The Tale of Despereaux - Literature Kit Gr. 3-4


Book Description

Learn the value of courage and fortitude with this twist on the classic fairy tale. Our comprehensive resource has response questions and activities that are great for guided reading and independent work. Use clues to match vocabulary words from the novel to a crossword puzzle. Show understanding of details from the book by answering short questions. Imagine the inner qualities Roscuro has by describing why he decides never to torture another prisoner again. Compare the expression, "not the sharpest knife in the drawer," with the character Mig. Organize a character's actions and thoughts as they happened in the story on a 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: A story of a special mouse who is on a dangerous quest to rescue the princess. Despereaux falls in love with a princess, even though mice and humans are not supposed to! Caught, Despereaux is sentenced to the dungeon; however, he escapes and goes looking for his beloved princess. Unfortunately, the Princess has already been tricked and has been taken to the dungeon. Despereaux must save his love, and together with the help of his friends, eventually rescues her. As his quest comes to a close, Despereaux realizes that he still cannot marry the Princess, but they become friends. The story ends with the King, the Princess and Despereaux eating a feast and living happily together forever.




The Tale of Despereaux


Book Description

A brave mouse, a covetous rat, a wishful serving girl, and a princess named Pea come together in Kate DiCamillo's Newbery Medal–winning tale. Welcome to the story of Despereaux Tilling, a mouse who is in love with music, stories, and a princess named Pea. It is also the story of a rat called Roscuro, who lives in the darkness and covets a world filled with light. And it is the story of Miggery Sow, a slow-witted serving girl who harbors a simple, impossible wish. These three characters are about to embark on a journey that will lead them down into a horrible dungeon, up into a glittering castle, and, ultimately, into each other's lives. What happens then? As Kate DiCamillo would say: Reader, it is your destiny to find out. With black-and-white illustrations and a refreshed cover by Timothy Basil Ering.




Owls in the Family - Literature Kit Gr. 3-4


Book Description

Your students will get a hoot out of this story about a boy and his adventures with two owls. Target your students' need for independent reading skills. Demonstrate any prior knowledge on the subject of owls before reading the book. Find the word that best matches the vocabulary word from the novel. Show comprehension with multiple choice and true or false questions. Explain why the owls didn't know how to fly, and why Billy didn't show them. Convert inches to centimeters to find out how tall Wol is and how wide his wingspread is. Rewrite a passage from the book in Weeps the owl's point of view. Complete a web to show Wol's encounters with each character from the story. 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 is one of Farley Mowat’s funniest books about a boy and two rescued owls named Wol and Weeps. Billy loves all animals. He has rats, mice, over thirty gophers and two dogs. It only seems natural that Billy and his friends search the sloughs and bluffs to find owlets. The boys rescue a pair of owlets from an untimely death, and end up keeping them for over three years. The adventures Billy, his friends and the owls have together are not typical. Participating in the local Pet Parade, owls following him to school, and having an owl arrive for dinner with a skunk are only a few funny incidents in Owls in the Family.




Frindle - Literature Kit Gr. 3-4


Book Description

Make learning about words fun again with a clever tale about a boy who invents a new word for the dictionary. Our resource is ready-made, saving you time when preparing a lesson plan for this novel. Set a purpose for reading by establishing which vocabulary words students are not familiar with. Show your comprehension of the novel with multiple choice questions. In a journal prompt, use your critical thinking skills to predict what career Nick will have when he grows up. Understand the difference between similes and metaphors by writing your own in a writing task. Share your favorite part of the story by drawing a cartoon strip. 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: Frindle is the story of a clever, time-wasting schemer’s innovative plan to create his own word for the dictionary. Ten-year-old Nick Allen has a reputation for developing ingenious plans that distract teachers. For the first time ever, his diversions fail to create the desired results in Mrs. Granger’s fifth grade language arts class. Instead of distracting her, he ends up with an extra assignment and oral presentation on how new entries are added to the dictionary. Surprisingly, the boring assignment leads to Nick’s most clever idea yet when he decides to create his own new word—frindle. Nick recruits five fellow students to support his efforts in changing the name of pen to frindle. Their insistence on referring to pens as frindles causes a major commotion when Mrs. Granger’s passion for vocabulary and strict emphasis on the correct use of language result in a battle of wills that threatens to disrupt the whole school. Their war of words spreads beyond the school resulting in after-school punishments, a home visit from the principal, national publicity, economic opportunities for local businessmen, and, eventually inclusion in the dictionary.




