As the school year draws to a close, teachers everywhere are eagerly anticipating a well-deserved break. Summer is the perfect time to recharge your batteries, relax, and catch up on some much-needed rest. However, it’s also a great opportunity to refresh your skills and take steps to improve your teaching. Explore some of the ways that teachers can refresh over the summer, and how these activities can help improve your teaching skills for the upcoming school year.
Attend a Professional Development Conference:
Professional development conferences are a great way to learn new skills, gain new insights, and network with other educators. There are a variety of conferences available, both in-person and online, that cover a range of topics related to teaching.
Take Online Courses or Workshops:
Online courses and workshops are another excellent way to refresh your teaching skills over the summer. Many educational institutions and online learning platforms offer courses and workshops that cover a variety of topics, from classroom management to subject-specific instruction.
Read Professional Development Books:
Summer is a great time to catch up on some reading, and there are plenty of books available that are specifically designed to help teachers improve their skills. From classroom management to student engagement, there’s a book out there that can help you become a better teacher.
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Engage in Reflective Practice:
Reflective practice is the act of looking back on your teaching experiences and analyzing them to identify areas for improvement. Engaging in reflective practice over the summer can help you identify areas where you can improve your teaching, as well as areas where you are already excelling.
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Connect with Other Educators:
Connecting with other educators can be a great way to share ideas, gain new insights, and develop a support network. Joining a teacher group or online forum can help you connect with other educators from around the world and get new perspectives on teaching.
Summer is a great time for teachers to refresh their skills, engage in reflective practice, and connect with other educators. By attending professional development conferences, taking online courses, reading professional development books, engaging in reflective practice, and connecting with other educators, teachers can become more effective and inspiring educators.
Are you interested in reading about and sharing ideas with other educators on using children’s literature in your classroom? My goal is to bring together teachers and homeschoolers who teach grades 3-8 and use novels with their students. I’d love for you to join me to learn, share, and grow together!
Looking for a Stone Fox novel study that will keep your students reading, thinking, discussing, and writing? Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner is a short but powerful novel that gives upper-elementary students plenty to think about.
With its themes of courage, perseverance, friendship, determination, sacrifice, and overcoming adversity, Stone Fox is an excellent choice for a 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade novel study. The action-packed story can also be a great way to engage reluctant readers who may be intimidated by longer chapter books.
And if you’re looking for a no-prep Stone Fox book unit, I’ve created a complete resource to make teaching the novel easier!
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Why Teach Stone Fox in Your Classroom?
Stone Fox follows Willy, a young boy determined to save his family’s farm. When Willy discovers that he may be able to earn the money needed to save the farm by entering a dogsled race, he and his loyal dog Searchlight take on an incredible challenge.
The story provides numerous opportunities for students to explore important literary themes while developing essential reading comprehension and critical-thinking skills.
1. Explore Courage and Perseverance
One of the greatest strengths of Stone Fox is its exploration of perseverance and determination.
Willy faces challenges that seem almost impossible to overcome, but he refuses to give up. This makes the novel an excellent springboard for classroom conversations about:
What does it mean to persevere?
How do characters respond when things don’t go according to plan?
What motivates someone to keep trying?
What can we learn from failure and adversity?
These discussions can help students make meaningful connections between the novel and their own lives.
2. Analyze Memorable Characters
Stone Fox features memorable characters who give students plenty of opportunities to practice character analysis.
Students can examine Willy’s motivations, decisions, strengths, and challenges while also analyzing the relationships between characters.
Stone Fox himself provides another fascinating character to explore. Students can consider what they learn about him through his actions and how their perceptions of him change throughout the story.
Character analysis activities are an excellent way to move students beyond simply recalling what happened in a book and toward evidence-based literary thinking.
3. Discuss Friendship, Loyalty, and Sacrifice
The relationship between Willy and Searchlight creates opportunities for meaningful conversations about friendship, loyalty, love, and sacrifice.
Students can discuss what makes a strong friendship and how characters demonstrate loyalty through their actions.
These themes are especially effective for classroom discussions because students can connect them to their own experiences while still supporting their ideas with evidence from the text.
4. Make Cross-Curricular Connections
One of the best things about choosing a novel for your classroom is finding ways to connect reading with other areas of the curriculum.
Stone Fox can provide opportunities for cross-curricular learning, including:
Social Studies: Explore the setting and life in the American West.
