Alice in Wonderland Close Reading Novel Study 🐇📖

Alice in Wonderland Close Reading Novel Study 🐇📖

“And what is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “without pictures or conversations?” —Chapter 1, Down the Rabbit-Hole

Seriously...one of my favorite books in the world!  

Immerse your students in the enchanting world of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll with this comprehensive close reading guide! This resource includes engaging comprehension activities designed to enhance understanding and foster critical thinking.

What's Included:

• Thought-provoking discussion questions
• Fun, interactive activities
• In-depth analysis of characters and themes
• Opportunities for creative expression

Perfect for both individual and group work, this novel study is ideal for teaching this classic tale while making learning enjoyable! Bring the magic of Wonderland to your classroom today!

Keywords: Alice in Wonderland, close reading, novel study, comprehension, teaching resources, Lewis Carroll.

Explore the resource here!

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IMWAYR: Narrative Poetry

Monday Linky from Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers!

Narrative Poetry

     I love reading my students narrative poetry.   Some examples would be Brown Girl Dreaming, Inside Out and Back Again, A Diamond in the Desert, The Crossover, Out of the Dust, Locomotion, October Morning, and Love that Dog.  

     Narrative prose tells a story.  It is written in free verse.  Reading in narrative prose forces children to think deeper (accessing higher levels of Webb's Depth of Knowledge) since the language is so sparse.  Narrative poetry is especially accessible because it is written in verse with no strictures (number of syllables, rhyming, etc.).

     Kids love them because of the short format.  They are also especially powerful.  Read this from The Crossover by Kwame Alexander:

Basketball Rule #1 

In this game of life 

your family is the court 

and the ball is your 

     heart. 

No matter how good 

     you are, 

no matter how down 

    you get, 

always leave 

your heart 

on the court.

Alexander, Kwame (2014-03-18). The Crossover (p. 22). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Kindle Edition. 

I mean, how powerful is that?


    Are you learning some history?  Try A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice, which is about the Japanese-American internment during WW2.

Gila River was where 
I would turn thirteen, 
and live with my mama 
and my sister, while 
waiting for my papa to be 
brought back from Fort 
Lincoln, North Dakota, 
where the FBI had sent 
him so they could find 
out more about him after 
Pearl Harbor was
bombed.


Fitzmaurice, Kathryn (2012-02-16). A Diamond in the Desert (p. 9). Penguin Group US. Kindle Edition. 

Besides, Kathryn Fitmaurice is super sweet.

Learning about civil rights?  Then you need to read Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodsen.  It just won the John Newbery Medal and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work.  Read this:

Because we have a right, 
     my grandfather tells 
     us— 
we are sitting at his feet 
     and the story tonight 
     is 

why people are marching 
     all over the South— 

to walk and sit 
     and dream wherever we
     want.

First, they brought us
     here.
Then we worked for free.
     Then it was 1863,
and we were supposed
     to be free but we
     weren't.

And that's why people
     are so mad.


Woodson, Jacqueline (2014-08-28). Brown Girl Dreaming (Newbery Honor Book) (p. 72). Penguin Young Readers Group. Kindle Edition. 
Ms. Woodsen works closely with #TCRWP so you know she's good!

     I love these books for teaching another form of poetry, for applying the comprehension strategies of visualization, inferring and synthesis.  I find them an especially easy way for kids to access history.

     Give these amazing books a try.  They will reach your heart.



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IMWAYR: The Wretched Stone

Monday Linky from Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers!

The Wretched Stone

This is a great book for the reading comprehension strategy of inferring. It's another amazing book by Chris Van Allsburg. If you haven't read it, it's about a ship and it's crew.  The crew is a happy one, reading and playing instruments. Then it is out sailing and stops at an island.  It is s strange place with no animals or insects.  While there, they find a stone and bring it on the ship. This tone is bad news and changes the crew.  Stop reading now if you don't want the book spoiled.  OK so the men are now gathered around this stone and won't work or read or do anything.  The captain tries to talk to them to no avail.  After a time, the men turn into monkeys!  There is a storm and the stone goes dark.  The men return to normal.  

This book is a warning against the perils of too much television.  It never states that directly and there is a lot of inferring needed for this book.  If you're looking for an anchor chart for inferring and an easy lesson plan, here you go.  I created a read aloud lesson plan on TPT.  This great book teaches us to explore the evils of television with masterful storytelling. This lesson uses the gradual release model and offers stopping points throughout the story. There is also an anchor chart for inferring. 

There's great vocabulary in this book, too.  Appropriate for 2nd-5th grades. Enjoy!




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BTT: Flora and Ulysses

It's time for Book Talk Tuesday!

Linking with Deanna Jump!

        

     I love this book.  It's a fast read and has some really rich vocabulary.  I love the themes it touches on such as divorce, loyalty and friendship.

