Novel Study: The Littles by John Peterson

This novel study introduces readers to the series The Littles by John Peterson. Read the first book in the series together and work on a variety of reading strategies and skills in the process. By recording start and end time, and finding the elapsed time, a few math standards are worked on as well.

This novel study has been a highlight of the year for our students and ignites an interest in many students to continue reading additional books from the series which has a wide range of book levels. Many others continue on to read stories with similar themes such as The Borrowers.

ELA Standards
- Ask and answer questions referring to the text for support and evidence
- Retell the story, summarize
- Identify themes referring to the text for support and evidence
- Refer to parts of the story as chapters
- Read and comprehend the story
- Use context clues to confirm or self correct word recognition

Math Standards
- Record time on an analog clock
- Calculate elapsed time

Reading Strategies and Skills
- Read and comprehend, accuracy and fluency
- Unknown words: determine meaning
- Dictionary skills
- Characterization
- Character comparisons
- Theme
- Summarize
- Main ideas and details
- Events, sequence of events
- Making inferences
- Venn diagram
- Making predictions
- Character actions affecting the sequence of events

The Novel Study is laid out to be copied front to back and includes everything needed to get started. You just need the book, one copy if it is a read aloud, multiple copies for a literature circle or guided reading, or a class set for each student to read or follow along if that is your preference.