Discover the loneliness that comes with a solitary and independent life. The quizzes and activity pages make this resource accessible for all students. Students choose their own animal to become their faithful companion, much like Frightful is to Sam. Elaborate on Sam's realization that he is low in vitamin C by researching other vitamins and explaining what they provide to the human body. Test comprehension with multiple choice questions that ask about how Sam spends Christmas on the mountain. Predict how long it will be before Sam sees his father again. Identify the different relationships Sam makes with both animals and other people during his time in the Catskill Mountains. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: My Side of the Mountain follows one boy's journey into the wilderness and the most unlikely realization he finds there. Sam Gribley is an adolescent boy who lives in a small New York City apartment with eight brothers and sisters. He hates feeling trapped and dreams of living in the wide open space that only the wilderness can provide. He decides then to run away to his grandfather's abandoned farm in the Catskill Mountains. On the way, Sam recounts how he survives a snowstorm and befriends a falcon and weasel. He learns many skills from people he meets on his journey that will help him to survive his independent lifestyle. However, Sam finds his solitude more lonesome than he thought, and soon yearns for human interaction. This coming-of-age story follows the mental and physical growth of a young boy as he discovers who he really is.

"Should appeal to all rugged individualists who dream of escape to the forest."—The New York Times Book Review Sam Gribley is terribly unhappy living in New York City with his family, so he runs away to the Catskill Mountains to live in the woods—all by himself. With only a penknife, a ball of cord, forty dollars, and some flint and steel, he intends to survive on his own. Sam learns about courage, danger, and independence during his year in the wilderness, a year that changes his life forever. “An extraordinary book . . . It will be read year after year.” —The Horn Book

Be encouraged to rise above failure and show just what you're made of. The provided Before and After reading activities really help to build student's reading comprehension. Make connections between the novel and well-known Greek myths by identifying the significance of the three old ladies Percy sees knitting. Make predictions about the plot by deciding whether Percy will find out about his parentage. Go back through the novel and make a list of clues that show the author's use of foreshadowing. Put key events from the novel in the order they occurred as Percy learns about his quest. Compare the Greek gods from the novel with their Roman counterparts. Detail some of the ways the gods of Olympus influenced events in the story, and how these influences impacted plot development. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: The Lightning Thief follows the mythical adventures of a young boy with a legendary destiny. Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is close to being kicked out of another boarding school. But his real concern is the figures from Greek mythology who seem intent on killing him. On a school trip, Percy is attacked by one of his chaperones. He learns this person is really a Fury—a Greek deity of vengeance. With a magic sword tossed to him by his Latin teacher, Percy successfully kills the creature. He soon learns that he is, in fact, a demigod—half human and half Greek god. He makes his way to a summer camp for other demigods. Here he learns of his true parentage and why he struggles so much in school. Things get even stranger for Percy when he is thrust into a quest that can either save the world, or doom him forever.

Students gain a new sense of respect for age and the treasures that accumulate with it. Helpful outlines of activities makes this resource easy to implement into any classroom. Find facts about the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Draw and color a picture of what the penny box may look like. Students explain the sentence "you worry me to death to play" in their own words. Complete a chart by matching vocabulary words to their meanings. Predict what like will be like for Michael with Aunt Dew for the next few months. Write a story describing Aunt Dew's move to Michael's home in her own point of view. 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: The Hundred Penny Box is the Newbery Honor-winning story of a boy and his great-great aunt. Michael has a 100-year-old great-great aunt who keeps an old wooden box full of 100 pennies, one for each year she's been alive. Attached to each penny is a memory of what happened in Michael's aunt's life the year each coin was minted. Born in 1874, her first coin represents the Reconstruction. The 1930 penny represents the death of her husband. Michael enjoys to hear the stories attached to each penny, but soon finds that his great-great aunt is as old and feeble as the box that carries them.

Find out what life on the prairie was really like with this retelling of actual events. The thorough and comprehensive questions are great for small group work. Students put themselves in Laura's shoes as she experiences the hardships of living on the prairie. Test student comprehension of key vocabulary words found in the novel. Students explore what they learn about life on the prairie, particularly with how Pa builds the log cabin. Challenge students to describe Laura's surroundings while living on the prairie. Reenact your favorite scene from the novel in small groups. Complete a story map graphic organizer, following the events that take place during Laura's time on the prairie. 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: Little House on the Prairie follows one family's journey to a new home and new beginnings. Laura lives in a house in the Big Woods. But the area is becoming too crowded. Her father decides to uproot and move out to the prairies, where the land is vast and plentiful. On their journey, the family must cross two great rivers before the ice melts. They camp out alone with very little between them and their harsh environment. Soon they arrive on the prairie and choose a place to settle. But their hardships don't end there. While they build their new log cabin and get used to their surroundings, the family must survive illness, fires, wolves, and an increasing native population. As they finally settle in and prepare to plant their first crop, the family's year living on the prairie comes to an end. Little House on the Prairie is an educational story about what life was like in the American Midwest during the 19th century.

