Winn Dixie Teachers Guide - Reading Is Fundamental
Candlewick PressTeacher’s Resource Guide Grades 3 — 5ABOUT THE BOOKBecause of Winn-Dixie is a funny, poignant, and utterlygenuine novel that has quickly become a children’s literatureclassic. This guide provides an array of thoughtful, studentfriendly activities that deepen students’ understanding ofcharacterization and make teaching this Newbery Honor–winning book a fun and enjoyable experience.STORY SUMMARYWhen ten-year-old Opal returns home with a stray dog shenames Winn-Dixie, things begin to change in Naomi,Florida, the sleepy town where Opal and her father, areticent preacher, have recently settled. Winn-Dixie helpsOpal make friends with the endearing outcasts of Naomi,including a woman rumored to be a witch; the elderly townlibrarian, who gives Opal candies that taste like melancholy;and an ex-con musician who runs the local pet store.Through these new friendships, Opal learns not to judgepeople—including the mother who abandoned her—fortheir past mistakes, but to appreciate people for who they arein the present. These unassuming characters become adependable community in which everybody has a sorrow tolet go of and a story to tell.ABOUT THE AUTHOR“My name is India Opal Buloni, and lastsummer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to thestore for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, somewhite rice, and two tomatoes and I came backwith a dog. This is what happened. . . .”When Kate DiCamillo was five years old,she and her mother and brother movedfrom Philadelphia to a small town inbecause I was homesick for Florida . . . and because I wantedFlorida in hopes that the warm southerna dog and couldn’t have one . . . . It allowed me to go homeclimate would alleviate young Kate’sand to spend time with a dog of the highest order.” Thechronic pneumonia. She spent her sicklyauthor continues to live in Minneapolis, where she writeschildhood reading books—“I learned totwo pages a day, five days a week. Her biggest challenge as arely on stories as a way of understanding the world”—andwriter is to “get out of the way” so that her characters candressing her standard poodle Nanette in a tutu and, later,tell her their stories. About India Opal Buloni, thedisco clothes. When she was in her twenties, Kate DiCamilloprotagonist in Winn-Dixie, she says, “India Opal Bulonimoved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she lived in anseems so real to me, I don’t think I could have made her up.apartment that did not allow dogs. “I wrote Winn-DixieRather, I feel like I discovered her.”written and developed by Marilyn Bousquin and Rhonda BerkowerBecause of Winn-Dixie Teacher’s Resource Guide www.candlewick.com
BEFORE READING The following prereading activities set a context for thestory, spark students’ interest, and set a purpose for reading.MAKE PREDICTIONSEncourage students to make predictions about the setting,characters, and plot of the story based on the informationprovided on the book cover. Prompt students to check andmodify their predictions as they read.WHOSE POINT OF VIEW?Read aloud the first page of the novel. Talk with studentsabout the author’s use of the first-person voice. Ask: Who istelling the story? What can you tell about Opal from the wayshe speaks? What do you think of the opening sentence? Does itmake you want to read more?ASK QUESTIONSAfter reading the first page of the book, ask students, Whatare some things that you would like to know about Opal?What are some things you would like to know about thedog? What other questions do you have about the story?Record students’ questions on a chart to revisit duringreading.DURING READINGEncourage students to apply the followingCOMPREHENSION STRATEGIES and SKILLS as theyread or listen to the story. Read aloud Chapter One andmodel the strategies and skills for students. Ask students tothink about how these strategies can help them tounderstand the story and its characters.Opal is afraid that the preacher will get mad if she askshim about her mother. Have you ever been afraid toask someone something? When?SUMMARIZING portions of a text during reading helpsstudents identify main ideas and remember what they haveread. Have students brainstorm a title that sums up themain idea and reflects the plot, character, or mood of eachchapter. For example, in Chapter One, Opal rescues WinnDixie from the pound and takes him home. Students mighttitle this chapter “Opal Meets Winn-Dixie” or “WinnDixie: Lost and Found.” Write the chapter titles on a largechart. When students have finished reading