Are you looking for engaging The City of Ember activities, comprehension questions, vocabulary practice, and assessments to use with your students? The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau is an exciting choice for a classroom novel study, and its mystery, suspense, and thought-provoking themes give students plenty to discuss, analyze, and explore.
This popular middle-grade novel follows Lina and Doon as they begin uncovering the mysteries surrounding their underground city. As students read, they encounter questions about problem-solving, resourcefulness, leadership, sustainability, society, and the consequences of how we use our resources.
That makes The City of Ember much more than an entertaining read—it can become the foundation for a rich ELA novel study with opportunities for critical thinking and cross-curricular learning.
Why Teach The City of Ember?
The City of Ember is an engaging novel for upper elementary and middle school students because it combines mystery, adventure, suspense, and problem-solving with meaningful themes.
🔎 Encourages Critical Thinking
Lina and Doon’s search for answers gives students countless opportunities to make predictions, draw conclusions, analyze clues, and make inferences.
Students can examine how the characters respond to problems and consider what they would do in similar situations.
💡 Promotes Problem-Solving
The characters in The City of Ember face problems that require creativity, persistence, and resourcefulness.
As students follow their journey, they can practice identifying problems, evaluating possible solutions, and supporting their thinking with evidence from the text.
🌎 Creates Cross-Curricular Connections
One of the most useful aspects of The City of Ember is the opportunity to connect literature with other subject areas.
The novel naturally lends itself to discussions and activities involving:
- Electricity
- Sustainability
- Environmental issues
- Natural resources
- Government and society
- Science and technology
- Human impact on the environment
These connections make The City of Ember an excellent choice for an ELA and STEAM-connected novel unit.
📚 Builds Reading & Language Skills
A novel study provides students with an opportunity to work on important reading skills while engaging with a complete book.
Students can practice:
- Reading comprehension
- Vocabulary
- Making inferences
- Identifying important details
- Analyzing characters
- Identifying themes
- Supporting answers with text evidence
- Writing about literature
- Critical thinking
The City of Ember Novel Study Book Unit
If you want to teach The City of Ember but don’t want to spend hours creating chapter questions, vocabulary activities, writing assignments, assessments, and lesson plans, I’ve done the planning for you!
My The City of Ember Novel Study Book Unit is a comprehensive, ready-to-use resource designed for grades 4–6.
The unit includes both printable and Google Drive™ formats, making it flexible enough for traditional classrooms, paperless classrooms, small groups, literature circles, homeschool, or independent reading.
What’s Included?
This complete The City of Ember book unit includes:
- Teacher lesson plans and pacing guide
- Common Core standards alignment
- Chapter-by-chapter reading comprehension questions
- 51 vocabulary words and activities
- Grammar activities
- Vocabulary Word Wall cards
- Writing and essay activities
- Comprehension and vocabulary assessments
- Self-grading Google Drive™ multiple-choice quizzes
- Answer keys
- Electricity nonfiction webquest and diagram activity
- Instructions puzzle inference activity
- End-of-book activities
- Story Elements Interactive Notebook activities
- Parent letter
Everything is organized into one complete unit so you can spend less time preparing and more time teaching.
See what people are saying about The City of Ember Novel Study by The Teaching Bank!
Try a free sample of the novel study for The City of Ember
Printable & Digital The City of Ember Novel Study
Need a resource that works for different learning environments?
This The City of Ember novel study includes both printable PDF and Google Drive™ versions.
Use the printable materials for traditional instruction or assign the digital activities for students working independently or in a paperless classroom.
The digital version is especially helpful for:
- Google Classroom™
- 1:1 classrooms
- Distance learning
- Independent reading
- Small-group instruction
- Homeschool
Ready to Teach The City of Ember?
The City of Ember is a wonderful novel for encouraging students to read closely, think critically, make connections, and discuss important ideas.
If you’re ready to teach this engaging novel but don’t want to spend your evenings creating chapter questions, vocabulary worksheets, assessments, and extension activities, this complete The City of Ember Novel Study Book Unit can save you hours of preparation.
Who Is This Novel Study For?
This The City of Ember book unit is designed for grades 4–6 and can be used in a variety of settings.
It’s a great fit for:
✔ Whole-class novel studies
✔ Small reading groups
✔ Literature circles
✔ Independent reading
✔ Homeschool
✔ Reading intervention
✔ Digital learning
✔ Book clubs
Connect with Fellow Educators!
Are you teaching The City of Ember this school year?
Join our free community, Book Talk with The Teaching Bank, to share ideas, grab freebies, and connect with 3rd–8th grade teachers using novels in the classroom!
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