Geography: Locate Wyoming and investigate the regions mentioned in the story.
Science: Research dogsled teams, snow, cold-weather survival, and animal adaptations.
Writing: Write responses, character analyses, personal reflections, and opinion pieces.
Research: Investigate sled dogs and the history of dogsled racing.
The Iditarod: Use the novel as a literature connection for an Iditarod-themed unit.
These connections can turn a novel study into a much broader learning experience.
Stone Fox Is Great for Reluctant Readers
Sometimes the best way to get students excited about reading is to give them a story that immediately pulls them in.
At only a relatively short length, Stone Fox is accessible for students who may struggle to finish longer novels. At the same time, the story contains enough action, emotion, conflict, and meaningful themes to give stronger readers plenty to discuss and analyze.
That makes Stone Fox a particularly useful choice for upper-elementary reading instruction, small-group instruction, literature circles, and whole-class novel studies.
Make Teaching Stone Fox Easy With a No-Prep Novel Study
If you love the idea of teaching Stone Fox but don’t want to spend hours creating comprehension questions, vocabulary activities, assessments, and writing assignments, I’ve done the work for you!
My Stone Fox Novel Study is a comprehensive, no-prep ELA resource for grades 3–5 that gives you ready-to-use activities to accompany the entire novel.
The resource includes both printable and digital formats, making it easy to use whether you’re teaching in person, using Google Classroom, or creating a paperless learning environment.
What’s Included in the Stone Fox Novel Study?
Your students will practice important ELA skills through activities such as:
Chapter-by-chapter reading comprehension
Vocabulary activities
Spelling activities
Short-answer questions
Writing activities
Story elements activities
Reading assessments
Vocabulary assessment
Comprehension quizzes
End-of-book activities
Teacher answer keys
Printable resources
Digital activities for Google Slides™ and Google Forms™
The unit is designed to provide approximately two weeks of engaging ELA instruction with minimal teacher preparation.
Not sure if this Stone Fox book study is right for your students?
Try the free sample before you buy!
You can purchase this novel study at the following locations:
Teach Stone Fox With Less Prep and More Purpose
A great novel can give students far more than reading practice. It can open the door to conversations about perseverance, courage, friendship, determination, empathy, and overcoming challenges.
Stone Fox is a wonderful choice for teachers looking for a meaningful 3rd–5th grade novel study, and a ready-to-use unit can make the teaching process so much easier.
If Stone Fox is on your upcoming reading list, save yourself the planning time and grab the complete Stone Fox Novel Study today!
Get the ready-to-teach Stone Fox novel study and spend less time creating materials—and more time helping your students fall in love with the story.
💬 Connect with Fellow Educators!
Are you teaching Stone Fox this school year? How do you celebrate kindness in your classroom?
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 a meaningful Shiloh novel study for your 4th, 5th, or 6th grade students?
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is a wonderful choice for teaching reading comprehension while encouraging students to think about responsibility, honesty, compassion, courage, and difficult choices.
As students follow Marty Preston’s relationship with Shiloh, they encounter questions that go far beyond the events of the story:
What is the right thing to do when the right choice isn’t easy?
Can you break a rule for the right reason?
What responsibilities do we have toward others?
How do our choices affect the people—and animals—around us?
These questions make Shiloh an engaging novel for upper-elementary readers and provide plenty of opportunities for meaningful discussion, writing, and literary analysis.
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Why Teach Shiloh?
One of the reasons Shiloh works so well as a classroom novel is that students can connect with Marty while watching his understanding of right and wrong develop throughout the story.
Marty doesn’t simply face an easy problem with an obvious solution. He has to make difficult decisions, deal with consequences, and consider how his actions affect others.
That makes the novel an excellent springboard for discussions about:
Honesty
Responsibility
Compassion
Empathy
Courage
Friendship
Trust
Animal welfare
Moral decision-making
Consequences
Character development
Rather than asking students only to remember what happened in the story, you can use Shiloh to encourage them to think critically about why characters make the choices they do.
Shiloh Reading Comprehension Activities
A strong novel study should do more than give students a list of questions to answer after each chapter.
With Shiloh, students can practice important reading skills while exploring the story and its characters.
Consider having students:
Make inferences about characters’ motivations
Identify character traits
Support ideas with text evidence
Analyze conflict
Identify important events
Make predictions
Summarize sections of the novel
Identify themes
Explain cause and effect
Make personal connections
Analyze how characters change
Respond to the author’s ideas
These skills help students become stronger readers while keeping their attention focused on the actual story.
