Preview
Copywork
About This Passage
These two sentences hold the camp's big idea — and the book's quiet wink at it. The first sentence sounds like a sure rule: dig holes, become good. The second sentence sits alone and whispers that it is only what 'some people thought.' As your child copies them, point out how each complete thought ends with a period, and talk together about how one small sentence can make us doubt a big one.
If you take a bad boy and make him dig a hole every day in the hot sun, it will turn him into a good boy. That was what some people thought.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Tell someone what this chapter says, in order: why boys go to Camp Green Lake, what some people think digging does, and the choice the judge gave Stanley. When you get to Stanley's choice, slow down and tell it carefully — what were his two picks, and why did he take the camp?
Discussion Questions
- Camp Green Lake says it turns bad boys into good boys: dig a hole every day in the hot sun. Then the book adds, 'That was what some people thought.' Why might the book add that second sentence instead of stopping at the big idea? Use the chapter's words to decide whether the book believes the digging idea — which words give it away?
- Stanley was given a choice: 'You may go to jail, or you may go to Camp Green Lake.' A choice usually means picking something you want. Was Stanley's choice a real choice, or did it only look like one? Use the judge's words and what this chapter says about digging in the hot sun to explain your answer.
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
When you get to pick between two or more things
Item 2
The person in a courtroom who decides what should happen
Item 3
A locked place where people are sent as punishment
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Critical Thinking
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