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The Sea Caves

About the book Nick is staying with Sam for the holidays. After they explore an old shipwreck, exposed after a huge storm, they find themselves stranded on the cliffs of Point Danger. They leave their diving gear there and scale the cliffs. There they discover a hidden cave. Nick puts his foot in a hole, disturbing the crumbling rock and opening up an entrance wide enough to wiggle into. Although he wants to explore, Sam is keen to get home. At the top of the cliff, they are warned to keep away from the area by a couple of local thugs - a pair of abalone fishermen. Sam's dad is in agreement - the area is not called 'Point Danger' without a reason. Nonetheless the boys are enticed back to the cave by the prospect of treasure that has been washed out of the old wreck and deposited on the sandy floor. (Colin Theile was eleven he wrote a long novel about pirates and buried treasure, but sadly burned the story a few years later.) Knowing they'll cop an ear-bashing and be

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forbidden to hunt for treasure if they tell anyone; they set off secretly to explore the cave system. They are forced to climb the cliffs to escape the incoming tide when they stumble upon a small hole that leads into a maze of caves and tunnels hollowed out in the cliffs by the sea. But their movements and their digging disturbs the crumbling rock as they slide down into a second cave - the roof collapses behind them, completely blocking their way out. Sam realises how stupid they have been. No one knows where they are. They have no water or food. They have come completely unprepared for any misadventure. They have no back-up plan of any kind. But with socks, two pieces of driftwood and a shirt sleeve, the boys manage to hoist a flag with an SOS written in blood on it through a tiny blowhole in the roof of the cave. Will anyone ever see it? Will they be trapped forever? Will their disappearance be another mystery, forever unsolved? And what's the constant thrumming they can hear near the back of the cave? About the author Colin Thiele AC grew up on a farm in South Australia. During his childhood there were not many books available, but at the little bush school that he attended, there was a box that had about twenty books in it. This was the school's library and Thiele's first glimpse into the world he would later join. Thiele published over 100 books in his writing career, including multi award-winning Storm Boy and Blue Fin, both were made into movies. In his long career Thiele has won many Australian and international awards, including the Netherlands Award of the Silver Pencil, Miles Franklin Award, Mystery Writers of Americas Inc, the Austrian State Prize for Children's Books (twice), and numerous Children's Book Council of Australia Awards. Thiele's other awards include the Special Award at the NSW Premier's Literacy Awards 1997, and the Dromkeen Medal in 1998. Sea Caves was one of the last books written by Thiele when it was published as part of the Takeaways series of books by Lothian Books in 2000. (Another story called The Cave published by Lothian in 2002 explores very similar themes.

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About the Illustrator Robert Ingpen, AM, FRSA was born in 1936 in Geelong, Australia and still lives and works nearby in Barwon Heads. He studied illustration art and book design at The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In 1986, he was awarded the Hans Christian Andersen Medal for his contribution to children’s literature and he has been honoured with Membership of the Order of Australia. His highly acclaimed series of illustrated Children’s Classics have now been published in many editions around the world. The titles in the series are: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking-Glass, Around the World in Eighty Days, Just So Stories, Peter Pan and Wendy, The Adventures of Pinocchio, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Jungle Book, The Night Before Christmas, The Nutcracker, The Owl and the Pussycat and Other Nonsense Rhymes, The Secret Garden, The Wind in the Willows, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Treasure Island. Robert Ingpen designed the front cover art for the Sea Caves and also contributed black and white sketches for the interior of the book. Ingpen also illustrated other books by Colin Thiele including River Murray Mary Original Blooms Taxonomy Activities Knowledge

x Match characters to their quotes x Complete a word search and crossword based

on the story. x Create a missing person poster for Sam and

Nick. Comprehension

x Rewrite a scene from the story as a cartoon. x Complete a reading comprehension and cloze

activity. x Illustrate and describe events that occurred

before and after an important episode from the story.

x Create a story map for ‘The Sea Caves’. Application

x Create a newspaper front story. x Make a diorama of a scene from the story. x Use the six hats to solve a problem faced by Sam and Nick x Make an alternative front cover for the story.

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Analysis

x Create a report card for one of the boys from the story. x Select parts of the story that were the funniest, saddest, happiest and most

unbelievable. Synthesis

x Write an alternative ending to the story. x Write an acrostic poem for ‘SEA CAVES’ x Create a poster to advertise the story so people will want to read ‘The Sea

Caves’ and other Colin Thiele stories. x Keep a diary for one of the characters throughout the story.

