Looking for an engaging novel that will get your students excited about reading? A Hatchet novel study may be exactly what you need.
Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet has been a classroom favorite for years—and for good reason. This gripping survival story gives students an exciting reason to keep turning the pages while providing teachers with countless opportunities to teach reading comprehension, vocabulary, critical thinking, character development, writing, and literary analysis.
And sometimes, the best way to get a reluctant reader interested in books is to give them a story they simply can’t put down.
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How Hatchet Hooked a Reluctant Reader
One of my biggest frustrations as a parent was watching my oldest son struggle to find enjoyment in reading.
He could read. He did well in school. But reading for pleasure? That was another story.
When he was assigned Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, something completely changed.
He came home from school talking about the book.
He wanted to know what was going to happen next.
He was disappointed when he had to stop reading for the day.
And, most surprising of all, he actually wanted to keep reading.
Every day, he would come home and tell me about the latest chapter. He wasn’t simply completing a reading assignment—he was genuinely invested in Brian’s story.
That experience reminded me of something important:
The right book can completely change a student’s attitude toward reading.
That’s one reason Hatchet is such a powerful choice for an upper-elementary or middle school novel study.
Why Teach Hatchet in the Classroom?
Hatchet follows Brian Robeson, a young boy who finds himself alone in the Canadian wilderness after a plane crash. With nothing but a hatchet, Brian must figure out how to survive.
The survival premise immediately gives students something to think about:
What would you do if you were completely on your own?
As Brian faces one challenge after another, students have opportunities to examine much more than survival.
1. Hatchet Encourages Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving
Brian doesn’t have an adult telling him what to do.
He has to observe his surroundings, make decisions, try different strategies, learn from mistakes, and figure out how to solve problems.
That makes Hatchet an excellent book for teaching critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
Students can discuss questions such as:
What choices did Brian make?
Which decisions helped him survive?
Which decisions made his situation more difficult?
What could Brian have done differently?
How does Brian respond when his first plan fails?
These types of questions move students beyond simply recalling what happened in the story and encourage them to think deeply about the text.
2. Hatchet Is Perfect for Teaching Perseverance
One of the most valuable themes in Hatchet is perseverance.
Brian experiences fear, loneliness, hunger, frustration, and failure. Yet he continues trying.
When something doesn’t work, he learns from the experience and tries again.
That creates natural opportunities to discuss resilience, determination, perseverance, and overcoming obstacles.
Students can connect Brian’s experiences to challenges in their own lives, making the novel much more meaningful than a simple survival story.
3. Hatchet Builds Reading Comprehension
Because Brian’s survival depends on his ability to observe, remember, and make decisions, Hatchet provides excellent opportunities for reading comprehension instruction.
Students can analyze:
Character
Setting
Plot
Conflict
Cause and effect
Character development
Theme
Problem and solution
Point of view
Text evidence
Chapter-by-chapter Hatchet comprehension questions can help students slow down and think about what they are reading rather than rushing through the novel simply to finish it.
This is especially useful when teaching students how to support their answers with evidence from the text.
4. Hatchet Provides Rich Vocabulary Opportunities
Gary Paulsen’s descriptive writing gives students plenty of opportunities to encounter meaningful vocabulary in context.
A Hatchet novel study can turn those unfamiliar words into an opportunity to build vocabulary rather than allowing students to simply skip over them.
Students can examine words in context, determine meaning, and use new vocabulary in their own writing.
Vocabulary instruction is even more effective when students encounter the words repeatedly while reading the novel.
5. Hatchet Makes Writing More Meaningful
One of the advantages of using a novel for ELA instruction is that students have a shared experience to write about.
Instead of assigning disconnected writing prompts, teachers can ask students to respond to situations, characters, conflicts, and themes they already understand.
