Study Guide—The Ocean’s Way

Study Guide: The Ocean’s Way

Spoiler alert: I will not be providing the answers for the questions. If you’re a serious adventurer, then you will discover the world on your own. Support all your answers with facts found in the book or your own research where required. Seek and you shall find!

Chapters 1-3

1. Make a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast Holly and Jasmine. Choose which one you would rather have as a friend. Explain.

2. Sometimes we can learn about a character’s strength by how they react to situations in their lives. Describe how Holly and Jasmine have each deal with heartache. Pretend you are a school guidance counselor, what advice would you give them to make their lives happier?

3. Which character can you most identify with? Pretend you are that character. Write an entry in your diary explaining what’s on your mind.

Using the crossword puzzle model in Chapter 1, create your own crossword puzzle using five words and a thesaurus to describe how you’re feeling about your life right now.

Using the diamante (diamond) format of the airplane poem in Chapter 1, create your own diamante poem to describe an important object in your life. Use the following format. Note the diamond shape. Your poem should look the same.

Diamante Poem Format

Line 1- one noun
Line 2- two adjectives
Line 3- three “ing” verbs
Line 4- a four word phrase
Line 5- three “ed” verbs
Line 6- two adjectives
Line 7- one synonym for the noun in Line 1

4. Discuss why Nestor treats Holly so differently from Jasmine. What does this tell us about Nestor? How do you deal with being treated differently from siblings, friends or classmates?

5. Predict what Holly might find when she visits Jasmine’s house. Use details from the story to support your answer.

Chapters 4-6

1. Discuss how Jasmine’s self-image might be influenced by her situation at home. How might this affect her interaction with others?

2. Pretend you are a case worker from Child Protective Services. Create five interview questions for Jasmine’s mother and have Jasmine’s mother answer them as you believe she would. Use details from the story.

3. Describe Grandma Rosie’s personality. The girls seem to believe things will turn out fine now that Grandma Rosie is on the scene. Do you agree or disagree with their conclusion? Base your answer on what has happened in the story.

4. Now that we’ve met Grandma Rosie, you can well imagine the conversation she will have with her son-in-law Albert about what’s going on in his home. Write a dialogue tracking the discussion.

Grandma Rosie:
Albert:
Grandma Rosie:
Albert:
Grandma Rosie:
Albert:

Keep the conversation going…

5. Pretend you are Jasmine. Write an email message to your father telling him how you feel about his absence and return. Use facts from the story.

Chapters 7-9

1. Holly is impatient with Jasmine’s fear of water, but Holly decided to have her own fun in the pool. What do we learn about Holly from this? Think about a time when your fear impacted a friend’s good time. What thoughts went through your head? Tell how your friend reacted. What changes did you make in your behavior as a result of this experience?

2. Discuss how the characters begin to loosen up while in Miami, now displaying different sides of their personalities. What do you believe accounts for this change in behavior?

3. Compare and contrast your behavior at school, at home and at different social and public places. What aspects of your personality remain the same? What changes? What would you say to someone who accused you of being phony by acting different ways in different places? What conclusions might be drawn from your analysis in answering these questions?

4. We begin to better understand Holly and Jasmine’s friendship through their interaction at the pool, the hat store and the beach. Describe their relationship. What do you notice about the way they treat each other? How is this the same or different from the beginning of the story? What do we learn about friendship from observing their behavior?

5. When Holly touches the silver dolphin pendant around her neck, what memory is being triggered? What does this tell us about Holly? Pay attention to other times in the story when Holly takes the same action to see if touching the pendant always has the same effect.

What special object in your life gives you the same feelings as Holly’s dolphin pendant gives her? Explain.

If Jasmine were to receive a special pendant to wear around her neck, who would give it her? What would that symbol be? Why?

Chapters 10-13

1. Go to the fourth page of Chapter 10. Answer the ten questions about dolphins. Include answers from Chapters 10 and 11, the Internet, and any source books you may have. Check your answers on the sixth page of Chapter 10.

2. Make a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast dolphins and alligators. If you had to live your life as one of these creatures, which one would you choose? Why?

3. What are wetlands? We learn that alligators are apex predators. Describe the food chain among the creatures of the Florida swamps.

4. What would happen if the Florida wetlands were destroyed? Explain the effects on the environment and ecosystems. How would the world be affected if alligators became extinct? How would the world be affected if dolphins and pilot whales became extinct?

5. Choose a creature living in the South Florida swamps. Research facts and list them. Using these facts, create a Tanka poem to tell about your creature. Use the Tanka poem about the swamp in Chapter 13 as a model. See the formula below.

Tanka Poem – 5 lines

Line 1  – 5 syllables
Line 2  – 7 syllables
Line 3  – 5 syllables
Line 4  – 7 syllables
Line 5  –  7 syllables

Chapters 14-18

1. List at least five facts you learned about manatees. What has the state of Florida done to insure their safety?

2. List at least five facts you have learned about pilot whales. In what ways are pilot whales like humans? In what ways are they different? What is it about pilot whales that make them so vulnerable? What other creatures can you think of whose behaviors could lead to their own downfall?

3. How are donations used to help rescued sea creatures in Florida? Why do you think the government and people of Florida attach so much importance to maintaining the safety of the wildlife in their state?

4. Design a fundraising campaign in your school and/ or community to help raise money to help in the rescue of stranded sea creatures. Decide how to raise the money. Create a poster. Research marine rescue organizations. Choose one to be the recipient of your monetary gift. You do not actually have to put this plan in practice, but please do the plan either way.

Which creatures need rescuing where you live? What could you do to help?

5. Take a look at Holly’s poem about the ocean on the last two pages of Chapter 18. Explain Holly’s fascination with the ocean. Design a T-shirt to capture Holly’s message using a slogan, images, and words to attract attention.

6. Holly and Jasmine have both changed from the beginning, middle, and end of the book. How has each one changed? What influenced these changes? Do you believe these changes are temporary or permanent? Support your answer.

If you had to choose one thing to change about yourself, what would it be? Make a decision now to accomplish this goal. Research. Analyze. Plan. Do.

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