Simon & Schuster
Classroom Activities for The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
A 15-page packet includes detailed plans for three activities related to Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. To gather background information, class members research topics and create a newspaper page reporting their findings. After finishing...
Film Education
The Jungle Book
Accompany a viewing of Disney's live-action feature film, The Jungle Book, with a packet equipped with several activities focused on story elements. Scholars discuss and complete diagrams and charts about the movie's characters, setting,...
National Endowment for the Humanities
“Read All About It”: Primary Source Reading in “Chronicling America”
Can investigative journalism become too sensationalistic and accusatory, or is it vital for the survival of a democracy? Middle schoolers analyze primary source documents from early 20th-century newspapers as well as Theodore Roosevelt's...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Upton Sinclair, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harvey W. Wiley
Though Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle shocked the American public into a thorough examination of the meat-packing industry, the author was disappointed that his book's main argument—the exploitation of American immigrants—was not part...
August House
How Tiger Got His Stripes
How did the tiger get its stripes? Kindergartners read a Vietnamese folk tale, "How the Tiger Got His Stripes," retold by Rob Cleveland, and work through several reading comprehension and literary analysis activities.
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.11-12.1
Focus on writing argument essays with your high schoolers. The lesson suggested here focuses on The Jungle, by Sinclair Lewis; however, the idea could be adapted for other texts. Check out the quick quiz provided at the end of the...
Curated OER
The Progressive Era: Muckrakers Grade 8
As you explore an excerpt from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle with your class, discuss how his descriptions of the meat-packing industry caught the public's attention and helped to promote change in the Progressive Era.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The Progressive Era: Muckrakers
Using Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, guide your class in the process of identifying unknown terms using context clues and formulating text-based answers. The lesson plan includes a useful worksheet incorporating scaffolding questions on an...
Curated OER
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
In this literature worksheet, learners respond to 3 short answer and essay questions about Sinclair's The Jungle. Students may also link to an online interactive quiz on the novel at the bottom of the page.
Curated OER
The Power of Fiction
Students explore fiction that moves individuals to social action. In this literature lesson, students read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and analyze its literary worth as well as its investigative journalism. Students investigate other...
Curated OER
Life in THE JUNGLE
Students discuss problems immigrants may have when coming to a new country. They take on the role of a law maker from the era and create an action plan and policy based on samples they read (links provided). Students discuss ways their...
Curated OER
Upton Sinclair's The Jungle: Muckraking the Meat-Packing Industry
Students explore muckraking. In this American history lesson plan, students listen to their instructor present a lecture regarding the details of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Students respond to discussion questions pertaining to...
Curated OER
A New Society Project
Ninth graders examine the social and political movements of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. In this American history lesson, 9th graders work in groups to form their own society and laws. Students make a diagram of their town and...
Curated OER
The Conditions of Today
Students demonstrate their ability to use the library to research into current working conditions for the American worker. They identify connections and compare findings about contemporary conditions and the in-class readings of The...
SparkNotes
Spark Notes: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
This site is a study guide for "The Jungle." It includes chapter summaries, context, characters, study questions, and essay topics.
Penguin Publishing
Penguin Random House: "The Jungle" Teacher Guide [Pdf]
Exhaustive 19-page "The Jungle" teacher's guide includes items such as chapter summaries, pre-reading discussion questions, chapter-by-chapter study questions, significant quotations, vocabulary, and post-reading discussion questions.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Biography of Amer: Philip Armour and Packing House Conditions
Philip Armour, an industry titan in the meat industry, made his money by exploiting the need of his workers for jobs. Read about the deplorable conditions the workers endured in the packinghouses and in the shanty towns in which they...
Texas A&M University
Texas A&m University: Meat Inspection
Comprehensive breakdown of the laws and processes of meat inspection. Very informative.
Blackdog Media
Classic Reader: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
Classic Reader provides numerous classic works from famous authors. First published as a serial in the Appeal to Reason 1905, one work is The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. It exposed harsh working conditions in the meat packing industry.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Ap Us History Unit: Period 7: 1890 1945: Muckrakers
The study resource from Khan Academy provides an overview of Period 7: 1890-1945 in American History. The Progressive Era's muckrakers are discussed in this lesson. This resource is designed as a review for the AP US History Test.
Cengage Learning
Houghton Mifflin Company: The Jungle
This site, which is provided for by the Houghton Mifflin Company, presents various ways to examine one of the most powerful books of the century.
Penguin Publishing
Penguin Random House: "The Jungle" Teacher Guide
Get chapter-by-chapter comprehension questions, discussion questions and ideas for extending the study of the novel beyond the text. Also includes some background information about the author and novel.
PBS
Pbs: American Experience: Chicago: City of the Century: Philip Armour
From a PBS American Experience series about Chicago, this biography of Philip Armour, who made the meat-packing business more efficient. Find out about his methods, but also about the horrible conditions of the meat-packers who worked in...
Authors Calendar
Author's Calendar: Upton Beall Sinclair
Biography, selected publications, and a list of further reading.