Nancy N. Boyles
Summary Frame for Story Text and Informational Text
Provide these templates as aids for pupils as they work to compose summaries of both stories and informational texts. The first two frames provide sentence starters to help learners structure their summaries and include all the necessary...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - Throwing the Hammer
Full truth, or an exaggeration? How can you tell when a storyteller is exaggerating a story? Readers analyze a story told by Hortensia, and identify the exaggerative language she uses. Then, learners write their own narrative story using...
All for KIDZ
The Orphan of Ellis Island
Everyone comes from somewhere. An interdisciplinary lesson on Elvira Woodruff's The Orphan of Ellis Island includes discussion starter and writing prompts for the novel, as well as a graphic organizer to help learners begin their own...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - Bruce Bogtrotter and the Cake
After reading the 11th chapter in Matilda, class members take on the role of Bruce Bogtrotter and re-enact the cake eating scene. Here's the catch: they must come-up with an impromptu re-enactment of the scene from the story, and use...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The Third Miracle
Magnus takes a visit to the classroom in the 20th chapter of Matilda. Or does he? After reading, learners interview the person in the hot seat to get a detailed account of what happened during this chapter. Then, they write individual...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - The Furniture Goes Up
Work gets done faster when people work as a team. The ninth installment of an 11-lesson unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl combines character education with research skills and creative writing activities. The lesson ends...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - Miss Honey and The Trunchbull
As the instructor reads aloud several quotes from five chapters of the story Matilda, class members mime their interpretation of the scenes. Then, after reading "Miss Honey" and "The Trenchbull" (chapters seven and eight), the class...
Penguin Books
Wonder in the Classroom
Would you rather be right, or would you rather be kind? A novel unit based on R.J. Palacio's Wonder focuses on the need to be kind to others and to accept their differences. As learners read the book, they discuss the themes of family...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - The Monkeys Escape
Houses come in all shapes and sizes, but not all houses are safe from Mr. and Mrs. Twit. The 10th activity in a unit designed to accompany The Twits by Roald Dahl turns learners into architects. While designing houses for the monkeys,...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - Arithmetic
Mr. Wormwood, one of the characters in Roald Dahl's Matilda, is not the most trustworthy of characters. Have student groups take on the roles of car salespeople and play a game to see who can make the most profit by selling refurbished...
Roald Dahl
The Twits - The Twits Get the Shrinks
Turn readers into investigative journalists. The 11th and final lesson that accompanies The Twits by Roald Dahl asks the question "What happened to Mr. and Mrs. Twit?" The lesson uses mind maps and group discussion to help answer the...