Page 233 - SpringBoard_ELA_Grade8_Flipbook

aCTIvITy 3.11
The Wrong Side of the Fence
LearNING STraTeGIeS:
Marking the Text,
Note-taking, Graphic Organizer, Close Reading, Outlining, Summarizing, Rehearsal
About the Author
John Boyne (1971–) is an Irish writer who began his writing career creating short stories. He published The Boy in the Striped Pajamas in 2006, and this novel proceeded to win multiple international awards. The novel also was made into a film.
Fiction
from
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
My Notes
learning Targets
• AnalyzeanexcerptofaHolocaustnarrativeandpreparetalkingpointstopresent in a panel discussion.
• Deliver an oral reading and orally explain the thematic focus of a passage.
Preview
In this activity, you will read about two boys with different perspectives of the Holocaust.
Setting a Purpose for Reading
• As you read the passage, underline words and phrases that describe the setting.
• Draw squiggly lines under words and phrases that describe the boys’ characters.
• Circle unknown words and phrases. Try to determine the meaning of the words by using context clues, word parts, or a dictionary.
by John Boyne
1 Two boys were sitting on opposite sides of a fence.
2 “All I know is this,” began Shmuel. “Before we came here I lived with my mother
and father and my brother Josef in a small flat above the store where Papa makes his watches. Every morning we ate our breakfast together at seven o’clock and while we went to school, Papa mended the watches that people brought to him and made new ones too. I had a beautiful watch that he gave me but I don’t have it anymore. It had a golden face and I wound it up every night before I went to sleep and it always told the right time.”
3 “What happened to it?” asked Bruno.
4 “They took it from me,” said Shmuel.
5 “Who?”
6 “The soldiers of course,” said Shmuel as if it was the most obvious thing
in the world.
206 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 8
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