Interpretive Questions: Answer all questions in complete sentences. Provide quotes/textual evidence to support your answers.
1.) Why do they boys bury the grinding ball?
Because they don't want their parents to find out and take it away.
2.) After they lose the grinding ball, why do the boys talk about it in “small words,…Kid words”? (p. 122)
They don't know how to describe it.
3.) Why does the narrator tell the story of finding the golf course years before he and Sergio find the grinding ball?
Because that story prepared them to be disappointed.
4.) Why do the narrator and Sergio stop going to the arroyo after they lose the grinding ball?
They no longer have any "treasure".
5.) Why does the narrator say that he and Sergio buried the grinding ball “because it was perfect”? (p. 126)
They thought that everything that is round is perfect.
6.) At the end of the story, why does the narrator say that the grinding ball “was the lion”? (p. 126)
Because they were the lions.
7.) What is the narrator referring to when he says that “something happened that we didn’t have a name for, but it was there nonetheless like a lion”? (p. 119)
They were maturing and came to grasp with reality.
8.) What does the narrator mean when he says he and Sergio “solved” junior high school? (p. 120)
They begin to understand the "system" and what they can and can't do.
9.) Why does the narrator say, “Nature seemed to keep pushing us around one way or another, teaching us the same thing every place we ended up”? (p. 122)
It is not always as good as it seems.
10.) What does the narrator mean when he says, “We learned to be ready for finding the grinding ball”? (p. 126)
The grinding ball is the treasure, and they learned to be ready for the twists and turns.
Vocabulary in Context:
1.) Dissect (p. 120)
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2.) Quartz (p. 121)
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3.) Sewage (p. 122)
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4.) Miscalculated (p. 123)
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5.) Treacherous (p. 123)
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Thinking Map:
Use textual evidence to show examples of when the boys know something or when the boys do not know something. Include 5 examples and support with page numbers and opinion for each column.
What They Know:
Not to ask questions
Ask certain teachers
They can't tell their parents
They are beginning to have feelings towards girls
They know when their mom is lying about what is behind the mountains
What They Don't Know:
They don't know where their feelings are coming from
They don't know what the grinding ball is
1.) Why do they boys bury the grinding ball?
Because they don't want their parents to find out and take it away.
2.) After they lose the grinding ball, why do the boys talk about it in “small words,…Kid words”? (p. 122)
They don't know how to describe it.
3.) Why does the narrator tell the story of finding the golf course years before he and Sergio find the grinding ball?
Because that story prepared them to be disappointed.
4.) Why do the narrator and Sergio stop going to the arroyo after they lose the grinding ball?
They no longer have any "treasure".
5.) Why does the narrator say that he and Sergio buried the grinding ball “because it was perfect”? (p. 126)
They thought that everything that is round is perfect.
6.) At the end of the story, why does the narrator say that the grinding ball “was the lion”? (p. 126)
Because they were the lions.
7.) What is the narrator referring to when he says that “something happened that we didn’t have a name for, but it was there nonetheless like a lion”? (p. 119)
They were maturing and came to grasp with reality.
8.) What does the narrator mean when he says he and Sergio “solved” junior high school? (p. 120)
They begin to understand the "system" and what they can and can't do.
9.) Why does the narrator say, “Nature seemed to keep pushing us around one way or another, teaching us the same thing every place we ended up”? (p. 122)
It is not always as good as it seems.
10.) What does the narrator mean when he says, “We learned to be ready for finding the grinding ball”? (p. 126)
The grinding ball is the treasure, and they learned to be ready for the twists and turns.
Vocabulary in Context:
1.) Dissect (p. 120)
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Definition (based on context/in your own words):
Synonym:
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word):
2.) Quartz (p. 121)
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Definition (based on context/in your own words):
Synonym:
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word):
3.) Sewage (p. 122)
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Definition (based on context/in your own words):
Synonym:
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word):
4.) Miscalculated (p. 123)
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Definition (based on context/in your own words):
Synonym:
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word):
5.) Treacherous (p. 123)
Quote:
Definition (based on context/in your own words):
Synonym:
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word):
Thinking Map:
Use textual evidence to show examples of when the boys know something or when the boys do not know something. Include 5 examples and support with page numbers and opinion for each column.
What They Know:
Not to ask questions
Ask certain teachers
They can't tell their parents
They are beginning to have feelings towards girls
They know when their mom is lying about what is behind the mountains
What They Don't Know:
They don't know where their feelings are coming from
They don't know what the grinding ball is