7th Grade Close Reading Independent Work Packet

Looking for a versatile resource that works with any fiction novel? This Lit Circle Packet is perfect for Upper Elementary and middle school students, offering a wide range of engaging activities designed to encourage deep analysis, creativity, and critical thinking, regardless of the novel being studied. Whether you're working on a class novel, independent reading, or small group book clubs, this resource provides a comprehensive approach to exploring literature.

What’s Included: This packet includes 20 flexible and meaningful activities that can be applied to any fiction text. From character analysis to creative writing, each activity is designed to help students engage with and understand the story on a deeper level.

Activities:

1. Summary – Students summarize key events of each chapter to track the story’s development.
2. List the Characters – Identify characters and describe their roles or actions in the chapter.
3. I Predict... – Students make predictions based on text evidence, promoting critical thinking.
4. Significant Quote – Choose a key quote and explain its importance to the story’s themes or characters.
5. Illustrate an Important Scene – Draw and explain a pivotal moment from the chapter.
6. Vocabulary – Define new words, use them in context, and draw pictures to reinforce meaning.
7. Character Adjectives – Describe the protagonist with three adjectives and support one with text evidence.
8. Musical Playlist for the Main Character – Create a playlist that represents the character's journey or emotions.
9. Character Identity – Explore six key elements of the character’s identity and support with text from the novel.
10. Window and Mirror – Compare and contrast yourself with the main character, identifying similarities and differences.
11. Conflict Analysis – Identify and explain three types of conflict (e.g., character vs. character, self, society, etc.).
12. Text Conversation – Write a text message conversation between yourself and a character to help them solve their conflict.
13. Setting Analysis – Explore how different settings impact the characters and the story’s events.
14. Imagery of Setting – Use sensory details to describe a setting and analyze the mood it creates.
15. Theme Statements – Write three universal theme statements that apply to the novel’s message or lesson.
16. Rewrite the Ending – Get creative by rewriting the final chapter or scene using the author’s tone and style.
17. Comic Strip – Draw a comic strip of four key moments from the story, showing the progression of the plot.
18. Breaking News – Write a newspaper article about a major event in the story, reporting it as breaking news.
19. Expository Essay – Write an essay explaining how the protagonist changes throughout the novel, supported by evidence.
20. Argumentative Essay – Argue whether the protagonist’s critical decision was justified, using textual evidence to support your claim.

Why You’ll Love This Resource:

• Flexible for Any Novel: These activities can be applied to any fiction text, making this packet a versatile tool for any reading assignment, novel study, or literature circle.
• Engaging and Interactive: Activities encourage students to think critically, make connections, and engage creatively with the story.
• Multiple Skills: Students will practice a variety of skills, including summarization, analysis, prediction, creative expression, and essay writing.
• Ready-to-Use: Simply print and go! Perfect for class novels, independent reading, or book clubs.

Use this Lit Circle Packet to foster a deeper understanding of any novel while encouraging meaningful discussion and creative expression in your classroom!

Looking for an exciting way to teach your students about soils and weathering? This Soils and Weathering Escape Room is the perfect blend of science content, close reading, and gamified learning! In this activity, students will explore how soil forms, the layers of soil, the importance of soil, and the difference between physical and chemical weathering through an engaging close reading article and four unique challenges.

Overview of the Activity: Students begin by reading a two-page informational passage that explains what soil is made of, how weathering occurs, and why soil is essential for plants and the environment. The article includes essential vocabulary like soil, rock, particles, silt, nutrients, weathering, and abrasion, providing a solid foundation for students before they tackle the four interactive challenges.

Each challenge targets a different skill:

• Challenge 1: Matching vocabulary terms to their definitions (reinforcing soil and weathering concepts).
• Challenge 2: True/false questions based on key facts from the reading (to build comprehension).
• Challenge 3: Multiple-choice questions (testing understanding of key concepts like the layers of soil and types of weathering).
• Challenge 4: Identifying the paragraph where certain information is found (developing close reading skills).

For each correct answer, students receive a clue—a one-digit number. After completing all four challenges, students use their numbers to solve a final puzzle and “escape” the room.

**Why Use Close Reading?:**Close reading is an instructional approach that encourages students to carefully analyze and interpret a text. In this escape room, students must return to the passage multiple times to find the answers to the questions, helping them:

• Improve their reading comprehension.
• Strengthen critical thinking skills.
• Become more independent readers who can tackle complex information.

