Grandmother
Name one chore the grandmother did.
she’d washed the sheets/sunned the mattresses
Who is telling the story?
The mother of Laurie
.Does she find her chores hard? Yes/No
What words in the poem helped you answer this?
yes,
"such tired bones "
What is Laurie's mother worried about?
She thinks Charles might be a bad influence
What did the speaker intend to do in the poem?
say goodbye and leave
What was the reason Laurie gave his parents when he came home late?
He stayed after school with Charles
Who is the speaker in the poem?Who is she writing about?
The granddaughter
She wrote about her grandmother
When Laurie's mother goes to the PTA meeting , she thinks that she will meet Charle's mother, and that Charle's mother will apologize for the way her son has been acting. She wonders why ''no one mentioned Charles''. Why is this surprising or even funny?
It is funny because all the time she thought Charles is the bad kid in the kindergarten and might be a bad influence on her son. She was sure she would come to PTA meeting and all the parents would complain about Charles. But the truth was that her son Laurie was behaving badly at school and at home and she didn't realize it. She didn't pay attention to the hints that her son gave her about his difficulties.
What did the granddaughter realize at the end of the poem?
She realized that what lay between those bedclothes was not just old life and it was really her grandmother.
A woman with feelings and opinions. A woman that is worth listening to.
When Laurie's mother meets the kindergradten teacher , she asks about Charles . The kindergarten teacher answers :''Charles?.....We don't have any Charles in the kindergarten.''
How does the teacher's answer change the way the readers and Laurie's mother understand/ relate to Laurie's stories about kindergarten?
In the story Laurie tells about a boy Charles who behaves badly in the new kindergarten. He hits the teacher and yells. In the beginning we and also Laurie's mother believe that he is telling the truth. Only at the end of the story when the teacher says that there is no Charles , we connect all the stories that Laurie told to his bad behavior at home. We understand that Laurie was actually talking about himself. Probably He had adjusting problems in the new kindergarten and he tried to tell about it through the bad ''Charles''.