A Swim At Midnight Chapter 2

Category: A Swim at Midnight

Billy Tea 470Photo from journeyjottings.com blog“We willWe’ll    pull the boat right up the creek beforebefore we leave here,” said Mr Gale. They got out and wadedwaded alongalong the muddymuddy banks of the creek, tuggingtugging the boat as far as they could. Then they took their haversackshaversacks and set off over the hill to Paekaraka. It was a sandysandy beach on the coast, where they had been for severalseveral picnicspicnics and fishingfishing trips. When they got there, they made a fire to boil the billy,billy, and went for a swim. Tim and Ricki found some big logs that would float, and had fun pretendingpretending they were rafts. SometimesSometimes the logs rolleded right over and tippedtipped them off, but that was fun too.

“Tea is ready!” calleded Mrs Gale. Mia, Ricki and Tim did not want to come out of the water, but they were hungry,hungry, and soon everyoneeveryone was sittingsitting close to the fire, eatingeating stew. Mrs Gale had brought it in an extraextra billy, and heateded it over the fire. When that was gone, there was brown bread and butter,butter, lettucelettuce and bananasbananas with applesapples for dessert.dessert.

Comprehension

Summarise what has happened so far in this narrative.

Clarify these words: creek, waded, banks, haversacks, coast, billy, raft, dessert.

Retell what has happened in this first chapter.

Make inferences and give opinions about:

  • Why they pull the boat up the creek.
  • What more we find out about Paekaraka.
  • How a log is like and different from a raft.
  • Why the logs would roll over sometimes.
  • Why stew would be a good thing for a picnic like this.

 

What prediction can you make about what might happen next?

What question could you ask about this chapter?

Visualise these uses of descriptive language: waded along the muddy banks of the cree; tugging the boat; a sandy beach on the coast; the logs rolled right over and tipped them off; everyone sitting close to the fire, eating stew.

Make a connection with this chapter.

Word Study

Verb endings: What happens when we add s, ed or ing to: wade, tug, make, tip, sit, eat, buy.

Other affixes: What happens when we add other prefixes and suffixes like y to these words: mud, sand.

What two words make up these compound words: along, sometimes, everyone.

What two words make up these contractions here: we'll.