Jerry spinelli, the author of this newbery medal winner, is also the author of other childrens classics like wringer, stargirl, and milkweed. Comprehension questions maniac magee author jerry spinelli is a favorite among childrens authors, and for a good reason. Students explore the book in small groups and brainstorm for answers. Nonfiction student worksheets my non fiction student worksheet template is best used with non fiction books, autobiographies, biographies, articles and fact based texts. Included here is a variety of questions about the text. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. Maniac magee was born in a dump, his heart is a cereal box, he has an eightinch pet cockroach on a leash. Maniac magee is a novel written by american author jerry spinelli and published in 1990. Chapters 15 please read the following questions and circle the correct answer. Maniac magee task cards maniac magee activities, school. A newbery medal winning modern classic about a racially divided small town and a boy who runs. For example, read aloud the following passage from maniac magee.
He came into this world named jeffrey lionel magee, but when his parents died and his life changed, so did his name. Maniac is fascinated with amandas book and keeps it to reread. Jeffrey lionel maniac magee is an orphan searching for a loving home when he finds himself in a small, segregated town in pennsylvania. In this informational text, learners will study the childrens crusade that maniac read all about in the book he borrowed from amanda beale. Remember, any student may borrow a book to take home to read if they are behind in their. The protagonist in most novels features the main character or good guy. Jeffrey lionel maniac magee might have lived a normal life if a freak accident hadnt made him an orphan. Planet book club offers a lesson plan for the novel maniac magee by jerry spinelli. Found poem lesson plan is suitable for 4th 6th grade. Sports fiction fiction juvenile works folklore dust jackets bindings authors presentation inscription provenance juvenile fiction.
Encourage students to identify passages that confuse or trouble. Maniac magee fanfiction archive with over 7 stories. After living with his unhappy and uptight aunt and uncle for eight years, he decides to run. The book starts by relating the legends which built up about maniac magee and its fun to go back to those first two pages when youve finished reading to see how far from the truth the legend has grown. Maniac magee is a childrens book written by jerry spinelli. This onepage guide includes a plot summary and brief analysis of maniac magee by jerry spinelli. An instructional guide for literature supports instruction of the newbery medalwinning novel by jerry spinelli. His novels explore common problems students face using engaging. These skills improve your childs reading comprehension and prepare them for research papers later on. Maniac magee, lived with his parents until he was 3 years old. Maniac tries to find a home, soothes tensions between rival factions on the tough side of town, and becomes a true hero. The characters are compelling, realistic, and will challenge whatever tendency you may have towards clustering with your own.
Give your students the background and support they need to understand and enjoy literature. Maniac magee by jerry spinelli little brown, 1990 or another novel with a companion. Explain that the book they will read is titled maniac magee. Spinelli has written the novel in third person he said, as opposed to i said, which is called first person, using an objective viewpoint in which the thoughts and feelings of the characters are not. Read maniac magee by jerry spinelli available from rakuten kobo. Nunziatos 6th grade reading class at bailey middle school. These can be used during reading and after reading the bookl. Students first answer textdependent questions about each text separately, and then about both texts combined. As we read maniac magee, you are required to answer questions over the chapters. Supplement your maniac magee lesson plans with a packet of student materials. Retell a paragraph or passage from one of these points of view. Maniac magee book summary maniac magee is about jeffrey lionel magees search for home and the racial prejudice in the town of two mills. Maniac magee jerry spinelli winner of the newbery medal before the story. Jeffrey gets the nickname maniac after performing athletic feats of mythic proportions and appearing fearless in the.
Instruct your readers to scrounge through the pages of maniac magee in search for descriptive passages or words they may use to write poetry. Maniac magee has so much nonfiction to include in the novel study. Maniac magee by jerry spinelli chapters 1 4 before you read the chapters. A unique collection of content area reading passages. Theres even a jump rope rhyme about magee that the kids can jump to and make up other verses for. Maniac magee is a heartwarming book first published 25 years ago. Other titles available in maniac magee thurgood marshall. Maniac magee is the story of jeffery lionel magee, a homeless drifter who finds his way to the racially divided community of two mills, pennsylvania.
Write their ideas on the board, then have a volunteer look up the word in a dictionary. Jeffrey lionel magee is living a normal life until his parents are killed in a tragic trolley accident when hes three. In maniac magee, jerry spinelli writes a young adult novel in which the. Maniac magee contains strong situations of youth living homeless and also other various socioeconomic statuses. Newsela is an instructional content platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject. Summarizing fiction texts these resources will help your child by identifying the relevant information in fiction texts and using that information to summarize the story as a whole. The protagonist of maniac magee is a most unusual character living a very different kind of life than most boys his age. Teacher and student guides, worksheets, answer keys, and more. It deals with racism and its effects on a young man who, though white, finds more warmth and kindness on the black side of town than on his own side. They say he kept an eightinch cockroach on a leash and that rats st. Jeffery lionel magee maniac magee genre of the story. Over 50 pages of reading comprehension and vocabulary materials for maniac magee, by jerry spinelli. Maniac magee jerry spinelli winner of the newbery medal before the story they say maniac magee was born in a dump they say his stomach was a cereal box and his heart a sofa spring. The east end, where all the black families live, and west end, with all the white families.
This paired set, along with a comprehensive learning guide, inspires student inquiry and invites critical thinking with paired fiction and nonfiction texts. Maniac magee book summary maniac magee is about jeffrey lionel magee s search for home and the racial prejudice in the town of two mills. Beneath each passage, there are six multiple choice comprehension questions. Jeffrey magee is twice homelessonce involuntarily, at age three, when his parents plunge with a highspeed trolley off a bridge. After the miles and miles maniac s seenbetterdays sneakers chewed up, the book ends with him heading home to the place hes been looking for this whole time.
