Lesson Plan: Secrets of Splat Night

Essential Questions

• How do our decisions shape who we are?
• What does it mean to do the right thing? Why do good people sometimes do bad things?

Literature Connection

• Novel: Restart by Gordon Korman
• Novel: Wonder by R.J. Palacio 

Preview Text Features (10 minutes)

Guide students to locate the story. Then preview text features with the following prompts:

• Think about the title “Secrets of Splat Night” and the image included on the title page. Based on these text features, what do you think “Splat Night” might refer to? Make a prediction. Students might predict that “Splat Night” refers to a night of throwing tomatoes at unsuspecting victims. Nudge students to make the connection between the word splat (the sound made when something squishy explodes) and the tomatoes in the main illustration.
• Skim through the story and look at the side bubbles that contain questions. Read the headers, such as “Figurative Language” and “Character.” Are there any skills that you aren’t familiar with? Answers will vary.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

• Point out the vocabulary box. Read the terms (geyser, deserted, anticipation, demonstrate) aloud and discuss their definitions.
• Play the Vocabulary Slideshow

Make a Plan for Reading

• Before students read the play, set a purpose for reading by telling them that they will make inferences about “Secrets of Splat Night.” Explain that making an inference means using clues from the text  to figure out something that isn’t directly stated. (You may also consider showing our “Skills in Action: What Is an Inference?” video.)

• Read the story (or visit Action Online and click Presentation View to access an audio read-aloud). Then discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (30 minutes)

• Inference (p. 15) In the selfie, Chase and his friends are wet and laughing in a school bathroom. Chase has an empty bag of flour in his hand, and the toilet behind him is spraying water. You can guess that the boys emptied the bag of flour into the toilet and caused the toilet to break.
• Figurative Language (p. 16) Chase is saying that although he doesn’t want to go to Splat Night, he  feels he has to.
• Point of View (p. 16) Belonging means being accepted as part of something, such as a group of friends. Chase believes he has to keep his thoughts and feelings to himself in order to belong.
• Interpreting Text (p. 17) Aaron calls the assisted living residence “the Graybeard Motel” because people who live there are older, meaning their beards are probably gray, and they all live together, in separate rooms, just as in a motel.
• Character (p. 17) In their conversation at the beginning of part 3, Aaron and Bear come across as disrespectful and mean, especially toward the elderly. Their jokes about the residents not being able to do much more than garden make them seem unkind.
• Inference (p. 17) Chase doesn’t like Splat Night. He understands that it could harm drivers and upset the people who tend to the garden. He’s surprised that his old self would have enjoyed it.
• Word Study (p. 18) The term disabled car suggests that the car has been badly damaged and can no longer work as it did before.
• Character (p. 18) You can tell that before his amnesia, Chase was someone who enjoyed causing trouble and didn’t worry much about who he harmed. As a new person, he might make an effort to do more good in the world and think more about the safety, property, and feelings of others. 
• Character (p. 18) If Chase gets his memory back, he might remember taking part in other risky and harmful activities like Splat Night. Now that he has a new point of view, remembering his past behavior might make him feel ashamed.  

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

• If Chase hadn’t lost his memory, would he have behaved differently at Splat Night? Why or why not? If Chase hadn’t lost his memory, he might have enjoyed Splat Night. (In fact, it sounds like Splat Night was originally Chase’s idea.) He might have been the first one to throw a tomato, and he would likely have run off the way his friends did when the crash happened. 
• How do friends influence what we do and how we see ourselves? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? Friends can inspire us by doing things we admire. They can also pressure us to do what they want us to do. In the story, Chase feels pressure to do something foolish and dangerous. But in other situations, friends can encourage one another to be brave, kind, or reasonable.

• Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Inference activity at the end of the play.
• Assign students to work independently on our Character skill builder. (Click here to see all your Skill Builders for this feature.)
• Writing prompt: Anne Frank was a teen who lived during the Holocaust, one of the most violent times in human history. She famously wrote in her diary, “Our lives are fashioned by our choices. First we make our choices. Then our choices make us.” What do you think she meant? How is this statement similar to what Chase says about choices toward the end of the story? Answer these questions in a short essay.