M.C. Higgins, the Great - Literature Kit Gr. 3-4


Book Description

Follow one boy's struggle as he faces many challenges that threaten the safety and livelihood of his family. Students fully comprehend the language of the novel with vocabulary practice. Explore the idea of phobias while relating it back to the character, M.C. Describe the tragic event that was narrowly averted due to the carelessness of the mining company. Predict how M.C. and the girl will make it to the end of the tunnel. Do some research and write a report on yodeling. Identify what is a fact and what is an opinion 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: M.C. Higgins, the Great is a Newbery Medal-winning story about a young boy who is overcome with many challenges while living with his poor, African-American family on Sarah’s Mountain. M.C. Higgins must overcome the prejudice that surrounds his best friend with the help of a mysterious girl who appears on the mountain. Also, M.C. tries to get his mother’s singing voice recorded so he and his family can leave the mountain. The greatest challenge M.C. must face is a coal mining company that have been strip-mining the area above their house, leaving a huge pile of slag (spoil heap) piled dangerously on the mountain above their house. M.C. is convinced that the pile will one day give way and bury their house and everyone in it; therefore he stands guard by sitting on a high pole.




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.




A Guide for Using the Tale of Despereaux in the Classroom


Book Description

Each book in this series is a guide for using a well-known piece of literature in the classroom. Included are sample plans, author information, vocabulary-building ideas, and cross-curricular activities. At the Intermediate and Challenging levels, sectional activities and quizzes, unit tests, and ideas for culminating and extending the novel are also included.




Because of Winn-Dixie - Literature Kit Gr. 3-4


Book Description

Students learn of loss and longing, loneliness and friendship, and finding contentment and a place for oneself. Our resource is a useful tool to write, discuss, assess, and challenge all learners. Students write the meaning of vocabulary words from the book in their own words. Using multiple choice, choose the best answer that describes how certain events in the story took place. Infer the meaning of certain character actions towards Opal. Students put themselves into Opal's shoes to understand her state of mind when Winn-Dixie is missing. Write a chapter for a nonfiction tour book about the town of Naomi, Florida. Use a fishbone organizer to keep track of different aspects of the characters, setting and resolution from 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: This is a story in which a ten-year-old girl must face the abandonment of her mother, and find the answer to the question “Will she ever come back?” The answer, surprisingly, is “No!”, but India Opal Buloni, over the course of the novel, learns to deal with this answer through her experiences and support of a growing circle of friends, all of whom has also suffered some kind of loss themselves. And finally, it is the story of the love between a girl and her dog; a pet that has an uncanny ability to bring kindred spirits together.




Stone Fox - Literature Kit Gr. 3-4


Book Description

Students are introduced to the concept of sacrifice and how it's necessary to protect one's livelihood. The activities within this resource engage the reader and provide clarity of the subject matter. Identify statements about Grandfather's farm as true or false. Reflect on events that happen in a chapter, like what time do Searchlight and Willy race down main street. Make predictions on events that will happen in the story. Complete some online research to explain why Stone Fox might react to people in Willy's town a certain way. Explore the concept of selfless acts and find an example of it in the novel. Discuss how the supporting characters in the story impact the major characters. 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: Stone Fox follows the sacrifices Willy must make in order to save his Grandfather's farm. Willy lives with his Grandfather and dog, Searchlight, on a potato farm. Grandfather likes to play jokes on Willy. One day, Grandfather doesn't get out of bed. Willy calls for the doctor, who examines Grandfather and concludes that nothing is wrong with him, other than losing the will to live. When a tax collector comes to the farm, Willy learns that Grandfather will lose his home if they don't come up with the $500 he owes. Unable to get a bank loan, Willy decides to use his college fund to enter the National Dogsled Race, who's prize is exactly $500. All he needs to do is beat the legendary dog sledder Stone Fox, who's never lost a race. Willy and Searchlight have a hard road ahead of them if they want to compete. One last sacrifice may be what it takes in order to win.




Sarah, Plain and Tall - Literature Kit Gr. 3-4


Book Description

A unique view on a survival story helps students to value the need for companionship. The comprehension quiz works great as a study guide for a final exam. Students begin by imagining the hardships with living as a pioneer on the American prairies. Answer true or false questions about Sarah's letter to Anna and Caleb. Complete sentences from the story with their missing vocabulary words. Do some investigation to learn about mica, something that Sarah says her dune sparkled with. Use events from the story to inspire a tercet poem. Students imagine interviewing Sarah about her experiences. 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 story filled with wisdom, gentle humor and the practical concerns necessary for a satisfying life. This Newbery Medal-winning story is based on the true adventures of a family living on the vast prairie in the early years of the 20th century. The story begins when Anna and Caleb—missing their mother who died—wish for another woman to make their father laugh again. Sarah responds to an ad, stating she will come by train, wearing a yellow bonnet and that she is plain and tall. And into their lives comes Sarah—with her own needful loneliness and searching—to help them create a whole family. But life on the endless prairie can be hard and unforgiving, taking all a person's strength and courage just to survive.