These comprehensive literature study unit studies are available in either book or ebook formats. Both are reproducible for classroom or family use.
Most units cover one novel, although there are a few that address a series by a single author or two or more books on a single theme. Titles all begin with "A Guide for Using" and end with "in the Classroom"; the title of the novel(s) being studied is inserted between the two phrases.
Teacher Created Resources offers units three levels: primary, intermediate, and challenging. 29 titles are available for primary level (grades 1 - 3); examples are Where the Wild Things Are, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and If You Give a Moose a Muffin, and Strega Nona (an Italian story). Representative of the many titles available for intermediate grades (grades 3 – 5) are Charlotte's Web, Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Secret Garden, The Sign of the Beaver, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The challenging level targets grades 5 – 8 with titles such as Where the Red Fern Grows, Julie of the Wolves, Old Yeller, Tuck Everlasting, Bridge to Terabithia, The Hobbit,Book of Greek Myths (by the D'Aulaires), and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone/Other Harry Potter Books . You will probably want to be selective about which novels you might want your children to read, so use discrimination in selecting titles from among the unit study books.
In the units, novels are broken down into chapter groupings for study. Activities for each grouping range across the curriculum (whole language approach) including writing, vocabulary, geography, art, music, math, science, and social studies.
Quizzes and answer keys are included within each unit. A few of the lesson plans show a multicultural emphasis (Indians, ecology), but some of these activities could easily be skipped. Some activities would work best in a small group, and others are oriented to the traditional classroom; however, at less than $10 per book, you still get plenty of material, even if you don't cover it all. You can download sample pages from most if not all these books from the website.
