Do you want some fresh ideas and activities for your Because of Winn-Dixie unit? Check out student projects and book unit samples here.
Because of Winn Dixie tells the story of ten-year-old Opal. She has just moved to Naomi, Florida with her preacher father. On an errand to the grocery store, Opal finds a large, ugly, homeless dog. Opal is immediately attached to the dog whom she names Winn Dixie after the grocery store where she finds him. Together they make friends with Otis, an ex-convict who runs the local pet store; Miss Fanny, the librarian who has a desk full of “Litmus Lozenges” a type of candy that her great grandfather invented; and Gloria Dump, the lady the local children think of as a witch because of her jungle-like yard. This book will make you laugh as Opal and Winn Dixie make friends with these very likable characters in this small southern town.
Because of Winn-Dixie Activities
Because of Winn-Dixie Unit Samples
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Because of Winn Dixie Activities #1 – Student Webpages
Approximately 14 years ago, a group of teachers from my school got together and wrote a grant for a computer lab. This was really a big deal because our school’s only computer lab at that time was equipped with Apple IIe computers. They were fantastic when the lab was first set up in the 1990s, but when the Internet came to our school system, they felt like dinosaurs. The new lab was incredible. The teachers who worked on the grant were given the first-time slots in the new lab. I had a 45-minute slot of time each day. You can imagine the excitement I felt.
Then I had to figure out what my students would do during a daily computer lab period. I’m all about projects, so a project it would be. I divided my class into groups. Each group selected a book about dogs. Old Yeller, Where the Red Fern Grows, Shiloh, Stone Fox, The Incredible Journey, and Because of Winn-Dixie were selected. Students researched topics about the books, wrote reports, and created web pages.
Activity #2 – Comparing the Book to the Movie
Comparing the book to the movie is always a fun activity for students. If you don’t have class time to show the entire movie, have students watch the official movie trailer. Many book-to-movie comparisons can be completed by watching less than 3 minutes of the movie.
Ask students:
- Do the actors match the character descriptions from the book?
- How does the dog that was selected to be Winn-Dixie match the descriptions in the book?
- Is the setting accurate?
- Does the plot in the movie appear to match the plot in the novel?
- Is this a movie you would like to see? Why or why not?
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Because of Winn-Dixie Novel Study includes vocabulary practice, comprehension questions, constructed response writing, and skill practice.
