Holes
Activities for Chapters 1 - 5
Pages 3 -20
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Vocabulary Words of the Day - perseverance and desolate
perseverance - steady persistence,
insistence, determination, dedication, commitment, endurance
Page 8 -
Stanley's father was an inventor. To be a successful inventor you
need three things: intelligence, perseverance, and just a little bit of luck.
Stanley's father was smart and had a lot of perseverance.
Once he started a project he would work on it for years, often going days without sleep.
he just never had any luck.
desolate - Devoid of inhabitants; deserted, abandoned, bare, empty, godforsaken, isolated, lonely, solitary, uninhabited, unoccupied, unused, vacant, wild
Page 11 -
The land was barren and desolate. He could see a few rundown buildings and some tents.
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I've always thought I would introduce "Holes" by doing riddles on various holes. Examples: buttonholes, a hole in one, nostrils, "holesome/wholesome", moon craters, "pigeon-holed" -- you get the drift. You could introduce it with songs such as "There's a Hole in the Bucket, or "Whole lot of shakin' going on" or "He's Got the Whole World in his hands." It covers homophones in a fun way, and gets the kids thinking. It would depend upon the audience how involved or clever I'd want to get. I had a high school study hall brainstorming this for me, and they really got into it.
MJ Wentz, reading teacher
List of Homophones http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/writing/homofone.htm
Song Titles-
| A Whole New World |
| He's Got the Whole World in His Hands |
| There's a Hole in the Bucket |
| Whole lot of shakin' going on |
Phrases
| a hole in one |
| "pigeon-holed" |
| an ace in the hole |
| ozone hole |
| dig yourself into a hole |
| The hole closed in on him. |
| black hole |
| Shut the hole in your head. |
| down a rat hole |
| Look in every hole and corner. |
| Pry into every hole. |
| I can't believe he ate the whole thing. |
| pothole |
| the whole nine yards |
| making sense as a whole |
| fun for the whole family |
| whole person - whole child |
| a whole lot easier |
| the whole story |
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Characters introduced in Chapter 5
Adults at Camp Green Lake
| Mr. Sir | the guard - wears a cowboy hat and eats sunflower seeds |
| Mr. Pedanski | the counselor - almost bald, beard, sunburned nose, nicknamed Mom |
| Warden |
Seven campers live in Camp D. Each has a nickname. To keep these characters straight in your mind I recommend making a chart similar to the one below. Leave plenty of room to add additional details about each character.
Campers from Tent D
| Lewis | Barf Bag | the boy who slept in the bed before Stanley |
| Rex | X-Ray | black, wears glasses |
| Alan | Squid | white |
| José | Magnet | Hispanic |
| Theodore | Armpit | black |
| Ricky | Zigzag | white |
| Zero | Zero | black |
Activity-
Each boy at Camp Green Lake has a nickname. Even Stanley is given a nickname later in the story. Can you guess what the nickname might be?
Divide the class up into teams. For three minutes have each team brainstorm to come up with as many famous people and their nicknames as they can think of.
Examples
| Andrew Jackson | Old Hickory |
| Elvis Presley | The King of Rock and Roll |
| Julius Erving | Dr. J |
| Thomas Jackson | Stonewall |
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