Can you name the most important themes in To Kill a Mockingbird? Help your class study seven themes throughout their reading of the classic. They search for examples linking to education, bravery/cowardice, racial prejudice, social class...

So many themes are expertly woven through Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. On the first page, scholars will read five themes, selecting an incident and a quote to highlight that theme. On page two, they use chapters 29-31 to...

Feeling the pressure to confirm is something any adolescent can relate to. Explore an essential theme with a response to literature assessment that prompts learners to identify main ideas with evidence and supporting details.

How highly does your class value family? What about familial advice, individual rights, and cultural identity? Examine the literary themes in Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club before opening the book with an anticipation guide. Class...

It can be difficult to find the theme of a book or story if you don't know the questions to ask. Teach your kids to discern the universal theme in works of literature with a set of activities that promote critical thinking and...

Use these study questions to test your class on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. These mostly higher-level questions have the potential to be test questions, discussion questions, homework questions, or essay questions. The...

Learning more about Holden Caulfield's worldview and state of mind is an integral part of understanding J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. A thorough packet of materials pertaining to the unit allow learners to build prior...

Feelings of loneliness and alienation drive the characters in John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men. Use this handout to set your class members up for a lesson on these big ideas. In addition to finding a couple of definitions...

Support a class reading of the novel Song of the Trees by Mildred D. Taylor with this series of discussion questions. Covering a variety of topics from character and setting to historical accuracy and symbolism, these questions...

Before you begin a unit on Sharon Creech's Walk Two Moons, introduce class members to the literary themes of the book with an anticipation guide. As they read through ten sentences that address different aspects of the plot,...

Begin your unit on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles with an anticipation guide about literary themes. Class members read six statements about time, rules, and mortality, and note they believe each statement is...

Moving to a new country isn't easy, as Shirley Temple Wong learns in In The Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord. A series of language arts activities carry readers through the novel, addressing the story's themes,...

Expect great discussions of the concepts introduced by this guide that anticipates several of the themes in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.

Are you reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck in your class? If so, this quiz might be useful for you. This is an online interactive quiz that covers the novel's theme, plot, and characters. The quiz refers to the entire novel,...

Delve into the delightful depths of J.R.R Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings with a thought-provoking reader's guide. With literary questions for the novel as well as the subsequent The Two Towers and The Return of the King, the...

Enrich a unit on The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros with a selection of related activities. The packet contains nine activities that go from pre-reading through wrapping up the novel. Young readers work on studying...

“What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages?” Ah, the central question of Lord of the Flies. As part of their study of William Golding's riveting novel, readers complete an anticipation guide and respond to a series of survey...

In this Language Arts worksheet, students answer 4 questions about the theme of the novel Home Child. For example, "What hope do you think Mrs. Fellowes has for Arthur?"

Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida is used in an activity that models how to develop questions to aid in comprehension of a text.

Accompany a reading of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea with a thorough literature packet. Although the materials are meant to prepare readers for a timed essay, the background information and the activities are...

Readers are introduced to the key themes in Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie by this carefully crafted anticipation guide. A great discussion starter.

Readers of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are directed to complete two projects as a part of their study of Mark Twain’s novel.  Individuals craft an organized notebook containing all their work during the study, and they...

What are the effects of competition in an academic environment? The competition between the main characters in A Separate Peace motivates a series of activities that asks readers to take a stance on competition, and then to develop a...

Although the second page of this two-page sheet probably won't benefit you much (considering you won't have the materials referenced), you could still use the first page to assess your class's understanding of the symbols used in...