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.

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.

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.

Gain a sense of wonder as you travel across the Atlantic in a giant peach. Help students understand reading comprehension and aid them with higher-order thinking questions. Make predictions about what will happen next, and get into the heads of the characters by explaining what they mean with their dialog. Think about the magic power that changes the peach and imagine how it would affect a person, insect or animal. Write a sentence using alliteration to describe an object or event. Complete a KWL Chart on one of the creatures from the book. 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 humorous and entertaining fairy tale about the adventures of a boy named James and his insect friends. An old man gives James green magical crystals that do wonders on a peach as it grows bigger than a house. With his insect friends, James flies from England to New York City with the help of 502 seagulls, and lands on the pinnacle of the Empire State Building. His friend, Old-Green-Grasshopper, becomes part of the New York Symphony Orchestra. Silkworm and Miss Spider set up a factory and make ropes for tightrope walkers. Ladybug gets married to the Head of the Fire Department. Glow-worm becomes the light inside the Statue of Liberty. Centipede is made Vice-President of a high-class firm of boot manufacturers. Earthworm makes commercials for a face cream company.

Step out on a farm and learn the true meaning of friendship among the animals. Use a variety of true or false, fill-in-the-blank and multiple choice questions to check comprehension. Sequence events from the story in the order that they happened. Students share their opinions on the lifespan of animals on a farm. Write the vocabulary word from the book next to its meaning. Write the name of the character next to their quote from the novel. Describe how Wilbur tried to make himself look 'radiant'. Predict what Charlotte's 'masterpiece' will be. Describe Templeton's character using examples from the book. Complete a Spider Web Map to list the main ideas of 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: Charlotte’s Web is a magical story about childhood, friendship, and loyalty. An eight-year-old girl named Fern saves the life of a newborn piglet named Wilbur and the adventure begins. Soon, Wilbur and the other animals in the barn cellar are a great part of Fern’s life. Wilbur notices that everyone in the barn is busy except him. He becomes lonely and sad. A sweet voice comes out of the darkness of the barn cellar and says, “I’ll be a friend to you.” The voice belongs to a small gray spider named Charlotte A. Cavatica. Charlotte turns out to be a wonderful friend. She listens to Wilbur and enjoys his child-like ways. Soon he finds out what might happen to him when the cold weather comes. Charlotte promises to find a way to save his life. Through the wondrous writings in her web, Charlotte does save Wilbur’s life. And because he is her true friend, Wilbur saves Charlotte’s future.

Demonstrate the power of determination with this tale about a clever Fox who outsmarts the surrounding farmers to feed his family. Our consistent vocabulary, comprehension and short-answer format makes this resource easy to use. Written in such a way so educators can choose to use a small part as supplemental material with their existing unit. Introduce students to grade-level words they will come across during their reading. Test comprehension by answering true or false questions about the farmers. Find a quote in the novel that demonstrates foreshadowing. Become a news reporter and come up with 10 questions to ask the farmers about why they dig up the ground. Complete a character sketch of Mr Fox by identifying what he thinks, hears and loves. 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: Fantastic Mr Fox is the classic story by Roald Dahl of a fox who outsmarts a few farmers to steal food from them. Mr Fox lives underground with his wife and children. At night, Mr Fox visits his neighboring farmers and robs them of their livestock. The farmers retaliate by waiting for Mr Fox by his hole, ready to ambush him when he leaves. When that fails, the farmers then try to dig up Mr Fox's home. When that fails, they decide to starve out the Fox family. Mr Fox then comes up with a plan to get food. He gets the help of his friend Badger, and the pair dig their way to the farmers' food. Their success leads to Mr Fox creating an underground neighborhood where all the animals can all live together in safety.

Be uprooted and dropped into a busy and overwhelming city to learn about friendship and belonging. Take all the work out of planning a lesson so there's more time focused on comprehension and engaging hands-on follow-up activities. Do some research on the importance of crickets in the Chinese culture. Compare Chinatown with Times Square by listing three differences. Describe Chester's dream and what he did in response to it. Find the words the author used to represent sounds and explain what sounds they represent. Imagine what it would be like for Harry and Tucker to visit Chester in the country. Get into the 'skin' of Tucker to tell how he would act if he found money in Times Square. 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 Cricket in Times Square is the Newbery Honor-winning story of a cricket who finds himself taken away from his country home and dropped right in the Times Square subway station. Chester Cricket enjoys his home in Connecticut; however, one day he is brought to the city and immediately misses home. While in Times Square, Chester meets Tucker Mouse and Harry Cat, who quickly become friends with the musical insect. Chester is also adopted by Mario, a young boy who's family runs a small newspaper stand in the station. Throughout the story, Chester finds himself amidst many obstacles and struggling to prove he belongs in the big city.