Friday 4/19 Letter V

 

Josh is poking his nose around the alley, looking for dinner, when he sees something strange next to a trash can. It is taller than he is and shaped sort of like a person with no legs or arms. It is white with a red ring around its neck. “What could it be?” he thinks. “It looks sort of like a jug for water.”

Then Chip walks around the corner. “A bowling pin!” says Chip. “I snuck into the bowling alley once. They have some great snacks in there. Anyway, I saw a bunch of these. You set them up and roll a ball at them to try to knock them over.”

“Sounds fun,” says Josh. “Wanna try?”

They search for more pins. They find five—not a whole set but still enough to play. They set the pins up in the middle of their alley, just like Chip had seen at the bowling alley.

“What about a ball?” asks Chip.

“We can use a soccer ball!” says Josh. “I think it has a hole in it, so a kid threw it away in the trash can next to my rat hole yesterday.”

Josh rolls the ball over. It is a little flat, but it will work. Chip pushes the ball with his front paws as hard as he can. He only hits one pin.

“I can do better than that!” boasts Josh. He sets the pin back up with the rest. Then he rolls the ball back over and pushes it with all his strength. He hits two pins.

“I was just warming up,” says Chip. He sets the pins back up, rolls the ball over, closes his eyes, and pushes the soccer ball with all his might. Four pins tip over. The last one wobbles back and forth. Will it tip over? Yes! The fifth pin tips over. Chip is the winner.

“I will practice, and I will beat you next time. Now that we have our own bowling alley, we can play whenever we want!” says Josh.

At the beginning of the story, what does Josh find in the alley?

What type of ball do they decide to bowl with?

Who wins the game of bowling? 

What does the author mean by ‘not a whole set’ of bowling pins?

What does it mean when Chip pushes the ball with ‘all his might’?

How does Chip know what a bowling pin is?

How do you know?

At the end of the story, Josh says, ‘I will practice and beat you next time.’ How can he practice?