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Look Both Ways Novel Study
About the Novel: From National Book Award finalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds comes a novel told in ten blocks, showing all the different directions kids’ walks home can take.
This story was going to begin like all the best stories. With a school bus falling from the sky. But no one saw it happen. They were all too busy—
Talking about boogers.
Stealing pocket change.
Skateboarding.
Wiping out.
Braving up.
Executing complicated handshakes.
Planning an escape.
Making jokes.
Lotioning up.
Finding comfort.
But mostly, too busy walking home.
Jason Reynolds conjures ten tales (one per block) about what happens after the dismissal bell rings, and brilliantly weaves them into one wickedly funny, piercingly poignant look at the detours we face on the walk home, and in life.
About the Resource: This pack includes Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character, setting and plot studies, point of view), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (water bears, sickle cell anemia, skateboarding, video games, support animals).
Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw with download.
Design A Video Game on Scratch
Children will begin by playing different video games online to evaluate what makes them fun and engaging for their audience. They will then analyse the mechanics of the games and then plan a game of their own remixing a game on Scratch based on their criteria. Children will then use conditionals, operators, and variables on Scratch to make their own game.
Lesson plans, editable rubrics, and classroom examples from Year 6 are provided, as well as links to additional support on the Scratch website.
A digital copy of the file is available for editing and posting on Google Classroom and Seesaw provided with download.
The Skeleton Tree Novel Study
This 65 page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with The Skeleton Tree by Iain Lawrence.
ABOUT THE NOVEL: Less than 48 hours after twelve-year-old Chris casts off on a trip to sail down the Alaskan coast with his uncle, their boat sinks. The only survivors are Chris and a boy named Frank, who hates Chris immediately. Chris and Frank have no radio, no flares, no food. Suddenly, they've got to find a way to forage, fish and scavenge supplies from the shore. Chris likes the company of a curious friendly raven more than he likes the prickly Frank. But the boys have to get along if they want to survive.
Because as the days get colder, and the salmon migration ends, survival will take more than sheer force of will. There in the wilderness of Kodiak, they discover a bond they didn't expect, and through it, the compassion and teamwork that might truly be the path to rescue.
ABOUT THE RESOURCE: Designed in alignment with the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s reading objectives for Year 6, the pack includes: Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character studies and plot studies), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (tide, Alaska, northern lights, salmon, ravens, Marconi, wolves, Grizzly bears, tsunami, sailing).
Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.
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Survival Invention Explanation Text
This resource has been designed to be done alongside Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo, but can also be done independently of the novel study.
Children will read about different survival inventions before writing an explanation text about how they work. Alternatively, children can design, make and evaluate their own survival invention before explaining how it works (link to that learning outcome by searching Create a Survival Invention STEAM).
What’s Included:
- Curriculum Links
- Handouts
**Link also included to digital file for editing and sharing on learning platforms such as Google Classroom and Seesaw.
Shipwrecked Narrative Writing Linked to Kensuke's Kingdom
This 40-page resource has been designed to use alongside Kensuke’s Kingdom by Michael Morpurgo, but can also be done independently of the novel study.
Children will write their own last chapters to Kensuke’s Kingdom with a focus on using shifts in formality (with flashbacks). If you aren’t reading the novel, you can use the same idea, introducing the idea of being shipwrecked with a drama activity (included) before the children write their own narrative ending.
The pack includes different graphic organisers, resources for lower ability pupils, as well as lesson plans and rubrics.
Lessons and objectives are aligned with objectives from the 2014 National Curriculum of England and has links to the Common Core.
Digital copies of the files for editing and sharing on digital platforms are available by following the link provided with download.
Flora & Ulysses Novel Study
This 90 page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with Flora and Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo.
*Updated to include deeper learning opportunities
ABOUT THE NOVEL: Holy unanticipated occurrences! From #1 New York Times best-selling author Kate DiCamillo comes a laugh-out-loud story filled with eccentric, endearing characters — a novel interspersed with comic-style graphic sequences and full-page illustrations, all rendered in black and white by K. G. Campbell.
ABOUT THE RESOURCE: Designed in alignment with the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s reading objectives for Year 6, the pack includes: Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character studies and plot studies), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (parakeets, donuts, comics, squirrels, acrobatics).
Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.
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Flora and Ulysses Novel Study + STEAM BUNDLE
Mission to Mars: Design a Mars Rover with littleBits
Updated with new graphics and Google extension
This 35-page resource has been designed to use as a guide to designing a Mars Rover with littleBits. Children will first look at previous Mars Rovers and their jobs before designing, making, and evaluating their own Rovers.
This Outcome will allow children to use the Design - Make - Evaluate - Technical Knowledge threads of the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s Design & Technology document.
littleBits don’t have to exclusively be used for the Outcome - Lego Robotics (WeDo) and simple circuit kits can also be used. Teachers are encouraged to also have thin card, sugar paper and adhesives available to create the rovers with the circuits inside.
Digital resources for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download
Mission to Mars: Narrative Writing
**Updated with new graphics and Google extension
This 25-page resource has been designed to be done alongside other Outcomes from the Mission to Mars unit, but can also be done independently of the other learning outcomes.
The outcome is designed for the children to write their own narrative story about a Mission to Mars with a focus on using shifts in formality (with flashbacks). The idea is introduced with a drama activity before the children research space travel and plan their story.
Planning lists and checklists are included for planning and editing.
Digital resources for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.
Self & Peer Editing Checklists (Narrative, Persuasive, Explanation, Information Writing)
This resource can be used for self or peer editing in a Key Stage 2 classroom. The guidelines used for mechanics, structure, grammar, and style have been taken from the Interim Guidelines for End of Key Stage 2 Expectations in England.
When I have used these in the classroom, I will place coloured pencils in yellow, green, pink, and blue on tables and have the children mark where specific requirements are missing or needing change on the papers of their peers.
I have included additional pages where the requirements are blank so that you can design them as a class or with focus groups. I have also included the digital copy for editing or sharing on Google Classroom or Seesaw (ideal for paperless classrooms), with a link provided with download.
The Book of Dust (Vol. 1) Novel Study
This resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman.
ABOUT THE NOVEL: Malcolm Polstead is the kind of boy who notices everything but is not much noticed himself. And so perhaps it was inevitable that he would become a spy…
Malcolm’s parents run an inn called the Trout, on the banks of the river Thames, and all of Oxford passes through its doors. Malcolm and his daemon, Asta, routinely overhear news and gossip, and the occasional scandal, but during a winter of unceasing rain, Malcolm catches wind of something new: intrigue.
He finds a secret message inquiring about a dangerous substance called Dust - and the spy it was intended for finds him.
When she asks Malcolm to keep his eyes open, he sees suspicious characters everywhere: the explorer Lord Asriel, clearly on the run; enforcement agents from the Magisterium; a gyptian named Coram with warnings just for Malcolm; and a beautiful woman with an evil monkey for a daemon. All are asking about the same thing: a girl - just a baby - named Lyra.
Lyra is the kind of person who draws people in like magnets. And Malcolm will brave any danger, and make shocking sacrifices, to bring her safely through the storm.
ABOUT THE RESOURCE: Designed in alignment with the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s reading objectives for Year 6, the pack includes: Background information on the novel (about the setting, about daemons), Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character studies and plot studies), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (daemons, spies, Aurora, priory).
Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.
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Samurai Rising Novel Study **UPDATED
This resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with Samurai Rising by Pamela Turner. The pack has been designed in alignment with Common Core Reading Standards for Grades 6-8.
About the Novel: A samurai fights for honor and survival in a real-life Game of Thrones.
Stirring narrative nonfiction recounts the rise of Minamoto Yoshitsune from seemingly doomed infant to immortal warrior-hero (and one of the most famous samurai in Japanese history). Acclaimed author Pamela S. Turner delivers all the drama, romance, and tragedy of the original story–with delightfully dry wit and a healthy dose of modern perspective. Gorgeous ink paintings by celebrated graphic-novelist Gareth Hinds complete this irresistible package.
About the Resource:
Chapter Summaries
Comprehension Questions (two for each chapter)
Digging Deeper (setting, character analysis, point of view, big ideas)
Creative Writing Tasks
Non-Fiction Tasks (Yoshitsune Minamoto, Kiyomori Taira, bushido, Go-Shirakawa, samurai, Kyoto)
A digital copy of the file on Google Slides is available with download for students to edit online instead of printing the pack.
The Weirdo Novel Study
This 56-page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with The Weirdo by Theodore Taylor. The pack has been designed in alignment with Common Core State Standards for Grade 7 Reading.
About the Novel: Chip Clewt, known simply as the weirdo, lives like a hermit in the Powhatan Swamp, a National Wildlife Refuge that is at the center of a heated controversy between local hunters and environmentalists. A hunting ban on the Powhatan is about to expire. The environmentalists want to protect the wildlife; the hunters are oiling their guns. Then someone completely unexpected comes forward to spearhead the conservation effort - the weirdo.
**A digital copy of the file is also available on Google Slides for students to complete online instead of printing.
Deeplight Novel Study
About the Novel: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea meets Frankenstein in this inventive YA fantasy from award-winning author Frances Hardinge
The gods are dead. Fifty years ago, they turned on one another and tore each other apart. Nobody knows why.
Now, even coin-sized scraps of dead god are worth a fortune because of the strange powers they’re said to possess. But few are brave enough to dive and search for them.
When fifteen-year-old Hark finds the still-beating heart of one of these deities, he’ll risk everything to keep it out of the hands of smugglers, scientists, and cults who would kill for its power. Because Hark needs the heart if he wants to save the life of his best friend, Jelt. But the power of a god was not meant for human hands.
With the heart, Jelt begins to eerily transform, and Hark will have to decide if he can stay loyal to his friend—or what he’s willing to sacrifice to save him.
About the Resource: This pack includes Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character, setting and plot studies, point of view), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (mudflats, submarines, aquanauts, sea monsters, bathysphere).
Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.
Dune Novel Study
About the Novel: NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Jason Momoa, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Chang Chen,Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem.
Frank Herbert’s classic masterpiece—a triumph of the imagination and one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time.
Set on the desert planet Arrakis, Dune is the story of the boy Paul Atreides, heir to a noble family tasked with ruling an inhospitable world where the only thing of value is the “spice” melange, a drug capable of extending life and enhancing consciousness. Coveted across the known universe, melange is a prize worth killing for…
When House Atreides is betrayed, the destruction of Paul’s family will set the boy on a journey toward a destiny greater than he could ever have imagined. And as he evolves into the mysterious man known as Muad’Dib, he will bring to fruition humankind’s most ancient and unattainable dream.
A stunning blend of adventure and mysticism, environmentalism and politics, Dune won the first Nebula Award, shared the Hugo Award, and formed the basis of what is undoubtedly the grandest epic in science fiction.
About the Resource: This pack includes Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character, setting and plot studies, point of view), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (signet rings, water conservation, powerful houses, desert predators, space travel, dehydration, desert travel, ecology).
**Novel study is colour-coded for Book 1: Dune, Book 2: Muad’Dib, and Book 3: The Prophet to allow finding summaries and comprehension questions easier.
Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw with download.
Nimona Graphic Novel Study
About the Novel: Nemeses! Dragons! Science! Symbolism! All these and more await in this brilliantly subversive, sharply irreverent epic from Noelle Stevenson. Featuring an exclusive epilogue not seen in the web comic, along with bonus conceptual sketches and revised pages throughout, this gorgeous full-color graphic novel has been hailed by critics and fans alike as the arrival of a “superstar” talent (NPR.org).
Nimona is an impulsive young shapeshifter with a knack for villainy. Lord Ballister Blackheart is a villain with a vendetta. As sidekick and supervillain, Nimona and Lord Blackheart are about to wreak some serious havoc. Their mission: prove to the kingdom that Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin and his buddies at the Institution of Law Enforcement and Heroics aren’'t the heroes everyone thinks they are.
But as small acts of mischief escalate into a vicious battle, Lord Blackheart realizes that Nimona’'s powers are as murky and mysterious as her past. And her unpredictable wild side might be more dangerous than he is willing to admit.
About the Resource: This 72-page pack includes Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character, setting and plot studies, point of view), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (dragons, shapeshifters, jousting, prosthetic limbs).
Resource is provided as a PDF but a digital copy of the pack is available for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw with download.
