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Copywork
About This Passage
This is chosen because Sachar opens his book with a sentence that tells the reader something is wrong: there is no lake at Camp Green Lake. The whole setting has died — the lake, the town, the people — and then the heat arrives, hovering at ninety-five. Sachar does not soften any of it. These opening lines quietly tell us we are entering a place that has already lost almost everything, and what is left is punishing.
There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. There once was a very large lake here, the largest lake in Texas. That was over a hundred years ago. Now it is just a dry, flat wasteland. There used to be a town ...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 1 in three or four sentences. Start with Camp Green Lake, explain the heat and the hammock rule, and end with the warning about the yellow-spotted lizard.
Discussion Questions
- Sachar tells us 'The Warden owns the shade' before we have even met the Warden. What does the text tell you about the kind of person the Warden might be, just from this one sentence?
- Look at the lines 'Usually.' and 'Always.' — each set on its own line. What is the text doing by giving these single words an entire paragraph? How does the rhythm change the meaning?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A dry, empty area where almost nothing can grow or live — what Camp Green Lake has become since the water left.
Item 2
Became wrinkled, small, and dried out, like a grape turning into a raisin — the town shriveled when the lake dried up.
Item 3
Stays floating near one spot without dropping or moving far — the daytime temperature hovers around ninety-five.
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Critical Thinking
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