Evaluation

x Which character from the story would you most like to spend a day with and why? What would you do?

x Create a display of Colin Thiele books for the library complete with a biography of the author or book reviews for some of his books.

x Was the story realistic? Justify your decision. x From the description given on page 114 draw the ‘Aladdin’s cave’ the boys

discover. (Page numbers refer to the 2000 Lothian paperback version of the book)

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The Sea Caves Crossword

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Across 1. The Fisheries inspector 4. They write SOS in ........................ 5. Sam and Nick would receive a thousand dollar ........................ each. 8. The bones were from ........................... not humans 9. He is staying with Sam for the holidays 12. Small abs and crays were in the ……………………….(Refer page 135) 15. Sam cuts up his ..................sleeve for the flag 16. The boys were not well ............................ for their adventure. Down 2. The boys keep the cave exploring plans a ....................... from Sam's father. 3. The boys find themselves stranded on the cliffs of ...................................................... 4. The boys raise a driftwood pole through a ..................................................... 6. Shell fish that is caught in the area. 7. He comes up with the idea of the flag saying SOS 10. The rising tide leads them to discover a maze of ...............and tunnels. 11. Buckley and Beck must have dropped the .....................cent piece. 13. Treasure from the old ..............entices the boys to return to the cave. 14. A barge towed behind a ship (Refer page 151)

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Crossword answers Nick He is staying with Sam for the holidays Sam He comes up with the idea of the flag saying SOS Shirt Sam cuts up his ...........sleeve for the flag blood They write SOS in .............. Point Danger The boys find themselves stranded on the cliffs of .................. Abalone Shell fish that is caught in the area. Shipwreck Treasure from the old ..............entices the boys to return to the cave. Secret the boys keep the cave exploring plans a ............... from Sam's father. Caves The rising tide leads them to discover a maze of ...............and tunnels. Prepared the boys were not well ................ for their adventure. Blowhole The boys raise a driftwood pole through a ................. Darren Dukes The Fisheries inspector Lighter A barge towed behind a ship (Refer page 151) Animals the bones were from ............. Reward Sam and Nick would receive a thousand dollar ..............each. Twenty Buckley and Beck must have dropped the ...............cent piece. Freezers Small abs and crays were in the freezers (Refer page 135)

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The Sea Caves Match the characters to their quotes (Page 1-88) (Choose from: Sam, Nick, Darren, and Dad – Wilson Harvey, Jessica, Ben Zacks)

It’s part of an old ship

(Page 2)

Watch your step, there could be hidden holes and humps all over the place.

(Page49) It is a lousy twenty-cent piece. (Page 54)

Always plan ahead. Think of what could go wrong

(Page 44)

Dad ‘ll kill me if he finds out

(Page 32)

Only an idiot would leave the scuba gear out there. You haven’t got the sense of a flathead.

(Page 16)

Put it down to experience. You won’t make the same mistake a second time.

(Page 88)

I’m a field officer with the Fisheries department.

(Page 82)

Be best to keep away from the place. The rocks, reef, rips and the cliffs are riddled with blowholes.

(Page 13)

What have you two been up to? You’ve been away for ever.

(Page 32)

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The Sea Caves

MISSING

Reward $

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The Sea Caves Wordsearch C O C K L E C R E E K W S D Y Y A Y S U O R E G N A D N S B D E D A R R E N D U K E O S K D A L E N O L A B A V E T K Q C O N K S J B M I L C N E C K V L O G C A P S A A E K L A C Q I I W E U M C K Z O C E Z I V X P F T R B P E Z J E K N N N Z A Z F F P L S T I R S E Z A B U C S S I O L O H W G B T S E A C A V E R I I S P I X W D E P P A R T X D N B I Z U D Q R L D V Q C V B H T H F J C M F Y U O R O G H I L S H I V I Z Q E R U S A E R T H F N M ABALONE BEN ZACKS BIL LBUCKLEY CLIFFS CLIMB COCKLE CREEK DANGEROUS DANGER POINT DARREN DUKE DRIFTWOOD NICK SAM SCUBA SEACAVE SHIPWRECK SKELETONS SOS TRAPPED TREASURE

