Book Bag Activity with Holes

Holes

by Louis Sachar

Read at Home
(Book Bag Activity for 6th Grade)

Materials:
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Backpack
• Small Gardening Spade
• Canteen
• Notebook
• Stationary and Pen
• Kissin' Kate Barlowe's Spiced Peaches Recipe
• Sunflower Seeds

Dear Reader:
Holes is a fascinating book that I am sure you will love! As it is a lengthy book (50 chapters), I have included more than one activity for you to do at certain points in the book! I hope that you will thoroughly enjoy the activities and your book!

Dear Parent or Reading Buddy:
Your 6th grade student will be reading Holes and engaging in several fun activities that I have created to go along with the book! Although your student may choose to read this book independently, it would also be awesome if he or she wanted to read the book aloud to you or have you read parts of the book aloud to him or her. Either way, please ensure that your student has a fun and safe experience with the following activities. Also, I would greatly appreciate it you could return the following materials at the end of the two week period allotted for the check-out of this book bag activity:
• Holes by Louis Sachar
• Back pack
• Canteen
• Small Gardening Spade

The student will use and keep the stationary, pen, sunflower seeds and peach recipe. They will also ultimately be able to keep the notebook, but must return it took school to share in class or with the teacher. The teacher will informally assess the written work and return the notebook. There is no grade on this activity, so have fun!

Thank You,
6th Grade Teacher


Activities

Activity 1: Chapters 1-9
Just as Stanley wrote home to his mother about his experience at Camp Green Lake, write a letter to your parents or guardians as if you were staying at Camp Green Lake. Would you create a wonderful story to make your loved ones feel better, even though its false? Would you tell the whole truth? Or only parts of the truth? Think about these things as you write your letter on the stationary provided in your back pack. Don't forget to send (or give) it to your loved ones, but make or write a copy to put in your notebook to share with the class and your teacher!

Just for Fun: Did you notice that Stanley's whole name is a palindrome? That means that his last name is the backwards spelling of his first name. Just look at it: Stanley Yelnats. See? Just for fun, during your free time at home or school, go to
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/brainboosters/wordplay/palindromes.html
and see some common palindromes. Can you think of any other words that are spelled the same forwards and backwards? Can you create any? Write your ideas in your notebook to share with your family and friends!


Activity 2: Chapters 10-20
In Holes, Mr. Sir's favorite snack is sunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds are certainly good to eat, but they also make beautiful flowers! Using the small gardening spade and the packet of sunflower seeds, follow the directions on the back of the seed packet and plant your seeds. Still following the directions on the seed packet, fill your canteen with water and feed your seeds!

Note: Sunflower seeds can only be planted during the spring, so if you are doing this activity before spring (or the times the seed packet tells you), you will have to wait to plant your seeds! Keep the seeds, but return the spade and canteen! If you need them in the spring, I will make sure you can borrow them again. Also, if you live somewhere where you can't plant sunflowers, it's O.K.! We have plenty of other activities to do! In the meantime, use the Internet at home or school to learn more about sunflowers and write about what you learned in your notebook to share later! Here are some sites and ideas to get you started learning about sunflowers:
• http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/h118sunflowers.html
• Type “Sunflowers” into Google and see what you find!


Activity 3: Chapters 21-40
Using the recipe below, make Kissin' Kate Barlow's famous Spiced Peaches! Make sure you get an adult to help you!

Kissin’ Kate Barlow’s Spiced Peaches
Ingredients
1 can (29 ounces) peach halves, drained (save the syrup in
a separate bowl)
2⁄3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
8 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Directions
In a saucepan, combine 2⁄3 cup of the peach syrup with all the
other ingredients except the peaches. Simmer uncovered for
10 minutes.
Pour over peaches. Cool, then cover and chill for at least 24
hours (or 110 years!).
Bring to room temperature and eat. Any leftover peaches will
keep in the refrigerator for a week.
Serves 6

Just for Fun: Kissin' Kate Barlow is only a fictional character from a story, but did you know that there were several real female outlaws who lived in the “Old West?” During your free time at home or at school, use the Internet to look up some of these famous women from the Wild West!
• Belle Starr, the Bandit Queen
• Cattle Kate
• Etta Place

Write down some notes about what you learned in your notebook to share in class and with your family and friends!


Activity 4: Chapters 40-50
Stanley and the boys dig holes at Camp Green Lake looking for buried treasure! Bury some treasure of your own and make a map to remind you of where you hid it. Bury something that is special to you (but that you don't need right now!), such as a stuffed animal, a toy, a letter, a picture, or collectibles such as seas shells, rocks, coins or playing or trading cards. If you choose to bury something that might get ruined by water or humidity, seal it in a jar or a ziplock bag. Put your item or items in a box and seal it shut. Then find a place to bury it. You can hide it somewhere in the house (an attic, a closet, etc.) or bury it somewhere outside. Don't forget to make a map and stick it somewhere where you can find it. One year from now (or longer if you choose), use your map to find your box and see how exciting it is to find your old favorite things! To make it more fun, you can give the map to a friend or family member and send them on a treasure hunt to find your box with you!


Activity 5:
Can you find the connections and fill in the holes? This book goes back and forth between characters, events and objects in the past and the present, but they are all connected to each other. Using your notebook, jot down as many of those connections as you can find. Then, using the Writing Process, write about those connections and why they are important to the story. Below is a reminder of what the Writing Process includes:
• Pre-Writing: writing down ideas and notes
• Drafting: putting your ideas and notes together
• Revising: add, delete or rearrange your paper so it makes sense to you and your reader
• Editing: fix grammar and spelling mistakes
• Publishing: write your final work and share it!

Use the rest of your notebook for this final activity. Include all stages of the Writing Process in your notebook. Your final paper should be at least one page long. At the end, you will get to share this with your class and teacher!


Modifications:
• If a student is unable to complete any of the activities due to the time of year (i.e. sunflowers) or lack of resources, don't worry! This is just for fun and an extension to education!
• If students do not have a computer or access to the Internet at home, they can use their free time at school or independent Literacy time to complete activities requiring the Internet.

Check-out Time: Two Weeks

References:
1. Kissin' Kate Barlow's Spiced Peaches http://www.scholastic.com/kids/homework/pdfs/Holes_pt6.pdf