Evaluate general reading comprehension, facilitate vocabulary development, and sharpen critical thinking skills with this bundle of materials for teaching Hans Christian Andersen’s classic short story “The Little Mermaid.” A plot-based quiz, a close reading worksheet, a craft analysis activity, a vocabulary application handout, a crossword puzzle, a word search game, the public domain fairy tale, and answer keys are provided. Materials are delivered in editable Word Document and printable PDF formats. This resource may facilitate small-group discussions in which students decode language and pose/respond to questions relating to plot, broad topics, and character development. Using this resource for structured guidance, students will improve their ability to present information, conclusions, and supporting textual evidence clearly and convincingly. By engaging with these activities, students will: Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly Define words and phrases as they are used in the text Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings Choose the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences Develop a greater understanding of how Hans Christian Andersen used descriptive language, characterization, figurative language, and other literary devices to establish a fairy tale atmosphere and empathetic protagonist Explore how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop Apply knowledge of various literary devices including alliteration, consonance, sibilance, situational irony, dramatic irony, metaphor, personification, inversion, and hyperbole Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence Write about fictional texts 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 J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit. Alternatively, stash these materials in an emergency sub folder to keep students meaningfully engaged in the book during unexpected teacher absences. Included are 10 vocabulary application activities, 10 crossword puzzles, 10 word search games, and answer keys. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. A total of 143 challenging words are addressed: abode, allude, aloft, amble, amends, astray, audacious, barren, befoul, benefactor, benighted, bleak, bleat, blunder, bough, bracken, brute, bulbous, circuitous, clamber, clamor, cleave, commotion, contrived, crossly, dart, decrepit, defray, desolate, detest, dire, dismay, disquieting, dominion, dreary, dubious, eerie, eminent, enmity, estimable, eyrie, falter, famished, feint, fleeting, flummoxed, forbear, ford, foreboding, furtive, gale, giddy, gloaming, gloat, glower, grievous, grimly, guffaw, hasty, haughty, heady, heartily, heedless, hoarse, idle, immense, implore, inquisitive, intently, ire, jest, keen, lament, lichen, loathsome, lofty, lore, lure, memoir, morsel, mournful, multitude, murmur, mutter, nimble, obstinately, oddment, onslaught, outlandish, pallid, pamper, perpetually, plead, plight, plod, plunder, precipice, primly, promontory, prosperous, proverb, purloin, recede, reconciliation, refuge, repose, reverence, revive, ruddy, scabbard, scimitar, scoff, scowl, scurry, seldom, shirk, shrill, smoldering, smote, sneer, solemn, stealthily, surly, taut, timidly, toothsome, treacherous, trifle, trudge, tumult, uncanny, unimpeachable, vagabond, vain, valor, venerable, vexed, wane, wary, wearily, wield, wily, and withered. 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

Frontload assigned readings with these vocabulary games and activities to facilitate comprehension of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984. Alternatively, stash these materials in an emergency sub folder to keep students meaningfully engaged in the book during unexpected teacher absences. Included are three vocabulary application activities, six crossword puzzles, six word search games, and answer keys. Materials are delivered in Word Document and PDF formats. A total of 75 challenging words are addressed: abashed, aberrations, allusion, apathetic, assent, atrocity, avaricious, barren, beseech, bough, clamber, clamor, coarse, conspicuous, contempt, continually, denounce, dingy, disquieting, dissemble, doleful, eccentricity, eminent, extricate, exult, feeble, fleeting, furtively, genially, heretical, incredulous, indefatigably, indignation, ineffectual, inscrutable, intently, interminable, keen, luminous, melancholy, mournful, murmur, mutter, nebulous, obsolete, odious, omnipotent, palpable, persecute, prevaricate, procure, recede, reconciliation, relinquish, remonstrance, reproach, reverence, shrill, shudder, solitude, spurious, strident, subdued, subtlety, superfluous, surly, tedious, tentative, torpid, treachery, tremulous, vague, vehemently, weariness, and whimper. 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