Evaluate general reading comprehension, facilitate vocabulary development, and sharpen critical thinking and literary craft analysis skills with this bundle of materials for teaching Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Tell-Tale Heart.” A plot-based quiz, a close reading worksheet, a literary craft analysis activity, a vocabulary application exercise, a crossword puzzle, a word search game, the narrative, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. By engaging with these materials, students will: Read for literal comprehension Utilize dictionaries to ensure knowledge of word meanings Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences Infer the intended effects of the author’s word choices and narrative techniques Discern the function of a given excerpt Describe tone in context Explore how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop Compare and contrast characters Analyze a detail for symbolism and make logical inferences about the narrator’s subconscious motivations based on this analysis Apply knowledge of literary devices including foreshadowing, hyperbole, metaphor, personification, situational irony, symbolism, and more Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence Write about fiction with clarity, accuracy, and precision Come to class better prepared to discuss literature

Frontload assigned readings with these vocabulary games and activities to facilitate comprehension of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Alternatively, stash these materials in an emergency sub folder to keep students meaningfully engaged in the book during unexpected teacher absences. Included are 13 vocabulary application activities, 13 crossword puzzles, 13 word search games, and answer keys. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. A total of 203 challenging words are addressed: aberrations, abominable, accost, acquiescence, acquittal, acrimonious, adjourn, affluent, aloof, altercation, ambidextrous, amiable, apoplectic, apothecary, appalling, appeal, apprehension, arbitrate, ascertaining, assuage, auspicious, austere, begrudge, benign, bestow, bewilderment, bide, blandly, bleakly, brevity, burdensome, caliber, candid, clad, cleave, commotion, competent, concede, condescension, connive, contemptuous, contentious, convey, corroborative, cowardice, credibility, crude, curt, dainty, denunciation, desolate, diligently, diminutive, discreet, dismay, dreary, duress, eccentricity, editorial, eerily, elucidate, elude, elusive, escapade, evident, evoke, expunge, farthest, fatalistic, feeble, feral, florid, foolhardy, formidable, fretfully, frivolous, furtive, futility, garish, genially, grudge, guilelessness, habiliments, haughty, hearty, hone, idle, illicit, impassive, impertinence, imprudent, incantation, inconspicuous, indict, indigenous, indignant, industrious, infallible, inordinately, inquire, inquisitive, instinctively, iota, irascible, jim-dandy, keenly, libel, malevolent, mausoleum, meditations, meditative, meekly, melancholy, mercifully, meteorological, mollify, morbid, mournfully, murmur, mutter, myopic, nebulous, nondescript, notoriety, obliquely, oblivious, obscure, oppressive, ordeals, palliation, passe, peeved, pensive, perforated, perpetual, perpetuate, persecution, pestilence, pilgrimage, placid, predilection, prerogative, procure, propensity, providence, prowess, purloin, quaint, qualm, ramshackle, rankle, rectitude, reluctantly, reprimand, resolve, reverent, ruefully, scowl, scurry, serene, shrill, sibilant, skulk, sneer, solitary, spurious, stealthily, sternness, stolidly, strenuous, subdued, subtlety, succinct, sulk, tacit, taciturn, tactful, tedious, temerity, timid, tirade, touchous, tranquil, trousseau, trudge, turmoil, tyranny, umbrage, uncouth, undulate, unobtrusive, untrammeled, vague, vapid, varmint, vehemently, venerable, vivid, volition, wary, weary, woes, and wrathfully. By engaging with these activities, students will: Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences