The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Unit Lesson Plan

This extensive unit plan for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is completely designed around the philosophy of developing close reading skills and text based responses which require supporting evidence for nearly every aspect of each chapter of the novel. The novel unit is completely original and has been keenly tuned to address a wide range of learners with varying reading comprehension skills. In short, this unit will help all students to look closely at Haddon’s craft and encourage them to write thoughtful, in depth responses and support their ideas with evidence from the text.
The 117 page unit plan includes the following:
 A Table of Contents outlining the five sections of the entire unit

Part I: Over 45 pages of printable daily lesson plans and graphic organizers that include specifically tailored writing activities for each chapter of the novel
• Every activity requires the students to engage in close reading and provide textual evidence for the majority of their responses
• Every lesson can be taught using a myriad of teaching styles:
 Partner or neighbor cooperative pairs
 Small groups for cooperative learning
 Individual or independent practice
 Homework
• Every lesson is intently crafted to be used with smart board technology
• All lessons are able to be reproduced and photocopied
• There is a balance between the aesthetic appeal of each lesson and the practicality of black and white photocopying
• Each lesson is set up as a self-contained graphic organizer with explicit instructions on how to complete the day’s activity
• There is a “Focus and Review” writing assignment for each lesson to assist in fostering a brief class discussion on the previous day’s material
• Each lesson also has a “Closure” writing activity encouraging students to reflect on the key ideas discussed during the day’s lesson
• Any daily lesson can be collected and graded
• Any daily lesson can be collected to assess individual and class comprehension




Part II: Homework Assignments
• 15 individual homework assignments spread over 27 pages
• Aligned to the Common Core State Standards with an emphasis on close reading and textual evidence for student responses
• Intended to expand and elaborate on the day’s lesson or assigned along key plot points during the novel’s progress to review larger thematic issues

Part III: Transition Words and Phrases
• A list of over 100 words and phrases used to assist students in writing strong, complex sentences
• Appropriate for all grade levels and skill levels

Part IV: Unit Tests
• Two separate assessments, each consisting of 50 questions
• Both have individual answer keys

Part VI: Daily Quizzes
• Over 100 short questions requiring students to give a one or two word response
• Intended to ensure the students read closely for homework
• A useful tool to assess individual and class reading comprehension
• Acts as a review of the nightly reading assignments before beginning the day’s lesson