Worksheets + activity printables for ages 9-12
Engage your students with this great book in fun, hands-on, meaningful ways!
The best part of these printables, in my mind, is the handouts—the story arc, the writing exercises, etc. that get the kids really thinking and writing creatively. If you want your kids to engage with the story fully, to really dive into the world of the story, this set makes an excellent resource.
-A happy teacher
ACTIVITY PRINTABLES & WORKSHEETS
Printables: acting prompts
Charades are a memorable way to “get into the shoes” of the characters in this story. Ask pairs of volunteers to silently act out a scene from the story, following a prompt that you hand (or privately explain) to them.
Kids love pretending to be someone else, especially someone doing something sneaky, show-offy, awesome, snarky, or scary! For example:
You are T.J., putting on Stacey’s new coat and admiring yourself in it. Swagger around to make sure everyone sees how good you look – especially Stacey. Stacey is so mad at himself for giving away that beautiful coat!
More activity printables are coming! We're awaiting copyright permission to create more activity printables. As we add more, you'll automatically get them in your account.
Meanwhile, please help yourself to our other creative teaching ideas that don't need a printable, here on our page of free Creative Teaching Resources for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Printables: Interactive worksheets
Weave interactive worksheets between hands-on activities to help kids process ideas and information. For Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, your kids can use our eight worksheets to:
take notes about the author while watching this video.
learn the important concept of the narrative arc and gain an overview of this story's structure. You might also find this worksheet helpful for sequencing your activities.
locate the setting of the story
learn some period vocabulary
learn the history of some legal decisions affecting equality
do some creative writing from a different point of view
analyze and emulate a writing technique
use clues to identify a theme
Worksheets stand alone, but if you'd like to integrate them with hands-on activities and valuable discussions, check out our free page of Creative Teaching Ideas for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry:
or scroll down for more info
1 ACTIVITY PRINTABLE
"Get into another's shoes" - prompts for comprehension, characterization, and empathy activity
More coming! We're awaiting copyright permission to create more activity printables. As we add more, you'll automatically get them in your account.
Meanwhile, please help yourself to our other creative teaching ideas that don't need a printable, here on our page of free Creative Teaching Ideas for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
7 INTERACTIVE WORKSHEETS
StoryMakers - author note-taking (to support viewing this bio video) to aid comprehension of context and history
StoryLines - narrative arc concept and this story's plot points, to aid literary analysis and writing skills
WhereAbouts - geography and timeline, to enhance context
ThemeSeekers - theme finding, to aid literary analysis and comprehension
Terms of the Times - period vocabulary, to aid in comprehension of new words and story context
Write Angles "Point of View" - creative writing, for comprehension and practice of writing skills
Happenings - history of legal events affecting equality, for context, background, and comprehension
TEACHER SUPPORT
Answer keys - answers for worksheets as needed
Common Core State Standards - alignment for grades 3-6
Terms of use - how to ethically and legally use our teaching materials
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT
You'll find more activities, "takeaway" teaching topics, curated learning links, and more on our page of Creative Teaching Ideas for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.
Please reach out to us anytime for any reason—we're happy to help! —Becky & Jenny
Don't see your question? Email us!
Aw, you’re just the right age, whatever that might be! Just kidding—we know what you mean. We find that 8-12-year-olds are consistently “ready to LitWit.” Generally speaking, their reading level is high enough to take on the vocabulary and syntax of literature, and they’ve acquired enough knowledge to grasp new ideas. Yet they’re still full of wonder, and are highly responsive to the “check this out!” nature of sensory immersion.
However, we often have mature kids of 6-7 in our experiential workshops, and sometimes fun-loving kids of 13-14. As a teacher or parent, you know best what your kids are ready for and interested in.
They're on this book's web page of Creative Teaching Resources (linked above), along with Takeaway Topics, Learning Links, Prop Ideas, and other fun stuff to do!
We keep all that virtual so that we can include helpful links, update them regularly, and let you use our materials on a screen. We’re trying to save time (yours and ours) and trees!
Also, because that page is virtual, you can access it on a hand-held device you refer to as you teach, or you might want to show parts of it on a bigger screen for the kids.
You can certainly print a copy of that page, if you'd like a hard copy—(be sure to open all the drop-downs first, like "supplies" and "directions," so they'll print.)
Sure you can, for your noncommercial use in your family or classroom. As long as you’re not calling your fun time a “LitWits” event or charging a fee, you can use our ideas and printables to do lots of wonderful things!
Just please don’t forward your printables or make copies for people who haven’t paid for them, of course, out of courtesy and to honor our copyright and per our Terms of Service.
We have TONS of testimonials, some of which you can see right here. Our platform doesn't offer a "Reviews" feature, unfortunately, but we'd sure love to hear from you by email! f your kids see the pleasure in the story, and want to read more because of their LitWitty experience, oh my goodness that would make our day.
That’s our goal – to get kids to WANT to read more, for fun. Because of course the learning HAPPENS when they’re reading for fun! And it’s easier and more fun to teach happy readers, too, as you know.
You're off to share the best of this great book in thoughtful, hands-on ways!
