Literature Circle Lessons Section 1

TALL TALES

Jessica Coulter, Kristy Familar
Lara Seagle, Louise Urban

Your job is to come up with five thinking questions. You want to make your group to think about what they have just read. It is important to ask thinking questions and not just questions that are right in the book. For this section you are to include two MCEOG questions, one problem/solution, one setting, and one fact/opinion.

When Stanley got to the camp he had to all of the following except:
a. Dig two holes a day
b. Watch out for yellow spotted lizards
c. Measure his hole by his shovel
d. Eat breakfast at 4:30
Answer: The answer is ‘a’ because he is asked to dig only one hole a day. Page 13.

Stanley is adviced not to run away because:
a. There are no guard towers
b. He is afraid of the guns
c. The electric fences are too high
d. The camp is the only place with water
Answer: The camp is the only place with water for 100 miles around. Page 14-15

Describe the setting of the story at Camp Green Lake.
Answer: “Stanley looked out the dirty window. He couldn’t see a lake. And hardly anything was green… The land was barren and desolate. He could see a few rundown 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. There weren’t even weeds” (pg 10-11).

What had Stanley done to be placed at Camp Green Lake? What was his solution for the reason this happened to him?
Answer: Stanley had been walking home when a pair of sneakers had “fallen from the sky.” He was running home to take them to his father when a police officer stopped him and asked him why he was running. When the officer saw the shoes, Stanley was arrested because they were Clyde Livingston’s shoes that he had donated to charity (pg 23-24). Stanley blamed all this on his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather (pg. 7).

Do you think that Stanley was guilty of the crime?
Answer: I think Stanley was at the wrong place at the wrong time. He was an innocent by-stander who happened by on a old pair of shoes. How was he suppose to know they were Sweet Feet’s shoes (pg. 22)?

Your job is to choose four passages from the reading that you want to discuss with your group. For this section you should include a passage that is descriptive, sad, foreshadowing, and interesting.

1. Page nine paragraph two
2. “Everyone in…before him.”
3. This is a good example of an interesting passage because it describes what type of family from which Stanley comes.
4. Why would Stanley’s family continue on with this silly arrangement of names?
Answer: Stanley’s family is a very simple family and they enjoy the good and simple things in life. One of them includes naming their children the same name forward and backwards to keep things easy and simple.
5. The author included this in the story because it shows what type of family Stanley is part of. It demonstrates a little bit of Stanley’s character and his family.

1. Page 3 paragraph two
2. “There used…lived there.”
3. This is a good example a foreshadowing passage because it describes how the town and the lake disappeared. It compares the lake to the town and people.
4. Why is it important to know what happened to the town of Green Lake?
Answer: It is important to know what happened to Green Lake because these boys are being punished in the same weather and land that the biggest lake in Texas dried up in. This punishment is beyond belief for these young boys.
5. This passage was included because it is telling what happened to the town. It is important in this story because this lakebed is now where young boys are now digging holes everyday. If the town shriveled up and died, one can only imagine what is happening to the boys.

1. Page 7 paragraph one
2. He didn’t…both of them.
3. This is a sad description of the pain and suffering that Stanley had to go through at home before he was sent off to Camp Green Lake.
4. How can Stanley’s weight be important to the rest of the story? Do you think this is a foreshadowing of something important that will happen later on in the story?
Answer: Stanley’s weight is important because he was not fit to do the work at the camp. Perhaps it is foreshadowing that he will become physically fit and do something to prove his innocence.
5. Stanley was not physically fit to be doing the work that he had to do at Camp Green Lake. This passage was put in the story to show that at home he was not accepted and here he was looking for acceptance.

1. Page 26 paragraph one
2. “The shovel…bones rattle”
3. This is an example of a descriptive passage. Stanley is forced to dig holes and this describes his first encounter with the lake.
4. Describe how disappointed Stanley must feel to be punished in this way.
Answer: Stanley knows that he is innocent and realizes that he has a hard and terrible day in front of him. He is probably feeling infuriated with the system that they did not believe him when he told the truth.
5. This is another passage that demonstrates how unprepared Stanley is for the torture he is being put through. The soft fleshy hands can be compared to that of a baby and that is what Stanley is like, a baby, because he is innocent and naive.