Benefits of Gamified Learning: Using an escape room format transforms a traditional lesson into an adventure! Students love the thrill of solving puzzles, working together, and completing challenges, which boosts their engagement and motivation. Here’s why gamified learning is a hit in the classroom:

• Increases engagement: Students are naturally motivated by challenges and competition, making learning more interactive and exciting.
• Enhances problem-solving skills: Escape rooms require students to use logic and critical thinking to solve clues and progress through tasks.
• Encourages teamwork: As students collaborate, they practice communication and teamwork, skills essential for success in group settings.

**Perfect for Science and Literacy Integration:**This escape room seamlessly integrates science content with reading comprehension, making it a powerful resource for interdisciplinary learning. While students strengthen their understanding of soils and weathering, they’re also developing literacy skills by interpreting information, analyzing key details, and practicing vocabulary.

Whether you’re teaching about the formation of soil, the processes of physical and chemical weathering, or just looking for a fun, engaging way to challenge your students, this Soils and Weathering Escape Room is sure to captivate their attention while reinforcing key learning objectives.

Looking for an exciting way to teach your students about the Iroquois and Algonquian tribes? This Iroquois and Algonquian Close Reading Escape Room is the perfect blend of social studies content, close reading, and gamified learning! In this activity, students will explore the civilizations through an engaging close reading article and four unique challenges.

Overview of the Activity: Students begin by reading a two-page informational passage that explains different aspects of each of the civilizations, (who the Iroquois and Algonquian tribes are, aspects of their daily lives, how they interacted with their environment, as well as similarities and differences between their cultures.). The article includes essential vocabulary like confederacy, longhouse, wigwam, and council, providing a solid foundation for students before they tackle the four interactive challenges.

Each challenge targets a different skill:

• Challenge 1: Matching vocabulary terms to their definitions (reinforcing social studies concepts).
• Challenge 2: True/false questions based on key facts from the reading (to build comprehension).
• Challenge 3: Multiple-choice questions (testing understanding of key concepts about the various civilizations).
• Challenge 4: Identifying the paragraph where certain information is found (developing close reading skills).

For each correct answer, students receive a clue—a one-digit number. After completing all four challenges, students use their numbers to solve a final puzzle and “escape” the room.

**Why Use Close Reading?:**Close reading is an instructional approach that encourages students to carefully analyze and interpret a text. In this escape room, students must return to the passage multiple times to find the answers to the questions, helping them:

• Improve their reading comprehension.
• Strengthen critical thinking skills.
• Become more independent readers who can tackle complex information.

Benefits of Gamified Learning: Using an escape room format transforms a traditional lesson into an adventure! Students love the thrill of solving puzzles, working together, and completing challenges, which boosts their engagement and motivation. Here’s why gamified learning is a hit in the classroom:

• Increases engagement: Students are naturally motivated by challenges and competition, making learning more interactive and exciting.
• Enhances problem-solving skills: Escape rooms require students to use logic and critical thinking to solve clues and progress through tasks.
• Encourages teamwork: As students collaborate, they practice communication and teamwork, skills essential for success in group settings.

**Perfect for Social Studies and Literacy Integration:**This escape room seamlessly integrates social studies content with reading comprehension, making it a powerful resource for interdisciplinary learning. While students strengthen their understanding of the Iroquois and Algonquian Native American tribes, they’re also developing literacy skills by interpreting information, analyzing key details, and practicing vocabulary.

This is a escape room uses gamified challenges and is based on how Iroquois and Algonquian tribes interacted with the environment and developed unique cultures which is studied in the 4th grade curriculum under the following standards:

4.2 Native American groups, chiefly the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) and Algonquian-speaking groups, inhabited the region that became New York State. Native American Indians interacted with the environment and developed unique cultures.

4.2a Geographic factors often influenced locations of early settlements. People made use of the resources and the lands around them to meet their basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter.

• Students will examine the locations of early Native American groups in relation to geographic features, noting how certain physical features are more likely to support settlement and larger populations.
• Students will investigate how Native Americans such as the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) and the Algonquian-speaking peoples adapted to and modified their environment to meet their needs and wants.

4.2b Native American groups developed specific patterns of organization and governance to manage their societies.

