the giver job assignment activity

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The Giver: 7 Creative Classroom Activities

A perennial favorite with educators, The Giver has been widely taught in schools since its publication in 1993. Over the years, Lois Lowry’s dystopian classic has inspired the creation of countless thought-provoking classroom activities for students. We’ve rounded up a few of our favorites below.

(Please note, in most cases these activities are adapted from several different sources. We’ve included links to relevant lesson plans where possible.)

1. The Giver Job Fair

As a class, compile a list of some of the jobs members of the Community are assigned at the Ceremony of Twelve.

Place each assignment in an envelope and have students pick one at random. Ask each student to complete a job application for the position they received, including the traits and qualities they feel the ideal candidate would possess.

• Lesson plan. 

Lucy Knisley, via picturebookreport.com

2.  The Giver Memory Book

As a class, come up with a list of common emotions—anger, fear, joy, excitement, etc. Ask students to compile personal memories they associate with each emotion in a journal. Students might choose to include photos or drawings along with their written memories.

Have each student choose a memory to “transfer” to the class, paralleling how the Giver transfers memories to Jonas. Discuss as a group whether there are any memories they might choose to forget, if it meant they would also forgo the emotions associated with the event (shame or trauma, for example).

• Lesson plan.

Via thecreativeplace.blogspot.com

3.  The Giver Travel Brochure

Have students use multimedia tools and persuasive language to design a travel brochure for the Community. Students should consider aspects of Community life that might inspire tourists to visit, or families to relocate there. For example, they might include information on the local economy, government, schools, climate, transportation system and job opportunities.

• Lesson plan. ($ )

Robert’s Resources, teacherspayteachers.com

4.  The Giver in 90 Seconds

Have students work in teams to create 90-second video adaptations of The Giver to submit to the Newbery Film Festival. Rather than try and cram every detail of the story into a minute-and-a-half, students should explore ways to add their own creative flair to the narrative. For more information about the festival, click here .

Example of a submission:

[wm_video id=”KmqNb7QANoo”]

5.  The Giver Book Cover Redesign

The iconic cover of The Giver features a photo taken by Lois Lowry of an old man she met while researching an article in Maine. In her 1994 Newbery acceptance speech, Lowry told the story of how the man served as her inspiration for the character of the Giver.

“In the summer of 1979, I am sent by a magazine I am working for to an island off the coast of Maine to write an article about a painter who lives there alone. I spend a good deal of time with this man, and we talk a lot about color.

It is clear to me that although I am a highly visual person – a person who sees and appreciates form and composition and color – this man’s capacity for seeing color goes far beyond mine.

I photograph him while I am there, and I keep a copy of his photograph for myself because there is something about his face – his eyes – which haunts me.

Later, I hear that he has become blind.

I think about him – his name is Carl Nelson – from time to time. His photograph hangs over my desk. I wonder what it was like for him to lose the colors about which he was so impassioned. Now and then I wish, in a whimsical way, that he could have somehow magically given me the capacity to see the way he did.”

As a class, talk about the emotions Lowry’s cover evokes. Next, consider some of the elements of a successful book cover. Does it draw the reader in without revealing too much of the plot? Does it stand out on the shelf? Ask each student to design their own book cover for The Giver around an aspect of the story that resonated with them.

Amanda Miller via behance.net

6.  The Giver Emotional Rainbow

Hang sheets of different colored paper around the room, with a notepad next to each color. Have students spend 30 seconds at each color, writing down the emotions the color inspires in them. When the time is up, have the students shift to the next color station.

After everyone has rotated through each station, review with the class the emotions inspired by each color. Were they consistent? Discuss why certain colors may have inspired negative emotions, while others inspired positive emotions.

Via design-emotion.com

 7.  The Giver Community Newspaper

Have the class create a newspaper for the Community, following a traditional front page layout. What sort of news might make the headlines? Consider the implications of “news” in a culture of Sameness.

• Lesson plan. ($)

via presentationmagazine.com

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The Giver: 8 Creative Class Activities

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a teacher’s dream novel. The complex dystopian plotline, dynamic characters, and thought-provoking themes provide so many opportunities for teachers to foster text-to-self and text-to-world connections. Critical thinking activities that allow students to empathize with the characters are a must-have in any novel unit. Below are 8 of my favorite activities for The Giver   that do just that.  

1. The Ceremony of 12 Simulation

This first activity is always a class favorite. It allows students to empathize with Jonas and his friends as they are assigned careers by the Chief Elder during the Ceremony of 12 .

How This Activity Works:

Welcome students to the classroom with a colorful poster for The Ceremony of Twelve. Once they are all settled, immediately transform into The Chief Elder. Address the class explaining that although they have spent the last 11 years learning to fit in and standardize their behavior, that this ceremony will celebrate their differences. Then, one-by-one present each student with their new job and a designated card that states all of the roles and responsibilities. After each student gets their assignment, have the rest of the class say in unison, “Thank you for your childhood.”

Give your students a choice of assignment. They can either fill out an application for a job switch or write a journal discussing their feelings on their new role in the community!

2. Seeing Beyond Activity

In The Giver , Jonas has the capacity to ‘see beyond.’ This means that Jonas, unlike the other members of the community, can use his senses from memory that allow him the ability to see color. This fun, seeing beyond class activity allows students to step into Jonas’ shoes to understand his ability to see beyond.

Students enter the classroom to a colorful poster welcoming them to Seeing Beyond. Ask them to circulate the room to different areas that have hidden image optical illusions. Some will be able to see the hidden pictures, while others will not.

After the activity, students work with partners to discuss how they felt when they were or were not able to see the hidden image. They will also discuss how it felt to successfully or unsuccessfully help someone else see the image and how this relates to the novel.

3. Memory Transmission Activity

Through his role as The Receiver, Jonas receives transmitted memories of the past from The Giver. This FREE memory transmission activity allows students to empathize with both Jonas and The Giver as they will both receive and transmit memories. This one has always been a real hit with my students!

Put a colorful poster on the door welcoming your class to The Giver’s Annex. Then, transform into The Giver and give each group of students descriptions of new memories that Jonas will receive.

Some of the memories involve painful memories, like homelessness, while others involve more positive memories like Neil Armstrong’s arrival on the moon! Students discuss prompting questions that will have them understand the value of keeping the world’s memories safe. After all the memories have been transmitted, they will shift into the role of The Giver. In this role, they will transmit one important historical memory to Jonas of their choosing.

4. The House of Old Activity

The elderly in The Giver are seemingly treated with the utmost respect and care in The House of Old , but the reader soon learns that things are not as positive as they appear. The elders of the community are killed (a.k.a released from society). This activity allows students to examine how the elderly are treated in different cultures/countries in the world and how this compares to how they are treated in Jonas’ community.

Students will enter the classroom to a colorful poster welcoming them to The House Of Old. They participate in small group discussions with information cards that provide details about how the elderly are treated in different cultures. When they are done, they fill in the blank card with how the elderly are treated in the novel and share with the rest of the class!

5. Dream Sharing Activity

In Jonas’ community, everyone must share any dreams they have with their family members. On the surface, dream sharing seems like a good way to keep open communication about inner feelings. In reality, however, it is another way that the government can keep control of the thoughts of their citizens and squash any independent thinking. This activity allows students to interpret their own dreams and consider what deeper meaning their dreams may have.

After reading chapter 6, a poster welcoming them to Dream Sharing greets students at the door. Break the class up into groups of 4 and tell each group to imagine they are family members. Each group receives dream prompt cards with common topics for dreams that have symbolic meanings. Each student shares a dream they remember which connects with one of the topics. If they can’t connect with any topic, they can share any dream they remember.

