Find the power to stand up for yourself and what you believe in. Students will become highly-engaged in the activities presented in this resource. Make predictions about what will happen in the following chapters based on what you know of the characters so far. Describe how Palmer felt about pigeons based on his reactions from the first two Pigeon Days. Answer multiple choice questions about Palmer's experience with his friends. Retell Palmer's reasons for not wanting to be a wringer as he tells them to Dorothy. Create a poem that describes Palmer's actions throughout the story. Describe three important settings from the novel and discuss some of the important plot events that happened at each of them. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Wringer teaches students the importance of self confidence and standing up against bullying. Palmer LaRue dreads the day he will turn ten years old. When he was just four years old, he witnessed his first Pigeon Day—a yearly celebration that takes place during Family Fest in the small town of Waymer. On this day, five thousand pigeons are shot. Traumatized by what he saw, Palmer forever feared the day he would turn ten and become a wringer. A wringer is someone who wrings the neck of wounded pigeons. Nearing his tenth birthday, Palmer falls in with a group of bullies who hate pigeons more than anything. At first, Palmer is proud of his new friendship, but that all changes when he befriends a pigeon. Wringer highlights Palmer’s struggle between what his friends think and what he feels is right.

Newbery Honor Book * ALA Notable Children's Book "Deeply felt. Presents a moral question with great care and sensitivity." —The New York Times "A spellbinding story about rites of passage." —Publishers Weekly (starred review) "A realistic story with the intensity of a fable." —The Horn Book (starred review) "Thought-provoking." —School Library Journal (starred review) In Palmer LaRue's hometown of Waymer, turning ten is the biggest event of a boy's life. But for Palmer, his tenth birthday is not something to look forward to, but something to dread. Then one day, a visitor appears on his windowsill, and Palmer knows that this, more than anything else, is a sign that his time is up. Somehow, he must learn how to stop being afraid and stand up for what he believes in. Wringer is a powerful tour de force from Newbery Medal winner Jerry Spinelli.

Gain a fresh perspective of the migration of the Navaho people through the eyes of a young girl. Unique and varied materials supplement a study of this novel. Students are asked to describe what they already know of the Navaho people. Write the name of the character next to each quote from the story. Identify the cause or effect of each event in the book. Finish off sentences with vocabulary words found in the novel. Explain how Rosita was able to adapt to life in a town whereas Bright Morning was not. Students do some research to find the meaning and origin of their name. Gather facts and complete a character analysis of Tall Boy. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: Sing Down the Moon is a Newbery Honor-winning story told through the perspective of a young Navaho girl. Fourteen-year-old Bright Morning takes her family's sheep to graze one spring day. While tending to the flock, she is captured by Spanish Slavers and sold into service. Fortunately, she is able to escape and return home. Unfortunately, her home is promptly taken from her as her tribe is forced out of their canyon in Arizona and relocated to Fort Sumner in New Mexico. The long walk of the Navaho people is described through the eyes of Bright Morning, who sees the migration as the end of her people.

Discover the importance of family, friendships, and what it means to be loved by those around. Present new vocabulary words in a variety of ways to ensure students are excited to expand their literacy skills. Find the antonym for each word. Match words to their definitions, then identify their part of speech. Explore character motivations by stating why Gilly didn't tell Trotter who the visitor was. Explain the expression "demon possession" by writing a story based on this idea. Write a personal reflection on the poem found in the story. Conduct a class survey on things considered to be important in daily life. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: A story about a bold and brazen eleven-year-old girl–and foster child–who has great expectations about life. Gilly runs away from her foster home looking for her real mother. Not finding her, she begins to adjust to life with the foster family. On Thanksgiving weekend, while Gilly is busy taking care of everyone with the flu, Gilly’s grandmother shows up. She has come to take Gilly to live with her in Virginia. Gilly must move to a new home against her will. She realizes how she is loved at the foster house, and learns many valuable life lessons, relationships and prejudice.

Students are taken out of their comfort zone to experience a year in the country. Additional writing tasks offer great options for extra work. List things that are different between Mary Alice's world and the present. Translate two different expressions Mary Alice uses to describe her grandmother. Put events from the story in order as they happened with Mary Alice and Grandma on Halloween. Write a letter to Mary Alice's mother in her own words in an attempt to change her opinion of the grandmother. Students identify who the antagonist of the story is and defend their opinion. Create a travel brochure for Chicago, Illinois. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: A Year Down Yonder is a Newbery Medal-winning story about a young girl who must spend a year living with her grandmother in the country. Mary Alice spent her childhood summers staying with her grandmother in a small country-town in Illinois. These summers were packed with enough surprises and drama to fill the double bill of any picture show. Now, Mary Alice is fifteen and must spend a whole year with her grandmother, away from her Chicago home. Over the course of the year, Mary Alice experiences a hurricane, fox-hunting by night, a late-night raid of a pecan tree and pumpkin patch, a huge snake in the attic, and a community rife with hardship and social pretenses. A Year Down Yonder is a hilariously funny and heart-warming novel.

Enter a strange world of time travel and mystery, all surrounding one girl. Use a variety of activities to help students figure out the mystery of the novel. Predict what will happen with Julia and Miranda's relationship once their conflict comes out in the open. Figure out what book Miranda is reading to Belle based on the clues from the story. Identify the instructions given to Miranda in the second note. Write sentences using vocabulary words found in the reading. Explain who the laughing man is, his purpose, and the steps he took to prepare Miranda for his mission. Explore racial prejudice in the novel through the eyes of Miranda, and write a letter to Jimmy sharing your feelings on the subject. Aligned to your State Standards, additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key are also included. About the Novel: When You Reach Me is a Newbery Medal-winning story about a young girl and her New York City world. Miranda lives in a run-down apartment with her mother in New York City during the 1970s. Propelled by interesting characters, Miranda’s world starts to unravel, as her friend Sal gets punched by a kid on the street for no reason and stops talking to Miranda; her mother’s hidden emergency key is stolen; and a mysterious note arrives claiming to save her friend’s life. In the background is a subplot involving Miranda’s mother’s upcoming appearance on the television show, The $20,000 Pyramid.

Find the strength within to face challenges, both inward and out. The activities in this resource provide a framework to facilitate learning through discussion and comprehension. Put events in order as they happen when Cole encounters the Spirit Bear. Get into Cole’s dad’s shoes and imagine his perspective on their relationship. Find the best synonym for words used in the chapters. Imagine how you can set yourself up for success by practicing good habits. Describe what “being invisible” will require Cole to do. Create a camp log for Cole, detailing all the jobs he must accomplish in a day. Design a food chain to show the connections between plants and animals. Aligned to your State Standards and written to Bloom's Taxonomy, our worksheets incorporate a variety of scaffolding strategies along with additional crossword, word search, comprehension quiz and answer key. About the Novel: Touching Spirit Bear illustrates the struggle of one boy finding himself in the wilderness and letting go of his anger. Cole Matthews is a troubled kid. He is angry and violent and on a path to jail. After brutally injuring a fellow student, Cole is given the opportunity to face Circle Justice instead of prison. The goal is for Cole to learn from his mistakes and grow into a better man. To do this, Cole must spend a year alone on an island in Alaska. Cole goes along with the plan, biding his time until he can escape. He starts by burning down the cabin and supplies left for him as a form of protest. Then, he attempts to swim his way to freedom. Unfortunately, this proves difficult, and Cole is forced to return to where he started. When he’s mortally wounded by an attack from the Spirit Bear, Cole is once again faced with fighting for his life and jail time. Granted a second chance, Cole is determined to finally let go of his anger and find peace with himself.