LitWits Printables for
by Scott O'Dell
This set is for use with our free creative teaching ideas.
Make this book a fun, hands-on experience for kids—so they want to read more! Our immersive activities help you bring the story to life in meaningful ways.
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You might prefer our LitWits Kit of prepped supplies, which includes this printables set. If not . . .
Change their minds—and lives—in just one day.
Our printables and creative teaching ideas get kids INTO this story in fun, hands-on ways! They have a blast doing what the characters did, and learning what the characters learned. They also learn that great books are fascinating—and they want to read more.
Use our printables set and creative ideas to engage, educate, and inspire! Perfect for:
homeschool educators
classroom teachers
book club leaders
teacher librarians
anyone who wants to inspire kids to love great books!
ACTIVITY PRINTABLES
For details and directions, see our free Creative Teaching Ideas for Island of the Blue Dolphins.
Printable: island template, map key, location signs
Printable: basket template
Printable: constellation model
Printable: specimen label
Printable: travel sticker (print on label paper)
Narrative arc, author, theme, vocabulary/geography, setting, similes and metaphors, descriptive writing
5 ACTIVITY PRINTABLES
(pictured above)
"Feature the island" - create a model of the island and label story locations, to learn geographical features and practice interpretation skills; can be done with vocabulary (geography) worksheet
"Weave a coastal carryall" - quickly create a rustic container from found materials, as a hands-on symbolization of the story's main conflict
"Envision Karana's black voyage" - art project featuring the stillness and darkness of the story's major turning point, to aid understanding of the plot and character arcs
"BookBites: Catch a snack and follow leads" - packaging label for book-related snack (can be served as students work on writing or theme worksheets)
"Show off your story travels" - travel sticker (to be printed on label paper) to celebrate your "field trip" through this book
For activity descriptions, supplies, and directions, see our page of Creative Teaching Ideas for Island of the Blue Dolphins.
7 INTERACTIVE WORKSHEETS
"Meet Scott O'Dell" (StoryMakers) - author note-taking to support viewing this bio video to aid in comprehension of context
"See how this story fits the narrative arc" (StoryLines) - overview of the narrative arc concept and this story's plot points, with questions to aid literary analysis, interpretation, and writing skills
"Get your bearings" (WhereAbouts) - find the setting in relation to other locations using compass directions; do some story-based math to calculate chronology and duration
"Feature the island" (Brave New Words) - match images to geographic vocabulary to learn land features from the story; can be done with activity of the same name
"Discover a secret message" (ThemeSeekers) - follow leading questions to discover the theme of leadership, to increase awareness and interpretation of thematic messages
"Compare Comparisons" (Write Angles) - understand, through writing analysis, why some metaphors work and some don't, for comprehension and practice of language arts
"Describe a mysterious creature" (Write Angles) - write a description of a creature as if seeing it for the first time, without using its known name; emulates the author and enhances interpretive and writing skills
For worksheet activity descriptions and directions, see our page of Creative Teaching Ideas for Island of the Blue Dolphins.
TEACHER SUPPORT
Answer keys - answers for worksheets as needed
Common Core State Standards - alignment for grades 3-6
Terms of use - how to ethically and legally use our teaching materials
ADDITIONAL SUPPORT
For activity descriptions, supplies, and directions, see our page of Creative Teaching Ideas for Island of the Blue Dolphins.
Please reach out to us anytime for any reason—we're happy to help! —Becky & Jenny
Instant access + money-back guarantee
These printables are for use with our free creative teaching ideas for this book.
On that web page, you'll also find loads of lesson-planning aids: curated learning links, prop ideas, discussion topics, and more.
Use the ideas and resources on that page to build your lesson plan, or just do whatever appeals to you and your kids. There's a lot there—don't feel you need to do it all!
Then read the book, do the prep, and get ready to have a great time!
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Aw, you’re just the right age, whatever that might be! Just kidding—we know what you mean. We find that 8-12-year-olds are consistently “ready to LitWit.” Generally speaking, their reading level is high enough to take on the vocabulary and syntax of literature, and they’ve acquired enough knowledge to grasp new ideas. Yet they’re still full of wonder, and are highly responsive to the “check this out!” nature of sensory immersion.
However, we often have mature kids of 6-7 in our experiential workshops, and sometimes fun-loving kids of 13-14. As a teacher or parent, you know best what your kids are ready for and interested in.
They're on our page of Creative Teaching Resources (linked above), along with Takeaway Topics, Learning Links, Prop Ideas, and other fun stuff to do!
We keep all that virtual so that we can include helpful links, update them regularly, and let you use our materials on a screen. We’re trying to save time (yours and ours) and trees too.
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Sure you can, for your noncommercial use in your family or classroom. As long as you’re not calling your fun time a “LitWits” event or charging a fee, you can use our ideas and printables to do lots of wonderful things!
Just please don’t forward your printables or make copies for people who haven’t paid for them, of course, out of courtesy and to honor our copyright and per our Terms of Service.
You're off to teach the best of this great book in fun, hands-on ways!
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Becky and Jenny