After everyone has shared their dreams, give each group the Dream Interpretation Cards that explain the symbolic significance of each dream topic. Students discuss and reflect on how it felt to reveal a dream and consider whether or not this would be a good practice in their everyday life.

6. A World Without Pain Activity

In Jonas’ community, members are sheltered from feeling any physical or emotional pain. While this theoretically seems like a peaceful way to live, Jonas soon learns that feeling no pain desensitizes people and doesn’t allow them to appreciate positive emotions. From pain, people are also able to learn from mistakes and avoid making those same mistakes again in the future. This activity brings this idea to the forefront by showing students a real-life example of someone who feels no pain.

Students work in groups to read information about people who feel no physical pain. You could have them research Gabby Gingras or Ashlyn Blocker, for example. As a group, students discuss whether or not they would like to live a life without physical pain and what challenges they might face if they chose yes. Then, they work with their group to brainstorm a list of advantages and disadvantages to living a life free of emotional pain.

7. The Telling of Feelings Activity

Jonas and his family participate in a nightly ritual called The Telling of Feelings  where each person describes an emotion that they experienced during the day and discusses it with the others. Help students understand what this ritual would be like by forming classroom families and simulating the practice.

After reading chapter 2, put students into groups. It is preferable that groups consist of two boys and two girls, but it isn’t necessary. Tell them that the group is their new family and they are to assign roles (parents and siblings).

Each student gets a “Feelings Card” that they fill out in preparation for the ritual. Students must choose a precise word that describes a feeling they had that day. Each member of the group shares their feelings while the other members listen carefully.

After the ritual, have students discuss whether or not they could see themselves doing this with their family, if it would make a family closer, and why they think this is a required ritual in Jonas’ community.

8. Family Forming Activity

In The Giver , couples can only have 2 children as mandated by the government. While this may seem completely removed from the modern-day, this activity will teach students about China’s one-child policy and allow them to consider how it relates to the novel.

This activity works best with a bit of pre-reading discussion. Students discuss how they would react if the government limited the number of children they could have. Ask them if they think this could or would ever happen.

After some discussion, have them read an article or watch a video on China’s one-child policy. I have students record their thoughts as they read using a graphic organizer. The one I use has them consider their thoughts, what they learned, and something that surprised them. Ask students to make a connection between this policy and the events of the novel.

Grab a ready-to-use unit plan with over everything you need to teach  T he Giver (340 pages/slides of eye-catching powerpoints, printable assignments, questions, vocabulary, and interactive class activities) by  clicking here .

I hope you found this helpful! If you are interested in more tips and resources for developing students’ reading skills in ELA, click here.

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5 Engaging Activities to Teach The Giver

After jumping into the world of middle school ELA, I have to say that The Giver is my new Gatsby . In other words, it’s my new favorite whole-class novel. It’s even better than Gatsby (sorry, old sport), and it’s such a gem of a book that it just might keep me teaching middle school forever! The Giver is engaging, thought-provoking, and accessible! My favorite part of teaching it is watching how inquisitive, curious, and invested my students become as they read. The book definitely sparks a lot of curiosity on its own, but I deliberately teach this book to hook and engage students from the start! I love to play up the “mystery” of it all, encourage students to ask lots of questions, take note of all the interesting things they observe, and start guessing about what’s really going on in the community. 

If you’re ready to similarly engage your students, then here are 5 of my favorite activities for teaching The Giver !

1. PRE-READING LEARNING STATIONS

Learning stations are my favorite strategy for hooking my students before reading. They’re so versatile, engaging, and effective that I use them at the beginning of almost every single unit/novel! A good set of pre-reading learning stations will preview essential background information AND spark students’ curiosity before they have a chance to turn to page 1. 

For The Giver, here’s what that looks like:

• Students learn about the genre (dystopian/science-fiction).
• Students debate essential questions through an engaging anticipation guide.
• Students explore the differences between utopias and dystopias.
• Students preview and react to a few of the community’s strict rules.
• Students play a creative word challenge game designed to get them thinking about the power of language in the book!