Your job is to pick out five words that you find interesting or are unfamiliar with. For each word you will need to write the page and paragraph number where the word is found, the definition of the word, the part of speech, the sentence from the reading containing that word, and an explanation telling how this word adds meaning to the story. Finally, you must make a wizard card. Be sure to include the word, page and paragraph number on one side and on the other include a picture, the word and the definition of the word.

For this section you should find the following words:

stifling Page 6 paragraph 3 line 4
desolate Page 11 paragraph 4 line 1

wearily Page 17 paragraph 8 line 1

testified Page 23 paragraph 1 line 1

despicable Page 25 paragraph 3 line 1

1. Stifling – page 6 paragraph 3

2. “The bus wasn’t air-conditioned, and the hot, heavy air was as stifling as the handcuffs.”

3. The word stifling is a verb and I think it means tight or uncomfortable.

4. Adj. Very hot or stuffy almost to the point of suffocating.

5. This word adds meaning to the story because it describes the setting of the book. It is describing the weather and how uncomfortable it is at Camp Green Lake.

1. Desolate – page 11 paragraph 4

2. “The land was barren and desolate.”

3. The word is an adjective and I think it means lonely and there are not a lot of people around.

4. Adj. Deserted and lifeless

5. This is another word that describes the kind of life that Stanley is about to enter into. There is no one else around except for the few other “inmates” that had to work in this area too.

1. Wearily – page 17, paragraph 8

2. “The boys glanced wearily at Stanley.”

3. The word is an adjective and I think it means suspiciously or angrily.

4. Adj. To be tired or physically fatigued

5. The author includes this word in the passage because it is Stanley’s first impression of the boys who live at Camp Green Lake. Although they have been there for long periods, the work is very draining on them and they cannot even be slightly enthusiastic about a new tent mate.

1. Testified – page 23 paragraph 1

2. “Clyde Livingston testified that they were his sneakers and that he had donated them to help raise money for the homeless shelter.”

3. I think this word is a verb and that it means he told in court what had happened to him.

4. Verb To tell the truth under oath.

5. Testified is included in the story because Clyde Livingston had told the truth under oath. He stated that he had donated the shoes. Because of his testimony, Stanley is put into “jail.”

1. Despicable – page 25 paragraph 3

2. “The judge had called Stanley’s crime despicable.”

3. This word is an adjective and I think it means horrible and unforgivable.

4. Adj. It is horrible and is worthy of content or scorn

5. The judge considers what Stanley did as awful. He believes that it bad enough to send him off to jail or to terrible Camp Green Lake.

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Your job is to choose an interesting character from the section you read. You will find three character traits and proof of that trait, the character’s goals, and the problem and solution of the character. Finally you must illustrate your
character.

Character Traits:
Lonely - Page 7 paragraph 1 - Stanley says that he did not have any friends back home and he was often teased by his classmates as well as his teachers.

Unlucky - Page 7 paragraphs 4-6 - He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and it is something that is obviously part of his family and all of their bad luck because of his "no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather.

Honest - Page 25 paragraph 2 - Stanley told the truth in the courtroom even though he knew that if he had lied just a little he probably would have gotten a lesser sentence or not have been punished at all.

Goal: Stanley's goal is to survive Camp Green Lake. He realizes that it is not going to be easy here and he is a little scared and worried about what lays ahead of him.

Problem: Stanley was at the wrong place at the wrong time and was convicted of stealing Clyde Livingston's shoes that he donated to charity. He now has to serve a term at Camp Green Lake digging holes to "build character."

Solution: He blames his bad luck on his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather. He is comforted in this thought and he tries to make the best out of his situation.

Your job is to draw something that is related to the story. It can be anything from a sketch or cartoon to a flow chart or diagram. After finishing your picture, write about your drawing and include: who or what the picture is about, where the picture takes place, when it is happening, and why you drew it.

I drew a picture of Camp Green Lake when Stanley first gets there and sees the lake for the first time. The setting of the story seems to be very important to what the book is about and how it will influence who Stanley becomes. It seems interesting and exciting to think about why there are so many holes on the lake bed and what signifcance the holes will have on the rest of the story. Why arer they there and what do they mean?