Great Expectations

Please note that a brief synopsis of many of the books included here areprovided in our Library Builders section. Study guides for the samebook are often available from several publishers, so we found it more efficientto give a description of the book only once.

Pip first meets Estella when he is seven years old. Although the wealthy and beautiful young girl treats Pip terribly, he is captivated and determined to win her over. This is difficult for the orphaned boy, but the unexpected news that Pip has a secret benefactor allows for him to go to London to get the training of a young gentleman. Suddenly, Pip becomes a man of great expectations whose course in life has changed forever. ~ Enh

If you're looking for a study guide for a specific book, Novel Units probably has it covered! They produce hundreds of literature guides - only a sampling of them are listed here. Teacher Guides are 30-40 pages - not voluminous, but enough for good coverage of the book. Format of the guides vary somewhat by grade level, but have some common elements. They begin with a synopsis of the book and its author and some pre-reading activities that serve both to provide background for the novel study and initiate student involvement and thinking about the story. Chapter by chapter (in some guides, multiple chapters) lesson plans contain vocabulary words, discussion questions (with answers), and suggested activities. Some guides also include writing ideas. Literature concepts/skills appear here and there. Some guides contain reproducible graphic organizers to aid student analysis. All include some culminating questions and activities. Again, these vary in scope and type by guide. There are no objective or essay tests, but each guide ends with a student assessment page that provides a list of projects or exercises to be completed to help evaluate student understanding. Student Packets (where available) are reproducible and, again, vary somewhat by grade level and book. In my sample packet, masters are provided for an initiating activity, a chapter-by-chapter study guide with questions and lines for answers, vocabulary activities, journal ideas, literary analysis, cross-curricular activities (art, drama, math), several graphic organizer / analysis pages, varied activity pages, comprehension quizzes, and a final test. Answers to all questions, worksheets, and test are included in the back, along with an essay evaluation form. Really, each of these components can function as a stand-alone product and can be used without the other, but for a more comprehensive study, they are best used in concert. There is very little overlap between the two, even in the chapter-by-chapter questions - but completing the questions in the Student Packet will help prepare your child for the more in-depth questions found in the Teacher Guide. If your child is working independently on a novel, the Student Packet can be used alone (if available). If you want to do little written work and put more emphasis on discussion, the Teacher Guide can be used by itself. As stated before, we have selected a sampling of guides at each grade level. If you like them, we'll add more!

Please note that some guides have been written to correlate with a specific edition of a book. Some of these editions are now out of print, and we do not carry all versions mentioned. Where multiple editions are available, such as Adventures of Tom Sawyer, the page numbers given in the guide may not correlate exactly.