As scholars begin identifying stories as realistic fiction, its important they see many examples to solidify their concepts of this genre. Readers begin with a personal connection, thinking of television shows they like and determining...

A million things to do, a ton of homework ... hyperbole sure does help get the point across! With the novel study for Jerry Spinelli's Third Grade Angels, scholars practice writing their own exaggerated sentences. Additionally, they...

Why is conflict an essential part of every good story? Using a helpful novel study for Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli, scholars create an original quintet poem based on their reading. Pupils also research the city of Warsaw, Poland and...

The protagonist of Jerry Spinelli's novel, Maniac Magee, has lived a very unusual life. Scholars learn all about it with a helpful companion to the novel. Pupils answer reading comprehension questions and summarize their reading with...

Summer means sun, fun, and a good book! Boost scholars' enthusiasm and proficiency in reading with a summer project of their choice—a book jacket, collage, or shoe box diorama. A variety of titles and authors from every genre offers...

Take a break from reading to find the magic number with this vocabulary game using words drawn from Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee.  Participants match the definition to the word in each numbered square of the puzzle, then add the number...

Why did they say that? What did they mean? How did they feel? Using the six levels of Bloom's Taxonomy, challenge your young readers to answer the comprehension questions about chapters 41 and 42 of Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. Each...

As part of their reading of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, class members consider what it would take to survive living on their own. Using the provided worksheet, individuals list their needs and decide where they would seek shelter.

Who would have thought to explore the concept of race through children's literature?  After reading Bell Hooks' picture book, Skin Again, and chapter sixteen of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee, class members consider whether skin color...

Instruct your readers to scrounge through the pages of Maniac Magee in search for descriptive passages or words they may use to write poetry. As they look for meaningful, sensory descriptors in Jerry Spinelli's novel, readers connect to...

Split the class into two groups for a fishbowl discussion using of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee. The first group initiates the conversation by reviewing the important points of Chapter thirteen while group two members are listening,...

Activate your learners' prior knowledge and experience with an anticipation guide for Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee. Kids answer eight questions about prejudice, skin color, and friendship before reading the book, and include reasons and...

Fill in the blanks with a Cloze activity based on Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli. After listening to a passage read out loud, kids complete the worksheet by using their memories and context clues.

There's no need to run around trying to plan a unit for the book Maniac Magee, the work has already been done for you. Through a series of whole class, small group, and independent lessons and activities, students practice synthesizing...

Supplement your Maniac Magee lesson plans with a packet of student materials. Included here is a variety of questions about the text. Pupils complete multiple choice and short-answer questions and choose from a variety of extension...

Add to children's enjoyment of the award-winning novel Maniac Magee with this fun collection of resources. From sequence of events and fact or fiction worksheets, to writing newspaper articles and creating advertisements based on the...

Have your class create biopoems after reading chapter 24 of Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed. In groups, they make a list of characteristics for one character in the book (consider assigning characters based on how much information is provided...

Use a fishbowl discussion to get the whole class talking! As your class progresses through Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed, have them take part in fishbowl discussions. Two discussion prompts are provided, and a step-by-step process is...

While reading Milkweed by Jerry Spinelli, learners record unfamiliar vocabulary words to complete a graphic organizer. They record the word, its context, and their personal guess before searching for the dictionary definition. 

Are your scholars reading Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee? If so, use this textual analysis packet and lesson guide to drive deeper thinking about the characters, create personal connections, and apply historical contexts to the text....

This useful approach to determining themes based on specific details from a book is aimed at readers of Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee. It could also easily be adapted for use with other books or readings. The class identifies recurring...

Original and cross-curricular, this reproducible graph comes with a chronological list of 19 events from Jerry Spinelli's novel as "data." Readers plot each one on a scale of 1-10 to show how happy Maniac is at those moments in the...

Using chapter 1 of Jerry Spinelli's Milkweed, middle schoolers write a personal memoir based on Spinelli's style and a Six Trait writing activity. The lesson suggests several ways to activate prior knowledge, including a picture book and...

A brief, dialogue-rich passage from Jerry Spinelli's novel Maniac Magee is accompanied by a well-written literacy assessment tool. Thematic content lends itself to age-appropriate discussions about race relations and social justice....