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Copywork
About This Passage
Selected because Lobel builds a single sentence by stacking failures into a structure that ends in success. Notice the rhythm: each phrase repeats what came before and adds one new piece. The sentence is also a small lesson in punctuation — Lobel uses commas to keep the parts of the list separate while letting the whole sentence rush forward. Frog is doing math here, but the math is also a kind of joke and a kind of philosophy.
"If a running try did not work, and a running and waving try did not work, and a running, waving, and jumping try did not work, I knew that a running, waving, jumping, and shouting try just had to wor...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell the story of this chapter. What were the most important moments? What made them important — and how do you know?
Discussion Questions
- Lobel could have written the story so that the kite flew on the first try. He could have written it so that the kite never flew at all. Instead, he gives us four tries — and the fourth try works only because it includes everything that came before. What does this structure tell us about what Lobel thinks success actually looks like?
- Toad gives up after every single try. He runs back to Frog and says, "This kite will not fly," "This kite is a joke," "This kite is junk." Frog never gives up. What does this difference between the two friends tell us about what Toad WANTS — and what does it tell us about why he needs Frog?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A wide, open field of grass and wildflowers, often a good place for kite-flying because nothing blocks the wind.
Item 2
A word meaning "maybe" or "possibly"; Frog uses it to suggest each new technique without claiming he knows it will work.
Item 3
Worthless or broken-down objects fit only for the trash; the harshest word the robins use to push Toad toward giving up.
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Critical Thinking
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