Out of My Mind – Novel Study Unit (200+ Pages)

About this resource

What's inside this resource

This "Out of My Mind" Novel Study Unit is packed with over 200 pages of engaging resources for students.

Included:

- Chapter comprehension worksheets
- Mystery match vocabulary words
- Exit quizzes
- Group work
- Summative assessment
& so much more.

All you have to do is print and go!

Answer keys included.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Identify and explain figurative language devices — similes, metaphors, idioms, hyperbole, personification, and onomatopoeia — as they appear in the novel.
Use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar "mystery vocabulary" words from each chapter.
Summarize a chapter by identifying its setting, main characters, character motivations, feelings, conflict, and resolution.
Determine the main idea and theme of chapters and support analysis with evidence from the text.
Demonstrate comprehension of plot, point of view, and vocabulary through chapter exit quizzes and a summative final test.

Teaching tips

Use the Student English Reference Page as a pre-unit handout so students have the literary-term definitions available before starting chapter 1.
Play instrumental background music during independent work time, as the unit's own teacher notes suggest, to help set a reflective mood matching the novel's content.
Assign the Summary Support Page before the Student Summary Template Page so students gather bullet-point evidence first, then organize it into the six-part summary structure.
Space the six 10-point vocabulary quizzes one every five lessons, as designed, rather than saving all vocabulary review for the end of the unit.

Skills covered

Figurative language analysis — students identify similes, metaphors, personification, and other devices used throughout the novel.
Context-clue vocabulary building — students work out 65 "mystery" vocabulary words across the unit using surrounding sentence clues.
Chapter summarization — students extract setting, characters, motivations, and conflict/resolution to write a structured paragraph summary.
Reading comprehension assessment — students complete exit quizzes and a 30-question summative test covering plot, inference, and theme.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

Why does the unit ask students to write about what Ben would say when summarizing a movie, before ever assigning a real chapter summary?

The unit uses the Ben-and-the-movie scenario as an analogy to teach what a summary is and is not — a quick run-down of key events rather than every small detail — before students apply that same six-part structure (setting, characters, motivations, feelings, conflict, resolution) to an actual chapter of the novel.

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Curriculum

Standards, concepts & topics

Standards

CCSS.L.5.5 — Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. a. Interpret figurative language, including similes and metaphors, in context. b. Recognize and explain the meaning of common idioms, adages, and proverbs. c. Use the relationship between particular words (e.g., synonyms, antonyms, homographs) to better understand each of the words.
CCSS.L.5.4 — Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 5 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. a. Use context (e.g., cause/effect relationships and comparisons in text) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. b. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek and Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., photograph, photosynthesis). c. Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation and determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.
CCSS.W.5.9 — Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. a. Apply grade 5 Reading standards to literature (e.g., “Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or a drama, drawing on specific details in the text [e.g., how characters interact]”). b. Apply grade 5 Reading standards to informational texts (e.g., “Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying which reasons and evidence support which point[s]”).