Although the book is a bit difficult to get into, the persistent reader will be well rewarded. Written by teachers, and developed in the classroom. How could we not, when maniac magee finally ends with maniac simply content that finally, truly, at long last, someone was calling him home 46. Maniac magee by jerry spinelli paperback book the parent store. After the miles and miles maniacs seenbetterdays sneakers chewed up, the book ends with him heading home to the place hes been looking for this whole time. Parents need to know that jerry spinellis maniac magee is an exciting, moving, and sometimes funny story, brilliantly told, about an orphan boy who runs away from his feuding aunt and uncle at age 8 and makes a name and legend for himself in a racially divided town. Included on the last page of the packet, is a note about. Learners will connect emotionally with this activity as they learn more about kids like them, living without homes. Maniac magee childrens crusade historical nonfiction.
It features a strange boy named jeffrey magee who loses his parents and runs away at age eleven, ending up a year later in two mills, a town in pennsylvania thats divided into two sides. The supreme court rules on separate but equal paired set. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works. Access thousands of highquality, free k12 articles, and create online assignments with them for your students.
Jeffrey lionel magee, also known as maniac magee, is an orphan and a runaway. Maniac magee homeless youths nonfiction teaching resources. After youve read the entire book, reread this poem and see if it has new meaning. Improve your students reading comprehension with readworks. This week we wrap up our readaloudthink aloud of maniac magee. Maniac magee realistic fiction, trade book, lexile 820 jeffrey lionel maniac magee is an orphan searching for a loving home when he finds himself in a small, segregated town in pennsylvania. The novel received critical acclaim upon release and in 1991 won the prestigious newbery medal. Maniac is very impressed when he sees all of the books. Readworks is here to support educators and families facing the unprecedented challenge of remote learning due to covid19. He was born in a house, a pretty ordinary house, right across the river from here, in bridgeport.
The story of jeffrey lionel magee, aka maniac, has become a school standard since its publication in 1990. Students will explore the many obstacles that magee encounters, and learn to analyze the prejudices and other challenges that he faces by completing these activities and lessons. It won the 1991 newbery medal and remains a vital, relevant classic. Maniac magee reading comprehension worksheets, guides. Struggling readers frequently lack basic reading skills and are not equipped with the prior knowledge and reading strategies to thoroughly engage in the classroom literature experience. Jerry spinelli is the author of over fifteen immensely popular books for young readers, including eggs, stargirl, space station seventh grade, newbery honor winner wringer, and maniac magee, winner of more than fifteen state childrens book awards in addition to the newbery medal. Its a great tool to help kids become familiar with nonfiction text and is aligned with the common cores section titled reading informational text. As always, as part of our nonprofit mission, readworks platform and materials are completely free. Hes so cool that he has his very own jumprope rhyme. Maniac magee by jerry spinelli paperback book the parent. Promote higherorder thinking, such as making comparisons among texts, with paired books.
See more ideas about maniac magee, 5th grade reading and book study. As they look for meaningful, sensory descriptors in jerry spinellis novel, readers connect to the story and craft a found poem rich in detail. Jerry spinellis maniac magee and we are in the falling action portion of the fiction. Make sure you use the book to help you answer the questions. The metaphorical style is a brave change from the realism of spinellis other books, while fans of his earlier, tongueincheek, streetwise tone will find it also an integral part of this storyballast for the mythic, shifting picture of maniacs year on the run. But thats okay, because the history of a kid is one part fact, two parts legend, and three parts snowball. You might try the following activities with the class before handing out the book. Jeffrey lionel maniac magee is an orphan searching for a loving home when he finds himself in a.
Jexceptional book, recommended for junior high school students. And if you want to know what it was like back when maniac magee roamed these part, well, just run youre hand under your movie seat and be very, very careful not to let the facts get mixed up with the truth. Maniac magee ebook by jerry spinelli 9780316333504. As for the first person to actually stop and talk with maniac, that would be amanda beale. Maniac magee by jerry spinelli is a young adult novel published in 1990. Exploring themes of racism and inequality, it follows the story of an. Maniac magee is a novel by jerry spinelli in which jeffrey lionel maniac magee is orphaned and spends his youth living with various people in. Think back on some of your favorite characters from past. Have students predict what the character with this name might be like. Maniac magee is a book that stuck with me long after i read it in fifth grade for the first time. Reading practice, literacy skills, vocabulary practice. The author of maniac magee creates personality traits for.
My non fiction student worksheet template is best used with non fiction books, autobiographies, biographies, articles and fact based texts. Hes sent to live with his aunt dot and uncle dan, and, despite dots sporty name, its not a fun household. An occasionally longwinded, but always affecting, parablelike story about racism and ignorance. With these reading guides, your students will practice reading comprehension skills. This resource contains 20 reading comprehension passages 9 nonfiction passages, 8 fiction passages, 2 poems, and 1 script. This humorous yet poignant story tells of a superathletic teenager who bridges his small towns racial gap. It stuck with me more than in just a lifelong love of butterscotch krumpets, but also in the sweetness of the main character and the good that he finds in well, everyone. He ends up in a small pennsylvania town torn apart by racial strife, and astounds everyone with his extraordinary athletic feats as he works to heal the painful divide between the towns black and white citizens. There were fiction books and nonfiction books, who didit books and letsbefriends books and whatisit books.
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