READING WITH ROALD DAHL Table of Contents For the Teacher: Introduction........................................................ 2 Knowledge and Skills Learned......................................... 2 Suggestions for Using the Unit.......................................... 3 Suggestions for Evaluation............................................ 4 Peer Evaluation Sheet................................................ 7 Self Evaluation Sheet................................................ 8 Student Tracking Sheets.............................................. 9 Venn Diagram..................................................... 10 Three Short Novels: George s Marvelous Medicine........................................ 12 The Twits......................................................... 17 Esio Trot......................................................... 22 Four Full Length Novels: The Witches....................................................... 27 Matilda.......................................................... 34 The BFG......................................................... 41 Danny, Champion of the World....................................... 47 Activity Cards Word Study....................................................... 53 Language and Punctuation........................................... 57 Creative Writing................................................... 61 Elements of a Novel................................................ 65 Integrated Activities............................................... 69 Answer Key George s Marvelous Medicine........................................ 73 The Twits......................................................... 74 Esio Trot......................................................... 75 The Witches....................................................... 77 Matilda.......................................................... 79 The BFG......................................................... 81 Danny, Champion of the World....................................... 83 Activity Cards..................................................... 84
Understanding What You Have Read Answer the following questions in complete sentences. Read the questions carefully and make sure you have given all the information required in your answer. 1. How do we know that Matilda was much smarter than most children? 2. What kind of a man is Mr. Wormwood? How do you know? 3. What did Matilda do to punish her father for being mean to her? 4. What part did the parrot play in tricking Matilda s parents? 5. Mr. Wormwood called Matilda a cheat and a liar when she calculated the cost of the cars in her head. What punishment did she devise for him? 6. Miss Honey was surprised by Matilda s ability. Why? 7. Explain why Miss Trunchbull refused to move Matilda to the top class. 8. Miss Honey didn t want Matilda to be bored in her class. How was she going to solve this problem? 9. What happened when Miss Honey visited Matilda s parents? 10. Why was Hortensia put in the chokey? 11. What happened to Amanda Thripp? Why? 12. Why was Bruce Bogtrotter punished? How was he punished? 13. Describe the trick that Lavender played on Miss Trunchbull. 14. What happened when Miss Trunchbull poured water into her glass? 35
Thinking About What You Have Read Answer these questions in complete sentences. These questions ask you for your opinion, therefore there is no right or wrong answer. However, make sure that you explain and justify your opinions clearly. 1. How did Sophie feel when she was snatched by the BFG? When did her feelings change? How did her feelings change? How do you think you would have reacted if this had happened to you? 2. There are many myths, folk stories and fairy tales about giants. How are giants usually shown in these stories? Is the BFG like these giants? Why or why not? Make a list of five other stories that have giants in them. 3. The BFG said, Human beans is the only animals that is killing their own kind. This made Sophie wonder if humans were any better than the nine giants. What do you think? Was the BFG right? 44
Activities for The Twits Vocabulary and Language 1. Review the rules for capitalization and punctuation. Rewrite these sentences correctly. a) mr and mrs twit were very nasty people b) they played mean tricks on each other every Saturday and Sunday c) I ll teach him a lesson said mrs twit d) muggle-wump and his family lived in a cage in the garden e) mr twit asked where have all the birds gone f) the roly-poly bird said he would take the monkeys back to africa g) the glue was spread all over the ceiling then the carpet was put in place h) the twits were very confused when they came home so they stood on their heads until they disappeared Creative Writing 1. Muggle-Wump and his family were very happy when they returned to Africa. Pretend you are one of the monkeys telling your friends what happened to you at the Twits, how you escaped and what you did to punish the Twits. 2. Create a poem about one of the events in this novel. You can use any format for your poem: acrostic, limerick, narrative or a format of your choice. You may illustrate your poem if you wish. Elements of the Novel The genre of this story is fantasy. What is a fantasy? Could anything in this story really have happened? Create a chart showing things that could have happened and things that could not have happened. 2000 Teacher TimeSavers 20
Integrated Activities # 1 Research Use the available resources to research the life and work of Roald Dahl. Make notes as you find interesting and pertinent facts. Use these notes to write a biography of Roald Dahl. Include a list of books written by this popular author. Integrated Activities # 2 Portrait Gallery Choose three or four characters from your novel. Using the descriptions given in the novel, create a portrait of each character. Use a separate sheet of plain paper for each portrait. Ask student who have read the same novel if they can identify your characters. Label the portraits. 69