Search for buried treasure along with Stanley while solving an age-old mystery that will change lives forever. We combine comprehension and vocabulary, making it useful for both students and educators. Make an assumption as to what crime Stanley committed prior to reading the novel. Record the social order of the boys at Camp Green Lake on a diagram of a ladder. Provide picture clues to help remember the meaning of the vocabulary words. Use clues to infer details about Hector's life. Create a handbook to help Stanley deal with bullying. Create character cards about one person from the novel, answering questions such as how the character acts, feels and likes. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Meet Stanley Yelnats, an unlikely hero who shows us that even the most ordinary individual is capable of extraordinary things. A unique and well-crafted story in which events from the past and present are woven together, ranging from whimsical and entertaining. Wrongly convicted of stealing running shoes, Stanley is given the option of attending Camp Green Lake, a “camp” where boys dig holes all day, every day. Stanley soon figures out that there is more to the hole-digging than building character as the Warden is looking for treasure. Stanley undergoes profound personal growth as he has to face challenges that would have seemed insurmountable.

A guide for teahers when using the book Holes in the classroom.

This groundbreaking classic is now available in a special anniversary edition with bonus content. Winner of the Newbery Medal as well as the National Book Award, HOLES is a New York Times bestseller and one of the strongest-selling middle-grade books to ever hit shelves! Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys' detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes. It doesn't take long for Stanley to realize there's more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment —and redemption. Special anniversary edition bonus content includes: A New Note From the Author!; "Ten Things You May Not Know About HOLES" by Louis Sachar; and more!

Get an idea of what life was like on a homestead during World War I. Challenge students to make meaningful connections to the novel. Identify the biggest obstacles for Hattie as she works on her homestead alone. Students translate common expressions used in the novel into their own words. Do some investigation into the state of Montana, including by what nicknames this state is known by. Research the possible origins of the expression 'doughboys', as Hattie uses it to describe American soldiers fighting in Europe. Find examples of personification used in the novel. Students brainstorm who the possible antagonist of the story may be. Students put themselves into Hattie's mindset to write a reply letter to Charlie. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Hattie Big Sky is a Newbery Honor-winning story about a young orphan who inherits a homestead claim in the Montana prairies. Hattie, at the age of 16, goes off to live at her uncle’s homestead in Montana in 1918. Alone, Hattie is met with the hardships that come with the primitive conditions. Throughout all of her trials and small triumphs, Hattie keeps up a correspondence with her school friend, Charlie, who enlisted in the army to fight in The Great War. It is through his eyes that Hattie is able to see glimpses of the harsh cruelty of warfare. As the story unfolds, Hattie is met with experiences that leave her discouraged and bewildered, but stronger and more resolutely determined to make something of herself.

Discover the importance of family, friendships, and what it means to be loved by those around. Present new vocabulary words in a variety of ways to ensure students are excited to expand their literacy skills. Find the antonym for each word. Match words to their definitions, then identify their part of speech. Explore character motivations by stating why Gilly didn't tell Trotter who the visitor was. Explain the expression "demon possession" by writing a story based on this idea. Write a personal reflection on the poem found in the story. Conduct a class survey on things considered to be important in daily life. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: A story about a bold and brazen eleven-year-old girl–and foster child–who has great expectations about life. Gilly runs away from her foster home looking for her real mother. Not finding her, she begins to adjust to life with the foster family. On Thanksgiving weekend, while Gilly is busy taking care of everyone with the flu, Gilly’s grandmother shows up. She has come to take Gilly to live with her in Virginia. Gilly must move to a new home against her will. She realizes how she is loved at the foster house, and learns many valuable life lessons, relationships and prejudice.

The Great Depression is the setting for this tale of overcoming hardships. This resource is designed to help struggling readers understand the book. Make predictions about Billie Jo’s future playing the piano. Put events in order as they happen to Billie Jo and her classmates. Students imagine making the same decisions Billie Jo faces regarding her future. Identify the metaphor Billie Jo uses for her father and what it means. Compare and contrast your own holiday traditions with the ones celebrated by Billie Jo’s community. Explore key sequences of events from the story on a plot train graphic organizer. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, our worksheets incorporate a variety of scaffolding strategies along with additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key. About the Novel: Out of the Dust tells the story of Billie Jo as she struggles during the Great Depression while living on a farm in Oklahoma. Billie Jo lives with her parents on a small farm with very little money and insufficient crops. Drought rages across the country. With no water, nothing can grow and soon the ground turns to dust. Dust is everywhere. It’s in their food, their clothes, their beds, their mouths, and even their eyes. There is no break from it. The only good thing is Billie Jo’s love of playing the piano. She inherits this from her mother, who soon allows her to start playing at shows. However, things get worse for the family when tragedy befalls their small farm. An event causes Billie Jo to lose her mother and unborn brother. She also injures her hands so severely that she can no longer play the piano. Billie Jo and her father soon drift apart. It’s only a matter of time before Billie Jo must decide whether to leave the farm for a better life, or stay and watch her farm and father be swallowed in dust. Told from her perspective, Billie Jo’s voice is evident as she retells the hardships her and her family have endured while trying to survive, living among the dust.