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The Sea Caves Cloze (page 82-83) He was wearing a uniform of some kind with a 1…………………on his shirt. There was a businesslike air about him- strong shoulders, athletic body and 2………………… movements. He held out his hand and shook theirs with a 3…………. like a clamp. Nick winced. “I’m Darren Duke, Field Officer from the Fisheries Department.” Sam 4………………….. “An inspector?” “You could say that”, he looked around quickly taking in the details. “You were exploring in here, you say, and 5…………………………. by a cave-in?’ ‘Yes. A big rock fall back in the tunnel. It blocked the 6…………… out.” “Where were you when it happened?’ “It almost came down on top of us. Just missed by a 7……………… or two.” The man made a strange sound as if he could not believe his ears. “With luck like that you ought to buy a 8…………………………… in the lottery.” Sam was desperate to know whether it was the 9……….that had really saved their lives. ‘Was it the flag that helped you to find us – the message on the pole?” “Yes I spotted it through the 10……………………………. It made me curious.” Sam beamed. ‘That was great” “And, yes, the SOS 11………………………….. me. Otherwise, I might have ignored it. I saw it just in time. I was about to head back to 12……………..” Nick breathed out. “Lucky”. “As a matter of fact I wondered what had 13…………………………. to you after you left Cockle Creek this morning.” A look of amazement spread over Sam’s face. Were you the 14…………………. up on the point?’ Darren Duke smiled. ‘It’s a good 15………………………… spot. You can see a long way from there, right up and down the coast.” “To spot poachers?’ Yes, 16…………………other things.” He looked up at the hole. Everything about him was quick and efficient. “Have you ever 17………………………….. a rope ladder?” “No”.

Choose from these words: climbed vantage bloke happened among

base binoculars alerted SOS trapped way ticket metre gawked grip logo quick

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The Sea Caves Reading comprehension (Page 65-67) Sam thought hard. He was trying to think of all the stories he had read and all the TV shows he had seen in which the characters escaped death and disaster by dreaming up incredibly brilliant ideas. “Tell you what, “he said at last. “Why don’t we cut off our sleeves from one of our shirts?” Nick was aghast. ‘Mum would have a fit!” She’ll have a bigger fit if we don’t get out of here.” “What use would it be – a bit of shirt?” “It could flutter about on the pole. People would notice it.” “They’d just think it was a marker of some sort.” ‘Not if we put a message on it. An SOS or something.” “There’s nothing to write with.” They were silent for a while until Sam roused himself again. He had been thinking of a really weird movie he had seen. There was something we could use if we really wanted to. If we really had to.” “What?” “Blood!” Nic recoiled. “blood? You mean we cut ourselves?” “Just a bit. If we nick our fingers we could print SOS with it.” “To hell with that, we could get infected and die.” “If we don’t get help we’re going to die anyway, so we haven’t got much choice, have we?” “I’m not cutting myself. If you want blood you nick yourself.” “OK, I will. And I’ll use my shirt instead of yours. It’s a lighter color. The printing will show up better.” “You’re not really going to do it?

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“Yes!” He took off his jacket and shirt and used his pocketknife to cut off one of his sleeves at the shoulder. Then he slit it open from the armpit to the wrist and laid it out flat like a long triangular handkerchief. Nick backed away. I’m, not going to watch. How will you stop the bleeding afterwards without band aids or anything?’ “I’ll wrap it up.” Questions to answer

1. Why would mum have a fit? 2. What were they going to do with the bit of shirt? 3. Recall a movie you have seen or book you have read where

characters escape from seemingly impossible situations. 4. What does SOS mean? 5. What did they use to write with? 6. What dis Nick fear would happen to them if they did cut

themselves? 7. Why did Sam want to use his shirt? 8. How would they stop the bleeding? 9. Highlight the contractions in the text. Write them out in full.

(Example don’t = do not) 10. Define : aghast, roused and recoiled 11. Circle all the compound words you can find in the contractions. 12. How else could they have got out of the trap. 13. Sketch the scene and draw the SOS flag.

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The Sea Caves Story Map

As the tide came in the boys climbed the rocks but Nick’s leg slid into a hole exposing a cave going into the cliff.

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The Sea Caves Write and illustrate events that occurred before and after the realisation that the boys were buried underground.

Before After

The boys found themselves imprisoned underground with no hope of escape. The way back to the hole in the cliff was blocked by tonnes of rock. (Chapter 5)

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The Sea Caves Newspaper front page (In your newspaper front-page write a report about an exciting episode from the story such as- Two Boys trapped in a Cave, Abalone Smugglers Caught or Two Boys Missing. Include headline, main story, map, photo and additional news story.)

COCKLE BEACH HERALD Thursday 8th February 2018 $1.20

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The Sea Caves Literary report card

REPORT CARD A = Outstanding B = Good C = Satisfactory D = Improving E = Failure Name: ……………………………………………….. Grade: ………………. Teacher: ………………………..…………………. Behaviour …………………………………………………………….. ……………………………..…………………………….. ………………………………..………………………….. …………………………………..……………………….. ………………………………..………………………….. …………………………….…………………………….. ………………………………………………………….. …………………………..……………………………… Principal ………………………………………………………….. Date………………………….

