but they did not know how happy till the pretty life in the red villa was over and done with, and they had to live a very different life indeed.

the dreadful change came quite suddenly.

review the excerpt above. answer the following question in a well-developed paragraph.

how does the excerpt prepare the reader for the last line? what details and descriptions prepare the reader for the change in tone and mood in that final line?

**be sure to re-state the question in your topic sentence and use specific examples and details from the story to support your answers. proofread your work before submitting.

In one sentence of approximately 15 to 25 words, write the main idea that thomas paine wants to convert to all the readers of the declaration of independence

Preparing for a group discussion the first step in participating in a group discussion is to understand the purpose and process of a group discussion. your approach to a group discussion will differ from other assignments, such as writing a research paper. read through the discussion guidelines to understand how you should prepare for a group discussion assignment. your discussion process for this task, you’ll need to work as part of a group of three or four students who can meet together for a face-to-face or virtual discussion. your teacher will identify a process for this task that fits your learning situation. for instance, if you’re working primarily on your own in this course with no on-site classmates (self-paced course), the process will be a little different than if you are learning with at least two other students in the same building and on the same schedule (group-paced course). discussions in those two cases are outlined below. group-paced course the teacher organizes groups or enables students to self-organize. in the discussion session, students take turns presenting their thesis and then discussing each thesis with the group. one student (not the presenter) acts as a discussion facilitator. the discussion will be a round-robin, rotating the presenter and facilitator roles for each thesis. plan to spend at least 15 minutes to present and discuss each thesis. refer to the discussion summary below. you will want to take brief notes during the discussion so that you can easily complete the discussion summary afterwards. self-paced course you will find at least two people to participate in this discussion with you. they could be classmates from other courses, friends, or siblings. they should be roughly your age, if possible, so you can have a thoughtful discussion with peers. you will set a time and place for the discussion and share the discussion guidelines for them to read prior to the discussion. you will be the only presenter for this discussion. you will also play the role of facilitator. you will present your thesis and then discuss it with your group. your invited group members are only required to be active, thinking participants. except for reading through the discussion guidelines ahead of time, they do not have to prepare for the discussion beforehand or do any follow-up afterwards. since you will be presenting and facilitating during the discussion, you may want to ask one of the participants to take brief notes for you on key points that come up during the discussion. these notes will you compose your discussion summary below. since there is only one thesis to discuss, plan to spend at least 30 minutes presenting and discussing your thesis. here is an outline of the whole process for this task: 1. you will formulate a thesis and outline a set of points that support your thesis. this may include some initial research. 2. depending upon your learning situation, you may need to organize the discussion group, place, and time. 3. read the discussion guidelines for how to conduct, facilitate, or participate constructively in a discussion with your peers. 4. the group meets to discuss the theses for your learning situation: the discussions should be fair, democratic, and orderly. each member of the group should have an opportunity to express their views; all members should actively contribute to the discussion. group members should show respect for others' views and make their points politely. the goal of the discussion is to gather opposing viewpoints and additional perspectives that would support or oppose your thesis. each participant should come to the discussion prepared to the presenter deepen the understanding of the topic. 5. after you've discussed your thesis, you will complete the discussion summary section below and submit it to your teacher. leading a discussion be sure that all the participants have read the discussion guidelines before beginning your discussion. with three or four peers, start the discussion by presenting your thoughts and findings from your research. present a question to the group to begin the discussion. allow your group to ask you follow-up questions. using an audio recording tool, record the questions your team asks as well as your response to these questions. finally, consider how the discussion changed or influenced your initial research and thoughts about the discussion questions. you will submit your responses to the questions asked in the discussion summary. use your notes from your research and your discussion to you complete the summary. discussion summary part a using an audio recording tool, record the names of the discussion participants below. if you organized the discussion, using an audio recording tool, record how you know each person and summarize how you chose and invited the participants and how you organized the time and place for the discussion.

The greatest gift the sumerians gave the world was the invention of writing. the sumerians were wealthy people. they needed some way to keep track of what they owned. they began drawing pictures. they used a reed as a pen. they drew on soft pieces of clay. the soft clay was then dried in the sun. the tablet became a permanent record. later, the sumerian drawings changed into wedge-shaped symbols. this kind of writing is called cuneiform. by putting symbols together, the sumerians could write entire sentences.