Five Little Indians Novel Study
**This 132-page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop with Five Little Indians by Michelle Good.
**
About the Novel: Taken from their families when they are very small and sent to a remote, church-run residential school, Kenny, Lucy, Clara, Howie and Maisie are barely out of childhood when they are finally released after years of detention.
Alone and without any skills, support or families, the teens find their way to the seedy and foreign world of Downtown Eastside Vancouver, where they cling together, striving to find a place of safety and belonging in a world that doesn’t want them. The paths of the five friends cross and crisscross over the decades as they struggle to overcome, or at least forget, the trauma they endured during their years at the Mission.
Fuelled by rage and furious with God, Clara finds her way into the dangerous, highly charged world of the American Indian Movement. Maisie internalizes her pain and continually places herself in dangerous situations. Famous for his daring escapes from the school, Kenny can’t stop running and moves restlessly from job to job—through fishing grounds, orchards and logging camps—trying to outrun his memories and his addiction. Lucy finds peace in motherhood and nurtures a secret compulsive disorder as she waits for Kenny to return to the life they once hoped to share together. After almost beating one of his tormentors to death, Howie serves time in prison, then tries once again to re-enter society and begin life anew.
With compassion and insight, Five Little Indians chronicles the desperate quest of these residential school survivors to come to terms with their past and, ultimately, find a way forward.
About the Resource: This pack includes Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character, setting and plot studies, point of view), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (Sweat lodge; smudging; Indian Act; residential school; American Indian Movement; reconciliation)
A link to a digital file for editing and use in paperless classrooms, as well as a printer-friendly version of the file are available with download.
The Marrow Thieves Novel Study
**This 143-page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop with The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline.
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About the Novel: Just when you think you have nothing left to lose, they come for your dreams.
Humanity has nearly destroyed its world through global warming, but now an even greater evil lurks. The Indigenous people of North America are being hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, which carries the key to recovering something the rest of the population has lost: the ability to dream. In this dark world, Frenchie and his companions struggle to survive as they make their way up north to the old lands. For now, survival means staying hidden - but what they don’t know is that one of them holds the secret to defeating the marrow thieves.
About the Resource: This pack includes Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities (includes character, setting and plot studies, point of view), Creative Writing Tasks, and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (residential schools, round dance, jingle dress, smudging, dreams, sweat lodge, Band Council, hand drum).
A link to a digital file for editing and use in paperless classrooms is available with download.
Conquistador & Mayan Civilisation Study - Geography & History Focus
Children will research the geography of the Yucatan Peninsula faced by the Conquistadors, before exploring sources to learn about the achievements of the Mayan Civilisation. They will then create a digital presentation to show off what they’ve learned.
Children will use chronology to compare how their chosen focus has changed over time (before, during, after contact with the Conquistadors).
This pack includes lesson plans, rubrics, and editable rubrics to support with the learning process. Lessons and objectives are aligned with the objectives of the 2014 National Curriculum of England, but ties are made to the CCSS where appropriate.
A digital file for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw is available with download.
Ancient Benin Study: Design the Head of an Oba
This resource is meant to be used by children in Key Stage 2 (English objectives pitched to Years 5 and 6) to investigate the history and significance of the commemorative heads made to honour the Oba of Ancient Benin.
Children will first read about the heads through differentiated articles, then investigate the symbolism of different commemorative heads. They will then design their own commemorative head before carving it out of a bar of soap and evaluating their design.
Lastly, children will write an explanation text about their commemorative head.
Sequence of Sessions:
Research Ancient Benin
Investigating different examples of art commissioned by Obas of Ancient Benin
Investigating the significance of animals in commemorative heads of Ancient Benin Obas
Design own Oba head
Carve own Oba head
Evaluate own Oba head
Features of an Explanation Text
Write an Explanation Text
There is also a digital file included for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw.
Ancient Benin Study: Create a Thumb Piano
This resource is meant to be used by children in Key Stage 2 (English objectives pitched to Years 5 and 6) to investigate instruments used by traditional societies in West Africa. After listening to music and investigating different instruments used and how they are designed and used, children will design their own thumb piano (mbira) before making it and evaluating it.
Alternatively, after researching different instruments from West Africa, children can choose to make a different one instead of a thumb piano. The design, make, and evaluate sheets have been made as generic as possible to allow for this.
A digital copy for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw is provided with download.