    It starts with Flora looking out her window and seeing Tootie Tickham, her neighbor, trying to control her vacuum cleaner as it heads directly towards a squirrel.  Flora runs down and helps bring the squirrel back to life.  However, he is not the squirrel he once was...he has superpowers!  Superpowers such as strength and poetry writing!  Flora decides it's up to her to protect Ulysses, as she names him, since the world will misunderstand him.  Out of nowhere the nemesis is made clear, Flora's mother.  Flora's mother also corrals her father in her nefarious plans.  The rest of the story is about Flora protecting Ulysses and her relationship with her father.

     Another reason kids love this book is that it is interspersed with comics throughout.  Pay attention to the images, they add a lot to the story.  This book won the 2014 Newbery Award!

        

     Hope you enjoyed my book pick this week!  

Flora and Ulysses: An Illuminated Adventure!

This is such a great book.  As a child of divorce and knowing many kids are going through it too, I thought it a good book to work with.  Besides, I just love Kate DiCamillo.


Floraand Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures! This middle grade novel won the Newbery medal for 2014. The story is about Flora, a self-described cynic, who witnesses a tragedy/miracle in her neighbor’s backyard. She is able to revive the squirrel and names him Ulysses. The book is very funny but also tackles some serious issues such as divorce, abandonment issues and more. The book is written as part narrative and part graphic novel.

I formatted the close reading guide as follows. It begins with an explanation of close reading and how to format a lesson. I also included sentence stems aligned to Webb's Depth of Knowledge. Then, there is a summary, themes listed and character descriptions. I created focus questions for each and every chapter. Along with the focus questions, I culled out vocabulary you might need to review and creative writing activities, research activities or discussion points. There are explicit gradual release formatted lessons throughout for pivotal moments in the story. I included a close reading sheet for each of the explicit lessons. You could use the focus questions to create more close reading lessons using the blank templates or for class discussions. At the end, there is a blank sheet for planning and to use with close reading of different chapters. Finally, I added my version of Cornell Notes, which I use for homework reading. I added a sheet for using with the idea of a capacious heart and a printable for creating comic strips. There is also a rubric for grading the close reading sheets. I hope your students enjoy it as much as my students did.

Awards for Flora and Ulysses:
The John Newbery Medal Winner 2014, National Book Award Longlist, Texas Bluebonnet Award 2014-15

Enjoy my new close reading guide on TPT!!!

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Tips for Teachers

Linking up with Teacher Gems to share tips and tricks!

Address Stickers

I use them for everything.  

I use them to create labels for my library books.  I can label the grade level and the reading level.  I make all my labels the same; "Mrs. Robles' Classroom Library   Grade level ___  Reading level ___" That way I can just make one and write in the info.

I use them to make labels that say "Mrs. Robles' Professional Read"  That way, when someone borrows my books, they know who to return them to!

I use them to labels the kids notebooks.  I'm not much of a copy person...most of the kids work goes into their notebooks.  They have labeled notebooks for Readers' Workshop, Writers' Workshop, Comprehension, Problem Solving and Science/Social Studies.  It really cuts down on copies and how much paper we use in class.  Less paperwork all around!

Storybird

Have you tried Storybird?  It's a great web based program for writing.  I love it because it has beautiful art that students can use to inspire their writing.  It's pretty easy to set up accounts- no email required.  All social interactions are classroom contained so it's safe.  The kids get to make illustrated books into beautiful books.  You can create assignments and give them feedback.  Students can also read the stories others have written.  Check it out.  It is really nice program and of course, it's free.

Comprehension Anchor Charts

When teaching comprehension strategies, you should always have an anchor chart for the students to refer to. What does a good anchor chart look like? They should include the title. I use:

PROFICIENT LEARNERS THINK AS THEY READ, LISTEN, AND VIEW

Activate and Connect to Background Knowledge


Then a description of the strategy.  The what:

This is the foundation of all thinking. Readers must think of what they already know to understand what they hear, read and view. Background knowledge is also called schema.


The why: Readers need to activate their schema to understand and retain information from a text. It helps you get ready to read and be open to new information. It focuses your reading.


Then how to apply the strategy:

You can do this by:
· Referring to prior personal experiences
· Making connections between texts and media
· Activating your prior knowledge of the content, style, structure, features, and genre
· Connecting the new to the unknown -using what you know to understand new information
· Merging your thinking with new learning to build a knowledge base
· Activating your schema to read strategically


Finally, add some practical ways to apply, sentence frames or thinking maps. In this case, a KWL chart, a quick write or sentence frames:

-This reminds me of...

-This text is like _____ because _____

Here's what my chart looks like:

Hope these tips were useful!!




Fourth Grade Teacher in California!


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