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Copywork
About This Passage
Mary Pope Osborne shows the moment of crossing into the pyramid using opposites: hot becomes cool, bright becomes dark. Then she lists what surrounds Jack: floor, ceiling, walls. The list of stone surfaces makes the reader feel pressed in by the pyramid. Students will study how a writer can use opposite adjectives and lists of nouns to make a scene feel like a transition.
Jack took a deep breath. Then he stepped out of the hot, bright sunlight into the cool, dark pyramid. The hallway was silent. Floor, ceiling, walls, everything was stone.
Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.
Discussion Questions
Narration Prompt
In your own words, tell the story of this chapter. What were the most important moments? What made them important — and how do you know?
Discussion Questions
- Annie tells Jack to stop reading and 'just go.' She gives him a little push. The pattern from book 2 is repeating: Annie pushes, Jack reads. Has either sibling learned anything from the pattern, or are they doing exactly the same thing they did before? What in the chapter suggests an answer?
- Jack reads the caption that calls pyramids 'houses of the dead.' The Egyptians built giant homes for people who were no longer alive. What does this tell us about how the Egyptians thought about death? Use the chapter as evidence.
+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide
Vocabulary Builder
Item 1
A massive stone monument with a square base and four triangular sides meeting at a point.
Item 2
A long indoor passage, usually narrow, connecting rooms inside a building.
Item 3
A wooden stick with flammable material on one end, lit to give portable light.
+ 7 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide
Critical Thinking
+ 5 more questions in the complete study guide
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