Students will compare and contrast the patterns of organization and governance of Native American groups such as the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) and Lenape, including matrilineal clan structure, decision-making processes, and record keeping, with a focus on local Native American groups.

4.2c Each Native American group developed a unique way of life with a shared set of customs, beliefs, and values.

• Students will examine Native American traditions; job specialization the roles of men, women, and children in their society; transportation systems; and technology.
• Students will examine contributions of Native Americans that are evident today.

If you want a fun, engaging way to challenge your students, this Iroquois & Algonquian Escape Room is sure to captivate their attention while reinforcing key learning objectives.

This engaging Halloween escape room activity combines the thrill of gamified learning with important close reading skills. Students start by reading an informative passage, which they will refer back to while completing four unique challenges. Each challenge emphasizes a different close reading skill:

• Vocabulary Matching
• True/False Statements
• Multiple Choice Questions
• Paragraph Identification

As students complete each task, they collect a one-digit number. Once they have all four digits, they solve the final puzzle to complete the escape room!

Designed to keep students excited and focused, this activity encourages critical thinking and close reading practice in a fun, interactive way. This versatile resource is perfect for independent work, group activities, or engaging early finishers, helping reinforce reading comprehension and critical thinking while embracing the spooky holiday theme.

Key Features:

• Gamified tasks to maintain engagement
• Emphasis on core close reading skills
• Great for collaborative or independent learning
• Fun, Halloween-themed to excite students

Introduce your students to the thrilling no prep Soils, Rocks and Landforms Scavenger Hunt! This engaging and interactive activity puts students in the shoes of a geologist mining in a city in Arkansas that is rumored to be full of rare gems that would make the finder rich!

Each student, or group of students, will receive 10 reading task cards related to soil, weathering (chemical and physical), erosion, deposition, fossils, types of landforms and how they are created. The task is not only to read the cards but to solve 10 questions—the catch is that the answer to each question is found on a different card, encouraging students to read all the information thoroughly.

How It Works:

• Students will need to determine the code word for each card by answering the fill-in-the-blank questions.
• Once all the code words have been found, students must unscramble the letters from each code word to discover the final mystery word.
• In addition, they will collect clues to uncover a 4-digit code, which will help them successfully complete their journey.

Failing to unscramble the mystery word or crack the 4-digit code will result in the having failed to find any precious gems. However, completing the mission means students will become a legendary gem hunter and have mined enough gems to become rich!

What Makes This Activity Perfect for Your Classroom:

• Engaging and Educational: Your students will be excited to play the role of a geologist solving the clues to find the hidden gems within the dig site.
• Critical Thinking Skills: By having to cross-reference information from multiple task cards, students practice comprehension, critical thinking, and attention to detail.
• No-Prep Needed: Simply print the task cards and hand them out to your students! It’s ready to go with minimal prep.
• Flexible Usage: This scavenger hunt can be used independently, as a group activity, or even as a fast-finisher task. It works perfectly as a history lesson, or as a fun, educational activity!

Ideal for Different Learning Styles

Whether done individually or in groups, this scavenger hunt provides the perfect opportunity for students to collaborate and share ideas as they solve the puzzles. If students are working independently, it gives them a chance to practice self-paced learning while still engaging with the science background on soils, rocks and landforms.

Perfect for History Lessons or Fun Themed Activities This activity fits seamlessly into your classroom’s history curriculum. It’s a perfect way to introduce and reinforce learning about soil, weathering (chemical and physical), erosion, deposition, fossils, types of landforms and how they are created.

This Soils, Rocks and Landforms Scavenger Hunt is not only a fun, no-prep classroom activity, but it also ensures that students gain a deeper understanding of science while developing important reading and comprehension skills. Bring the excitement of the search for the rare gems into your classroom with this adventure-packed scavenger hunt.

Looking for an exciting way to teach your students about soils and weathering? This New York State Escape Room is the perfect blend of social studies content, close reading, and gamified learning! In this activity, students will explore the geography of New York State including cities, landmarks, and state/country/body of water borders through an engaging close reading article and four unique challenges.

Overview of the Activity: Students begin by reading a two-page informational passage about New York state geography, borders, cities, important landmarks within the state, etc.. The article includes essential vocabulary like state, city, lake, country, border, river and mountain, providing a solid foundation for students before they tackle the four interactive challenges.

