Youll encounter fundamental questions on the setting as well as how the character of. 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. 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 revealed. He performs phenomenal athletic feats, yet he shows wisdom and. Maniac magee is a great unit for teaching both theme and character change.
You might try the following activities with the class before handing out the book. On his journey, he performs feats of athleticism and confronts racial prejudice. There is also a reproducible worksheet that can be used with all of the words. When maniac went to the black part of town, he wasnt worried about his color. They say he kept an eightinch cockroach on a leash and that rats stood guard over him while he slept. This project can be completed by students either while they read the story or after completion of maniac magee. Maniac magee book project maniac magee, book projects, book. Inside youll find 30 daily lessons, 20 fun activities, 180 multiple choice questions, 60 short essay questions, 20 essay questions.
Maniac magee study guide from litcharts the creators of. Were considering expanding this synopsis into a fulllength study guide to deepen your comprehension of the book. This quizworksheet includes questions analyzing the setting of maniac magee. Make sure youre familiar with the setting of maniac magee with this interactive quiz and printable worksheet. Mildred taylors roll of thunder, hear my cry 1976 is a young adult novel set in the jim crow south. This summary of maniac magee includes a complete plot overview spoilers included. The perents of maniac magee died in a trolley crash. With this guide in hand, you could become a teaching legendmaybe your students will start calling you maniac, too. Using the six levels of blooms taxonomy, challenge your young readers to answer the comprehension questions about chapters 41 and 42 of maniac magee by jerry spinelli. Chapters 15 please read the following questions and circle the correct answer. Maniac learnss that grayson was an illiterate minor league player.
After imparting the birth scream of a legend during his elementary school concert, maniac runs from the dysfunctional home of his aunt dot and uncle dan. Maniac magee by jerry spinelli novel study contains lessons aligned to the common core standards ccss for grades 46. Maniac magee reading comprehension worksheets, guides. Maniac becomes a legend in two mills, a town with an east end for blacks and a west end for whites. In this lesson you will learn about the setting in the book maniac magee. This is a complete novel study that includes many individual products bundled together to o. Throughout the book maniac magee, maniac is constantly in search of a. It follows the experiences of a twelveyearold orphanjeffrey maniac mageeas he tries to find a home in the fictional town of two mills, pennsylvania.
Free maniac magee worksheets and literature unit for teachers. Maniac magee plot chart organizer by spinelli while reading the novel maniac magee, this graphic organizer will help students analyze the 6 parts of the plot exposition setting, characters, and background info conflict rising action 3 events or details climax falling action 2 events or details resolution novel maniac magee by jerry spinelli level 510 common core ccss. 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. But the selection of the fiction books is very much difficult as well. Maniac magee is a novel written by american author jerry spinelli and published in 1990. Discussion questions worksheet is suitable for 4th 6th grade. 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. Make sure you use the book to help you answer the questions. Maniac magee worksheet maniac magee, text features, higher. Abandonment, family, friendship, courage, race prejudice, freedom and confinement, innocence.
Maniac magee was an orphan so his aunt and uncle adoped him. Exploring themes of racism and inequality, it follows the story of an orphan boy looking for a home in the fictional town of two mills. Showing top 8 worksheets in the category maniac magee. Improve your students reading comprehension with readworks. Maniac magee by jerry spinelli goodreads share book. Comprehension by chapter, vocabulary challenges, creative reading response activities and projects, tests, and much more. Have students predict what the character with this name might be like. Maniac magee is about jeffrey lionel magees search for home and the racial prejudice in the town of two mills. The book is so rich and so well written that after reading it youll need to talk about it and so will the kids. One day maniac ran away because the hated in his aunt and uncle house. 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. Maniac magee designed for grades 7 and 8, this site offers a summary, theme openers, crosscurricular activities, research assignments, and suggestions for additional reading. Jeffrey magee, later nicknamed maniac, goes to live with aunt dot and uncle dan after enjoy book unit samples from maniac magee. Use this worksheet to help the students and the interviewed person get started.
Teacher and student guides, worksheets, answer keys, and more. Maniac magee is a childrens novel written by jerry spinelli and published in 1990. The objective of this lesson is to explore the element of the magical realism genre in maniac magee. Feeling a little guilty about taking your familyhome for granted. 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. Teacher asks students to recall what setting is time and place of a story.
We can determine that it was located in southeastern pennsylvania because the book mentions the schuylkill river, which is in the city of philadelphia. Maniac magee reading comprehension worksheets, guides, answer. Nobody knows who said it first, but somebody must have. Maniac magee jeffery lionel magee the book s protagonist, jeffery or maniac magee, is orphaned at a young age and runs away to two mills in search of a home.
