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The Devil’s Arithmetic: Anticipation Guide
Do you need to learn about someone's past before you can understand that person's behavior? Use an anticipation guide to think about the literary themes of Jane Yolen's The Devil's Arithmetic before you begin the novel.
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Sense and Sensibility: Final Assessment: Movie Maker
Assess your class's understanding of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility with a fun and creative final project. Using what they have learned about the novel's characters, they create presentations featuring music and images that best...
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Sense and Sensibility: Concept Analysis
If you need an anchor for your unit on Sense and Sensibility, use a concept analysis with key discussion points. It includes literary themes, vocabulary, background information, and suggestions for addressing gender and diversity questions.
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Sense and Sensibility: Anticipation Guide Reading Strategy
Begin your discussion about Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility before you even open the book. Kids fill in a worksheet that lists five statements about the literary themes of the novel, and then discuss their opinions as a group. Once...
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The House of the Scorpion: Request Strategy
Readers of The House of the Scorpion try to stump their teacher in a QAR questioning game. Pairs craft Right There, Think and Search, On Your Own, and the Author and You questions and the class members then take turns responding to...
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The House of the Scorpion: Problematic Situations
What should Matt do? Readers of The House of the Scorpion are offered several possible actions Matt could take when he first sees the children outside the house. They rate the options and then meet in groups to discuss the reasons for...
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The House of the Scorpion: Concept Analysis
Considering using Nancy Taylor's award-winning science fiction novel The House of the Scorpion as an option for book circles or as a whole-class reading? Check out this packet that includes background information, information about the...
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The House of the Scorpion: Anticipation Guide
Introduce Nancy Farmer's award-winning science fiction novel, The House of the Scorpion, with an anticipation guide that asks readers to agree or disagree with a series of statements that reflect the major concepts in the story. Follow...
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The Cay: Concept Analysis
This overview of Theodore Taylor's The Cay is designed as an introduction for teachers who are considering using Theodore Taylor's novel for whole-class and/or book circle study.
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Count of Monte Cristo: Questioning Strategy – Tossed Terms
Do you know the setting of The Count of Monte Cristo? What about the main characters? Explore the elements of Alexandre Dumas' novel with a reading comprehension activity. Kids toss boxes with literary elements written on each side, and...
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Oedipus the King: Organizational Patterns
Designed for teachers of Sophocles' Oedipus the King, this packet provides information about themes and literary devices used in the play. Appropriate for first-time and veteran teachers of Sophocles' tragedy.
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Oedipus the King: Biopoem
The biopoem is a great way for instructors to get to know class members, classmates to get to know each other, and readers to flesh out their understanding of a character. Why not create a biopoem for a character from Oedipus the King?
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Oedipus the King: Anticipation Guide
Is it possible to escape fate? Are all types of pride evil? Are family secrets best kept secret? Before reading Oedipus the King, class members respond to a series of statements on an anticipation guide that introduces some of the basic...
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The House on Mango Street: Vocabulary Word Squares
Chanclas, muerto, cuando. Spanish words are plentiful in The House on Mango Street and may be unfamiliar to many readers. A vocabulary words squares activity will help kids remember the meaning of these words and add to their...
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The House on Mango Street: Letters/Unsent Letters
Class members conclude their reading of The House on Mango Street with an assignment that asks them to compose letters to characters using their own voices or that of another character in Cisneros' story.
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The House on Mango Street: Question Answer Relationships Strategy
Good readers question text as they read. The Question Answer Relationships Strategy (QAR) used in this resource with The House on Mango Street, provides readers with a concrete approach for questioning Sandra Cisneros' text and...
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Writing Assignment
Ask learners to focus on one scene in Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in order to write an analytical essay about Twain's ideas surrounding childhood. The final assignment in a unit, this writing prompt requires learners to use...
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The House on Mango Street: Biopoem
Young poets demonstrate their understanding of a character from Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street by crafting a biopoem that captures the essence of this person.
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The House on Mango Street: Anticipation Guide
Prior to an in-class reading of "What Sally Said" and"Red Clowns," two vignettes from Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street, class members complete an anticipation guide that asks them to agree or disagree with a series of...
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Count of Monte Cristo: Anticipation Guide
Is love the strongest force in the world? Delve into the themes of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas with an anticipation guide that introduces the main points of discussion. Kids mark their agreement or disagreement with ten...
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The Color of Water: Word Square Instructions
Immaculate, accumulation, dissipation. Vocabulary drawn from chapter 16 of James McBride's memoir, The Color of Water, can prove to be challenge for readers. To help kids understand the meaning of these words and what they add to the...
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Biopoem
Explore characters in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer through biopoems. Pupils follow the specific formatting presented here to write 11-line poems about characters in the novel.
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The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Cubing Strategy
The toss of a die determines what questions your pupils will answer in this lesson. Learners respond to questions based on Bloom's taxonomy, discussing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer with classmates along the way. They finish by writing up...
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The Book Thief: Directed Reading Thinking Activity
Direct readers' thinking with a DRTA activity that asks them to make predictions about The Book Thief based on an examination of the cover of Markus Zusak's novel and a reading of the prologue.