LitWits Printables for
by Louise Erdrich
Make this book a fun, hands-on experience for kids—so they want to read more!
This set of activity printables and worksheets, used with our free creative teaching ideas, helps you bring the story to life in meaningful ways.
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Change their minds—and lives—in just one day.
Our printables and creative teaching ideas get kids INTO this story in fun, hands-on ways! They have a blast doing what the characters did, and learning what the characters learned. They also learn that great books are fascinating—and they want to read more.
Use our printables set and creative ideas to engage, educate, and inspire! Perfect for:
homeschool educators
classroom teachers
book club leaders
teacher librarians
anyone who wants to inspire kids to love great books!
Our webpage of Creative Teaching Ideas for The Birchbark House has all the activity details, supplies, and instructions. You'll also find more fun ideas, curated learning links, and prep tips! Here's a quick peek:
ACTIVITY PRINTABLES
"Set up a waterfront wigwam" - scene and templates for creating an Ojibwa scene, to aid comprehension of cultural practices and history through tactile setting elements and art
"Show off your story travels" - travel sticker souvenir, for a fun reminder
For activity descriptions, supplies, and directions, see our page of creative teaching ideas for The Birchbark House.
INTERACTIVE WORKSHEETS
StoryMakers - author note-taking (to support viewing a video bio), for comprehension of context
StoryLines - author note-taking (to support viewing our biography video) to aid in comprehension of context
Write Angles - "Write what you know" prewriting to brainstorm topics and details, and be prepared to practice the writing technique of "writing what you know"
Write Angles - "Hop from head to head" creative writing worksheet for practice and comprehension of the idea of writing from a particular perspective, to teach a writing approach and cultivate appreciation of a variety of viewpoints
Write Angles - "Blend two languages to describe an Ojibwa chief" - creative writing and vocabulary worksheet for learning and appreciating the Ojibwa language, and put it into practice in a way that reinforces a theme
WhereAbouts - map and history worksheet to aid in comprehension of the story's geographical and historical context
TEACHER SUPPORT
"How to explain the narrative arc to kids" - a guide to helping kids understand the arc's structure
Answer keys - answers for worksheets as needed
Common Core State Standards - alignment for grades 3-6
Terms of use - how you can use our teaching materials
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT
For prop suggestions, teaching topics, and curated learning links,, see our page of creative teaching ideas for The Birchbark House.
Please reach out to us anytime for any reason—we're happy to help! —Becky & Jenny
Instant access + money-back guarantee
These printables are for use with our free creative teaching ideas for this book. (See the video preview above!)
On that web page, you'll also find loads of lesson-planning aids: curated learning links, prop ideas, discussion topics, and more.
Use the ideas and resources on that page to build your lesson plan, or just do whatever appeals to you and your kids. There's a lot there—don't feel you need to do it all!
Then read the book, do the prep, and get ready to have a great time!
We've just recently started asking for reviews, some of which you can see right here. As they come in, we'll add them to each product page.
If your kids see the pleasure in the story, and want to read more because of their LitWitty experience, we'd sure love it if you too would leave a review!
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 our 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 too.
You can right-click to print that page, if you'd like a hard copy—be sure to open all the drop-downs first, so the hidden contents will print.
We're dedicated to being as helpful as possible, so if our products don't work for you, please let us know what went wrong, and we'll issue a full refund.
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.
You're off to teach the best of this great book in fun, hands-on ways!
We've got 15 years' experience teaching great books in sensory, hands-on ways, and we'd love to help you do the same. If you still have pre-purchase questions or need customer support, please reach out! You can also join our email list to get product updates and discounts.
Becky and Jenny