the book,prompt them to use the chapter titles to help them recalland retell the story. You may also want to prompt studentsto summarize what happens “because of Winn-Dixie” asthey read the novel. For example: Chapter Three: Because of Winn-Dixie, Opal finds thecourage to ask her father about her mother and thepreacher starts to come out of his shell.UNDERSTANDING CHARACTERIZATION helps readersto explore the feelings, thoughts, and motivations of thecharacters. Review Chapter Four with the class and createa list of the ten things Opal learns about her mother. Pointout that list characterizes Opal’s mother, giving the reader asense of who Opal’s mother is, even though she doesn’tactually appear in the story. Ask: Do these ten things paint awhole picture of Opal’s mother? What else might Opal want toknow about her mother? What else would you like to know? Does Opal remind you of anyone in your life? Who?Describe him or her.As students read or listen to the book, have them createcharacter collages for the characters. Their collages shouldinclude a drawing or sketch of each character framed byexpressive adjectives (for example, splendid or grand asopposed to good) as well as phrases and sentences thatdescribe the character’s physical appearance, personalitytraits, and behaviors. Encourage students to use quotesfrom the book when possible. Use the collages to discusswhat students know and would like to know about eachcharacter. Opal compares her father, the preacher, to a “turtlehiding inside its shell, in there thinking about thingsand not ever sticking his head out into the world”(pp. 16–17). Do you know anybody like that?Describe him or her.POINT OF VIEW is the perspective from which a story istold. Because of Winn-Dixie is narrated in the first person bythe main character. In the first-person point of view,everything the reader learns is through the perspective ofone character. Have students experiment with point ofMAKING CONNECTIONS helps readers draw on priorknowledge as they incorporate and assimilate newinformation from a text. Encourage students to make textto-self connections between the story and their own lives.Ask questions such as the following to help students makemeaningful connections:Because of Winn-Dixie Teacher’s Resource Guide www.candlewick.comPage 2
view by retelling scenes from different characters’perspectives. For example, challenge students to retell theopening scene in which Opal meets Winn-Dixie in thegrocery store from Winn-Dixie’s perspective. How does adifferent perspective change the scene? What can we learn fromWinn-Dixie’s perspective that we can’t learn from India Opal’s?APPRECIATING THE AUTHOR’S CRAFT helps studentsbecome better readers and writers. Conduct a mini-lessonthat explores the vivid language Kate DiCamillo uses todescribe her characters. Explain that a simile is a directcomparison of two things that are usually not alike. Similesuse words such as like or as to make the comparison.Writers use similes to help us to see things in new, oftensurprising, ways. For example, Kate DiCamillo writes thatWinn-Dixie “looked like a big piece of old brown carpetthat had been left out in the rain” (p. 11). Have studentsnote in a journal the similes they encounter as they read.Discuss these similes and the images they evoke. Helpstudents visualize these similes by folding a piece of paperin half, then drawing the objects being compared on eitherside of the fold. Encourage students to write and illustratetheir own similes that describe a favorite character.AFTER READINGOpen-ended questions encourage students to thinkcritically about the book’s themes. Cross-curricularactivities help extend students’ understanding of the storythrough writing, art, drama, science, geography, and mathactivities.DISCUSSION QUESTIONSFamily How would you describe Opal’s relationship with herfather at the beginning of the book? How does theirrelationship change by the end of the book? Why do you think the preacher cries when he andOpal can’t find Winn-Dixie? At the end of the book, Opal imagines that she isspeaking to her mother and says, “I miss you, but myheart doesn’t feel empty anymore. It’s full all the wayup.” What does Opal mean? Why do her feelingsabout her mother change?Love, Friendship, and Community VOCABULARYEncourage students to note unfamiliar words in aWord Log and try to define them from the context ofthe story. Use words from students’ Word Logs asoften as possible in class discussions, and encouragestudents to look and listen for these words outsideclass. You may want to preview the following