As you can see, these activities hook and prepare students for further reading! These print/digital pre-reading learning stations are available separately HERE or bundled with other resources for The Giver HERE. For more information about creating your own learning stations, check out the following blog posts:

• 10 Reasons to Implement Learning Stations
• How to Create Engaging Learning Stations
• How to Facilitate Successful Learning Stations
• 10 Ideas for Virtual Learning Stations

2. MOCK CEREMONY OF 12

Chapter 8 of The Giver is practically begging to be acted out in front of an audience of middle schoolers, so take advantage of this and host your own mock Ceremony of 12. It’s a tiny bit of extra effort and work, but I promise you it’s worth the memorable experience. Not to mention, a mock ceremony is a great way to review the chapter, spark connections, and facilitate rich discussions! Here’s what I did to host our Ceremony of 12:

• I created Assignment cards for different jobs in the community. During the ceremony, I assigned these randomly!
• I wrote up a script so I didn’t have to totally wing it as the Chief Elder.
• I designed ceremony programs for my students, so they could follow along during the ceremony. These programs also prompted them to answer a few essential questions and reflect on the chapter/ceremony.

On the day of the ceremony, I donned a black gown (from my college graduation) and a wig (at my students’ request). I also sported a gavel just for fun, and of course, I acted as ridiculous as possible. The whole experience was so much fun for me and my students! 10/10, definitely recommend!

You can find all of these mock ceremony materials, as well as thorough teacher instructions, in this growing unit bundle for The Giver.

3. QUESTION TRAIL

A question trail is my go-to activity to mix things up and break the normal routines of any novel unit! If you’re unfamiliar with it, a question trail is a unique, kinesthetic activity that gets students up and moving on a “trail” of questions around the classroom. 

This activity consists of different multiple choice “stations” or “spots” around the room. At each station, students answer a multiple-choice question. Each answer (a, b, c, or d) will send the students to a different station. If students answer each question correctly, they will travel to each station and complete a full circuit. If students answer a question incorrectly, they will eventually find themselves at a station they’ve already completed, which tells them that they need to backtrack. This gives you clear, immediate feedback so you can see who is getting it (“on the trail”) vs. who is not (“off the trail”).

This means a question trail is a great way to review a chapter with both comprehension and analysis questions. I like to do a question trail after Chapters 16-17 of The Giver, just to make sure students are understanding the book and the standards we are practicing before the climax in Chapter 19. Of course, you can create your own question trail for any chapter/s in the book. If you’re interested in my student-ready question trail for Chapters 16-17 of The Giver, you can check it out HERE. To learn more about how to create question trails, head to this blog post.

4. ACTING OUT CHAPTER 19

When you spend so much time cultivating students’ curiosity and playing up the mystery of “release,” it only makes sense to do this dramatic chapter justice! My students read most of the book for reading homework, but I purposefully do not assign Chapter 19 as reading homework! I selfishly want to witness their reactions to learning what “release” really means. To make the most of this scene, I like to transform the chapter into a script and have students act it out in front of the class. 

Don’t feel pressured to buy props or get too fancy.  In fact, using baby dolls as props might be taking it too far! Because it was 2021, my class ended up using two identical bottles of sanitizer spray for the newchildren twins. Yep, it got that weird, but it was hilarious. If your students are anything like mine, this will make for a memorable reading experience and give you a great chance to reflect, discuss, and process the chapter after the acting!

5. THE GIVER FILM ANALYSIS

I absolutely love facilitating film analysis during/after reading novels, and The Giver is no exception! Film analysis is an engaging, accessible way to scaffold the challenging skill of literary analysis. With the right structure, guidance, and questions, watching a movie can prompt critical thinking and spark rich discussions. I know many fellow ELA teachers don’t like the film adaptation of The Giver because it changes so much from the book, but I think it offers the perfect opportunity for discussion & analysis. 

