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    Once Was A Time Teacher Guide

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    ChronicleBooks
    Teacher Guide

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    Once Was A Time Teacher Guide

    Uploaded by

    ChronicleBooks
    108 views4 pages
    Teacher Guide

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    Once Was a Time Teacher Guide

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

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    Teacher Guide

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    108 views4 pages

    Once Was A Time Teacher Guide

    Uploaded by

    ChronicleBooks
    Teacher Guide

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4

    C OMMO N C OR E- AL I GNE D TEACHE R GU I DE

    LEILA SALES

    ABOUT THE BOOK


    In the war-ravaged England of 1941, 10-year-old Charlotte Bromley and her best friend Kitty McLaughlin do their best to
    ward off the misery and deprivation of the period: they read (and re-read) A Little Princess; they play games of imagination;
    they stick together in the face of bullies and mean girls. But they can’t keep out the specter of war entirely. Lottie’s father
    is Professor Bromley–a scientist devoted to studying time travel for the British government–and when his studies lead to
    an astonishing breakthrough the Germans will covet for their own, Lottie must decide between the present and a portal
    to somewhere else. She must decide between her family and Kitty, and the promise of safety. But her choice has huge
    consequences, and when she finds herself in another time and another place, not knowing the fate of her best friend, she
    knows that somehow, someway, she must find her way back to her friend.

    978-1-4521-4009-4 · $16.99 HC
    978-1-4521-4377-4 · $13.99 E-Book
    ages 9-12 · f&p text level gradient: w · lexile® measure: 760l

    ABOUT THIS GUIDE


    This teacher guide contains discussion questions and activities aligned with the Common Core State Standards.
    See inside for reference to the Reading and Writing strands and grade-specific standards.

    1
    PRE-READING ACTIVITIES
    journal entry: friendship
    Ask students to write a journal entry on the following topic. Explain that they will not be required to share this
    entry with
    others, but should consider it a chance for self-reflection on a subject essential to the novel:
    What qualities do you most value and look for in a friend? Explain. In terms of friendship, which statement would
    you agree with more: “birds of a feather flock together” or “opposites attract”?

    journal entry: what 1f?


    Ask students to write a journal entry on the following topic:
    If you could travel to any time in the past or the future, would you do it? If yes, where and when would you choose to
    travel, and why? If no, why not?

    Optional: assign the journal entry as a take-home assignment. Ask students to bring in an image from the Internet
    of the time and place they’d like to journey to.

    Have students share their responses. Direct the class to discuss these follow-up questions:
    • Would you still choose to time travel if your return to your life was not guaranteed? Why or why not?
    • If you knew that your return was uncertain, what one thing, or one person, would you choose to bring
    with you on your journey? Explain.
    • If you could return to your everyday life, what new perspective would you hope to gain from your journey?
    For example, do you think you would appreciate certain aspects of your life more? Would you approach
    your life differently in any way?

    correlates to ccss rit.9-12.7, w.9-12.7, 9-12.8, sl.9-12.2, 9-12.4, 9-12.5.

    WHILE READING: TEXT-BASED QUESTIONS


    1. At the end of Chapter 1, Kitty says, “‘I would never, ever leave you. If I go through a portal someday, I’m
    taking you with me’” (10). This is an example of foreshadowing, a literary device that an author uses
    in order to hint at what’s to come later in a story. What might you predict will happen in the novel based
    on Kitty’s statement? What other examples of foreshadowing do you spot in the opening chapter?
    2. In a comparison chart, list three adjectives that you would use to describe Kitty and three adjectives
    you would use to describe Lottie. Be prepared to support your descriptions with the textual evidence that
    prompted you to draw your conclusions.
    3. Lottie’s mother leaves the family and then her father disappears from their home a few months later.
    Missing parents are a key theme in adventure stories. Brainstorm several examples from other stories you
    know in which parents are absent or missing entirely. Why do you think this pattern exists? How does it
    affect the story line? What about the main character?

