Seedfolks - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6


Book Description

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.




A Single Shard - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6


Book Description

Gain a sense of responsibility and knowing what it's like to have someone's fate in their hands. Our resource is great for quizzes, vocabulary and writing prompts. Predict what will happen between Tree-ear and Min, and whether Tree-ear will become a potter. Match characters to their actions in the story. Use words in a sentence to show its meaning. Describe how Tree-ear prepares the clay for Min, and how different the process would be today. Write the step-by-step instructions on Kang's new technique for making pottery. Compare Min and Kang's work in a Venn Diagram. Design a poster advertising Min's pottery. Find the cities from the novel on a setting map of Korea. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Set in 12th Century Korea, Tree-ear—an orphaned little boy—lives under a bridge with a disabled older friend and caretaker named Crane-man. Tree-ear is fascinated with a local potter named Min and dreams of creating his own ceramics. The trade of potter is unfortunately passed down from father to son, therefore Min can’t teach Tree-ear the trade. The Royal Emissary tours the village in search for a new potter for the palace. Min and Kang—another pottery-maker—compete for the honor. The emissary chooses Kang but tells Min that if he can create more work and bring it to Puyo, he will reconsider his choice. Now, Min’s fate rests in the hands of Tree-ear, who must deliver the pottery to the palace.




Inside Out & Back Again - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6


Book Description

Discover firsthand what it’s like for refugees entering the US in this coming-of-age story of one girl’s struggle to belong. This resource has everything you will need in one packet, from pre-assessment material, to comprehension questions incorporating vocabulary. Reflect on Hà’s mother’s decision of having to choose a different country to live in. Put the events that describe Hà’s first day of school in the order that they occur. Describe what Miss Scott shows to the class, and how Hà reacts to it. Predict whether the family will learn what happened to their father. Put yourself in Hà’s shoes and imagine what you would wish for during Têt. Explore the concept of language and how difficult it can be to learn by researching common idioms used in your language. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, our worksheets incorporate a variety of scaffolding strategies along with additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key. About the Novel: Inside Out & Back Again follows 10-year-old Hà and her family as they struggle as refugees in 1970’s America. The story begins in 1975 Saigon. Hà’s father has been missing for years since leaving to fight in the war of Vietnam. The war is now over and the Americans are leaving. Communists from the North threaten the family’s safety and freedom. They come to the hard decision of leaving their beloved home to seek shelter elsewhere. They settle on America, and with the sponsorship of a kind “cowboy”, the family start their new home in Alabama. Their struggles don’t stop there, however. Their first task is to learn English. Hà struggles with this as she enters school in America. She is met with bullies and miscommunication in language and culture. With the help of a kind neighbor, Hà quickly learns how to survive in her new home. She begins to make friends at school, and her family begin to prosper as well. The day comes when the family must make the difficult decision regarding her father, but nothing will stop them from making the most of their new lives in America.




The House on Mango Street - Literature Kit Gr. 7-8


Book Description

Experience the discrimination of race, gender and class felt by one girl in this coming-of-age story. The layout and variety of activities in this resource will keep students engaged and involved in the reading. Use metaphors and figurative language to describe things that bring comfort, much like Esperanza’s thoughts on her mother’s hair. Describe Nenny’s personality based on what’s been revealed in previous chapters. Put events surrounding Esperanza’s poetry writing in the order as they occur in the chapter. Explain why the author might choose specific spelling as a plot device. Choose words that mean the same as the vocabulary word found in the reading. Write your own persuasive argument, similar to Esperanza’s argument for eating at school. Record the symbolism of shoes used throughout the novel by detailing their use on a flowchart. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, our worksheets incorporate a variety of scaffolding strategies along with additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key. About the Novel: The House on Mango Street follows Esperanza Cordero as she tells stories from her childhood living on Mango Street in a series of vignettes. Esperanza is a young Latina girl living in a mostly Hispanic neighborhood in Chicago. She is not happy with her home on Mango Street. Her neighborhood is poor, and the people that live within it are treated like second class citizens. Esperanza experiences a lot of hardships growing up, from discrimination against her race, to men abusing their wives. Esperanza witnesses all this in her neighborhood, and vows to make a better future for herself. The House on Mango Street is a coming-of-age story that explores tough topics that force a young girl to grow up quickly.




The Family Under the Bridge - Literature Kit Gr. 3-4


Book Description

Expose your students to the hardships of poverty and the power that comes with family. Multi-leveled questions and prompts will have students digging deeper while making connections. Investigate the setting to determine what is already known about the historic country of France. Explain what is ironic about Armand's words to the pigeons. Recall what was read by completing a paragraph from the novel with its missing words. Predict what will happen with the children's request to Father Christmas after a cliffhanger. Research information on Provence, Saint Sara or the Tournelle Bridge and create a report with interesting facts on these places mentioned in the novel. Complete an analysis of the novel, detailing the conflict, setting, point of view and theme, among others. 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 Family Under the Bridge is a Newbery Honor winning story about the Calcet family—a mother and her three children—who end up living under a bridge on the Seine River. Here, they befriend the carefree Parisian hobo, Armand. When two nosy women appear at their makeshift home, and it appears that the authorities have been summoned, Armand takes the family to live with a community of gypsies. Here, they are befriended and their relationship with the old hobo deepens. After promising the children a new home for Christmas, Armand decides his only option is to seek employment, and he manages to get a job as the caretaker of an apartment building, which offers the family a place to stay. Here, they determine to live as one big family, with Armand serving as the grandfather the children never had.