In addition to asking students to compare/contrast the text and the film, try asking them why they think the film directors made certain changes and how these changes affect the audience. These kinds of questions spark more thoughtful insight and engaging discussions. For print/digital worksheets with these types of questions, check out these The Giver Film Analysis resources. For more information on successfully facilitating film analysis for any novel, head to this blog post!

I hope these ideas help you jumpstart your unit planning for The Giver ! For more engaging activities and resources for teaching this book, check out this growing unit bundle full of learning stations, quickwrites, vocabulary resources, and more! If you have any questions about these activities or how I teach The Giver, leave them below and I’ll do my best to answer. 🙂

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6 Suggested Activities with “The Giver”: Jobs, Colors, Equality, Emotion, Euthanasia Debate and an Alternative Ending

• Keren Perles
• Categories : English lesson plans for middle school
• Tags : Teaching middle school grades 6 8

What’s Your Job?

The best lesson plans are those that require students to connect what they’ve read to their own lives. Have each student write at least five phrases that describe their strengths and weaknesses, and collect them on your desk. Read each paper aloud (without mentioning the student’s name), and ask the class to decide which job that person would do best. Then have each student write a response about how they would feel if that job were chosen for them, as well as whether they would see themselves choosing that job on their own.

Colors and Emotion

Begin class by telling students to make a list of the colors of the rainbow and encourage them to brainstorm an emotion that best matches each color. Have students share their ideas with the class. Then discuss how this exercise can help them understand why Jonas’s world contains no color, as well as why the visions from the Giver do contain color. (This character analysis may be helpful for students to reference.)

Alternatively, photocopy several pictures from a history or science textbook (or another source) so that they are in black and white. Choose pictures with a lot of action or emotion in them. Then have students compare the black and white versions of the pictures with the color versions of the pictures. This can help students understand how color can help to show emotion as well.

Write the question “Is equality important?” on the board. Although some students will understand what you are referring to, others may volunteer that equality is very important, and will give their reasons for why this is so. Have students break into groups and discuss the ideal type of equality, contrasted with the equality shown in “The Giver.” Have one student in each group take notes, and let everyone in the group use those notes to write a short summary of the discussion. Then call on one student from each group to share their ideas with the class.

Euthanasia Debate

Mention to students that euthanasia, or mercy killing, is one of the main topics discussed in the book. Encourage the students to debate whether euthanasia is ethical or not. Have them use examples from the book in their arguments. (The anti-euthanasia side will find support from the book, and the pro-euthanasia side will have to counter that support by explaining why euthanasia in Jonas’s world is different from euthanasia in our world today.)

Alternative Ending

Many students are discontent with the ending of “The Giver.” If this is the case in your class, a good last activity before putting aside the novel is having them write an alternative ending that they think would be more satisfactory. (You should first make sure that they understand the general sequence of events in the novel by reading this novel summary .) This can be given as homework or as an extra credit assignment, depending on time constraints and student interest.

A Novel Study in Society

Essential Questions: Does conflict strengthen or weaken society? Individuals? What is the balance of independence v. interdependence?

Anticipation Activity

Presentation

Discussion Goal: Acknowledge new information expressed by others and, when warranted, modify their own views.

"Imagine" Lyrics

VS. “ What a Wonderful World ” Lyrics

Utopian Poetry

Utopia is a place where everything is perfect.

Utopia comes from the Greek ou = no and topos = place. Utopia means “no place.”

Goals: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text. Compare/Contrast with second text and relate to The Giver.

Opinion Writing

Free Write in a Short Paragraph *

What’s the ideal society ?

What makes societies “work” or function ?

Support your answer with specific examples.

*Click to get more information and a graphic organizer for the paragraph.

Main writing goal: Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

Book Cover Introduction

Goal: Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and analyze how the author distinguishes his or her position

Thematic Art

The Giver Book Trailer

• What do you think the book is going to be about?
• How does the title connect to the story?
• Knowing that it is a science-fiction story, what predictions can you make?
• Lois Lowry talks in this video at the top of this post about how “The Giver” came to be, and she talks in this brief interview about all the ways young-adult fiction has changed since she published The Giver two decades ago.

