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Copywork
About This Passage
This passage is the quiet heart of the chapter's argument. Sachar does not tell us the Warden is desperate — he shows us by describing how she rearranges the entire camp around Group D's hole. Notice the specific choices: she stays all day (her time is precious), the water truck stays parked (resources redirected), nobody is ever thirsty (a reward that also keeps the boys digging without break). Copying this passage trains the reader to hear how an author reveals hidden urgency through logistics rather than through exclamation.
The Warden remained at the site for the remainder of the day, along with Mr. Pendanski and Mr. Sir, who showed up after a while. Occasionally Mr. Sir would leave to take water to the other groups of c...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 15, tracing the chain of operational changes the Warden introduces: she pitchforks X-Ray's dirt pile personally, reorganizes the boys into digger-and-sifter pairs with wheelbarrows, remains at the site all day with Mr. Sir and Mr. Pendanski, and ensures the boys are constantly watered. End with Zigzag's account of hidden cameras and Stanley's final decision to memorize the real location of the gold tube.
Discussion Questions
- The Warden 'poked [the pitchfork] through X-Ray's dirt pile, to see if anything else might have been buried in there as well.' Why does this small action — checking X-Ray's work personally — reveal more about the Warden's priorities than anything she says in this chapter?
- The Warden rearranges the digging from one-boy holes into two-boy operations with wheelbarrows. What does this operational change reveal about what she believes 'building character' was really for all along?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Stayed in a particular place or condition; continued to be present.
Item 2
The part that is left over after other parts are taken away or have passed.
Item 3
Happening from time to time; not often, but not never either.
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Critical Thinking
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