Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for Because of Winn-Dixie

Use Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo to turn your read aloud or small group work into a time to improve comprehension and talk about the text in purposeful ways.

Treat your students to this modern classic about a ten-year-old girl, her big-hearted dog, and a town full of people looking for friendship. DiCamillo's sophisticated characters and heart-warming story set the perfect stage for deep conversations about the ways in which authors develop characters.

Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with Because of Winn-Dixie in the drop down below.

Instructional Overview

The first page of Book Club for Because of Winn-Dixie Instructional Overview

Instructional Overview

The instructional overview includes instructional background for character development, instructional objectives for each of the Book Club meetings, and a list of the materials and preparation necessary to Because of Winn-Dixie Book Club.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Management Resources

The first page of Book Club for Because of Winn-Dixie 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.

Meeting 1

Students will use a Character Map to keep track of the richly developed characters in Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo.

Meeting 2

Dive deeper into direct and indirect characterization using Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. Students will continue to build their Character Maps with evidence from the text.

Meeting 3

This Because of Winn-Dixie Book Club meeting focuses on identifying how the author develops a character using dialogue. By focusing on how a character speaks or thinks, the reader can make inferences about the character's personality.

Meeting 4

Another way that Kate DiCamillo develops the characters in Because of Winn-Dixie is through relationships between characters. When students examine how a character interacts with other characters, they can more fully identify the character's traits.

Meeting 5

Using their Character Maps as evidence from the text, students will discuss how characters have changed throughout Because of Winn-Dixie. Examining how characters change allows the reader to more fully understand the story's characters.

Meeting 6

Author Kate DiCamillo has created characters in Because of Winn-Dixie that are easy to connect to. In this final Book Club meeting, students will practice making text-to-self connections with characters from the story and look at how these connections increase their enjoyment of the text.

Vocabulary Connections with Because of Winn-Dixie

The first page of Vocabulary Connections with Because of Winn-Dixie

Vocabulary Connections with Because of Winn-Dixie

This set of vocabulary development resources for Because of Winn-Dixie 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
TEKS Alignment

Focus Assessment and Rubric

The first page of Book Club for Because of Winn-Dixie 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 a character traits.

Running Record with Because of Winn-Dixie

Thumbnail for Running Record with Because of Winn-Dixie

Running Record with Because of Winn-Dixie

Use this "done for you" Running Record to assess oral reading fluency of Because of Winn-Dixie. Track meaning, structure, and visual accuracy using the first 100 words of the text to determine whether or not this book is a good fit for the readers in your classroom.

Management Resources - Spanish

The first page of Book Club for Because of Winn-Dixie 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.

Get Full Access to the Entire Library of Resources when You Join Today!

Unlock the potential of the books in your school and classroom libraries with lesson plans, activities, and resources expertly designed to help you meet your instructional goals
  • Teach with the best children's books
  • Always have access to new resources
  • Get access to Digial Classroom - perfect for centers
  • Finally have time to "fit it all in" with super efficient lesson plans
  • Enjoy fast planning tools and stay super organized with a personal file cabinet and dashboard
30 Day Risk-Free Guarantee, Cancel Anytime

About the Book

The cover for the book Because of Winn-Dixie
Title: Because of Winn-Dixie
Author: Kate DiCamillo
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Themes: Award Winners, Bullying, Family, Friendship, Laugh Out Loud
ISBN: 9780763649456
Publisher's Summary:
One summer’s day, ten-year-old India Opal Buloni goes down to the local supermarket for some groceries – and comes home with a dog. But Winn-Dixie is no ordinary dog. It’s because of Winn-Dixie that Opal begins to make friends. And it’s because of Winn-Dixie that she finally dares to ask her father about her mother, who left when Opal was three. In fact, as Opal admits, just about everything that happens that summer is because of Winn-Dixie. Featuring a new cover illustration by E. B. Lewis.
Content and Downloadable content Copyright ©2010-2024 Thinking Tree Enterprises, LLC. All other trademarks, service marks and trade names referenced on this site are the property of their respective owners. Please see our Terms of Use.

We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
©BookPagez.com 2010 - 2023

Resource Downloading disabled

Your ability to download resources is currently disabled. Please contact us at support@bookpagez.com

Oops!  It looks Like You're Getting Carried Away. 

When you joined BookPagez, you agreed to follow our Terms of Use. Based on your download activty, it looks like you've gotten carried away.

You are allowed to download resources to use in your classroom for the duration of your subscription. You are not allowed to bulk download resources. In other words, it's against the rules to download all (or most) of the resources. That's stealing, and it's not nice.

Please check your email for a message from us. Reply to the email and let us know what's going on so we can reactivate your account.
In order to continue, please indicate that you agree with the terms above

Get instant access to this resource plus thousands more when you join today.

  • Teach with the best books
  • Always have access to new resources (published every month!)
  • Get full access to Digital Classroom
  • Finally have time to "fit it all in" with super efficient lesson plans
  • Enjoy fast planning tools and stay organized with your personal file cabinet and dashboard
Save 50% for a Limited Time