Hatchet naturally lends itself to:
Personal response writing
Character analysis
Opinion writing
Text-based responses
Critical-thinking questions
Creative writing
Theme analysis
Problem-and-solution writing
The survival setting also makes it easy to create engaging writing prompts that students actually want to answer.
6. Hatchet Can Hook Reluctant Readers
This may be my favorite reason to teach Hatchet.
A student who doesn’t consider himself or herself a “reader” may be much more willing to pick up a book when the premise immediately grabs their attention.
A plane crash.
A wilderness.
A young boy alone.
A hatchet.
Survival.
That’s a pretty compelling setup.
And once students become invested in Brian’s survival, reading comprehension activities and ELA skills become much less of a chore.
The story becomes the vehicle for learning.
Make Teaching Hatchet Easier with a Complete Novel Study
Of course, finding a great novel is only the beginning.
Teachers still have to figure out:
What am I going to teach with this book?
What comprehension questions should I ask?
What vocabulary should I focus on?
How will I assess whether my students understand the novel?
Instead of spending hours creating worksheets, comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, writing assignments, assessments, and lesson plans, you can have an entire unit ready to use.
What’s Included in the Hatchet Novel Study?
The complete unit includes resources for both teachers and students.
Teacher Resources
The teacher packet includes:
Detailed daily lesson plans
Pacing and standards guide
Vocabulary word wall cards
Answer keys
Parent letter
Student Activities
Students receive:
Vocabulary and grammar activities for 60 vocabulary words
Activities that encourage deeper thinking about the novel
The extended writing activities are only included in the complete novel study, making the full unit an especially valuable option.
Assessments
The assessment packet includes quizzes covering both sections of the novel:
Part 1: Chapters 1–9 Part 2: Chapter 10 through the end of the novel
The assessments include vocabulary, reading comprehension, and essay questions, along with answer keys.
Additional ELA Activities
The unit also includes:
End-of-the-book activities
Story Elements Interactive Notebook activities
Common Core State Standards alignment for Grades 5–8
The unit is designed for approximately a 5th–8th grade reading level and can be adapted for whole-class instruction, small groups, one-on-one instruction, independent study, or homeschool use.
The complete Hatchet Novel Study is available in both printable and Google Drive™ formats, making it flexible enough for traditional classrooms, Google Classroom, distance learning, and homeschool environments. The digital version also includes self-grading Google Drive quizzes in multiple-choice format.
Prefer paper?
A printable-only version is also available.
Try the FREE Hatchet Novel Study Sample
Not sure whether this Hatchet book study will work for your students?
Try it before you buy it!
A free sample is available so you can see exactly what the novel study looks like and try the activities with your students. The sample includes one day of activities from the complete unit.
Ready to Turn Hatchet into an Engaging ELA Unit?
Hatchet is much more than a story about a boy trying to survive in the wilderness.
It’s a book about perseverance, problem-solving, resilience, courage, decision-making, and personal growth.
It gives students something exciting to read while giving teachers a natural way to teach important ELA skills.
And when a book can make a reluctant reader come home excited to tell you what happened in the latest chapter?
That’s a book worth teaching.
Connect with Fellow Educators!
Are you teaching Hatchet 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!
*The Teaching Bank participates in the Amazon Associate Program and earns a fee from qualifying purchases made on the Amazon.com site.
“I am Ivan. I am a gorilla. It’s not as easy as it looks.”
Few stories capture the hearts of upper elementary students quite like Katherine Applegate’s Newbery Medal-winning masterpiece, The One and Only Ivan.
Inspired by the true story of a real shopping mall gorilla named Ivan who spent 27 years in a glass enclosure, this powerful novel explores themes of friendship, empathy, animal welfare, and keeping promises. Written in accessible, poetic verse with short, fast-paced entries, it is one of the most effective ELA anchor texts for 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th-grade classrooms.
Whether you are hosting a whole-class read-aloud, running literature circles, or facilitating independent book clubs, here is how you can teach The One and Only Ivan with zero prep time while building critical ELA and cross-curricular reading skills!