Objective : Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

Week 1 Discussion Questions

• What is the society's reaction to eye color? Based upon their reaction, what can we infer about what this society values or deems important?
• Why had the apple intrigued Jonas? What prediction can you make based on this information?
• List 2 positives and 2 negatives to The Giver’s Society.
• Review what you think a “perfect” society is and compare your ideas with The Giver’s Society

Writing Activity Guide

Use the activity guide as you read through the novel.

Objective : By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 6-8 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.

Giver Assignment Activity

Before CH 7

Offering choice allows for freedom but does it allow for failure?

Imagine living in the Giver Society and you have been given your assignments….

Objective : Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).

If you could pursue any career, what would you choose? Why?

What qualities are important to you when considering the kind of work you’d like to do in your life?

How would this career impact society?

Reading Comprehension

Describing Ages

Helpful Resource for Describing Ages

Edvard Munch

• Ask questions-

What do you wonder?

• Higher-level Analysis & Questioning
• Annotate for a specific standard .

2. Use your annotations and respond to the prompt.

• You just read ___ now think about ___ now write ____.

Characterization

Use the following characterization web to make predictions about the story.

Characterization Group Activity

Jonas Characterization

Text to Text

Read the poem by Emily Dickinson to see how “truth” and is validity has been questioned throughout history and into present day.

Objective : Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of rhymes and other repetitions of sounds (e.g., alliteration) on a specific verse or stanza of a poem or section of a story or drama.

Giver Writing

Personification & The Book of Qualities Mini-lesson

Objective : Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.

Celebration of Unique Identities Writing Assignment

Giver Argumentative Writing

Freedom vs. Security Socratic Seminar

Objective : Write arguments to support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence.

Black & White Thinking

The Giver’s Society PMI

Investigating the Impact of Color (1 of 2)

1. Watch and critique this video explaining color and its effects.

• Turn & talk: Draw a conclusion regarding what thematic role color plays in our world.

2. View the following presentation and interpret what your life would be like without color.

• Select 3 things that you notice while watching the slideshow using your background knowledge of how color impacts perspective.

Objective : Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content. Engage in critical thinking through individual and peer discourse.

Investigating the Impact of Color (2 of 2)

3. Develop and support a position regarding color’s significance to you as an individual by completing this writing reflection.

Extension Reading

Listen and analyze this Ted Talks to assess various types of leadership.

What does leadership look like in The Giver ? Is it effective?

Objective: Delineate a speaker's argument and specific claims, evaluating the soundness of the reasoning and the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.

Cause & Effect Writing

End of CH 10

Jonas’s Assignment

Jonas’s Changing �Perspective

• Graphic Organizer 2

Objective : Introduce a topic clearly, previewing what is to follow; organize ideas, concepts, and information, using strategies such as cause/effect.

Ch 11 Exit Slip

Record your answers in your composition notebook.

In 3 steps: Explain how training of the Receiver of Memories proceed.

Record 2 ways that Jonas has changed as a character in chapter 11( think: acts like, thinks like).

Make 1 prediction you have about Jonas' training. What in the novel made you think that?

Non-Fiction

Memory and Memory Receivers

• Read : “The Memory Lady’s Daughter Tries to Fill the Gaps,” in which Beth Thompson writes about her role in helping her elderly mother — a wonderful storyteller — remember her past.
• Reflect: on the end of the essay when she says:

I care for the generations before and after me. I live the lives of both, and my head is full of names. I don’t expect my children will memorize every detail of my life and guard and conserve my memories for me. That is why I prepare myself now. I try to imagine losing my memory, my starkest talent, my most characteristic feature. I try to imagine who I will be without it. I try to imagine myself as my mother, alone without her partner who shared her memory, trying to sweep everything up before it blows away.