They say if you knew he was coming and you sprinkled salt on. Maniac magee summary, discussion topics, and suggestions for learning activities. Explain that the book they will read is titled maniac magee. Free maniac magee study unit worksheets for teachers to print. Maniac magee, jerry spinelli, novel study maniac magee by jerry spinelli. Maniac magee questions and answers discover the community of teachers, mentors and students just like you that can answer any question you might have on maniac magee. Maniac magee time line timeline timetoast timelines. Maniac magee, written by jerry spinelli in 1990 and winner of the newbery medal in 1991, follows an orphaned boy named jeffery lionel magee colloquially maniac magee as he seeks out a home and confronts the racism of the 1980s1990s in the fictional city of two mills, pennsylvania. Maniac magee is a very funny, sometimes touching, story of jeffrey lionel maniac magee, a young man who is a legend in his youth. Maniac magee three activities to support the novel. The interactive notebook activity and book companion page will give you a good look at how i set up all of my novel studies. An orphan with no place to call home, maniac magee enters the town of. For christmas, grayson gives maniac a baseball mitt and a brand new baseball maniac gave him a book about grayson. Then some strange events happen with his aunt and uncle and he ends up running away.
Fifth graders read jerry spinellis, maniac magee, which focuses on homelessness, illiteracy, and racism. Some of the worksheets displayed are maniac magee comprehension questions, maniac magee, reading for comprehension series sample sample sample, maniac magee, if you could change places with maniac or amanda who, ddocuments and settingsadministratorlocal settingst, student team literature standardized reading. Theres even a jump rope rhyme about magee that the kids can jump to and make up other verses for. Maniac teaches grayson to read while grayson teaches maniac baseball skills. Maniac magee literature guide for grades 58 teachervision. Maniac magee is not just an ordinary fiction book but there is much more in this book.
A vocabulary list featuring maniac magee by jerry spinelli, part ii. If you are looking for a right book for yourself to read then go ahead and download this book. Write their ideas on the board, then have a volunteer look up the word in a dictionary. You might make lists of 10 to 15 words to assign as refrigerator studies. Each question builds on previous ones and causes readers to think deeply and. The author, jerry spinelli, modeled the setting in this book after his hometown, which was also in pennsylvania. It follows the experiences of a twelveyearold orphanjeffrey maniac magee as he tries to find a home in the fictional town of two mills, pennsylvania.
Were considering expanding this synopsis into a fulllength study guide to deepen your comprehension of the book and why its important. Jeffrey lionel maniac magee is an orphan searching for a loving home when he finds himself in a small, segregated town in pennsylvania. The maniac magee lesson plan contains a variety of teaching materials that cater to all learning styles. Free maniac magee worksheets and literature unit for. Maniac magee book summary maniac magee is about jeffrey lionel magees search for home and the racial prejudice in the town of two mills. 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.
Access thousands of highquality, free k12 articles, and create online assignments with them for your students. Inside youll find 30 daily lessons, 20 fun activities, 180 multiple choice questions, 60 short essay questions, 20 essay questions, quizzeshomework assignments, tests, and more. Below is a downloadable worksheet we have used with blogs on the books wonder andthe river. An orphan runs away from his guardians to search for a real home. The following words appear in maniac magee and may be unfamiliar to some students. Maniac didt like their house because they cant share. Maniac magee novel unit is a common core standard aligned book study to be used with maniac magee by jerry spinelli. Hes sent to live with his aunt dot and uncle dan, and, despite dots sporty name, its not a fun household. Written by teachers, and developed in the classroom.
You will learn what setting is, and how the setting in this book plays an important role in the story. Jeffrey gets the nickname maniac after performing athletic feats of mythic proportions and appearing fearless in the face of bullies and other terrifying situations. 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. 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. This quiz worksheet includes questions analyzing the setting of maniac magee. Maniac magee vocabulary included are vocabulary words from the book maniac magee, by jerry spinelli, for all chapters with pages and chapters listed where theyre found. Maniac magee is a realistic fictionbook because maniac is invented but it could happen in real life. Nobody was at his funeral, so maniac runs away again. As we read maniac magee, you are required to answer questions over the chapters. Jeffrey lionel magee is living a normal life until his parents are killed in a tragic trolley accident when hes three. Maniac magee by jerry spinelli, part ii vocabulary list. I teach this lesson at the beginning of the book, but the chartingillustrating of the setting continues throughout the entire reading of the novel.