Cheaper by the Dozen - Literature Kit Gr. 7-8


Book Description

Become part of the Gilbreths and experience what it's like to be part of a large family. The pre-reading and vocabulary sections prepare students for the upcoming chapters. Get an idea of what an efficiency expert is like by brainstorming what their goal might be. Identify statements about the Gilbreth's car as true or false. Describe how the children convinced their parents to buy a family dog. Explore the Gilbreth's life view by finding more efficient ways to do things in the classroom. Investigate the life of F.W. Taylor, whose achievements influenced the Gilbreth's work in efficiency. Using a chart, compare the traits of Mr. Gilbreth with another character in the novel. 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 classic story of a family of twelve children and their adventures while growing up together. Frank and Lillian Gilbreth were renowned efficiency experts, who often practiced their many different theories and experiments on their large family. Written with wit and humor, the book documents a multitude of humorous and touching vignettes–some hilarious and others nostalgic and heart-warming. Family adventures include the family car, a vintage Pierce-Arrow, which is used by the parents for Sunday drives and causes the children no end of embarrassment. As well as a trip out west to visit Mother’s straight-laced family. It is a story in which most families will readily identify, and keep the reader turning the pages to the very end.




The Miracle Worker - Literature Kit Gr. 7-8


Book Description

Experience the miracle of understanding that we all take for granted. An ideal play for students with a low reading level. Gain insight into the difficulties of being blind and/or deaf. Put events from the novel in order as they happened when Annie and Helen were eating dinner. Students attempt to understand the motivations of the characters in the play. Find the synonym of the vocabulary word from the text. Explain the event in Helen's past that made it possible for her to realize what 'water' was. Research the real-life location of Ivy Green and plan a field trip to this important location. Identify all the problems and their solutions in a chart. 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: This story is an emotional and vivid portrayal of the relationship between a child and her teacher. Helen Keller is rendered deaf and blind at an early age, and by the time she is six years old, her behavior becomes completely unmanageable. In desperation, her parents send for teacher Annie Sullivan to bring some discipline into the spoiled child’s life. Helen and Annie become locked in a ferocious battle of wills, but Annie is determined to bring a sense of discipline into Helen’s life. Annie teaches Helen words by constantly spelling them into Helen’s palm. Although Helen can spell them back, she doesn’t understand that these words actually represent things. At the water pump Annie spells “water” into Helen’s hand and suddenly the miracle happens—Helen understands.




The Higher Power of Lucky - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6


Book Description

Run off with Lucky and experience a series of misadventures, all while searching for a place to belong. The chapter comprehension questions are easy for students to understand. Answer multiple choice questions about the town that Lucky lives in. Students determine how Lucky felt toward Lincoln, and defend their opinion with proof from the text. Research the "chukar" bird and find some interesting facts about it. Describe the dust storm event from the point of view of Brigitte or Miles' grandmother. In pairs, students investigate a topic from the novel and interview each other about that topic. On a Cluster Word Web, students write details about their chosen topic. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: In a small town in the California desert, a 10-year-old girl named Lucky is looked after by her new guardian Brigitte, after her mother dies. Worried that her new guardian will abandon her, Lucky seeks help from her "Higher Power." After discovering three "signs" to leave, Lucky runs away with her dog during a sandstorm. During this great misadventure, she inadvertently saves the life of a child. Their relationship is resolved when Brigitte reveals she is not moving away.




Kira-Kira - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6


Book Description

Experience what it's like to rise up and fill a hole left by the loss of a family member. Help guide students through the novel with vocabulary prompts and comprehension activities. Imagine the challenges faced by a Japanese-American family moving from Iowa to Georgia in the 1950s. Explore the concept of prejudice and identify different groups who might experience this. Complete passages from the text with their missing vocabulary words. Reflect on the incident where Katie decides to shoplift and describe the worst thing about the experience. Find examples from the novel of foreshadowing and imagine to what it could be predicting. List the events comprising an incident in the novel in the order that it happened in a Flow Chart. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Kira-Kira (kee ra kee ra) is a Japanese word for glittering; shining. This unforgettable story is a coming-of-age tale of one family’s difficulties in adapting to a post-World War II society that is reluctant to welcome a Japanese family that is laboring in Georgia’s poultry plants. The story features Katie, her older sister Lynn and their younger brother, Sammy. When Lynn grows ill and eventually dies, it makes Katie realize that she must assume even more responsibility. Removed from the shadow of her high-achieving older sister, she even begins to improve in her schoolwork. This Newbery Medal winning-story deals with family relationships and the illness and death of a close family member in a sensitive, realistic manner.




Among the Hidden - Literature Kit Gr. 5-6


Book Description

Rise up and fight against injustice. This resource aligns perfectly with the novel and is a great source to gage what students are comprehending. Predict whether Luke will stay hidden after the woods are cut down, based on what you know of him so far. Detail the difference between Luke’s bread and his mother’s. Identify statements about Jen’s life as either true or false. Write a journal entry from Jen’s point of view detailing her preparations for the rally. Match the synonyms to key vocabulary words found in the novel. Perform a tableau of your favorite scene from the story. Create a coat of arms detailing one theme from the novel. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, our worksheets incorporate a variety of scaffolding strategies along with additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key. About the Novel: Among the Hidden focuses on the dystopian world of Luke Garner, where having more than two children is illegal. Unfortunately for Luke, he’s the youngest of three brothers. Therefore, he must stay hidden to avoid detection from the US government. At some point in the past, the US government enacted a Population Law to help fight against food shortages. However, some believe that this is simply the government’s way of controlling its citizens. One of these people is Luke’s neighbor, who’s also a third child. Jen comes from a well-off family. She has access to the Internet and books, something Luke does not. Jen explains to Luke that she wants to start a revolution. She’s in communication with other third children, and is organizing a rally to be held outside the Whitehouse. When things go wrong, Luke finds himself in danger and must make a choice: risk being found, or assume a new identity and leave his home.