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🌟 Why The One and Only Ivan Belongs in Your Reading Curriculum
1. Sparks High-Interest Nonfiction Connections
Unlike purely fictional stories, Ivan serves as a perfect launchpad for cross-curricular reading. Students naturally become curious about the real Ivan, gorilla and elephant behavior, and the moral debate surrounding animal captivity vs. wildlife sanctuaries.
2. Teaches Point of View & Literary Devices
Written from Ivan’s first-person perspective, the novel provides a masterclass in voice, sensory details, figurative language, and character development—making deep literary analysis approachable for reluctant readers.
3. Fosters Deep Social-Emotional Learning (SEL)
As Ivan forms an unbreakable bond with Stella the elephant and Ruby the baby elephant, students reflect on empathy, compassion, standing up for others, and what it truly means to be a good friend.
I offer a novel study for The One and Only Ivan that not only incorporates comprehension and vocabulary activities, but also non-fiction aspects for students to learn about Silverback Gorillas, elephants, animals living in captivity vs. the wild, and, of course, the story of the real-life Ivan!
📦 What’s Included in the Complete Ivan Unit (Print + Google Apps™)
Creating chapter questions, vocabulary lists, and assessments for a 300+ page book can take dozens of hours. This all-in-one novel study unit delivers everything you need from start to finish—offered in both printable PDF and interactive Google Drive™ (Google Slides & self-grading Google Forms) formats.
👩🏫 1. Teacher Planning & Management Packet
Detailed Daily Lesson Plans & Pacing Guide: Step-by-step roadmap for your daily reading schedule.
Vocabulary Word Wall Cards: Printable cards and Google Slides to reinforce academic vocabulary.
Proactive Parent Letter: Pre-written communication explaining the themes of the book.
Complete Answer Keys: Hassle-free grading for every student task.
📝 2. Student Practice & Skill Workbooks
Vocabulary Context Practice: Targeted practice covering 59 essential vocabulary words across the book.
Section-by-Section Comprehension Questions: Short-answer questions designed to push students into deeper critical thinking and inferencing.
In-Depth Character Studies: Graphic organizers focusing on Ivan, Stella, Ruby, and Bob.
Book vs. Movie Comparison: Engaging analysis tools comparing the novel to the Disney film adaptation.
★ 4 Exclusive Post-Reading Analysis Tasks: Deep-dive extension projects available only in this complete unit bundle!
Please check out the completed The One and Only Ivan Novel Study that contains both a printable and Google Drive™ compatible format available in my store.
🎁 Download a FREE Sample & Start Teaching Today!
Want to test out the unit before committing? Download a Free Sample that includes all student activities and teacher plans for Chapter 1!
You can purchase this novel study at the following locations:
💬 Join the Conversation!
Have you taught The One and Only Ivan or its companions (The One and Only Bob and The One and Only Ruby) in your classroom?
Join our free teacher community, Book Talk with The Teaching Bank, to share ideas, grab freebies, and connect with upper elementary and middle school educators!
*The Teaching Bank participates in the Amazon Associate Program and earns a fee from qualifying purchases made on the Amazon.com site.
Looking for an engaging novel that will get your students excited about reading while giving you plenty of opportunities to teach important ELA skills? Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone may be exactly what you’re looking for.
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone has become one of the most recognizable children’s novels of all time. For many students, Harry’s first adventure at Hogwarts is the book that transforms reading from something they have to do into something they want to do.
That makes Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone an excellent choice for a classroom novel study, literature unit, or middle school ELA reading unit.
From friendship and courage to character development, conflict, vocabulary, and literary elements, this novel gives teachers countless opportunities to combine high-interest reading with meaningful learning.
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Why Teach Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in the Classroom?
Choosing a classroom novel isn’t always easy. You want a book that will hold students’ attention, but you also need a novel that provides enough depth for meaningful discussion, writing, and reading comprehension activities.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone checks both boxes.
