Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff/CCSS Aligned Novel Study

This is a close reading guide to the book Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff. Your class will fall in love with this sweet and charming book as they read about Albie and his journey through fifth grade. Albie faces the same issue many of our students face - a lack of self confidence. When Calista, Albie's new babysitter, comes into his life, Albie suddenly develops many of the skills necessary to navigating the new world he is about to face.

As close reading is such an important part of the Common Core, students need to be taught to be analytic as they read texts. This unit includes close reading sections, chapter-by-chapter vocabulary, a chapter-by-chapter summary, and discussion questions (for each chapter), as well as "essential questions" that can serve as long-term class discussion starters. Writing projects and character studies are also included. I have used this unit with gifted grade two all the way through grade 6. I have used this unit in special education as well as regular education classrooms, and it has been successful across the board. It includes everything you need! (RL.2-RL.6 covered in this novel study)

** During this time when we are out of school and engaging with our students online and in a distance learning capacity, you may distribute my products to you students using the internet (but not in a way so that they are available to EVERYONE on the internet) Ex: Google Classroom is fine!**

Included:

* helpful tips to turn your readers into analytic close readers

* questions to ask as you read with your students

* a brief summary

* a list of characters and their descriptions

* a chapter-by-chapter list of defined vocabulary

* extensive chapter summaries

* chapter-by-chapter vocabulary for students to define

* chapter-by-chapter reading comprehension questions

* chapter-by-chapter close reading text analysis

* visualization activities

* extended writing activities

* a pre-reading writing activity