Teaching Character Development Through Shiloh
Character development is one of the strongest areas to explore in Shiloh.
Marty’s experiences give students opportunities to examine how a character’s thoughts, feelings, choices, and experiences influence his development.
Ask students questions such as:
How does Marty change throughout the novel?
What motivates Marty’s decisions?
What does Marty learn from his experiences?
Which characters influence Marty?
How do Marty’s choices create new problems or solutions?
What evidence shows that Marty has changed?
Students can then support their responses with specific evidence from the text.
This turns character analysis into an authentic reading activity rather than an isolated worksheet.
Exploring Theme in Shiloh
Shiloh also provides opportunities to introduce students to theme in a way that feels meaningful.
Possible themes to explore include:
Doing what is right
Taking responsibility for your choices
Compassion and empathy
Honesty and trust
Standing up for others
The consequences of our decisions
Learning from mistakes
Rather than simply asking students to identify the theme, encourage them to explain how the author develops that theme throughout the novel.
For example: What does Marty learn about responsibility, and which events help him learn that lesson?
Questions like this encourage students to move from simple comprehension toward deeper literary analysis.
Vocabulary and Grammar Activities
Shiloh also provides an excellent opportunity to incorporate vocabulary and language instruction into your novel study.
Students can work with vocabulary words from the text while practicing skills such as:
Determining meaning from context
Using new words in sentences
Identifying parts of speech
Practicing spelling
Exploring synonyms and related words
Applying vocabulary through writing
When vocabulary is connected to the novel students are already reading, the words have a meaningful context rather than feeling like a separate assignment.
Make Shiloh More Than Just a Read-Aloud
A whole-class read-aloud can be a wonderful way to introduce students to a novel, but you can take the experience further by incorporating activities that require students to respond, discuss, analyze, and write.
A complete Shiloh novel study can help you organize those activities so that students are practicing reading skills throughout the entire book.
And, importantly, you don’t have to spend hours creating everything yourself.
I offer a complete novel study to accompany Shiloh for use in the classroom or homeschool. The unit includes both a printable format and a Google Drive™ format, for use in a paperless classroom or with Google Classroom.
Shiloh Novel Study for Grades 4–6
I’ve created a complete Shiloh Novel Study designed for approximately three weeks of instruction and written for the 4th–6th grade reading level.
The unit can be used for whole-class instruction, small groups, literature circles, independent study, or homeschool. It includes both printable and Google Drive formats, making it flexible for traditional and digital classrooms.
What’s Included in the Shiloh Novel Unit?
This isn’t just a packet of comprehension questions. The complete unit provides a structured framework for teaching the novel from beginning to end.
Teacher Resources
You’ll receive:
Detailed daily lesson plans
Pacing and Standards Guide
Vocabulary Word Wall Cards
Answer Keys
Parent Letter
Student Resources
The student packet includes:
Spelling List
Vocabulary and Grammar Activities for 20 Words
Chapter-by-Chapter Comprehension Questions
Short-answer questions designed to encourage deeper thinking
Book-related extension activities
End-of-the-book activities
Story Elements Interactive Notebook Activities
The extension activities are only included in the complete novel study, making the full unit a particularly valuable option if you want more than the individual components.
Assessment Resources
The assessment packet includes:
End-of-the-book vocabulary quiz
Reading comprehension quiz
Short-answer assessment
Multiple-choice assessment
End-of-the-book writing assessment
Google Drive digital assessment options
The Google Drive self-grading quizzes are available in the multiple-choice format.
Print + Digital Shiloh Activities
Today’s classrooms don’t always look the same from one day to the next.
That’s why the Shiloh novel study includes both printable PDF materials and Google Drive resources.
Before purchasing the complete unit, be sure to download the free preview.
The preview lets you see examples of the different components included in the novel study so you can decide whether the format and activities are a good fit for your classroom.
Ready to Teach Shiloh?
You can purchase this novel study at the following locations:
💬 Connect with Fellow Educators!
Are you teaching Shiloh this school year? How do you celebrate kindness in your classroom?
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’m Shelley from The Teaching Bank. I have taught 3rd, 4th, and 6th grades.
My goal is to provide lessons and units for K-12 that are practical and ready to teach with minimal prep needed.
