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Copywork
About This Passage
This is chosen because it is Stanley's first real look at the camp after he steps off the bus — and it undoes the word 'camp' in three different ways at once. First, Sachar uses the word 'desolate,' which means so empty that nothing can live there. Second, he tells us there are only two trees in the whole place, and no weeds — a bleakness that is almost comic. Third, the sign itself replaces 'Camp Green Lake' with the true legal name: JUVENILE CORRECTIONAL FACILITY. A facility is a building for a specific job, and 'correctional' means a place that punishes. Chapters 1 and 2 told us the word 'camp' was misleading; Chapter 4 finally shows us the sign that admits it.
The land was barren and desolate. He could see a few run-down buildings and some tents. Farther away there was a cabin beneath two tall trees. Those two trees were the only plant life he could see. Th...
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
Retell Chapter 4 in four to five sentences. Say where Stanley arrives, what he sees first, who greets him, what he is given to wear and carry, and what rule Mr. Sir gives him about digging. End by saying how Stanley feels at the end of this first afternoon.
Discussion Questions
- When Stanley sees Mr. Sir's rattlesnake tattoo ripple as he signs his name, and hears him say he quit smoking by eating a sack of sunflower seeds a week, the author is telling you several small things about Mr. Sir at once. What do these details — the tattoo, the seeds, the cowboy hat worn indoors, the sunglasses — add up to tell you about this man's character?
- Mr. Sir says, 'You're not in the Girl Scouts anymore,' and a few sentences later, 'This isn't a Girl Scout camp.' Why does he repeat this? What kind of place does he think Stanley thinks he is in, and what is Mr. Sir trying to do to that idea?
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Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
Empty of plants or living things — used to describe land so dry that almost nothing will grow in it.
Item 2
Lonely, bare, and abandoned-feeling — a stronger word than 'empty,' because it suggests a sadness in the emptiness.
Item 3
Having to do with punishment meant to 'correct' a person's behavior — the legal word for a prison run for young people.
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Critical Thinking
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