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.

**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.

**This 143-page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop with The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline. ** 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.

**This 207-page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop with Hunting By Stars by Cherie Dimaline. ** About the Novel: Years ago, when plagues and natural disasters killed millions of people, much of the world stopped dreaming. Without dreams, people are haunted, sick, mad, unable to rebuild. The government soon finds that the Indigenous people of North America have retained their dreams, an ability rumored to be housed in the very marrow of their bones. Soon, residential schools pop up—or are re-opened—across the land to bring in the dreamers and harvest their dreams. Seventeen-year-old French lost his family to these schools and has spent the years since heading north with his new found family: a group of other dreamers, who, like him, are trying to build and thrive as a community. But then French wakes up in a pitch-black room, locked in and alone for the first time in years, and he knows immediately where he is—and what it will take to escape. Meanwhile, out in the world, his found family searches for him and dodges new dangers—school Recruiters, a blood cult, even the land itself. When their paths finally collide, French must decide how far he is willing to go—and how many loved ones is he willing to betray—in order to survive. This engrossing, action-packed, deftly-drawn novel expands on the world of Cherie Dimaline’s award-winning The Marrow Thieves, and it will haunt readers long after they’ve turned the final page. 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 (syllabics, tuberculosis wards, gardening, chloroform, I Have A Dream speech, Highway of Tears, forced relocation). A link to a digital file for editing and use in paperless classrooms is available with download.

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.

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.

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.

**Updated with new graphics This 21-page resource has been designed as an introduction to a study of a Mission to Mars. Children will research different mission badges before designing, making, and evaluating their own. This Outcome uses Lilypad e-textiles, but the same curriculum objectives can be covered with the use of littleBits, circuit stickers (Chibitronics) or with twinkle lights that have been cut and joined to copper tape and powered with a low-voltage battery. Digital resources for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.

About the Novel: Rebellions are built on hope. Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens. With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp’s Director and his guards. Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today. About the Resource: This pack includes** Chapter Summaries, Comprehension Questions, Digging Deeper Opportunities** (includes character analysis, setting analysis, and plot studies), Creative Tasks (includes writing and cooking), and Non-Fiction Tasks related to content of the novel (Korematsu v. United States, banned books, Milgram experiment, shooting at Chapel Hill, Charlottesville riot, Japanese internment camps, White Rose, Red Cross visit to Theresienstadt, 442nd Infantry Regiment). 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.

Updated with new graphics and Google extension This 26-page resource has been designed to use as a guide to studying the US space program’s chronology. This Outcome will allow children to research how different aspects of NASA’s space program have changed over time, including space shuttles, spacesuits, and space exploration. Children will then write an explanation text following the 2014 National Curriculum English Objectives for Year 6. Link provided to digital resources for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw.

**Updated with new graphics and Google extension ** This 35-page resource has been designed to use as a guide to studying significant people and events in the US space program. Children will learn the difference between primary and secondary sources before using them in a presentation to teach their peers. Digital resources for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw available with download.

Children will participate in a short study of the importance of music in Ancient Sumer as well as the instruments used. Children will have opportunities to look at instruments uncovered by archaeologists studying the area and will learn about the science of sound before designing, making, and evaluating their own instruments. All learning objectives are aligned with the 2014 National Curriculum of England. This pack includes lesson plans, rubrics, and editable rubrics to support with the learning process. A digital copy for editing and sharing on digital platforms is provided with download.

Children will look at how sports team logos have changed over time before designing a team logo of their own. Children then repeat the same structure, this time looking at team jerseys. Last, they will write an explanation text of how logos or jerseys have changed over time. This pack includes lesson plans, rubrics, and editable rubrics to support with the learning process. Lessons and objectives are aligned with objectives from the 2014 National Curriculum of England. Links to the Common Core State Standards are also outlined, where appropriate. A digital copy for editing and sharing on digital platforms is available by following the link provided at the time of download.

This resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling. The pack has been designed in alignment with Common Core State Standards for Grade 7 Reading. About the Novel: Young Sylvia Mendez never expected to be at the center of a landmark legal battle. Young Aki Munemitsu never expected to be sent away from her home and her life as she knew it. The two girls definitely never expected to know each other, until their lives intersected on a Southern California farm in a way that changed the country forever. Who are Sylvia and Aki? And why did their family stories matter then and still matter today? This book reveals the remarkable, never-before-told story—based on true events—of Mendez vs. Westminster School District, the California court case that desegregated schools for Latino children and set the stage for Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education at the national level. About the Resource: The pack has been designed to cover five weeks, with assigned pages for reading, comprehension tasks and language analysis. **A digital copy of the file is also available on Google Slides for students to complete online instead of printing.

This resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with Red Scarf Girl by Ji-Li Jiang. The pack has been designed in alignment with the 2014 National Curriculum of England’s Reading Objectives for Year 6. About the Novel: In the tradition of The Diary of Anne Frank and I Am Malala, this is the incredible true story of one girl’s courage and determination during one of the most terrifying eras of the twentieth century. It’s 1966, and twelve-year-old Ji-li Jiang has everything a girl could want: brains, popularity, and a bright future in Communist China. But it’s also the year that China’s leader, Mao Ze-dong, launches the Cultural Revolution—and Ji-li’s world begins to fall apart. Over the next few years, people who were once her friends and neighbors turn on her and her family, forcing them to live in constant terror of arrest. And when Ji-li’s father is finally imprisoned, she faces the most difficult dilemma of her life. Written in an accessible and engaging style, this page-turning, honest, and deeply personal autobiography will appeal to readers of all ages. **About the Resource:**This pack includes chapter summaries, comprehension questions, opportunities for deeper learning (character analysis, setting analysis, theme, point of view), creative writing, and non-fiction tasks. **A digital copy of the file is also available on Google Slides for students to complete online instead of printing.

Children will research Mayans and Conquistadors before writing a narrative about their first encounter. This pack includes lesson plans, rubrics, and editable rubrics to support with the learning process. Lessons and objectives are aligned with objectives from the 2014 National Curriculum of England. A digital copy for editing and sharing on digital platforms is available with download.

About the Novel: When the women take over, is it sorcery or power? Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Twenty-year-old Maren Magnusdatter stands on the craggy coast, watching the skies break into a sudden and reckless storm. All forty of the village’s men were at sea, including Maren’s father and brother, and all forty are drowned in the otherworldly disaster. For the women left behind, survival means defying the strict rules of the island. They fish, hunt, and butcher reindeer—which they never did while the men were alive. But the foundation of this new feminine frontier begins to crack with the arrival of Absalom Cornet, a man sent from Scotland to root out alleged witchcraft. Cornet brings with him the threat of danger—and a pretty, young Norwegian wife named Ursa. As Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, the island begins to close in on them, with Absalom’s iron rule threatening Vardø’s very existence. About the Resource: This 202-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 (Sámi, Vardø Witch Trials, sorcery laws, vizard, runes). 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.

**This 304-page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop with Fire Keeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley. ** About the Novel: With four starred reviews, Angeline Boulley’s debut novel, Firekeeper’s Daughter, is a groundbreaking YA thriller about a Native teen who must root out the corruption in her community, perfect for readers of Angie Thomas and Tommy Orange. Eighteen-year-old Daunis Fontaine has never quite fit in, both in her hometown and on the nearby Ojibwe reservation. She dreams of a fresh start at college, but when family tragedy strikes, Daunis puts her future on hold to look after her fragile mother. The only bright spot is meeting Jamie, the charming new recruit on her brother Levi’s hockey team. Yet even as Daunis falls for Jamie, she senses the dashing hockey star is hiding something. Everything comes to light when Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, thrusting her into an FBI investigation of a lethal new drug. Reluctantly, Daunis agrees to go undercover, drawing on her knowledge of chemistry and Ojibwe traditional medicine to track down the source. But the search for truth is more complicated than Daunis imagined, exposing secrets and old scars. At the same time, she grows concerned with an investigation that seems more focused on punishing the offenders than protecting the victims. Now, as the deceptions—and deaths—keep growing, Daunis must learn what it means to be a strong Anishinaabe kwe (Ojibwe woman) and how far she’ll go for her community, even if it tears apart the only world she’s ever known. 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 (Sault Ste. Marie, Lake Superior, Soo Locks, sweetgrass, scars, Fancy Shawl Regalia, Traditional dancers, Jingle Dress Regalia, drum group, Ojibwe Fire Keeper, Sixties Scoop, John Herrington, smoke dance). A link to a digital file for editing and use in paperless classrooms is available with download.

This 69 page resource is designed to be used during Reading Workshop and is to be used with The Entirely True Story of the Unbelievable Fib by Adam Shaughnessy. ABOUT THE NOVEL: “What is the Unbelievable FIB?” That’s the question eleven-year-old Prudence Potts discovers on a baffling card no one else in Middleton--except ABE, a new kid at school with a knack for solving riddles--seems to see. Then a mysterious man asks for ABE and Pru’s help investigating mythical beings infiltrating the town, and that’s just the first of many things Pru finds hard to believe. Soon Pru and ABE discover another world beneath their quiet town, where Viking gods lurk just out of sight. And when the pair find themselves locked in a battle against a dangerously clever enemy, they must race to secure the Eye of Odin, source of all knowledge--and the key to stopping a war that could destroy both human and immortal realms. 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 (Thor, Loki, Odin, runes, Vikings). 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. ----------- You might also like: The Entirely True Story of the Unbelievable Fib Novel Study + Viking STEAM

This resource is meant to be used by children in Key Stage 2 (English objectives pitched to Years 5 and 6) to investigate the warriors of Ancient Benin and write a story with a theme of bravery. Children will first read to learn about warriors and hunting in Ancient Benin before planning, writing and revising their own story using shifts in formality. A digital copy of the resource is included for editing and sharing on Google Classroom and Seesaw by following a link provided with download.