Preview
Copywork
About This Passage
These are the opening lines of the whole book — Jeff Kinney tells us right away that the story will be about a secret and about fear. The passage teaches students two important sentence shapes: a simple declarative sentence, then a longer sentence with two parts connected by 'and'. It also introduces a contraction (doesn't) and the idea that some sentences can begin with 'And' to feel conversational, like a person talking. This is a thematic opening that sets up the entire book.
My brother Rodrick knows a secret about me. And I am trying my hardest to make sure he doesn't tell anyone what it is.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell someone what happened in this chapter in order. When you get to the most important part, slow down and tell it carefully — what happened, why it mattered, and what you think about it.
Discussion Questions
- Greg keeps his summer secret hidden from his parents and his friends. Is hiding a secret like this a BRAVE thing to do, or a SCARED thing to do? What in the story makes you think so?
- Greg tells us a lot about how mean Rodrick is, but we have not seen Rodrick do those things ourselves yet — we only have Greg's word. Is Greg telling us the whole truth about Rodrick, or is he only telling us his side? What in the story makes you think so?
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Critical Thinking
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