3. Write a list following prompts: What role does memory play for you? In your family? In any of the communities you are a part of? How much of your parents’ stories do you know? What would be lost (think thematically) if, as in “The Giver,” those memories were gone?

Text to Self Connections

Memory Book

Text to World Connections

After CH 17

How Important is History?

• In 3 vivid words describe the interactions of Jonas' family; give text evidence to support.

2. Find 2 new or challenging vocabulary terms. Write the definition based upon the context clues ; state context clues.

3. Make 1 prediction about the twin's release. State where in the text led you to make the prediction.

An Ending for “The Giver”

When Lois Lowry first wrote “The Giver,” she never intended the story to continue. In this interview , she explains why she went on to write a series:

When you wrote “The Giver,” you did not plan any sequels. So why did you eventually decide to write three more?

I was somewhat surprised to find that readers — more kids than adults, I think — were distressed by the ambiguity of the ending. I didn’t think I needed to think about it anymore, but letters continued to come reminding me that I did. Nowadays it seems as though people sit down to write what they know is going to be a trilogy. I don’t know how they know, but it never occurred to me back when I wrote that first book.

Does the ambiguity of the ending bother you? Are you glad she continued the story, or do you wish she’d never written the sequels? When you first finished the book, what did you think might happen to Jonas and Gabriel? Why?

Literary Analysis

Think, Pair, Share

Plot Mapping

Complete the plot map on The Giver.

Genre Study

Non-Fiction Connections

• Read Why is dystopia so appealing to young adults?
• Then answer the questions here .

NY Times Text to Text

Non-Fiction Comparative Text

Preamble, Constitution

Preamble Assignment

Thematic Connections

Power of Words

Compare t hese two poems to discover the power of words through connotation.

Think about how our society looks at sameness and differences. Complete the following activity with your group.

Concepts and ideas discussed in the novel.

Short Story Connections

Read the following short story and complete a venn diagram that compares & contrasts it to The Giver.

"Harrison Bergeron"

Venn Diagram Worksheet

Cinematic Analysis

Compare and contrast the film to the novel.

Contrast to the film essay

Essential Questions

• What’s the ideal society?
• What makes societies “work” or function?
• What defines a society?
• What impacts society?

Related Resources

• Learning Network Resource | Ripped From the Headlines and Applied to the Classics: Ideas for Pairing Fiction and Nonfiction
• Learning Network Classic Lit Collection
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | Discussion Guide for Lois Lowry’s “The Giver”
• Learning Network Lesson | Teaching Orwell and ’1984’ With The Times
• Learning Network Lesson | The Odds Ever in Your Favor: Ideas and Resources for Teaching ‘The Hunger Games’

The Giver Lesson Plans

Lesson Plans and Ideas for Teaching The Giver

11 Activities for The Giver

Whether you substitute teach or have your own classes, you can never have too many quick activities and assignments on hand to fill the gaps that sometimes arise.

Here are 11 good ones that will fit well with The Giver , but can also be used with any novel, play, or short story.

And if you really want to save time and reduce your workload, download this full unit plan for The Giver and enjoy stress-free teaching for weeks.

1. Create a Quiz Students create a quiz for the novel, short story, or play being studied.

They can use an online quiz-making site like quizyourfriends.com, or do it the old-fashioned way with pen and paper.

2. Character Horoscope Students write a horoscope fortune for one of the characters in the text.

The horoscope should fit with the character’s personality and experiences in the story.

3. Create a Wordle Students use wordle.com to create a piece of text art that represents important characters, events, and themes from the text.

4. Write an Epilogue Students write an epilogue describing what happens to each of the important characters after the story ends.

5. News Article Students pretend to be journalists and write a newspaper article describing important events from the story.

They should read a few newspaper articles to get a feel for the style of writing and try to mimic it.

You can also ask them to include quotes from witnesses and experts, and an image.