The story introduces students to a richly developed fictional world while giving them characters, conflicts, themes, and plot events they can analyze throughout the book.
Here are some of the reasons this novel works so well as a classroom novel study.
1. Harry Potter Gets Students Excited About Reading
One of the biggest challenges teachers face is getting students invested in a novel.
Harry Potter can help.
Many students have already heard of Harry Potter before opening the book. Some may have seen the movies, read another book in the series, or simply recognize Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Hogwarts.
That familiarity creates an immediate hook.
Students want to know what happens to Harry when he discovers that he is a wizard. They want to explore Hogwarts with him. They become invested in his friendships, challenges, successes, and failures.
And when students are genuinely interested in the story, reading comprehension and classroom discussion become much easier to build.
2. The Characters Provide Excellent Opportunities for Character Analysis
Harry, Hermione, and Ron give students plenty to discuss.
Throughout the novel, students can examine how characters respond to challenges, how friendships develop, and how characters’ choices affect the story.
Students can analyze questions such as:
How does Harry change throughout the novel?
What makes Hermione a strong character?
How does Ron contribute to the friendship?
How do Harry, Ron, and Hermione work together?
How do characters respond when things don’t go according to plan?
What can we learn about a character from his or her actions?
How do relationships between characters change throughout the story?
These questions naturally lead into character traits, character development, textual evidence, inference, and citing evidence from a text.
3. The Themes Are Perfect for Meaningful Classroom Discussions
A strong classroom novel should give students something to think about long after they finish reading.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone provides plenty of opportunities for deeper discussion.
Friendship
Harry’s friendships with Ron and Hermione become an important part of his journey.
Students can discuss what makes someone a good friend and how the characters demonstrate loyalty, trust, cooperation, and support.
Courage
Harry repeatedly finds himself in situations that require courage.
This opens the door to conversations about what courage really means. Is being courageous the same thing as not being afraid? Can someone be afraid and still be brave?
Good vs. Evil
The novel introduces students to the classic conflict between good and evil while encouraging them to examine the choices characters make.
Love and Family
Harry’s experiences with family and his memories of his parents provide opportunities for students to discuss the importance of love, belonging, and relationships.
Choices
One of the most valuable ideas to explore with students is the idea that our choices help define who we are.
This theme can lead to thoughtful writing and discussion that extends beyond the novel itself.
4. Harry Potter Provides Rich Vocabulary Opportunities
The world of Harry Potter introduces students to an enormous variety of vocabulary.
Students encounter unfamiliar words, descriptive language, magical terminology, and words that may be new even when the meaning can be determined from context.
That makes the novel an excellent opportunity to teach:
Context clues
Vocabulary in context
Word meanings
Synonyms and antonyms
Parts of speech
Figurative language
Using new vocabulary in writing
Instead of teaching vocabulary as a collection of disconnected words, you can teach students to use context and the surrounding text to determine meaning.
5. The Novel Encourages Critical Thinking
A good novel study should go beyond asking students to remember what happened.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone gives students many opportunities to think more deeply about the text.
Students can make predictions, draw inferences, analyze characters, examine cause and effect, identify conflicts, determine themes, and support their ideas with evidence.
For example:
Why does Harry make certain choices?
What clues does the author provide about a character?
How does a particular event change the direction of the story?
What theme is Rowling developing through the characters’ experiences?
Questions like these turn reading into active thinking rather than simply remembering plot details.
6. It’s Packed With Literary Elements to Teach
If you’re looking for a novel that gives you plenty of opportunities to teach literary elements, Harry Potter is an excellent choice.
Students can identify and analyze:
Setting
Characters
Character traits
Character development
Plot
Conflict
Point of view
Theme
Mood
Foreshadowing
Cause and effect
Problem and solution
Main idea and supporting details
Because these elements are embedded in a story students are already invested in, the skills feel more meaningful than they might when taught in isolation.