Each challenge targets a different skill:

• Challenge 1: Matching vocabulary terms to their definitions (reinforcing social studies concepts).
• Challenge 2: True/false questions based on key facts from the reading (to build comprehension).
• Challenge 3: Multiple-choice questions (testing understanding of key concepts).
• Challenge 4: Identifying the paragraph where certain information is found (developing close reading skills).

For each correct answer, students receive a clue—a one-digit number. After completing all four challenges, students use their numbers to solve a final puzzle and “escape” the room.

**Why Use Close Reading?:**Close reading is an instructional approach that encourages students to carefully analyze and interpret a text. In this escape room, students must return to the passage multiple times to find the answers to the questions, helping them:

• Improve their reading comprehension.
• Strengthen critical thinking skills.
• Become more independent readers who can tackle complex information.

Benefits of Gamified Learning: Using an escape room format transforms a traditional lesson into an adventure! Students love the thrill of solving puzzles, working together, and completing challenges, which boosts their engagement and motivation. Here’s why gamified learning is a hit in the classroom:

• Increases engagement: Students are naturally motivated by challenges and competition, making learning more interactive and exciting.
• Enhances problem-solving skills: Escape rooms require students to use logic and critical thinking to solve clues and progress through tasks.
• Encourages teamwork: As students collaborate, they practice communication and teamwork, skills essential for success in group settings.

**Perfect for Social Studies and Literacy Integration:**This escape room seamlessly integrates social studies content with reading comprehension, making it a powerful resource for interdisciplinary learning. While students strengthen their understanding of New York State geography, they’re also developing literacy skills by interpreting information, analyzing key details, and practicing vocabulary.

Whether you’re teaching about New York states borders, geography within the state itself, or just looking for a fun, engaging way to challenge your students, this New York State Escape Room is sure to captivate their attention while reinforcing key learning objectives.

Introduce your students to the thrilling no prep Ancient Egyptian Scavenger Hunt! This engaging and interactive activity puts students in the shoes of a detective trying to find a long lost burial site of an unknown pharaoh who was said to have more riches than even King Tutankhamun.

Each student, or group of students, will receive 10 reading task cards related to Ancient Egypt, how the Egyptians modified their environment, how they used their local resources, the role of artifacts and archaeological features. The task is not only to read the cards but to solve 10 questions—the catch is that the answer to each question is found on a different card, encouraging students to read all the information thoroughly.

How It Works:

• Students will need to determine the code word for each card by answering the fill-in-the-blank questions.
• Once all the code words have been found, students must unscramble the letters from each code word to discover the final mystery word.
• In addition, they will collect clues to uncover a 4-digit code, which will help them successfully complete their journey.

Failing to unscramble the mystery word or crack the 4-digit code will result in the tomb remaining sealed forever, and the expedition will be lost to the sands of time. However, completing the mission means students will have made one of the greatest discoveries in history, uncovering the forgotten pharaoh’s solid gold burial site, filled with unimaginable riches, artifacts, and secrets of Ancient Egypt!

What Makes This Activity Perfect for Your Classroom:

• Engaging and Educational: Your students will be excited to play the role of an explorer while learning about Ancient Egypt and how the Egyptians used/modified their environment.
• Critical Thinking Skills: By having to cross-reference information from multiple task cards, students practice comprehension, critical thinking, and attention to detail.
• No-Prep Needed: Simply print the task cards and hand them out to your students! It’s ready to go with minimal prep.
• Flexible Usage: This scavenger hunt can be used independently, as a group activity, or even as a fast-finisher task. It works perfectly as a history lesson, or as a fun, educational activity!

Ideal for Different Learning Styles

Whether done individually or in groups, this scavenger hunt provides the perfect opportunity for students to collaborate and share ideas as they solve the puzzles. If students are working independently, it gives them a chance to practice self-paced learning while still engaging with the history of Ancient Egypt.

Perfect for History Lessons or Fun Themed Activities This activity fits seamlessly into your classroom’s history curriculum. It’s a perfect way to introduce and reinforce learning about Ancient Egypt.

This Ancient Egypt Scavenger Hunt is not only a fun, no-prep classroom activity, but it also ensures that students gain a deeper understanding of history while developing important reading and comprehension skills. Bring the excitement of the search for the Ancient Egyptian burial site into your classroom with this adventure-packed scavenger hunt.