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.”
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
what you are saying.
Who is the protagonist, (good guy) and
what do they want?
(Just a few words is fine)
Who is the antagonist, (bad guy) and
what do they want?
(Just a few words is fine)
Describe the type of conflict that is used
in this book. How do you know?
Story Text Story Audio
Protagonist Margot
name(s)
Antagonist Children
name(s)
In my opinion, the protagonist of the story is found as Margot, who was born Protagonist Sun
on Earth. When Margot said “she heard them stir, in remembrance, and she wants Warmness
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.
The children, especially William, can be seen as the antagonist here. The Antagonist Venging
drops of rain that keep on pouring down on Venus filled them with fear, envy, wants Sun
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.
The conflict in this book can fall in the category of Person vs. Society, as we Type of Person
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
from the beginning to the end? How do
you know?
Is there an object or symbol in the book
that carries particular significance?
Examples:
Hunger Games: Bow/Arrow or Mockingjay
Ready Player one: Keys
Harry Potter 4: Wand, Glasses, or the Cup
Where and when does the book take
place? (Setting)
Describe a moral or lesson of the book.
Describe some of the emotions you felt
while reading this book
Margot in the beginning was wary of her presence around other children, Character Anger
fearing how they would hurt her if she were to talk about the sun; and change Suppressed
3 words or less
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.
The sun and rain are two very important symbols in this book, as the sun Object or Sun
represents happiness, warmness, and light, while the rain symbolizes symbol Rain
3 words or less
isolation, sadness, loneliness, and darkness. On Venus, all the children have Closet
ever seen was the “loud wet world”(All Summer in a Day, pg.2) and “the
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.
Taking place on Venus, the second planet from the Sun, the story is on a Setting Venus
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).
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).
While reading this book, I felt pity and empathy for Margot and the children Emotion(s) Pity
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.

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