A Guide for Using
The Great
Gilly Hopkins
in the Classroom
Based on the novel written by Katherine Paterson
This guide written by Colleen Dabney M. Ed.
Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
6421 Industry Way
Westminster, CA 92683
www.teachercreated.com
ISBN: 978-1-57690-343-8
©1999 Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
Reprinted, 2010
Made in U.S.A.
Edited by
Sara R. Rosenfeld
Illustrated by
Anna Castanares
Cover Art by
Dennis Carmichael
The classroom teacher may reproduce copies of materials in this book for classroom use only. The
reproduction of any part for an entire school or school system is strictly prohibited. No part of this
publication may be transmitted, stored, or recorded in any form without written permission from the
publisher.
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Sample Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Before the Book (Pre-reading Activities) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Book Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Vocabulary Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Vocabulary Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Section 1 (Chapters 1–3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
• Quiz Time
• Hands-On Project—A Taste for TV: Graph It!
• Cooperative Learning Activity—Goodie Goodie Gumballs!
• Curriculum Connection—Reading Response Journals
• Into Your Life—A Sense of Description
Section 2 (Chapters 4–6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
• Quiz Time
• Hands-On Project—Collage Collaboration
• Cooperative Learning Activity—Chime In for Choral Reading
• Curriculum Connection—Genealogy: Do You Have Roots?
• Into Your Life—Words Can Wound
Section 3 (Chapters 7–9) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
• Quiz Time
• Hands-On Project—Word Perfect: Using a Thesaurus
• Cooperative Learning Activity—Alphabetizing Awesome Authors
• Curriculum Connection—Map Skills: Watch It!
• Into Your Life—Step Right Up
Section 4 (Chapters 10–12) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
• Quiz Time
• Hands-On Project—Calculating in Candy Land
• Cooperative Learning Activity—Let’s Celebrate
• Curriculum Connection—Math: Tab for Turkey Dinner
• Into Your Life—Sweet Dreams
Section 5 (Chapters 13–15) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
• Quiz Time
• Hands-On Project—Oodles of Ornaments
• Cooperative Learning Activity—Bloom Where You’re Planted
• Curriculum Connection—History: News You Can Use
• Into Your Life—Making Envelopes
After the Book (Post-reading Activities)
Any Questions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Book Report Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Let’s Learn More . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Culminating Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Unit Test Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Bibliography of Related Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Answer Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
#2343 Literature Unit
2
© Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
Section 1: Chapters 1–3
The Great Gilly Hopkins
Quiz Time
Answer the following questions about Chapters 1, 2, and 3, using complete sentences.
1. Who is Miss Ellis?________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
2. What mischievous act did Gilly do with her gum? _______________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
3. What was Gilly’s first impression of her new foster home? ________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
4. How old is Gilly? How old is William Ernest? _________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
5. What keepsake did Gilly unpack and put in her bureau drawer along with her clothes?
_______________________________________________________________________________
6. What lesson did Maime Trotter want Gilly to strictly follow? ______________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
7. Why did Gilly think that Mr. Randolph wasn’t home even though she stood before him at his
house? _________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
8. How did Mr. Randolph treat Gilly?___________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
9. What did Gilly promise herself for the “millionth time”? _________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
10. What did Gilly think would drive Mrs. Trotter wild? _____________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
11. Why did Gilly think that Trotter was showing favoritism?_________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
12. What surprised Gilly about her new classmates? ________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
13. What did Gilly do that landed her in the principal’s office? ________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________
#2343 Literature Unit
10
© Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
Section 1: Chapters 1–3
The Great Gilly Hopkins
A Taste for TV: Graph It!
When Gilly got settled in her new home, she could hear the theme song from Sesame Street blaring
from the television. Gilly decisively vowed to improve little William Ernest’s taste in TV. Find out
your classmates’ TV viewing habits by doing the following activity.
1. Pretend your principal has asked you to give him or her a report about how much TV kids are
watching and what kinds of shows. He or she thinks kids are watching too much TV. Do you
agree? Gather data to confirm or disprove his or her hypothesis. You will need a pencil, ruler,
colored pencils, and the completed tally sheet below.
