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?
1. The two boys bury the grinding ball because they
don't want the mom to figure out about the grinding ball because the mom might
take it away from them.
2.) After they lose the grinding ball, why do the
boys talk about it in “small words,…Kid words”? (p. 122)
2. After they lose
the grinding ball, the boys talk about it in "small words,...Kid words" because
they don't really know what it is so they are just using their imagination to
say what it is to them.
3.) Why does the narrator tell the story of
finding the golf course years before he and Sergio find the grinding ball?
3.
The narrator tells the story of finding the golf course years before he and
Sergio find the grinding ball because the narrator is getting them ready to be
disappointed. The two boys don't want others to take away their fun. They find
the golf course and they think it's heaven. The men show up with their "sticks,"
and they realize it's a golf course. The men take away their Heaven and cup
holder.
4.) Why do the narrator and Sergio stop going to the arroyo after
they lose the grinding ball?
4. The narrator and Sergio stop going to the
arroyo after they lose the grinding ball because they start to realize that it's
just a sewage and because they don't have anymore treasures and they don't have
anything else to hide.
5.) Why does the narrator say that he and Sergio
buried the grinding ball “because it was perfect”? (p. 126)
5. The narrator
says that he and Sergio bury the grinding ball "because it was perfect," because
they think that if something is "round," then it's considered
perfect.
6.) At the end of the story, why does the narrator say that the
grinding ball “was the lion”? (p. 126)
6. The kids would be the lions because
they are the "king of the jungle" also known as the "king of the golf court."
They bury their treasure so that no one else would find it.
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)
7. They
are maturing. They realize that what they thought was treasure or special, isn't
actually special.
8.) What does the narrator mean when he says he and
Sergio “solved” junior high school? (p. 120)
8. They start to understand how
everything works at school. They understand what the words are, so they don't
ask or talk about them. They go to the creek to talk about things that they
can't talk about in school, such as girls and crushes.
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)
9. Nature is
telling them that things are not always as good as it seems. Their definition of
things as young kids, change as they grow up.
10.) What does the narrator
mean when he says, “We learned to be ready for finding the grinding ball”? (p.
126)
10. The grinding ball is their treasure. They are learning to be ready
for disappointment and how to deal with new and other surprises that they might
stumble upon.
Vocabulary in Context:
1.) Dissect (p.
120)
Quote: "At the very very top of our growing lungs, what we would do
down there was shout every dirty word we could thing of, in every combination we
could come up with, and we would yell about girls, and all the things we wanted
to do with them, as loud as we could––we didn't know what we wanted to do with
them, just things––and we would yell about teachers, and how we loved some of
them, like Miss Crevelone, and how we wanted to dissect some of them, making
signs of the cross, like priests, and we would yell this stuff over and over
because it felt good, we couldn't explain why, it just felt good and for the
first time in our lives there was nobody to tell us we couldn't." (p.
120)
Definition (based on context/in your own words): to take
apart
Synonym: cut
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word): We
had to dissect a frog in science class today.
2.) Quartz (p.
121)
Quote: "That's the way it works with little kids, like all the
polished quartz, the tons of it we had collected piece by piece over the years."
(p. 121)
Definition (based on context/in your own words):
mineral
Synonym: rock
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word):
The quartz that we found were in a cave.
3.) Sewage (p.
122)
Quote: "But every third of fourth or fifth day, the sewage treatment
plant that was, we found out, upstream, would release whatever it was that it
released, and we would never know exactly what day that was, and a person really
couldn't tell right off by looking at the water, not every time, not so a person
could get out in time." (p. 122)
Definition (based on context/in your own
words): trash
Synonym: garbage
Sentence (underline the vocabulary
word): The sewage pipe smelled of rotten eggs.
4.) Miscalculated (p.
123)
Quote: "We found a thousand ways to explain what happened on those
other days, constructing elaborate stories about the neighborhood dogs, and
hadn't she, my mother, miscalculated her step before, too?
Definition
(based on context/in your own words): wrong calculations
Synonym:
misjudge
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word): I miscalculated the
formula for y= mx + b.
5.) Treacherous (p. 123)]
Quote: "We had
read the books, after all; we knew about bridges and castles and
wildtreacherousraging alligatormouth rivers." (p. 123)
Definition (based
on context/in your own words): seeking adventure
Synonym:
dangerous
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word): A vacationer was
swept away by the treacherous currents.
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.
The boys know..
• the mom will take away
their "treasure"/ not to tell their mom
• not to ask questions in school
•
they are maturing
• different views of girls
• things aren't as perfect as
they think
• the mom is lying to them of what exists over the hills and
mountains
• the golf court, "Heaven"
• they know what teachers they like
and which they don't
The boys don't know...
• they don't know about
golf
• they don't know that the grinding ball isn't perfect
• they don't
know that the "arroyo" is actually a sewage
• they don't know where their
feelings are coming from
• they don't know what the grinding ball is
quotes/textual evidence to support your answers.
