The Hobbit Bundle: Quizzes, Close Readings, Vocab Games, Projects, Test (Google)

Evaluate reading comprehension, promote vocabulary development, reinforce close reading practices, and eliminate assessment planning responsibilities with this comprehensive bundle for teaching J.R.R. Tolkien's novel The Hobbit. Included are the following: an introductory Google Slides presentation, a guided reading handout, plot-based quizzes, vocabulary application activities, close reading analysis worksheets for every chapter, crossword puzzles, word search games, creative project options (with standards-based rubrics), a summative unit test, and answer keys. Materials are made for Google Drive, offering self-grading functionality and automated student feedback. (Alternatively, a printable bundle option is available.) More detailed information follows.

Character Introductions Google Slideshow. This visual aid introduces students to the key characters in The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien, offering them context on character traits, relationships, conflicts, and development over the course of the novel.

Comprehensive Guided Reading Handout: Key quotations and text-dependent questions are featured to foster purposeful reading experiences.

Vocabulary Games and Activities: Frontload assigned readings with vocabulary games and activities to facilitate comprehension of the novel. Alternatively, stash these materials in an emergency sub folder to keep students meaningfully engaged in the book during unexpected teacher absences. By engaging with these materials, students will:

• Determine the meaning of unfamiliar and complex words
• Consult reference materials in order to learn and verify word meanings
• Discern the most proper application of words as they are used in sentences

Plot-Based Quizzes: Evaluate general reading comprehension and hold students accountable for completing assigned readings. Alternatively, the quizzes may serve as guided reading handouts to facilitate purposeful engagement with literature. By engaging with these materials, students will:

• Demonstrate generalized knowledge of characters
• Demonstrate generalized knowledge of settings
• Demonstrate generalized knowledge of conflicts

Close Reading Analysis Worksheets: Go beyond general reading comprehension and support the development of close reading analysis skills with this set of rigorous activities (one for each chapter). By engaging with these materials, students will:

• Identify what the text states explicitly and implicitly
• Discern the intended effects of the author's diction and narrative techniques
• Describe the tone of a given passage
• Explore how complex characters think, behave, interact, and develop
• Apply knowledge of literary devices with emphasis on alliteration, callback, metaphor, hyperbole, simile, symbolism, foreshadowing, onomatopoeia, symbolism, situational irony, dramatic irony, and more
• Support claims and inferences with sound reasoning and relevant evidence
• Write about literature with clarity, accuracy, and precision
• Come to class better prepared to discuss works of fiction

Summative Test: In addition to applying knowledge of characters, settings, and conflicts, students will draft a thematic essay on what the author suggests are the hallmarks of a fulfilling life.

Creative Project Options with Rubrics: These resources may serve as alternatives to the traditional paper-and-pencil test, or as a supplement to the unit.

Resources are available for a variety of other engaging novels:

• 1984 by George Orwell - Google and printable
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - Google and printable
• Frankenstein by Mary Shelley - Google and printable
• Feed by M.T. Anderson - Google and printable
• Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer - Google and printable
• The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells - Google and printable