7. Harry Potter Is Excellent for Reading Comprehension
A classroom novel allows teachers to practice reading comprehension skills repeatedly throughout an authentic text.
With Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, students can practice:
Making predictions
Asking questions
Making inferences
Summarizing
Identifying important details
Determining theme
Analyzing characters
Understanding vocabulary in context
Citing textual evidence
Connecting events across chapters
Instead of teaching these skills with dozens of unrelated passages, you can revisit them throughout an entire novel.
8. It Works Well for Upper Elementary and Middle School Readers
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone can be an especially engaging choice for grades 5-8, depending on your students and classroom expectations.
The story is accessible enough to draw students into the world of Hogwarts while offering enough complexity for deeper literary analysis and discussion.
That makes it a flexible choice for:
5th grade ELA
6th grade ELA
7th grade ELA
8th grade ELA
Middle school reading
Literature circles
Small-group instruction
Independent reading
Homeschool
9. Harry Potter Creates Opportunities for Writing
A great novel doesn’t have to stop at reading comprehension.
Use Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone as a springboard for writing activities.
Students can write:
Character analyses
Theme-based responses
Personal connections
Predictions
Text-based essays
Opinion pieces
Creative writing
Compare-and-contrast responses
Evidence-based responses
The novel gives students a common text to reference, making it easier to move from reading to thinking to writing.
10. Students Can Connect the Story to Their Own Lives
One of the reasons Harry Potter has remained so engaging for young readers is that, beneath all the magic, the story explores experiences students understand.
Harry wants friendship.
He wants to belong.
He wants to understand who he is.
He faces difficult decisions.
He makes mistakes.
He discovers strengths he didn’t know he had.
These experiences can create meaningful classroom conversations about belonging, friendship, courage, choices, identity, and overcoming challenges.
Make Your Harry Potter Novel Study Easier
While Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone offers countless teaching opportunities, creating an entire novel unit from scratch can take a tremendous amount of time.
If you’ve ever taught a novel study, you know how quickly the prep adds up.
📚 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Novel Study
This no-prep Harry Potter novel study gives you a ready-to-use unit designed to help students engage deeply with the novel while practicing important ELA skills.
A reusable story elements interactive notebook packet
The complete resource is designed to take the prep work out of teaching a Harry Potter novel study so you can spend more time teaching and less time creating materials.
💻 Printable AND Digital Formats
You don’t have to choose between paper and digital instruction.
The novel study includes both printable and Google Drive™ formats, making it easy to use in a traditional classroom, a paperless classroom, or a combination of both.
Students can complete activities in print or digitally, depending on your classroom needs.
Download the FREE preview to see exactly what is included in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone novel study.
You’ll be able to preview the teacher materials, student activities, assessments, vocabulary activities, and other components before purchasing.
I offer a complete novel study to accompany Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (which includes a format for the Philosopher’s Stone) for use in the classroom or homeschool. This includes both a printable format and a Google Drive™ format for use in a paperless classroom or with Google Classroom.
You can purchase this novel study at the following locations:
Teaching the Entire Harry Potter Series?
If your students love Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, you may want to continue through the entire series.
I also offer Harry Potter novel studies for all seven books, and you can save money by purchasing the complete Harry Potter Novel Study Bundle.
A complete series of novel studies makes it easy to maintain consistent reading comprehension, vocabulary, writing, and literary analysis instruction from one book to the next.
Final Thoughts: Why Harry Potter Belongs in Your Classroom
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone offers something that can be difficult to find in a classroom novel: students genuinely want to know what happens next.
That enthusiasm matters.
When students are invested in a story, they’re more likely to participate in discussions, think critically about characters and events, make predictions, learn new vocabulary, and engage with the text.
And that makes Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone much more than a fun fantasy novel.
It can become a powerful vehicle for teaching reading comprehension, vocabulary, literary elements, critical thinking, writing, character analysis, and theme.
