1. By Laura Ingalls Wilder Illustrations by Garth Williams
The Swimming Hole
Genre: Classic Historical Fiction
Author’s Purpose: Inform, Entertain
Reading Skill: Theme
By Laura Ingalls Wilder
Illustrations by Garth Williams

2. Summary
  Laura loves wading in the creek of her prairie home.  But when Ma and Pa take her to the swimming hole, she realizes that she loves swimming even more.  Laura knows that she is never supposed to go to the swimming hole without a grownup to take her.  One hot day, though, she just can't resist heading for the swimming hole's cool water.  One thing that stops her from going in the water is a fierce badger that snarls at her and frightens her into returning home.

3. Genre: Historical Fiction
Historical Fiction is fiction that takes place in the past.
The author makes up the characters and events, but the characters and events seem real.
The setting is important, and the problems and events are based on things that really did or could have happened during the time period.

4. Comprehension Skill - Theme
Theme is the underlying
meaning or “big idea” of
a story.
Sometimes an author states the theme directly.
Sometimes readers have to figure out the theme on their own, using evidence from the text to support their big idea.

5. Vocabulary Skill – Antonyms
Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings.
Many writers create sentences in which a known word may be used as a clue to the meaning of an antonym.
Examples :
I’m not happy, I’m distraught.
She waded through the shallow creed because it wasn’t too deep to cross.

6. Comprehension Review – Cause and Effect
An effect is something that happen
Ask yourself the question What happens?
A cause is something that makes an effect happen
Ask yourself Why did it happen?
Click on the words “Cause and Effect” to practice the skill.

7. More Good Stuff Vocabulary Matching Internet Workshop
Vocabulary Word Search
Vocabulary Hang Man
Vocabulary Matching
Internet Workshop
Learn About Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Ingalls Wilder Scavenger Hunt

8. More on Fables Listen to Fables Aesop's Fables
More Aesop’s Fables Webquest

9. Writing Assignment
Write a paragraph telling whether you are more like Mary or more like Laura. Give specific reasons for your answer. Be sure to proofread for punctuation and grammar.

10. Weekly Fluency Check - Read with Expression
Students should match the tone of voice to the tone of the piece. In this passage the tone of the story is light and cheery. But soon the tone becomes more serious when Laura gets dunked. This change should reflect in the readers voice.
Go to pages , beginning with “Everything was watery. . .”

11. Say It!
bristled
dugout
jointed
naughty
punish
rushes
shallow

12. More Words to Know
badger
tableland
frightful

13. bristled
had one's hair stand up straight

14. dugout a shelter formed by digging into the side of a hill
Click on the word to see real pioneer dugouts.

15. rushes
grasslike plants with hollow stems that grow in wet places

16. jointed
having places where two parts join together; having joints

17. naughty
bad; not behaving well

18. punish
to discipline; cause pain for doing something wrong

19. shallow
not deep

20. badger a gray hairy animal that feeds at night and lives in a hole
Click on the word badger to hear his sound! Give it time to load.

21. tableland
a high plain; a plateau

22. frightful
causing fear or terror

23. Long hair bristled along the animal’s back.

24. Long hair bristled along the animal’s back.

25. Laura lived in a dugout.

26. Laura lived in a dugout.

27. The jointed rushes swayed in the wind.

28. The jointed rushes swayed in the wind.

29. The naughty girl slapped William.

30. The naughty girl slapped William.

31. They passed a high, almost straight-up wall of earth called a tableland.

32. They passed a high, almost straight-up wall of earth called a tableland.

33. The man said, “I will have to punish you for hitting her.”

34. The man said, “I will have to punish you for hitting her.”

35. The pool is to shallow to swim in.

36. The pool is too shallow to swim in.

37. That was a frightful experience when I heard that awful sound.

38. That was a frightful experience when I heard that awful sound.

39. I waded out into the water where the rushes grew.

40. I waded out into the water where the rushes grew.

41. Review Questions
Why do you think Laura and Mary are told never to go near the hole?
How does Laura act at the swimming hole?
What does this say about her character?
Do you think Laura really understands why “being good could never be as hard as being watched”? Why or why not?
Why do you think Mrs. Wilder chose the prairie as the setting of her books?

42. Review Questions 2 What part does the badger play in the story?
Why do Ma and Pa not want the girls to go to the swimming hole?
What is the theme (big idea) of this story?
What troubled Laura the most after returning home after going near the swimming hole?
How does Laura probably feel about her parents?

43. Spelling Words Homophones
their
there
they’re
your
you’re
wood
would
too
two to

44. Spelling Words Homophones
close
piece
peace
thrown
throne
beat
beet
break
brake
clothes

45. Let’s review our words. Watch carefully because they will flash on the screen for just a moment. We will clap as we spell the word. Don’t be fooled this week. You have to get the correct homophone in the sentence!

46. throne

47. thrown

48. peace

49. piece

50. close

51. clothes

52. brake

53. break

54. beet

55. beat

56. you’re

57. your

58. they’re

59. there

60. their

61. to

62. two

63. too

64. would

65. wood

66. GREAT JOB!