Strangers become a community in this heartwarming story about overcoming prejudices and finding a common ground. The vocabulary lists and quizzes create a complete resource that saves time while preparing these lessons. Students make predictions on how certain characters might be connected to each other. Analyze Leona's comments about her experience dealing with officials to characterize her feelings towards them. Answer multiple choice questions about Virgil's relationship with his father. Students explore Sae Young's actions when the thunderstorm fills the rain collection barrels and relates this back to the themes of the book. Imagine being Virgil's father and create a business plan for the baby lettuce idea. Detail how the setting of the book evolves with the characters in a transformation graphic organizer. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Seedfolks follows the intertwining stories of several neighbors as they break down barriers and form a community. A vacant lot in Cleveland, Ohio is not the perfect spot for Kim to plant her lima beans. It's too cold and there's not very much sun. She does this anyways in honor of her father. Little does she know that this action will intrigue the neighbors she knows only as strangers, and cause a ripple effect throughout the neighborhood. Each chapter follows a different neighbor and their personal journey that brought them to this vacant lot. People of varying ages, genders, races and religions come together with a shared goal of growing their item of choice. Some want to start a business, while others want to win back a lost love. The garden blooms from a segregated group of individual plots into a real community as peoples' guards are lowered and they begin to really know one another. When the season ends, only time will tell whether this new community will thrive.

Help find a stolen painting while solving clues that lead to a hidden message. The included answer key is easy to use, making this resource the perfect comprehensive tool for any novel study. Describe a series of coincidences that occur in the novel. Infer what Petra's father may be hiding based on his actions, and what you would do in the character's shoes. Number the events that occur in Ms. Hussey's class in the order that they happen in the chapter. Predict what Calder will do once he starts questioning Mrs. Sharpe's innocence. Take the book's theme of ancestry into the real world by writing a short fictional story about ancestors interacting with historical figures. Name and describe the key locations in the book and detail how the setting impacted the plot. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Chasing Vermeer is an action-packed story filled with mystery, danger and coincidences. Calder Pillay and Petra Andalee live on the same street, but they may as well be strangers. When a series of odd events take place, the two take notice and begin questioning the signs around them. A strange assignment from their teacher encourages them to look deeper into the works of Johannes Vermeer. When one of Vermeer's paintings is stolen, the pair team up in the hopes of solving the mystery behind the art theft. A series of coincidences lead the pair down a rabbit hole of clues that eventually lead them to solving two seemingly unrelated mysteries. Chasing Vermeer encourages the reader to follow along with the mystery to help solve a message hidden within its pages.

Discover the power behind the friendship of a boy and his dog. The easy-to-use format allows for lots of variety in activities to go along with the book. Enter the mind of Travis as he explains his feelings after shooting the deer. Identify statements about the novel as true or false. Describe how Travis' attitudes change towards certain characters from the story. Predict what will become of Old Yeller based on events from previous chapters. Conduct a study on women settlers and describe how you would feel if put in their position. Categorize the different dangers Travis faces throughout the novel on a graphic organizer. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Old Yeller tells the story of a boy, his dog, and the events that lead to their unlikely friendship. Travis Coates has no need for a dog, regardless of what his father tells him. Instead, he wants a horse. Travis’ father promises to bring one home for him if he is able to step up and take care of the farm while his father is away. The 14-year-old takes this newfound responsibility to heart and sets out to prove that he deserves the title of “man of the house”. A short time after Travis’ father leaves the farm, a stray dog wanders onto their property. The Coates family name him “Old Yeller” in part because of his filthy yellow fur. Travis wants no part of this nuisance dog. He comes to change his mind when Old Yeller saves Travis’ younger brother from a bear. From then on, Travis and Old Yeller become inseparable, leading to Old Yeller helping Travis keep up his duties on the farm. The story progresses in this manner until one task threatens the health of them both.

Enter a world filled with magic and wonder. The worksheets are perfect for small group and individualized work. Examine the changes happening to Mary as she explores the gardens. Answer multiple choice questions about Colin and his mood. Imagine how Mary will spend her time at the manor. Describe some of the magical elements found in the story. Elaborate on the theme of mood and health from the book and use it to create a new story. Explore the idea of positive and negative effects on a character's mood with a helpful graphic organizer. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: The Secret Garden is a story of the healing magic of nature. Mary Lennox is an unhappy little girl. She lives with her parents in India. She is left on her own and is waited on by servants. When an illness runs through the household, Mary is suddenly made an orphan. She is shipped off to England to live in her Uncle's manor. There, Mary must adapt to her new lifestyle. She must learn to do things on her own, and entertain herself. It's in the gardens that Mary spends her time. The fresh air and natural surroundings seem to do her well, as her health and spirits begin to improve. The mystery behind the hidden garden only helps to fuel Mary's imagination, and she is determined to find and unlock its secrets. The Secret Garden is an empowering tale of overcoming one's shortcomings.