wordsbefore reading:missionary (p. 13)exception (p. 15)peculiar (p. 47) Because Gloria doesn’t see well, she tells Opal to “tellme everything about yourself, so as I can see you withmy heart” (p. 66). What does she mean by this? Whatdo you think it means to see someone with yourheart? How is that different from seeing with youreyes? identical (p. 61)pathological (p. 76)roundabout (p. 91)imitated (p. 92)notion (p. 105)melancholy (p. 121)amuse (p. 151)complicated (p. 153)wheezed (p. 175)Do you think Because of Winn-Dixie is a good title forthis novel? Why or why not? How does Winn-Dixiechange Opal’s life? How does Opal change WinnDixie’s life?What does Opal learn about friendship? What didyou learn about friendship from reading Because ofWinn-Dixie? How do the people in Naomi act like a community?In what ways is Naomi, Florida, like your community?In what ways is it different? Encourage students tonotice differences and similarities in race and class, as wellas the ways people treat and help one another.Understanding the Characters Opal often finds that her first impression of theBecause of Winn-Dixie Teacher’s Resource Guide www.candlewick.comPage 3
people she meets is not always accurate. Choose acharacter from the book and describe how Opal’simpression of him or her changes by the end of thestory. What causes Opal’s impression to change?CURRICULUMCONNECTIONS Gloria says that she made her mistakes before shelearned “the most important thing” (96). What doyou think Gloria means by “the most importantthing”? Why does Gloria say that “the mostimportant thing” is different for everyone? Kate DiCamillo says, “I love strange names and Ilove making them up.” Names often contain othermeanings and can influence a reader’s perception ofa character. Choose a character with an interestingname. Is there a story behind the character’s nameUsing a ThesaurusWhen the preacher eats his Littmus Lozenge, he tells Opalit tastes melancholy, then explains that melancholy means“sad.” Have the class look up the word melancholy in athesaurus. How many other words are similar in meaningto the word melancholy? (Unhappy, depressed, dejected, low,glum, gloomy, miserable, etc.) List these words on theboard. Then organize the class into small groups and assigneach group a word from the list. Ask each group to comeup with several sentences that use its word to describe thesetting, mood, plot, and/or characters in the story.or nickname? Does the name influence the way yousee and understand the character? Does the namereflect the character’s personality and charactertraits? Why do you think Otis kept on playing music evenafter the police told him to stop? What do you thinkOtis means when he tells Opal that “the music isbetter if someone is listening to it” (p. 130)? At the end of the book, Opal observes thatAmanda no longer looks “pinch-faced” (p. 182).What causes Opal to see Amanda differently?Loneliness and Sorrow Why is Opal lonely when she first moves to Naomi,Florida? In what ways does Opal deal with herloneliness? Opal tells Winn-Dixie that they are a lot alike. Inwhat ways are Opal and Winn-Dixie alike? In whatways are they different? How does the Littmus Lozenge taste to Opal? Thepreacher? Gloria? Amanda? Otis? Why does theLittmus Lozenge taste different to each characterwho tastes it?To learn more about these and other readingcomprehension strategies, see Mosaic of Thought:Teaching Comprehension in a Reader’s Workshop byEllin Keen and Susan Zimmerman (Heinemann, 1997) andStrategies That Work: Teaching Comprehension toEnhance Understanding by Stephanie Harvey and AnneGoudvis (Stenhouse Publishers, 2000).English Language ArtsPartner Interview: Ten Things About MeAs a class, brainstorm interview questions for students touse to find out more about one another. For example:What is the first thing people notice when they see you? Howdid you get your name or nickname? What is your favorite thingto do? What is something you don’t like? How would youdescribe your personality? What is something unique about you?Do you have a hobby? Have partners help each other createa Ten Things About Me list by interviewing each other.Encourage students to create Ten Things About Meposters, and display these posters around the classroom.WritingSmall-Group Character Sketches: Who Am I?Organize the class into small groups and assign each groupa character from the book without letting groups knowwho each other’s character is. Instruct each group to writea short description of their character in the first person,without revealing the character’s name. For example, agroup describing Winn-Dixie might write, I like to smile andsometimes I sneeze. I am afraid of thunderstorms, and my bestfriend thinks I look like a big old piece of brown carpet that’sbeen left out in the rain. Who am I? Encourage groups torefer to their Character Collages as they create theirsketches. Remind groups to use vivid language to describetheir character’s physical appearance, personality, andbehavior. Ambitious writers may want to incorporateoriginal similes into their descriptions! Invite groups toread their descriptions aloud and guess each other’scharacters from the sketches presented.Because of Winn-Dixie Teacher’s Resource Guide www.candlewick.comPage 4