2. Survey your class and others in the school by asking them to select the three categories of TV that
they watch most frequently. Next, ask them how much time they spend in one week watching TV.
Use tally marks on the charts.
3. Make two bar graphs of the results on the back of this page. Title graph one “Our TV Choices”
and graph two “Time Spent Watching TV.” Label the left scale “STUDENTS” on both graphs
and use increments of two students for each line. On graph one, write in the TV choices along
the bottom scale. On graph two, write in the TV watching times along the bottom. Keep your
words neat and evenly spaced.
4. Use your ruler to make vertical bars of the results from the tally sheet. Next, color each bar a
different color.
5. Discuss your findings as a class.
Tally Chart
1. Cartoons_____
2. Educational TV_____
TV Shows
7. Shopping
Network_____
3. Hobby Shows_____
8. Situation
Comedies_____
4. Music Videos_____
9. Soap Operas_____
5. Movies_____
10. Sports_____
6. News_____
11. Talk Shows_____
0–1 hours
11/2–3 hours
TV Time
31/2–5 hours
over 5 hours
© Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
11
#2343 Literature Unit
Section 1: Chapters 1–3
The Great Gilly Hopkins
Goodie Goodie Gumballs!
Gilly loved chewing gum. She had it in her mouth, hair, and even at the end of her nose! When the
social worker turned the other way, Gilly stuck gum under the handle of the car door. This reveals a
little about Gilly’s character. Look at the gumball machine below. A character quality is listed on each
gumball. After reading Section 1, work in cooperative groups of three to five to discuss which
character qualities match with Gilly. Use colored pencils or markers to color in the matching circles.
Some circles are left blank for you to add your own character qualities. On the back of your paper, list
evidence from the story to support your answers.
2.
1.
Enthusiastic
Tolerant
3.
Helpful
4.
Considerate
5.
6.
Aggressive
9.
Generous
Kind
#2343 Literature Unit
Friendly
Confident
10.
Fair
11.
12.
Honest
14.
8.
7.
Angry
15.
Creative
Responsible
13.
Adaptable
16.
Courageous
12
© Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
Section 1: Chapters 1–3
The Great Gilly Hopkins
Reading Response Journals
One great way to ensure that the reading of The Great Gilly Hopkins becomes a personal experience for
each student is to include the use of reading response journals in your plans. In these journals, students
are encouraged to respond to the story in a number of ways. Here are a few ideas:
• Ask students to bring in inexpensive, one-subject notebooks for their journals. Tell students that
the purpose of the journals is to record their thoughts, ideas, observations, and questions as they
read.
• You may want to provide writing prompts for the chapters. Three ideas for section one follow:
1. If you had to live with someone other than your family, who would you choose and why?
2. Describe someone unique who has been a dinner guest in your home.
3. Write about one of your favorite poems or poets.
• Students can draw their responses to certain events or characters in the story.
• After reading each chapter, students can write what they learned by summarizing the important
events in the story.
• The journal could be used as a diary for personal reflections on the story or as a personal
dictionary for words unfamiliar to them which they found in the text.
• Students can use their journals for mapping concepts such as characterization, main ideas, or
theme.
• Allow students to write in their journals daily. Personal reflections will be read by the teacher, but
no corrections will be made or letter grades assigned. Credit will be given for effort. If a grade is
desired, grade according to the number of journal entries completed. For example, if five entries
are assigned and the student responsibly completes all five, then he or she receives an “A”; or ask
students to select one entry to revise and edit according to the writing process. Score the final
revision.
• Nonjudgmental teacher notations should be made as you read the journals to let students know
you are reading and enjoying their journals. Here are some types of responses that will please
your students and encourage them to write more.
—“You have good insight into this passage.”
—“Your writing is so clear I feel as if I am there.”
—“You seem to be learning a lot from this book and showing the ability to apply it to
your life.”
© Teacher Created Resources, Inc.
13
#2343 Literature Unit