make him dig a hole every day in the hot sunTo break up and lift earth, as with a shovel.
Copywork
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.
Read the passage aloud. What does the short second sentence do to the long one before it?
Discussion
Narration Tell back what the narrator says about the campers at Camp Green Lake, what some people thought, and what the judge said to Stanley.
- The narrator opens by guessing what the reader is asking: why would anyone go to Camp Green Lake? Why might the author begin this way? Author's choice
- Some people thought that digging a hole every day in the hot sun would turn a bad boy into a good one. What do you think? Moral reasoning
- The chapter tells us Stanley was from a poor family and had never been to camp before. What do those two facts suggest about him? Inference
- Most campers weren’t given a choice, but Stanley was. Who has it harder, the campers with no choice or the one who had to choose? Character
Make a Connection Tell about a time you were given a choice between two things you did not want. How did you decide?
Vocabulary
- dig
- turn
it will turn him into a good boy
To change into something else.- thought
That was what some people thought.
Believed or supposed.- probably
The reader is probably asking
Likely, though not certain.- campers
Most campers weren’t given a choice.
Boys who stay at a camp.- choice
Stanley Yelnats was given a choice.
The chance to pick one thing or another.- judge
The judge said
The person in a court who decides what happens to someone.- jail
You may go to jail
A place where people are locked up as punishment.- poor
Stanley was from a poor family.
Having very little money.
Critical thinking
- Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the narrator seems to feel about the idea that digging holes turns a bad boy into a good one.
- The judge says, “You may go to jail, or you may go to Camp Green Lake.” Using two pieces of evidence, explain what the judge's words show about the two places.
- Camp Green Lake is a camp for bad boys. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what “bad boy” seems to mean in this chapter.