Description
Get your learners thinking! Our PRINT AND DIGITAL The Giver Novel Study Unit Plan has the activities and quizzes you need to teach a 7-week novel study –pre-reading questions, characters, vocabulary, final projects, and more. You’ll love the “print-and-go” activities in slideshow and .pdf, AND the same fun activities converted and optimized for digital learning (470+ pages, slides, and forms for all your print and digital teaching needs).
⭐️⭐️⭐️ And don’t forget the easy-grade Google Forms!
Get your learners enjoying the rigor and creativity of our engaging activities built from best teaching practices. We want to make your lesson-plan journey easy so you can focus on your expertise. This literature guide includes a curriculum map and pacing guide that offer our day-by-day suggestions for planning your weeks of fun activities.
Our pedagogy section explains the instructional rationale behind the activity, offers implementation ideas, and aligns the lesson plan with the standards. We’ve filmed some training videos on (1) how to assemble a Novel Analysis Packet that is unique to the academic needs of your learners and (2) how to effectively use our Quickwrite writing prompts.
To make your digital experience smooth, we include instructions (w/ screenshots!) of how to download and organize your activities in Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive. We’ve added easy-grade Google Forms versions of each activity that auto-corrects their responses using a suggested answer key (which you can adjust afterward or modify your answer key) and compiles grades into a spreadsheet with learners’ names and class periods to make things easier for you to grade all in one place (some types of question aren’t able to auto-grade, though, because of the short-answer format).
TEXT: THE GIVER by Lois Lowry
GENRE: Young adult fiction; dystopian literature
LEVEL: 6th – 8th
TOTAL: 470+ combined slides/pages/forms in novel study unit
- Based off the 1993 copyright, 2002 reprint edition published by Dell Laurel-Leaf and includes pages from The Giver movie tie-in printed edition [ISBN: 978-0544340688].
- Our activities easily integrate w/ Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Canvas, Schoology, Edmodo, Blackboard, Moodle, Brightspace, Sakai, Showbie, Remind, & more.
- Pacing Guide and Answer Keys included
What other teachers are saying about this literature resource
♥ I love this novel study! I bought a different unit from another provider outside TpT, and comparatively, this one is more creative and definitely more reliable. I haven’t had to correct any proofing errors. Love the chosen graphics as well. The Job Description worksheet is clever and has led to interesting discussions. The Quickwrites are thought- and conversation-provoking as well. I’m really enjoying the depth my students and I are achieving together. This package is a great complement to the book as I help usher them into high school and more mature, analytical thinking.
♥ My students FREAKED out over this! Absolutely BRILLIANT unit! Thanks so much!
♥ I love how thorough and creative this unit is. This will be immensely helpful in my classroom and help my students really get into the novel. Thank you!!
♥ All I can say is WOW! There are some really awesome ideas here. Thank you so much for all your hard work. You just made my life easier!
♥ This is impressive. I love the Powerpoints and the quick writes. I purchased another unit and this one is by far the most creative, thought provoking, and organized. Every element pushed the student to engage at multiple levels of thinking from concrete recall to analytical.
The Giver – Novel Study Contents
- Suggested timeline of how a teacher could plan out the book study
- Detailed explanations of the goals of each activity and how to conduct the activities
- Meets Common Core Standards (CCSS novel unit). Easy TEKS conversion.
- Easy to differentiate the lesson plan for different learning levels: Honors, 2nd language learners, and Sped
Before reading
★ Pre-reading Bias Intro Activity
- answer thematic questions to get learners thinking about the novel
- 11-page + 11-slide activity & Google slides
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1,2
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.1
★ Introduction to Utopias
- Introduces learners to the concept of utopias and dystopias, with a short context piece on dystopian fiction and its most well-known examples; provides examples from real life, novels, and film
- 23-pages + 23 Google Slides
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5
★ Utopia Project & Travel Brochure Activity
- Learners put their knowledge of utopias into practice by creating their own theoretical utopia.
- They create a persuasive travel brochure for their utopia that explains the vision and functionality.
- They present it to the class and get asked questions.
- 2 pages + 2 slides
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5
During reading
★ Plot Chart Analyzer Diagram Arc Activity
- Analyze the 6 parts of the plot, from the opening setting to the final scene
- 1-page + 8-slide analyzer (answer key included)
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2
★ Conflict Graphic Analyzer Activity – 6 Types of Conflict
- Analyze the 6 types of conflict
- 2-page + 5-slide analyzer (answer key included)
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2
★ Characters Analyzer Activity
- Analyze the main characters, including Jonas and the other dynamic figures in the story, using textual evidence from the novel
- 5-page + 5-slide analyzer
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3
★ Writing – Journal Questions – Quickwrite Prompts
- Highly engaging writing and discussion questions that ask students to reflect and decide where they stand on the story’s ideas
- 17-writing prompt slideshow
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1,2
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1
★ Non-Fiction Informational Texts – Color Blindness & Seeing Beyond Activity
- Analyze articles & videos about color blindness and its effects
- prepare for this theme in the novel
- 5-page analyzer
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2,3,6,7
★ Non-Fiction Informational Texts – Euthanasia & Being Released Activity
- Analyze articles & videos about euthanasia and its ethics
- Prepare for this theme in the novel
- 5-page analyzer
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.2,3,6,7
★ Ceremony of 12 Activity
- Simulate your very own Ceremony of 12!
