This LitPlan Novel Study for Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse is a comprehensive foundation of ready-to-use materials that will ensure your students get the most out of their Out of the Dust novel study.

Practical, flexible, and standards-based with step-by-step plans for the whole novel unit, my LitPlan Novel Study is especially helpful to new teachers or veteran teachers teaching Out of the Dust for the first time.

23 Step-by-Step Daily Lessons guide you and your students through this novel study.

Assignments and Activities are planned for each day of the novel unit.

Vocabulary Worksheets that focus on meaning in context and dictionary definitions go with each reading assignment.

Comprehension Questions and Quizzes follow the reading assignments, so you know if your students are keeping up with their reading and if they are understanding what they are reading.

Writing Assignments are sprinkled throughout this novel study for Out of the Dust, too! Detailed writing assignment sheets guide students' writing.

• The first assignment, in Lesson One, is informational writing in conjunction with the Nonfiction Assignment. Students will read at least one article and view at least one video related to Out of the Dust and write an essay in preparation for their presentation.

• The second assignment, in Lesson Seven, asks students to write from personal experience. They may write about their own lives, mirroring the kinds of information conveyed by Billie Jo Kelby in the novel, or they may write about Billie Jo herself, explaining why they would or would not like to have Billie Jo as their close friend. Either choice will encourage students to examine the text closely and to try to understand the heroine better.

• The third writing assignment, in Lesson Ten, asks that students write to inform. Here students have an opportunity to choose something that they do well and then to explain to an audience how to do the activity. Because not all students know how to do something that they consider to be particularly interesting, they are encouraged to look even at activities like getting from one location to another, traveling the route they take to school. The activity doesn’t matter so much as
  that the students have an opportunity to examine a procedure, looking closely at its parts and explaining how to do the activity to another person.

• The fourth writing assignment, found in Lesson Eighteen, requires students to write to persuade. Because they should have a firm grasp of the novel at this point in the unit, students are asked to write persuasively about it. The assignment requires the students to exercise judgment, to set criteria for what is good and what is bad in their opinion, and then to argue that Out of the Dust is either a good or a bad book.

Two lessons are also devoted to Leveled Critical Thinking Questions and Quotations:

• Interpretive Questions require students to simply interpret facts that are given.
• Critical Questions require students to think deeply to develop answers that go beyond what is in the text.
• Personal Response Questions have no right or wrong answer; students formulate and give their own opinions.

A Nonfiction Reading Assignment is incorporated into this novel study unit for Out of the Dust. Students are required to read at least one nonfiction article and view at least one nonfiction video related to the story and complete a short report form analyzing their sources.

A Variety of Additional Activities are woven into this Out of the Dust novel study:

• Mini-Lesson - Poetic Format
• Class Project - Modern Farming
• Class Activity - Role Play
• Oral Reading Evaluation
• Writing Conferences
• Oral Reports

A class period is devoted to Vocabulary Review. Review puzzles, games, and worksheets are provided.

One class period is devoted to Whole-Unit Review in preparation for the unit test. Review puzzles, games, and worksheets are provided.

Five Different Unit Tests are provided on different levels and to use for make-up tests or tests for different classes if you're teaching the book to more than one class at a time. Two are multiple-choice, two are short-answer, and one is advanced short-answer. You can mix-and-match test sections as well.

Evaluation Rubrics are included for some activities.

A page of Bulletin Board Ideas is included.

A page of ideas for Extension Activities is included.

Answer Keys are provided for the short-answer comprehension questions, multiple choice quizzes, vocabulary worksheets, tests, and review materials.

FLEXIBILITY is a key property of this novel study unit for Out of the Dust.

• It is formatted so that you can skip an activity I have planned and plug-in one of your own favorites if you want to.
• You can use all or just parts of this LitPlan.
• Written for whole-class use, but easily adaptable for:
• independent study
• small groups or lit circles
• Homeschooling
• tutoring

A teacher-favorite for years, hundreds of thousands of LitPlans (and Puzzle Packs!) have been used by tens of thousands of teachers in the USA, Canada, and overseas schools, providing reliable, high-quality, standards-based resources for teaching literature. If you want a solid foundation for teaching a work of literature, LitPlans have proved themselves worthy over years of use worldwide.

What Users Have Said About The Out of the Dust LitPlan Novel Study Guide:

Michelle H., January 3, 2022 - This was very helpful in teaching the unit.

Additional Products available for Out of the Dust:

• Puzzle Pack
• Google Forms Chapter Quizzes
• Interactive PDF Unit Test
• Theme Pack

Copyright Information

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