1.) Why do they boys
bury the grinding ball?
1. The two boys bury the grinding ball because they
don't want the mom to figure out about the grinding ball because the mom might
take it away from them.
2.) After they lose the grinding ball, why do the
boys talk about it in “small words,…Kid words”? (p. 122)
2. After they lose
the grinding ball, the boys talk about it in "small words,...Kid words" because
they don't really know what it is so they are just using their imagination to
say what it is to them.
3.) Why does the narrator tell the story of
finding the golf course years before he and Sergio find the grinding ball?
3.
The narrator tells the story of finding the golf course years before he and
Sergio find the grinding ball because the narrator is getting them ready to be
disappointed. The two boys don't want others to take away their fun. They find
the golf course and they think it's heaven. The men show up with their "sticks,"
and they realize it's a golf course. The men take away their Heaven and cup
holder.
4.) Why do the narrator and Sergio stop going to the arroyo after
they lose the grinding ball?
4. The narrator and Sergio stop going to the
arroyo after they lose the grinding ball because they start to realize that it's
just a sewage and because they don't have anymore treasures and they don't have
anything else to hide.
5.) Why does the narrator say that he and Sergio
buried the grinding ball “because it was perfect”? (p. 126)
5. The narrator
says that he and Sergio bury the grinding ball "because it was perfect," because
they think that if something is "round," then it's considered
perfect.
6.) At the end of the story, why does the narrator say that the
grinding ball “was the lion”? (p. 126)
6. The kids would be the lions because
they are the "king of the jungle" also known as the "king of the golf court."
They bury their treasure so that no one else would find it.
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)
7. They
are maturing. They realize that what they thought was treasure or special, isn't
actually special.
8.) What does the narrator mean when he says he and
Sergio “solved” junior high school? (p. 120)
8. They start to understand how
everything works at school. They understand what the words are, so they don't
ask or talk about them. They go to the creek to talk about things that they
can't talk about in school, such as girls and crushes.
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)
9. Nature is
telling them that things are not always as good as it seems. Their definition of
things as young kids, change as they grow up.
10.) What does the narrator
mean when he says, “We learned to be ready for finding the grinding ball”? (p.
126)
10. The grinding ball is their treasure. They are learning to be ready
for disappointment and how to deal with new and other surprises that they might
stumble upon.
Vocabulary in Context:
1.) Dissect (p.
120)
Quote: "At the very very top of our growing lungs, what we would do
down there was shout every dirty word we could thing of, in every combination we
could come up with, and we would yell about girls, and all the things we wanted
to do with them, as loud as we could––we didn't know what we wanted to do with
them, just things––and we would yell about teachers, and how we loved some of
them, like Miss Crevelone, and how we wanted to dissect some of them, making
signs of the cross, like priests, and we would yell this stuff over and over
because it felt good, we couldn't explain why, it just felt good and for the
first time in our lives there was nobody to tell us we couldn't." (p.
120)
Definition (based on context/in your own words): to take
apart
Synonym: cut
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word): We
had to dissect a frog in science class today.
2.) Quartz (p.
121)
Quote: "That's the way it works with little kids, like all the
polished quartz, the tons of it we had collected piece by piece over the years."
(p. 121)
Definition (based on context/in your own words):
mineral
Synonym: rock
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word):
The quartz that we found were in a cave.
3.) Sewage (p.
122)
Quote: "But every third of fourth or fifth day, the sewage treatment
plant that was, we found out, upstream, would release whatever it was that it
released, and we would never know exactly what day that was, and a person really
couldn't tell right off by looking at the water, not every time, not so a person
could get out in time." (p. 122)
Definition (based on context/in your own
words): trash
Synonym: garbage
Sentence (underline the vocabulary
word): The sewage pipe smelled of rotten eggs.
4.) Miscalculated (p.
123)
Quote: "We found a thousand ways to explain what happened on those
other days, constructing elaborate stories about the neighborhood dogs, and
hadn't she, my mother, miscalculated her step before, too?
Definition
(based on context/in your own words): wrong calculations
Synonym:
misjudge
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word): I miscalculated the
formula for y= mx + b.
5.) Treacherous (p. 123)]
Quote: "We had
read the books, after all; we knew about bridges and castles and
wildtreacherousraging alligatormouth rivers." (p. 123)
Definition (based
on context/in your own words): seeking adventure
Synonym:
dangerous
Sentence (underline the vocabulary word): A vacationer was
swept away by the treacherous currents.
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.
The boys know..
• the mom will take away
their "treasure"/ not to tell their mom
• not to ask questions in school
•
they are maturing
• different views of girls
• things aren't as perfect as
they think
• the mom is lying to them of what exists over the hills and
mountains
• the golf court, "Heaven"
• they know what teachers they like
and which they don't
The boys don't know...
• they don't know about
golf
• they don't know that the grinding ball isn't perfect
• they don't
know that the "arroyo" is actually a sewage
• they don't know where their
feelings are coming from
• they don't know what the grinding ball is