If you’re ready to bring Hogwarts into your classroom, a ready-to-use Harry Potter novel study for grades 5-8 can make the experience easier for you—and more meaningful for your students.
Grab the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Novel Study today and take the prep work out of your next classroom novel unit!
Connect with Fellow Educators!
Are you teaching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone 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!
*The Teaching Bank participates in the Amazon Associate Program and earns a fee from qualifying purchases made on the Amazon.com site.
Looking for an engaging Al Capone Does My Shirts novel study that will keep your students reading, thinking, and discussing? Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko is an excellent choice for a whole-class novel, small-group book study, literature circle, or independent reading unit.
Set on Alcatraz Island in 1935, this historical fiction novel combines humor, mystery, friendship, family, and important themes of acceptance and inclusion. It gives students plenty to discuss while also providing rich opportunities for reading comprehension, vocabulary, character analysis, critical thinking, and writing.
And if you’re looking for a way to teach the novel without spending hours creating materials, I have a complete Al Capone Does My Shirts novel unit ready to go!
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Why Teach Al Capone Does My Shirts?
There are so many reasons this novel works well with upper elementary and middle school readers.
🏝️ Explore Alcatraz Island
Students get a fascinating look at Alcatraz Island when it was a working federal prison. The unusual setting immediately gives students something interesting to investigate and provides a natural opportunity to connect literature with history.
📚 Connect Literature and History
The novel takes place during the Great Depression in the 1930s, allowing students to explore historical context while reading a story they can connect with emotionally.
Students can investigate topics such as:
Life during the Great Depression
Alcatraz Island
The history of Alcatraz prison
Al Capone
Life in the 1930s
Historical fiction
How historical events influence a story
❤️ Discuss Family, Friendship, and Acceptance
At the center of the story is Moose Flanagan and his family. Moose is adjusting to life on Alcatraz while also dealing with the challenges surrounding his sister Natalie.
The novel provides meaningful opportunities to discuss family relationships, friendship, empathy, acceptance, inclusion, responsibility, and perseverance.
Because these themes are presented through the experiences of the characters, students can have thoughtful conversations without the topics feeling disconnected from the story.
🔎 Analyze Characters and Themes
Al Capone Does My Shirts is also an excellent book for teaching literary analysis.
Students can explore:
Character development
Character traits
Conflict
Setting
Point of view
Theme
Plot development
Relationships between characters
Cause and effect
Making inferences
Supporting ideas with text evidence
These skills make the novel especially useful for an ELA novel study or reading unit for grades 5–8.
Al Capone Does My Shirts Novel Study
If you’re ready to turn the novel into a complete classroom unit, my Al Capone Does My Shirts Novel Study provides the materials you need to teach the book from beginning to end.
The resource includes printable and digital Google Drive activities, making it easy to use whether you’re teaching in a traditional classroom, a paperless classroom, or through Google Classroom.
What’s Included?
The complete novel study includes:
Teacher lesson plans
Reading comprehension activities
Chapter-by-chapter questions
Vocabulary activities
Grammar practice
Writing activities
Reading assessments
Critical-thinking questions
Answer keys
Pre-reading activities
Nonfiction WebQuests
Story elements activities
Interactive notebook activities
Common Core standards alignment
Printable materials
Google Drive digital materials
Everything is designed to save you time and give your students meaningful work to complete as they read.
Whether you’re planning an entire Al Capone Does My Shirts unit or simply need high-quality activities to accompany the novel, this resource gives you a ready-to-use collection of materials.
Try a Free Sample
Not sure if this Al Capone Does My Shirts book unit is right for your students?
You can try a free sample before purchasing to see the types of activities included in the complete novel study.
Get the Al Capone Does My Shirts Novel Study
If you’re planning to read Al Capone Does My Shirts with your students, you don’t have to create all of the comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, assessments, and writing assignments yourself.