Extension: Have students pick each other’s names out of ahat, and write a Who Am I? description for that person.Have the class listen to each description and guess who thesketch describes.Letter WritingImagine that you are Opal. Write a letter to your mothertelling her everything that has happened over the summerbecause of Winn-Dixie.Narrative Writing: Because of . . .Have students think about how India Opal’s life changes“because of Winn-Dixie.” Have students write a firstperson narrative about a person (or pet!) who has made adifference in their life. Before they begin writing,encourage students to make a list of ten things about thisperson or pet. Suggest that they use this list to create theircharacterization of the person or pet.ArtDioramasInvite students to use shoe boxes and art supplies such aspipe cleaners, fabrics, colored paper, toothpicks, beads,feathers, etc., to create three-dimensional dioramas thatreflect some aspect of Because of Winn-Dixie. Students maywant to re-create a favorite incident from the book orcreate a three-dimensional scene that represents adominant theme or relationship in the novel. Encouragestudents to present their dioramas to the class and toexplain the meaning and importance of the objects thatthey use to create it.DramaCharacter Role-Play and Interview: The Party!Character role-plays and interviews deepen students’understanding of the story by encouraging them to explorethe feelings, thoughts, and motivations of the characters.Have students act out the party scene, using ChapterTwenty-three as a guide for creating a script. (You maywant to include egg-salad sandwiches, pickles, and DumpPunch as “props” for the scene!) Ask for volunteers to playeach of the characters: Opal, the preacher, Sweetie Pie,Amanda, Gloria Dump, Stevie, Dunlap, Otis, and MissFranny. Instruct the “actors” to remain in character afterthe role-play, and have the audience ask each characterquestions about his or her thoughts, feelings, and actions.For example: Miss Franny, what were you feeling and thinkingas you got dressed for the party? Opal, how did you feel when you realizedWinn-Dixie was missing? Dunlap, how did you feel when you wavedto Opal and she didn’t wave back? Otis, what was it like to meet so many new people? Gloria, what were you feeling when you yelled“Good luck” to Opal as she went outside in therain to look for Winn-Dixie?Encourage the actors to answer the questions from theperspective of the character they are playing.ScienceGathering Information: Animal FactsAsk students to choose a specific animal they would like tohave as a pet. Encourage students to be specific in theirchoice. Instead of choosing “birds,” they should choose aparrot or gold finch; instead of “dogs,” a dachshund orbeagle. Encourage students to use the library and theInternet to find out ten things about their animal, thenpresent their findings to the class. Questions to guide theirresearch include: Where does the animal live? What does iteat? What are its habits? Is it a mammal? Reptile? Amphibian?What is its average life span? How big does it get? Invitestudents to create a word that describes the sound theanimal they researched makes. Point out that KateDiCamillo uses such words (known as onomatopoeia) onpage 34 to describe the sounds Winn-Dixie makes when heis tied up outside the church: Aaaaaarrooo . . . .Arrrroooowwww . . . . Arrruiiiiipppp, and Owwwwww. Youmay want to hold a name contest and offer a “strangename prize” (p. 65) to the student who comes up with themost unusual and descriptive name for his or her animal.MathInstallment PlanOpal plans to buy Winn-Dixie the red collar and matchingleash from Gertrude’s Pets on an installment plan. Thecollar costs 8.75 and the leash costs 11.25. Ask studentsto use their math skills to answer the following questions:Because of Winn-Dixie Teacher’s Resource Guide www.candlewick.comPage 5
