Chapter 12 Questions

1. What kind of teacher do you think Tansy is?  What in the book made you think that?

2. Who came to the school?  How is she described in this chapter?

3. Why is she mad? What does she threaten?

4. Who do you think is doing all of these "pranks"?  What does Russell finally convince Charlie to do?

Chapter 11 Questions

1. What does the "Sweet Singer" do?  Who do you think it is?  Why?

2. What does Glenn bring to eat?  How does he get them?

3. What does Tansy get in the mail?  Who sent it to her?  Why do you think he does that?

4. What major event happened in the schoolhouse?  How does Tansy deal with it?

Chapter 10 Questions

1. Where were they going at the beginning of the chapter?  Why?

2. Describe the Tarboxes.

3. What happened to JW?  Who helped?

4. Who was the new student?  Why was it important they got another student?

Chapter 9 Questions

1. How did Tansy get Russell to confess to lighting the privy on fire?  What was Russell going to do to repay?

2. Russell keeps bringing up words they've been learning in school.  What words has he been using?

3. Why did Lloyd miss Miss Myrt? :)

4. How did their 2nd day at school go?  What new subject were they going to start?

Chapter 8 Questions

Q1 - On p. 73: What is a "trough" and what is a "privy"?  On the bottom of p. 76 it mentions the chapter title.  What does that mean?

Q2 - Who is Beulah (aka Little Britches)?   What does she do on the first day?  How does Tansy get her to stay?

Q3 - How did Tansy teach the older kids spelling and the little kid her letters?

Q4 - What was the trick(s) that Russel tried to play on Tansy?  Did they work?

Chapter 7

Q1 - The word "orthography" comes up on page 60 (and continues to throughout parts of the book).  What does it mean?  What did Russel do that showed his orthography needed improvement?

Q2 - Who got Miss Myrt's job?  Was she qualified?  Why did she get the job?  How did the boys feel about it?  (p. 61)

Q3 - Who are the kids who will be in school?  Is that all they need?  Why? (p. 64 - 65)

Q4 - Describe the details of what the school looked like (p. 65 - 66).  Draw a picture to show what the classroom was like.

Q5 - What all did the boys do with the ladder?  What was dad's role in this?

Chapter 6

1. What was the next bad omen?

2. What happened with Eugene Hammond? How did they "make history?"

3. What were the prettiest things the boys had ever seen?

4. What thoughts scare Russell at the end of the chapter?

Chapter 5

1. Who was everyone in their family? Explain why.

2. What is going on during the funeral?  Is this similar or different from funerals or church services you've been to?  Why?

3. Who does the preacher blame Miss Myrt's death on? What does he compare them to?

4. What does an "omen" mean?  What was the evil omen?

Chapter 4 Questions

Q1 - p. 30 - "When a girl mixes into things, even Tansy, you don't know who your pals are."  What does that quote mean?  Do you think it's true?
Q2 - Why did he think the snake in the hen house was an evil omen?
Q3 - Why did Baz enjoy digging the grave?
Q 4 - How do you think Tansy feels about Miss Myrt?  Why?

Chapter 3 Questions

Vocabulary: Find the page number, the sentence it was in, AND the definition!
V1 - Speculated -
V2 - Cadavers -
V3 - Solace -
V4 - "kicked the bucket" -

Comprehension:
C1 - Who was JW?  What did it stand for?
C2 - p. 15 - Why is this a "perfect moment"?  What would be your perfect moment?
C3 - What was the story Russel tells Lloyd?
C4 - What happened on page 20?
C5 - What is the party line?  How did they use it?

Chapter 1 and 2 Questions

Answer a vocab word and a question!

Words/Phrases to talk about and try to define:

1. southpaw -
2. walloping -
3. threshing machine -
4. "red-letter day"

Questions:
1. What is Russell's goal? Why doesn't he like school?
2. Is this community similar or different from yours?  How do you know? Is it rural or urban?
3. Is there any humor in these first two chapters?  What is funny?
4. Why were the boys working so hard?

Before Reading Questions

1. Who is the author?  What are other novels he has written for young adults?  What genre does it seem like most books are?

2. What is a one-room schoolhouse?  What kinds of problems might come up in a story about a one-room schoolhouse?

3. The setting of this book is in Indiana in the early 1900's.  What was going on in America during that time?  (Inventions, historical events, etc.)

4. Based on the title and cover, what problems do you think will happen in this book?

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