1 · Dual-timeline storyboard
Create six paired frames. Each past event must face its present consequence. Add a caption explaining every link.
Quality constraint: no frame may be merely decorative.
Stage 1
Reconstruct the chronology
Assign each event its position from 1 to 8. Use story time, not the order in which Sachar reveals it.
Evidence rule
Earlier causes must come before their consequences. The boys begin digging before Stanley discovers the gold tube.
Start with the relationship that existed before Katherine became an outlaw. Finish with the object Stanley uncovers during the camp’s digging.
Stage 2
Connect the evidence
Match each person, object or place to the role it plays in the mystery.
Keep this source open
The gold tube carries the initials KB. Stanley Yelnats I was robbed by Kissin’ Kate. The dry basin holds the buried past. The holes reveal that the Warden is searching for something.
Ask what job each clue performs. Is it a victim, an object from the past, a location or evidence of a search?
Stage 3
Build the cause chain
Choose the consequence that completes each link. A legacy is not merely old: it continues to act in the present.
For each link, identify what changed immediately afterwards. Do not jump straight from Sam’s death to Stanley’s camp experience.
Stage 4
Confirmed fact or reasonable inference?
Label what the novel has explicitly revealed. Keep reasonable suspicions separate from confirmed information.
Reader discipline
A strong reader may infer a connection before the novel confirms it. Write fact only when the text has made the information definite.
Look for the difference between “the novel states” and “the clues strongly suggest”. Two statements are facts and two are inferences.
Stage 5
Close the case
Answer the central question using the chain you have reconstructed. Your writing is saved only in this browser.
Central question
How does Kate Barlow’s robbery of Stanley’s great-grandfather connect to Stanley’s experiences at Camp Green Lake?
legacyconsequentlydecades laterthis revealsconfirmedinference
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Investigation complete
Extension bank
Choose one substantial task and complete it in your exercise book. Make deliberate choices and annotate what you have done.
Complete this work in your exercise book
Write the title of your chosen task, then complete the full response neatly in your book. You do not need to type it into this site.
2 · Kate’s private confession
Write 300–400 words in Kate’s voice, moving between Miss Katherine and the outlaw identity she constructed.
Annotate three choices that reveal her divided identity.
3 · If the rain had continued
Explain how the novel’s plot and symbolism would change if Green Lake had remained full of water.
Address setting, the treasure and at least two characters.
4 · Diagnose a broken explanation
Rewrite this inaccurate claim: “Stanley is at camp because Kate personally sent him there to find her lipstick.”
Correct at least four errors or missing causal links.