6. Movie Poster Students imagine the story has been made into a movie and create a movie poster to promote it.

The poster should resemble real ones, with exciting images, quotes from movie critics, and the name of the star(s).

7. Character Trading Cards Students create character cards (like baseball cards) that demonstrate their understanding of an important character from the text.

They can use the online Character Trading Card Generator at ReadThinkWrite.org, or do it the old-fashioned way with pen and paper.

8. Status Updates Students create a series of facebook-style status updates written from the perspective of an important character in the story.

The updates should show an understanding of the character’s voice, and of the important events in the story.

9. Postcard Students write a postcard from one character in the story to another.

They should consider where the postcard should be from, what the image should be, and what the character might say to the other.

10. One-Sentence Story Students summarize the entire story in one sentence.

You can limit the length of the sentence to force them to boil the story down to it’s core, or have them write absurdly long sentences covering all the important details.

11. Headlines Students write a series of newspaper headlines that describe the main events of the story.

Set the number of headlines required as befits the length of the text.

One thought on “11 Activities for The Giver”

Thank you for these activities. I have used variations of most of them, but a few are new, and others I hadn’t thought of using with The Giver.

Comments are closed.

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The Giver Teaching Ideas

• By Gay Miller in Book Units

November 21, 2016

• Middle School Novel Study

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The Giver by Lois Lowry Lesson plans and other teaching resources

Lois Lowry The author's official site.

Teacher Guide to The Giver How might students use storyboards to demonstrate and to extend their learning? Check the resources here. Includes essential questions, plot diagram, character maps, exploration of dystopiansocieties, key themes, motifs and symbols, vocabulary, and more. Note: Storyboard That helps sponsor this site.

Text to Text: The Giver and "The Dark Side of Young Adult Fiction" This article pairs the novel with a nonfiction article from The New York Times. It also provides some biographical information about Lois Lowry and includes a video interview with her.

The Giver A message from the author, booktalk, pre-reading activity, thematic connections, interdisciplinary projects, vocabulary, and related titles.

The Giver A black-and-white activity designed as a followup to the novel.

The Giver Students explore the effect of different colors as an introduction to the idea of "no-color" in the book.

The Giver Designed for grades 7 and 8, this novel guide includes theme openers, crosscurricular activities, research assignments, and related readings.

The Giver : 7 Creative Classroom Activities Job Fair, Memory Book, Travel Brochure, 90-second Video Adaptation, Cover Redesign, Emotional Rainbow, Community Newspaper. Great ideas for helping students connect to the text.

The Giver Educator's Resource Guide Discussion questions, writing prompts, cross-curricular connections, debate topics. academic vocabulary like irony , turning point . Designed to accompany the 2014 film. 28 pages; Adobe Reader required.

The Giver — Authority A unit lesson that will have students be researchers and recorders in the process of finding information on Utopian societies, cults and authority. Students will complete a Powerpoint, Glogster, essay or news broadcast by the conclusion of the essay.

The Giver : Crossword Crossword puzzle with answers. Access requires Adobe Reader.

Memories Matter: The Giver and Descriptive Writing Memoirs From the site: "By discussing the importance of having a written history of humanity, and the ways in which prior knowledge and life experiences influence others, students soon realize the horror of Jonas's utopian society. This understanding generates a keen interest in the descriptive writing of students' own history."

Teaching Problem Solving Through The Giver In this blog post a teacher describes a prewriting strategy that helped students narrow a topic before writing an argument paragraph.

Vocabulary from The Giver Words are presented in context and with definitions. Click on a word for pronunciation, examples of recent use, more.

Word Search: The Giver This 2-page printable requires Adobe Reader for access, includes answers.

Word Unscramble: The Giver A list of 16 scrambled words drawn from the book. This 2-page printable requires Adobe Reader for access, includes answers.

Lois Lowry Links to lesson plans for other works by Lowry.

the giver activities

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The giver activities

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"Book Bits": a Fun Pre-reading Activity for The Giver

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