See how hard work and perseverance can help someone overcome their shortcomings. The higher level questioning in this comprehensive novel study works great with small groups. Students are prompted to think about their future and imagine what they want to be when they grow up. Put events in the order they occur when Sam meets the swans. Describe what the teacher's first reaction to Louis was when he decided to go to school. Predict how the campers will react to Louis. Students write a poem about something they love, similar to what Sam did for the Head Man at the zoo. Label and describe the different parts that make up the anatomy of a Trumpeter Swan. 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: The Trumpet of the Swan tells the story of a young swan without the ability to talk. Louis is a trumpeter swan. Unfortunately, he is unable to talk to other swans. Louis decides he needs to learn how to read and write so that he can properly communicate. He goes to his human friend, Sam, for help. Sam takes Louis to school with him, where he learns how to read and write, and is gifted with a slate and piece of chalk. When he returns to his family, Louis quickly learns that this method won't work, as other swans can't read what he writes on his board. In an effort to help his son, Louis' father steals a trumpet from a local music store. Finally, Louis is able to trumpet like the rest of the swans. However, now he faces a new problem—his father is a thief. Louis decides to leave the nest in an effort to earn enough money to pay for the stolen trumpet and restore his father's honor. What follows is a series of events that entwine Louis in the lives of several humans.

Be uprooted and dropped into a busy and overwhelming city to learn about friendship and belonging. Take all the work out of planning a lesson so there's more time focused on comprehension and engaging hands-on follow-up activities. Do some research on the importance of crickets in the Chinese culture. Compare Chinatown with Times Square by listing three differences. Describe Chester's dream and what he did in response to it. Find the words the author used to represent sounds and explain what sounds they represent. Imagine what it would be like for Harry and Tucker to visit Chester in the country. Get into the 'skin' of Tucker to tell how he would act if he found money in Times Square. 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: The Cricket in Times Square is the Newbery Honor-winning story of a cricket who finds himself taken away from his country home and dropped right in the Times Square subway station. Chester Cricket enjoys his home in Connecticut; however, one day he is brought to the city and immediately misses home. While in Times Square, Chester meets Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat, who quickly become friends with the musical insect. Chester is also adopted by Mario, a young boy who's family runs a small newspaper stand in the station. Throughout the story, Chester finds himself amidst many obstacles and struggling to prove he belongs in the big city.

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.

Gain a sense of wonder as you travel across the Atlantic in a giant peach. Help students understand reading comprehension and aid them with higher-order thinking questions. Make predictions about what will happen next, and get into the heads of the characters by explaining what they mean with their dialog. Think about the magic power that changes the peach and imagine how it would affect a person, insect or animal. Write a sentence using alliteration to describe an object or event. Complete a KWL Chart on one of the creatures from the book. 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: A humorous and entertaining fairy tale about the adventures of a boy named James and his insect friends. An old man gives James green magical crystals that do wonders on a peach as it grows bigger than a house. With his insect friends, James flies from England to New York City with the help of 502 seagulls, and lands on the pinnacle of the Empire State Building. His friend, Old-Green-Grasshopper, becomes part of the New York Symphony Orchestra. Silkworm and Miss Spider set up a factory and make ropes for tightrope walkers. Ladybug gets married to the Head of the Fire Department. Glow-worm becomes the light inside the Statue of Liberty. Centipede is made Vice-President of a high-class firm of boot manufacturers. Earthworm makes commercials for a face cream company.

Experience this powerful story about childhood innocence, friendship and suffering set at Auschwitz Concentration Camp during World War II. Assess students' comprehension of the novel and explore their personal reactions to the events of the book. Imagine what Bruno sees from his bedroom window that makes him feel cold and unsafe. Explore Bruno's state of mind by detailing the lesson he learns from his conversation with Maria, and what experiences he thinks he shares with her. Identify statements about the story as either Bruno or his mother's description of Herr Roller. Match vocabulary words from the novel with their meanings. Describe how Bruno's perspective is different from Gretel's because he is getting to know Maria, Pavel and Schmuel. 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: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas is a classic story told from the point of view of a young German boy as he befriends a Jewish boy at a concentration camp. Nine-year-old Bruno lives with his family at Auschwitz Concentration Camp. They move there when Bruno's father is prompted to Commandant. While at his new home, Bruno meets and befriends a young boy named Shmuel who lives on the other side of the wire fence that surrounds the camp. One day, Bruno's mother convinces his father to let the family move back to Berlin. Before they leave, Bruno disguises himself and sneaks into the camp to help his friend find his missing father.