What is the total amount Opal will pay for thecollar and leash? If Gertrude pays Opal 3.50 an hour and sheworks three hours a week, how much does sheearn in one week? If Opal pays Gertrude’s Pets 4.00 a week, howmany weeks will it take her to pay off the collarand leash? How many hours will Opal have to work to payoff only the collar? Only the leash? How much would Opal earn in three and a halfhours? If Opal were to purchase one collar and twoleashes, how many hours would she have to work?Round your answer to the nearest hour.You may also want to challenge students to createtheir own installment plans for something they (or theclass) would like to purchase.GeographyWhere Is Florida?Have students locate Florida on a map of the UnitedStates. Encourage them to measure the distancebetween Florida and the state where they live. Tellstudents that Winn-Dixie is a chain of supermarketswith locations in the Southeast. Point out that Floridais located in the portion of the United States known asthe Southeast. Students may want to take a virtualtour of a Winn-Dixie store at www.winndixie.com.AWARDSBecause of Winn-Dixie has won numerous awards and hasreceived countless accolades. We have room to list onlymajor awards, but Because of Winn-Dixie has also beenselected or nominated for more than 25 individual statereading awards, including the Texas Bluebonnet Award,the California Young Reader Medal, and the SunshineState Young Reader’s Award. A Newbery Honor Book A #1 New York Times Bestseller An American Library Association NotableChildren’s Book An International Reading Association YoungAdults’ Choice A Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of theYear A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year “ Lyrical, moving, and enchanting. . . . A well-craftedtale of community and fellowship, of sweetness,sorrow, and hope. And it’s funny, too. A real gem.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “ An exquisitely crafted first novel. This bittersweettale of contemporary life in a small Southern townwill hold readers rapt.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)AVAILABLE EDITIONSTrade paperback978-0-7636-4432-1 6.99Mass market movie tie-in978-0-7636-2558-0 6.99Slipcased gift edition978-0-7636-5007-0 15.99Hardcover978-0-7636-0776-0 15.99E-book: 978-0-7636-4945-6 6.99Because of Winn-Dixie Teacher’s Resource Guide www.candlewick.comPage 6
Because of Winn-Dixie Teacher’s Resource Guide www.candlewick.com ABOUT THE BOOK Because of Winn-Dixie is a funny, poignant, and utterly genuine novel that has quickly become a children’s literature classic. This guide provides an array of thoughtful, student-
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Mar 16, 2020 · Winn-Dixie is a Federally Registered trademark and service mark owned by The Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. This work has not been prepared, manufactured, approved, or licensed by The Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. Neither the author of this work nor its publishers are in any way affiliated with The Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc. First electronic edition 2009
Winn-Dixie By Kate DiCamillo Whole Book Test Write the letter of the correct answer in the blank. _1. Opal found Winn-Dixie in (A) the produce department of the Winn-Dixie grocery store, (B) in a Winn-Dixie parking lot, (C) following the Winn-Dixie grocery store manager to the dumpster behind the store. _2.
Because of Winn-Dixie The students will read the book Because of Winn-Dixie, complete the corresponding study guide, and write an essay. Subject: Language Arts Topic: Reading Comprehension and Essay Writing Grade Level: 3-6 Objective: 1. Read Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. 2. Answer the questions provided in the study guide. 3.
Because of Winn-Dixie By Kate DiCamillo Chapters 1-4 Before you read the chapter: Write a brief summary about what you believe Because of Winn-Dixie will be about. Vocabulary: Choose a word from the list to complete each sentence.
Winn -Dixie argued that since the testimony of the only witness to the fall , the plaintiff herself, does not establish the existence of the alleged condition, Ms. Luft is unable to prove that Winn -Dixie either created or ha d actual or constructive notice
Name: BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE Chapters 6 -10 This picture shows a scene from Chapter 8 of the book, Because of Winn-Dixie.Write a few sentences that tell who is in the picture, and describe what is happening.
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