SUBJECT GRADE COMMENT

Imagination

Honesty

Courage

Happiness

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The Sea Caves Alternative Book cover

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The Sea Caves Comic

The Escape By: ……………………………

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The Sea Caves Character Traits (Enlarge to A3 size)

Some of the traits in the list below fit Sam and Nick but some do not. Select 4 traits that best describe him and write them on the chart. Then for each trait, list one action in which they exhibit the trait.

Trait Actions that demonstrate the trait.

Intelligent funny responsible caring determined Honest hardworking problem solver confident generous Co-operative loyal brave stoic inquisitive

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The Sea Caves Acrostic poem

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The Sea Caves Win Some Lose Some Using Word, create a table with two columns and five rows. In one column list all the exciting, interesting events and in the second column list all the episodes that were boring. Compare your choices with others in the class. Interesting

Boring

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The Sea Caves DeBono’s Six Hats problem solving task They were lying at the edge of the bank of mullock, bewildered and bruised but miraculously not badly hurt. They were imprisoned underground with no hope of escape. They hadn’t left a note. No one knew about the cave and no one had seen them setting out. (Page 44) WHITE HAT Describe the boy’s situation BLUE HAT After thinking through all the issues what should the boy’s do? YELLOW HAT What are the positives for the two boys? RED HAT What are the boys feeling? GREEN HAT Think of an unusual way in which the boys can survive or escape. BLACK HAT What do the boys now need to be cautious about?

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(Enlarge to A3 size) SIX HATS PROBLEM SOLVING They were lying at the edge of the bank of mullock, bewildered and bruised but miraculously not badly hurt. They were imprisoned underground with no hope of escape. They hadn’t left a note. No one knew about the cave and no one had seen them setting out. (Page 44)

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The Sea Caves Select parts of the story that fit into these categories. Funniest Happiest Saddest Unbelievable

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Creative writing project for The Sea Caves

In the Sea Caves Sam and Nick explore a hidden cave expecting to find treasure when the roof of the cave suddenly collapses trapping them.

Write your own journal about being trapped during an exploring expedition with friends.

Your journal should include

x A list of your team members with a brief profile on them and yourself (name, age , skills or expertise brought to the team)

x List the equipment and amount you would need for your adventure. x A brief description of the purpose of your trip. (Where you are going, what you

hope to see/discover/collect and how long it should take) x A description of where you are

going (It could be a cave, tunnel, forest, volcano?)

x Leave a note telling people where you are going. What does it say?

x A map of where you are going. x Your initial investigations and

discoveries. x A report about the accident!

How did it occur? Was anyone hurt or killed? Did you lose any equipment? What is deliberate?

x Description of ow you escaped and what happens to the team when you get home. (Include sketches and photos.

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The Sea Caves

Nick writes a postcard home telling his mother about his adventures. (Does he tell her everything?)

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The Sea Caves

Venn diagram Comparing: Klontarf and The Sea Caves

KLONTARF Similarities The Sea Caves

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Sea Caves takes place on the coast.

Two boys are the main heroes.

One of the child characters is tougher than the other one.

The children are in real danger.

The children play a practical joke. There is a know-it-all uncle.

The children are looking for ghosts.

People from the government rescue the children.

Klontarf takes place on a farm.

The children in the stories are both aged about 12.

Parents are absent and leave their children alone.

The father in both books is a strong character.

A boy and a girl are the main heroes.

There are people breaking the law who get caught.

Sea Caves takes place on the coast.

The children are looking for hidden treasure.

The 2 children get into trouble.

The father goes back with the children to help them.

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X-Ray pictures Kangaroo

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Tasmanian devil

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Kookaburra

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Making X-Ray pictures

INSTRUCTIONS On A3 paper draw the outline of an Australian native animal, (a koala has been provided.) Copy it onto A3 size brown paper and with a thick black marker draw the ‘bark outline’ around it. Use bright colored sharpies and aboriginal art as a guide fill the animal outline with suitable bright designs. Alternatively make your background look like a cave and that the art work is cave art from central Australia.

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Images to use.

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2018 All rights reserved. This product is bound by copyright laws. Redistributing, editing, selling, or posting this item (or any part thereof) on the Internet are all strictly prohibited without first gaining permission from the author. This product can be located by doing a Google search if placed on websites without permission from the author. Violations are subject to the penalties of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact the author if you wish to be granted special permissions.

Student picture of the boys trapped in the sea cave.