    2
    4. Carefully review the passage at the end of Chapter 5 in which Lottie makes the fatal decision to jump
    through the time-travel portal. Why do you think Lottie doesn’t even try to pull Kitty through with her?
    Was there any indication earlier in the story that Lottie would make this decision?
    5. In Chapter 9, Lottie has the startling experience of reading the obituaries of her family members and of her
    best friend. What kinds of revelations does Lottie have when reading these life snapshots? What questions
    do they raise for her? What does she particularly notice about Kitty’s obituary? How is she affected by it?
    6. The French saying “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose” roughly translates to “the more things change,
    the more they stay the same.” The author gives us an idea of Lottie’s English life in the 1940s at the
    beginning of the novel before switching the setting to the United States in 2013. Lottie copes with
    enormous changes as she is thrust into the future. However, some things remain stubbornly the same
    between the two settings. Describe what has changed, and what has not. Does the author offer any
    suggestions about how these norms can change?
    7. “Ever so occasionally, you come to a moment when everything about you is tested. When you must decide,
    with one action, what kind of friend and person you want to be” (138). Lottie comes to a harsh conclusion
    about herself at the end of Chapter 15. Do you agree that her decision to jump through the time portal
    makes her a bad friend and person?
    8. Lottie explains that bullying Jake is the first way she pays penance for betraying Kitty. Discuss
    her reasoning.
    9. The longer Lottie stays in her new life, the more her new identity is forged. She begins to lose her accent
    and memories of the past. How much of a role do your memories play in your sense of self-identity?
    10. Lottie comes to a realization when she sees Jake with his family: that you can have a home-self and a school-
    self. Do you have different sides of yourself that you show at home, at school, or elsewhere? If you shut out
    one self for long enough, do you think you can lose that part of yourself?
    11. One risk that Lottie faces when she travels to Italy is disappointment. She says, “‘[I]t’s easier not to get
    something when you’d never even hoped for it in the first place’” (242). Do you agree or disagree? Would
    Kitty agree with her friend?
    12. “I was Charlotte, whoever that might turn out to be” (125). Often, the farther we travel from home, the
    better we can understand it—and ourselves. What greater understanding does Lottie gain about her former
    life and herself from traveling to the future?

    correlates to ccss rl.9-12.1, 9-12.2, 9-12.3, 9-12.4, 9-12.5.

    3
    AFTER READING
    lottie’s reading list
    Lottie is a voracious reader, devouring the town library’s catalog starting from the letter A. The following is a catalog of the
    books listed in Once Was a Time:

    A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgson Burnett

    The Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

    Skellig, by David Almond

    The Babysitters Club #4: Mary Anne Saves the Day, by Ann M. Martin

    The Giver, by Lois Lowry

    The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak

    Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt

    Peter and the Starcatchers, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

    Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, by Judy Blume

    A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness

    Read one or more of the books on Lottie’s reading list. How do these books inform Lottie’s education? That is, how do
    these books teach Lottie about her own life and influence the way she confronts challenges? Use specific examples in your
    discussion. What books have played a key part of your education?

    ESP
    For fun, define the term ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception) for students. Locate an online set of Zener cards. Pair students up
    and have them try out their telepathic skills.

    correlates to ccss w.9-12.7, 9-12.8.

    about the author


    Leila Sales grew up outside of Boston, graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of
    Chicago, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. By day she is an editor at Viking Children’s Books,
    and she is also the author of three critically acclaimed YA novels as well as short essays for the Daily Beast,
    the Huffington Post, Publishers Weekly, the Hairpin, and elsewhere. Her website is Leilasales.com, and
    she is on twitterat @LeilaSalesBooks

    FOR MORE INFORMATION OR QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS TEACHER GUIDE, CONTACT JAIME WONG AT JAIME_WONG@CHRONICLEBOOKS.COM.

    CHRONICLEBOOKS.COM/CLASSROOM

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