- Learners are assigned different real-life jobs from the top 200 jobs list and write about their thoughts on this life Assignment and on being assigned a job.
- Learners learn the various real-life jobs available
- 12pg bundle + 52 Google Slides
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2
★ 4 Comprehension Question Pop Quizzes
- These comprehension activities include a 5-question comprehension pop quiz per section (answer keys included)
- 12-page/slide + 12-Google slides
- The purpose of these is to ensure that learners who read the chapters recently ace the quiz, and that learners who didn’t read recently do not show comprehension.
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2,10
★ Grammar – Verbals Activity – Infinitives, Participles, Gerunds
- Learners learn the difference between these difficult verbals, with clear definitions and examples they can refer back to
- 3-page bundle practicing the verbals
- 25-slide practice of the verbals
- 1-page quiz assessing their learning
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.1a
★ Grammar – Phrases and Clauses Activity – Noun, Verb, Adjective, Adverb
- Learners learn and practice these different types of clauses, which supports later work on figurative language and sentence craft
- 27-Google slide resource
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.8.1a
★ Jobs List Analyzer
- Learners catalog and analyze the various jobs from the community and their societal worth
- 3-page analyzer
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9
★ Vocabulary – List and Quiz Assessment
- 60 vocabulary words from the novel, with definitions students can use during quiet reading
- one 60-question quiz and two 30-question quizzes
- 6-page bundle includes list of words, quiz, and answer keys
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4
After reading
★ Writing – Persuasive Essay and Speech
- 3 essay options for learners to choose from, each asking students to draw clear conclusions from the narrative
- Includes essay grading rubrics
- Includes quote tracking pages
- 6-page + 15-slide bundle
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1,2,3
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1,9
- CCSS.ELA-SpeakingListening.SL.1,4,6
★ Projects – Creative, Artistic, Differentiated
- 5 creative final projects for learners to choose from, each meant to be completed as a course summary of the unit
- Grading rubric provided
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.10
★ Pain Gallery – Final Activity and Discussion
- Learners draw a picture of something painful and anonymously turn them in to be hung on the wall.
- Large class discussion about the various pains of life and how to fix them.
- 5 Google slides, 3-questions
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.10
★ Newbery Award Speech & Response
- Learners read or listen to Lois Lowry’s Newbery speech and think deeply about the meaning, including the figurative language she uses to speak to her audience.
- 8-page speech and 1 page of response questions
- Audio tracks of speech read by Created for Learning
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.10
★ Jeopardy Trivia Competition Activity
- Have some fun at the end while learners recall what they’ve read!
- 26-slide Jeopardy Trivia
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.10
★ Movie vs. Novel Comparison Activity
- Compare and contrast the movie and novel
- 2-page + 2-slide group comparison
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7
Enjoy! And may your world always be in full color!
What is Created for Digital?
★ Our Created for Digital resources take all the trusted, quality instructional tools you know and love and convert them into the digital format you need for your online learners.
Why go digital?
- Paperless. No printing.
- Instant savings… students work in the file.
- 1:1
- Technology Proficiency
- Easy integration w/ these Learning Management Systems (as of 9/24/2020): Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, Canvas, Schoology, Edmodo, Blackboard, Moodle, Brightspace, Sakai, Showbie, Remind, & more.
- Works on Chromebooks, Android Tablets, and other devices
- Engaged students
- Easy group work
- Paper trail of revisions for teacher to see
Includes
- Teacher Tutorial – access link and how to use this digital novel study with your learners
- Microsoft OneDrive user instructions – a step-by-step visual tutorial. This will only take minutes!
- All slides can be used over and over again.
About this unit
This is a comprehensive study guide for Lois Lowry’s The Giver, designed for middle school ELA teachers who want ready-to-use lessons. The story follows Jonas, a young boy in a controlled community where memory, feeling, and color have been removed. The unit gives your students a clear entry point to the setting, the characters, and the questions the novel raises about freedom, pain, and the choices adults make on behalf of children.
Every activity is built around textual evidence and classroom discussion. Students explore the community, reflect on what they read, and produce written work and creative projects that demonstrate real understanding. Parents and homeschoolers can use it too. The pacing is flexible.