The Al Capone Does My Shirts Novel Study gives you a complete set of ready-to-use materials so you can spend less time planning and more time helping your students engage with the book.
Ready to Teach Al Capone Does My Shirts?
Bring this engaging historical fiction novel to life with a complete Al Capone Does My Shirts novel study designed to make teaching easier and reading more meaningful.
Grab the complete novel unit and start teaching your Al Capone Does My Shirts unit today!
Connect with Fellow Educators!
Are you teaching Al Capone Does My Shirts 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!
*The Teaching Bank participates in the Amazon Associate Program and earns a fee from qualifying purchases made on the Amazon.com site.
One of my favorite children’s authors is Louis Sachar. I love his quirky sense of humor, and even more, I love sharing this humor with my students and giggling right along with them! I have many “inside jokes” with my students where the humor brings us together as a community. I am a big advocate for humor in children’s literature because it draws out those reluctant readers and shows them how truly enjoyable reading can be. Often this spark gets these students exploring other forms of literature and leads them on a journey of a lifelong love of reading. One of my favorite Louis Sachar books is Sideways Stories From Wayside School. Even though I have read this book, and the two sequels, more times than I can count, I still get a chuckle each and every time. The Wayside School series is great for a class read-aloud or to use as a novel study.
Sideways Stories is told from the point of view of Louis the Yard Teacher, which Louis Sachar based on himself. He spent a college semester working as an aid in an elementary school and spent some of that time as “Louis the Yard Teacher”. Sachar also based most of his characters from the book on students he worked with during that time. Sideways Stories was Louis Sachar’s first book, published in 1978, but it took several years to gain widespread popularity.
Wayside School was an architectural mistake. It was mistakenly built 30 stories tall with only one classroom per story. The story revolves around the class on the 30th story. The book begins by telling us the story of the teacher on the 30th story, Mrs. Gorf. Mrs. Gorf has a special talent that leads to her demise and is replaced by Mrs. Jewls in chapter 2. Mrs. Jewls is a sweet but somewhat naive teacher, which leads to big laughs. A lot of humor comes from Mrs. Jewls’ seeming lack of common sense. The other teacher discussed in the last chapter is Louis the Yard Teacher. All the rest of the chapters (there are 30, of course!) detail a student. Each student is unique in some ironic, humorous way.
I have used this book in several different ways in my classroom. First, I have used it as a read-aloud to spark a sense of community. Reading, discussing, and laughing together brings a class together. I can read this at the beginning of the year and still have kids quoting it or bringing up a joke at the end of the year. I have yet to find a child who did not thoroughly enjoy this book.
Reasons to Use the Wayside School Series for Novel Studies
Engaging storytelling: The Wayside School series is full of humor and unique storytelling that keeps students engaged and entertained.
Relevant themes: The books explore themes such as friendship, perseverance, and individuality that are relatable to students and promote important life lessons.
Easy-to-follow narrative: The books are written in a simple and straightforward style, making them accessible to students of all reading levels.
Diverse characters: The series features a diverse cast of characters, offering students the opportunity to see themselves and others represented in literature.
Cross-curricular connections: The Wayside School series can be used to connect with other subjects, such as history, mathematics, and social studies, making it a versatile tool for teachers.
Try a free sample of the novel study for Sideways Stories from Wayside School
Whether you use these books for the whole class, small group, or individual instruction, you will find your students laughing and truly enjoying reading. Even if you don’t use these units in your class, include them in a class library for your students to read or read as a class read-aloud. Whatever you do, make sure your students have access to these books! They are so much fun and open up the reading world for those reluctant readers!
You can purchase this novel study bundle which contains both a printable and a Google Drive™ format at the following location:
Connect with Fellow Educators!
Are you teaching the Wayside books 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!
*The Teaching Bank participates in the Amazon Associate Program and earns a fee from qualifying purchases made on the Amazon.com site.
Connect with Fellow Educators!
