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Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for A Long Way from Chicago

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Use A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck to turn your read aloud or small group work into a time to improve comprehension and talk about the text in purposeful ways.

A Long Way from Chicago is a series of short stories about the summers two children spend with their grandmother in rural Illinois. Full of hilarious and sometimes shocking stories, this award-winning novel is an ideal anchor text for Book Club discussions focused on character perspective and the ways in which the characters' perspectives grow and change with each passing summer. By following the minilessons included in this book club resource set, you'll provide students with the opportunity to track changes in perspective over time, determine pivotal moments that change perspective, and make inferences to identify a character's perspective.
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Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with A Long Way from Chicago in the drop down below.

Instructional Overview

Instructional Overview

The instructional overview includes background information on perspective, instructional objectives for each Book Club meeting, and a list of the materials and preparations needed for the A Long Way from Chicago Book Club
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment
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Management Resources

The first page of Book Club for A Long Way from Chicago Management Resources

Management Resources

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.
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Meeting 1

The Book Club for A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck focuses on tracking changes in a character's perspective across a longer text. This first meeting introduces the concept of perspective to the readers.
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Meeting 2

During the second book club meeting for A Long Way from Chicago, students will work to notice examples of the main character's changing perspective of his grandmother.
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Meeting 3

Author Richard Peck uses pivotal events in A Long Way from Chicago to change the perspective of the main character. During the third Book Club meeting, students will use a graphic organizer to track their thinking about Joey's perspective of his grandmother.
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Meeting 4

The fourth Book Club meeting focuses on the ways in which historical perspective affects the characters in A Long Way from Chicago. Students will learn in order to really understand Joey's perspective you have to consider his life and the rules he had to live by during the early 20th century.
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Meeting 5

Author Richard Peck changes the main character's perspective by using the influence of other characters. This Book Club meeting focuses on finding examples of this literary device in the text.
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Meeting 6

When readers use their prior knowledge and information from the text, they are able to make inferences that deepen their understanding of what is happening in the story. In the sixth Book Club meeting for A Long Way from Chicago, students will examine the ways in which the characters make inferences and how those inferences affect their perspective.
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Meeting 7

As students progress through Richard Peck's novel, they are exposed to a variety of changing perspectives. This Book Club meeting will invite students to consider how Mary Alice and Joey's perspective of their grandmother has changed as they've gotten older. The included graphic organizer will readers track their observations as they continue to read A Long Way from Chicago.
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The first page of Book Club for A Long Way from Chicago Meeting 8

Meeting 8

This Book Club meeting for A Long Way from Chicagoo will support students as they analyze the relationship between the author's message and the reader's perspective of Joey's grandma. Included in this meeting are prompts to support a discussion about how and why perspectives change throughout the novel.
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Meeting 9

The final Book Club meeting for A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck looks at how and why Joey's perspective of his grandmother changed over the course of the text. Readers are further encouraged to make a text-to-self connection and apply the same thinking to a time when their perspective about something was changed.
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Vocabulary Connections with A Long Way from Chicago

This set of vocabulary development resources for A Long Way from Chicago highlights the words that are most important for students to know and understand while reading the book.  Through engaging in fun word games, matching words to definitions, and practicing how to categorize words, students will develop the vocabulary necessary to comprehend this story and many others.

Common Core State Standards Alignment
L.5.4a,L.5.5,L.5.6
TEKS Alignment
5.7E,5.7F,5.3A,5.3B
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Focus Assessment and Rubric

The first page of Book Club for A Long Way from Chicago Focus Assessment and Rubric

Focus Assessment and Rubric

Use this six-question assessment to determine whether or not students understand the key concepts associated with Perspective.
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Management Resources - Spanish

The first page of Book Club for A Long Way from Chicago Management Resources

Management Resources - Spanish

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.
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About the Book

The cover for the book A Long Way from Chicago
Title: A Long Way from Chicago
Author: Richard Peck
Genre: Historical Fiction
Themes: History, Award Winners, Summer, Adventure, Family
ISBN: 9780141303529
Publisher's Summary:
Every summer during the Great Depression, siblings Joey and Mary Alice leave their Chicago home to visit their unconventional Grandma Dowdel in a small Illinois town. Over the course of nine summers, the children find themselves swept into a series of larger-than-life adventures, guided by their grandmother's bold, unpredictable sense of justice and mischief. Grandma repeatedly surprises both her grandchildren and the townsfolk with her creative, often hilarious solutions to local problems—from outsmarting bullies and standing up to corrupt officials, to helping neighbors in need. Through these memorable visits, Joey and Mary Alice experience firsthand the challenges and resilience of rural America during tough times, while learning lessons about self-reliance, compassion, and the importance of family. Featuring a rich historical backdrop, vivid characters, and a blend of humor and heart, A Long Way from Chicago is a perfect choice for classroom discussions about history, character, and community. Teachers will find this book a valuable tool for exploring themes such as coming-of-age, the power of unconventional role models, and the enduring bonds between generations.
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