R.J Palacio’s novel Wonder is a favorite in classrooms because the author’s message – choosing kindness – is such an important skill for students to learn. This book is perfect for a whole-class novel study or read-aloud for younger learners, or it can be used as a book club or literature circle text for upper elementary and early middle school.
This no-prep novel study for Wonder is a great way to build important reading comprehension skills and vocabulary with this fabulous story.
If you need a copy of the book, you can get Wonder in paperback on Amazon. (This link is an
Wonder Summary
This is the story of August Pullman, who’s been homeschooled his entire life due to some medical issues related to his craniofacial abnormalities. When Auggie turns 10, his family begins to realize that he needs to be able to function in a world where people aren’t always kind to those that look different. so they enroll him in school.
There are both ups and downs in this transition. As a fifth-grader at Beecher prep, Auggie finds friendship and faces bullies. His friends are ostracized just for associating with him, which makes things even tougher.
The whole thing comes to a head when the 5th graders head to nature camp. When Auggie and Jack are attacked by some 7th graders looking for trouble, a few boys from their class come to their rescue and a fight ensues. Auggie is hurt and scared in the scuffle, but he’s also overwhelmed with emotion because the kids that have ignored him all this time stood up and protected him. The only question is…will these changes be permanent?
What reading level is Wonder?
This book comes in at a whopping 320 pages. It is a Guided Reading Level V and has a Lexile score of 790L. Appropriate for fourth through sixth graders, the book is considered to be high-interest for students in grades 3-8.
What’s included in this novel study unit?
This month-long Wonder novel study unit breaks this fabulous book into 20 sections. Each day’s work includes both comprehension activities and vocabulary. There are four weeks worth of daily lesson objectives and paper-saving printables included in this resource.
Here’s more about what you’ll find inside this Wonder Novel Study:
- Instructional guide with daily comprehension skill, objective, and key Tier 2 & text-based vocabulary
- Comprehension trifolds (provided in color and black & white)
- Reader’s notebook comprehension prompts (matching trifolds)
- Word of the Day text-based vocabulary flipbooks
- Vocabulary word wall cards
- Trifold answer keys for easy grading
- Enrichment Mini-Book with engaging projects & activities related to the text
Reading comprehension skills targeted
These novel study
Some of the comprehension skills addressed in this novel study include:
- Making inferences
- Drawing conclusions
- Describing character change
- Analyzing characters & setting
- Identifying the main idea
- Point of view
- Context clues and vocabulary
- Using descriptive language
- Summarizing
- Utilizing text evidence
The daily lessons target one comprehension skill. This lets students focus on quality rather than quantity when it comes to responding to literature. Unlike many novel studies with lists of questions that require students to regurgitate the text, this format makes sure your students understand and can apply their knowledge to Wonder and other texts they read.
The novel study format
Comprehension prompts are provided in two formats, selected to reduce copies while still offering materials for student use.
Here’s an overview of each of the comprehension response formats:
The trifold format was the original design for this novel study.
Each foldable was designed to cover a week worth of comprehension using only one piece of paper.
Students respond to a targeted question each day that focuses the day’s reading on the comprehension skill.
From the student’s perspective, the benefit of the trifold is that it is extremely approachable. Each day’s work only takes up a third of the page, and this keeps reluctant writers from shutting down.
From the teacher’s perspective, it easy to collect and grade. Many students use the trifold as a bookmark, helping prevent missing papers.
Learn more about the trifold format.
The Reader’s Notebook prompts are perfect for advanced students, who provide a more in-depth analysis, and struggling writers, who may need more space to write their response.
For advanced readers, the notebook prompts can be used to generate a longer, more detailed response to the daily prompt. This pushes the students to analyze and defend their answers.
However, the notebook prompts are also great for students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and fine motor issues because they can be glued onto specialized paper or within a notebook to give students with large handwriting more room to respond.
Regardless of the format selected, the prompt is the same so you can easily have some students working on the trifolds while others use the notebook prompts.
What academic vocabulary is included in this novel study?
There are over 50 academic vocabulary words included in the instructional guide for this novel. These include general academic vocabulary and skill-specific vocabulary.
It is crucial to teach academic vocabulary explicitly and within context. Struggling learners often lack the vocabulary essential to perform well in school and on standardized assessments, so this is an easy way to incorporate this into your regular instructional practices. Learn more about why academic vocabulary is important.
Here is a small sample of the academic vocabulary you’ll find included in this novel study:
General vocabulary:
- analyze
- identify
- generate
- examine
- support
Skill-Focused vocabulary:
- point of view
- plotline
- summarize
- theme
- narrator
Text-based vocabulary in Wonder
In addition to the Tier 2 vocabulary, each day’s lesson includes a text-based vocabulary word that can be found within the day’s reading. Some of the vocabulary words included in this literature guide are:
- euphoric
- attribution
- hypocrite
- taciturn
- geneticist
- precept
These words can be taught using the included flipbook format. Designed with conserving copies in mind, the flipbooks require only a half-piece of paper per week.
The Word of the Day Flip Book is designed for use in interactive reading journals.
To use the flipbooks, cut around the outer edge, cut the tabs, and glue it into their notebook. Have students leave the flaps unglued so they can be lifted. This allows students to write under them.
Depending on your students, you can have them generate a definition of the day’s word or generate a list of synonyms and antonyms. You can even have students draw a picture of the meaning.
How to purchase this Wonder Novel Study
This Wonder novel study unit can be purchased directly or from my Teachers Pay Teachers.
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