Hatchet Novel Study

About this resource

Teaching Hatchet and writing the questions the night before? This novel study for 5th, 6th and 7th grade does that work. It is made for use with the novel by Gary Paulsen (the book is not included; students need their own copy, any edition). The story is divided into six parts by what happens. For every part: a question page with five questions on ruled lines, four short answers and one Think Deeper. For every two parts: a page of ten words to look up. Around them: a Brian tracker, a page for the people and animals around him, four key terms to find and think about, four themes (survival, resilience, self-reliance, nature), sentence starters, and an essay planner with three prompts and a lined draft page. Every question, term and word has an answer key.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (36 pages)

• 18 student pages, every one with a name line, one instruction, and ruled lines or table cells with room to write
• Before You Read: 5 statements to agree or disagree with, revisited at the end
• 6 question pages, one per part: 30 questions in all, 3 ruled lines under a short answer, 5 under each of the 6 Think Deeper questions
• 3 word pages: 30 words to look up, 10 per two parts, with columns for the page found, the student's own meaning and their own sentence
• Brian, Part by Part: a tracker with a row for each part
• The People and Animals Around Brian: Brian, his mother, his father, the pilot, the moose and the porcupine (6 entries)
• Key Terms, 2 pages: the hatchet, gut cherries, foolbirds and the emergency transmitter (where, what it means, why it matters)
• Themes: 4 themes defined, the student chooses 2 and finds evidence for each
• Sentence Starters: 13 starters for claims, evidence, explanation, then-and-now and endings
• Essay Planner with 3 prompts (claim, three pieces of evidence, so what, ending) and an Essay Draft page
• 6 answer keys: every question (three parts per page), the key terms, the 30 words, the people and themes, and the tracker and Before You Read pages, each with a notes box for your own wording
• A Reading Plan: one-line synopsis of each part, its study pages, and a blank for the chapters in your edition and your dates
• 1 reading log (one row per student page), 1 class grid (15 students), 1 filled example for an invented student
• 1 family page with a discussion question per pair of parts, 1 phrase bank of 16 feedback and conference starters
• 1 binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and terms of use

Built For Grades 5 To 7

No mascots and no clip art. Clean pages, body text at 11 point or larger, a numbered question and ruled lines under it. The direction on every question page is the same: answer in complete sentences, with a detail from the story. The word pages ask students to look each word up and use it, and to write the page where they met it. The crash, hunger and an injured-animal encounter are handled plainly in the questions; preview them for your class.

Type In, Or Print

The name, date and period lines, every ruled line, the word and character tables, the reading log, class grid and family page are type-in fields in any PDF reader. Every page prints clean in black and white. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Upper elementary and middle school ELA, resource rooms and co-taught classes, homeschool families and tutors reading this novel in any month. Several questions are open, with a "look for" key, so check the part notes against the edition in your room before you grade.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A complete novel study with the record-keeping around it. There is no rubric or point value printed on any student page; the log has a blank for your own wording. It is not a test, a reading-level screener or a clinical tool, and it makes no claim about any student's grade level or rate of progress. The novel itself is not included and none of its text is reproduced.

This resource is not affiliated with or endorsed by Gary Paulsen, his publisher, or the owners of Hatchet.