I SURVIVED The Great Alaska Earthquake, 1964 Book Study Unit

Answer text-dependent questions by locating evidence on a named page of the novel rather than from memory

Recover a vocabulary word from its definition and first letter using context clues, then place the same word correctly in an unfamiliar sentence

Identify figurative language in the text, including the simile "Across Alaska, the ground shattered like glass", the onomatopoeia "crack!" and an animal comparison used for Jackson's balance

Build a chapter summary in stages: collect six to eight page-referenced details, sort them under setting, main characters, motivations, feeling facts, problem and outcome, then write the paragraph and a one-sentence main idea

Find factual answers in the book's non-fiction back matter by following its subheadings rather than reading in page order

Run the warm-up set before chapter 1; it uses a supplied excerpt from another story, so students meet the homophone, map-skills and mystery-word question types without spending novel content on practice

The teacher instructions are explicit that comprehension worksheet items never appear on the exit quizzes but do appear on the final test, and the review page confirms all final-test items come from those worksheets — worth telling students before they file each sheet away

Give each student a folder from day one, as the unit instructions ask; the vocabulary checkpoints send students back to the four comprehension packets they have already completed to revise the Mystery Match words

The context-clue sentence cards are designed as a group routine before each vocabulary test, so plan a lesson slot for them rather than treating them as an extra worksheet

The word art template and its rubric are optional and the unit itself suggests two or four words per chapter rather than all twelve, which keeps the drawing from crowding out the reading

Text-evidence comprehension — items name the page in the novel and ask for a specific detail from it, such as the two things the family's four-wall log cabin lacked on page 8.

Context-clue vocabulary — Mystery Match items give the definition and the first letter ("a long high sea wave caused by an earthquake or underwater landslide (pg. 1) → t _ _ _ _ _ _"), and the checkpoint tests then reuse those words in new sentences.

Identifying figurative language — students name similes, metaphors, onomatopoeia and comparisons in the chapters, working from a reference page that defines all eight devices with examples.

Staged summary writing — students gather page-referenced details, sort them into six summary parts, write a paragraph and finish with a one-sentence main idea, scored on how many of the six parts appear.

Non-fiction research and navigation — the scavenger hunt sends students through the book's back matter by subheading for facts such as the 9.2 magnitude, the Ring of Fire and the Space Needle, and two prompts extend into a researched paper and poster.