Welcome to our Term 3 Novel Study: Holes by Louis Sachar
Every week, there will be activities placed on this page to help you explore elements of text, themes, symbols, characters, quotes, setting and plot. Alongside these activities is your independent Radical Readers Bingo Board- individual projects of your choice. Enjoy this fabulous book, and remember, no watching the movie until the end and please don't read past the chapters specified each week. Have Fun!
Week 1: WALT to describe the setting:
Check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvbqhdj3nYY.
After reading the first chapter, visualise what Camp Green Lake looks like in your head. Now have a go drawing it. Explain underneath your picture why you have included certain elements, the colours you have chosen and what you think it represents.
Questions to ponder:
What is a theme?
What is perseverance?
Check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvbqhdj3nYY.
After reading the first chapter, visualise what Camp Green Lake looks like in your head. Now have a go drawing it. Explain underneath your picture why you have included certain elements, the colours you have chosen and what you think it represents.
Questions to ponder:
What is a theme?
What is perseverance?
Week 2: WALT to analysis a quote
You can learn a lot from a quote by explaining it in four parts, called a "quote analysis:"
Quote: “If it makes you feel better to call me Mom, Theodore, go ahead and call me Mom.”
Characters: Mr. Pendanski says this to one of the boys.
Paraphrase: If you want to call me Mom, it's okay with me.
What does it tell you? Mr. Pendanski wants them to feel comfortable with him. He doesn't want to scare them.
Now it's your turn! Analyze this quote from page 53: "If anybody gets a day off, it should be me. That's only fair, right?"
You can learn a lot from a quote by explaining it in four parts, called a "quote analysis:"
- Write the quote and the page it comes from. Put it in quotation marks.
- Explain who said those words, and to whom they were talking.
- Paraphrase the quote (put in your own words).
- Explain what this quote tells you about this character or the plot of the story.
What kind of person would say these things? Why would they say it? What would they have to know, or be thinking about, to say it?
Quote: “If it makes you feel better to call me Mom, Theodore, go ahead and call me Mom.”
Characters: Mr. Pendanski says this to one of the boys.
Paraphrase: If you want to call me Mom, it's okay with me.
What does it tell you? Mr. Pendanski wants them to feel comfortable with him. He doesn't want to scare them.
Now it's your turn! Analyze this quote from page 53: "If anybody gets a day off, it should be me. That's only fair, right?"
Week 2: WALT to identify and explain flashbacks
Flashbacks Many books tell a story by starting at the beginning, telling you what happened, and ending at the end.
Holes does not do this. We find out why Stanley is at Camp Green Lake after he gets there, and little by little we find out more about what happened.
Holes also has something called flashbacks. In the middle of the story, FLASH! we are zapped back in time and we find out about things that happened a long time ago that are important to Stanley, even though he doesn't know it. We don't really know how they will be important -- but we can make inferences about them.
Whenever there are extra blank lines on the page, ask yourself "why??" Usually the setting is changing to a different time or place, or a lot of time passes by. Sometimes the pause is because something very important has happened or been said.
In chapter 7, what is the first sentence of the "flashback to his grandfather's time?
What is the setting (time and place)?
Flashbacks Many books tell a story by starting at the beginning, telling you what happened, and ending at the end.
Holes does not do this. We find out why Stanley is at Camp Green Lake after he gets there, and little by little we find out more about what happened.
Holes also has something called flashbacks. In the middle of the story, FLASH! we are zapped back in time and we find out about things that happened a long time ago that are important to Stanley, even though he doesn't know it. We don't really know how they will be important -- but we can make inferences about them.
Whenever there are extra blank lines on the page, ask yourself "why??" Usually the setting is changing to a different time or place, or a lot of time passes by. Sometimes the pause is because something very important has happened or been said.
In chapter 7, what is the first sentence of the "flashback to his grandfather's time?
What is the setting (time and place)?