Alice in Wonderland Unit Study:
Introduction

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is a great choice for a high-interest literature unit study. While this story is primarily about the girl Alice, there are plenty of other characters that would interest boys.

As with many classics, there are several versions of Alice in Wonderland on the market. The edition that I am using for this unit was originally published by Classic Press, Inc. in 1969.

The literature unit itself will be published in the following way:
Introduction
Part I: Chapters 1 - 2
Part II: Chapters 3 - 4
Part III: Chapters 5 - 6
Part IV: Chapters 7 - 8
Part V: Chapters 9 - 10
Part VI: Chapters 11 - 12 and concluding activities


Each part will include suggested vocabulary, comprehension questions, activities, and miscellaneous useful links.

http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/People/rgs/alice-table.html has the full text of the Alice in Wonderland available for download or reading on the net.

Book Summary from Bibliomania.Com:
Lewis Carroll is best remembered for this story, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking Glass, both of which are children's books with content and style that have often appealed as much to adult readers as to the young. It was published in 1865 and was in fact with a particular child in mind, Alice Liddell, and had the working title "Alice's Adventures Under Ground". As befits that title, the tale is indeed of a trip (with the additional psychedelic sense certainly intact for the modern reader) beneath normal existence. Alice follows a certain White Rabbit down from the riverside in a dream. This alternate reality follows its own internal logic and is therefore not merely an excuse for fantasy. This logic is played out by now well-known characters such as the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, the Mock Turtle, the Cheshire Cat and the March Hare whose tea parties and games have taken their place in the folklore of the real world through generations of readers. The story has no moral dimension to speak of and is therefore unusual for nineteenth century children's literature, but it does extol caution and other common sense values in the often foolish choices made by Alice that take her deeper into the strange dimension. Its popularity among adults has led to it being translated into Latin.



These are some introductory activities to prepare for the reading of Alice in Wonderuland.

My first suggestion to you would be to find a biography of Lewis Carroll. Carroll was a rather interesting character in his own right. Even if you don't read a full biographical sketch of his life, several of the links below lead you to information which will help you gain a better understanding of Lewis Carroll:

http://www.insite.com.br/rodrigo/text/lewis_carroll.html
http://www2.ijs.si/~brane/carroll/dodgson.html
http://www.top-biography.com/9258-Lewis%20Carroll/
** http://www.lewiscarroll.org/info.html


Arts and Crafts:

Arts and Crafts are wonderful ways in which to expand on a theme or story. I've listed several themed crafts below that you may want to do before or concurrently with while reading Alice in Wonderland. I'll also add others through out the various parts of this unit that are specifically appropriate to the various chapters.

Rabbit Crafts from DLTK:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/rabbits.html

Rabbit Craft Projects:
http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/rabbitcrafts/

Rabbits at Enchanted Learning:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/rabbit.shtml

Directions for a crocheted "Alice" air freshener:
http://www.fibrecraft.com/html/freecrochetalice.html

Snack and Food Ideas:

You can actually add some math into your reading by incorporating cooking into your lesson plans. There are fractions, measurements, addition, subjection, geometry and more as you make themed snacks. Below are some ideas that I've used myself as well as some that I've found across the web and by talking to other mothers and educators.

BUNNY RABBIT SALAD

Create this bunny salad on a lettuce leaf.
Body: 1 canned pear half
Nose: cherry, at narrow end of pear Eyes: 2 raisins, on pear, just above the cherry nose
Ears: 2 almonds, stuck into the pear above the eyes
Tail: a small cauliflower at the wide end of the pear half

HEDGE HOG PARTY SNACK

INGREDIENTS
Small head of cabbage or lettuce
Low-fat ranch dressing or low-fat fruit yogurt
Assorted fruits and veggies such as:
cherry tomatoes
seedless grapes
pineapple chunks
strawberries
olives
pepper chunks
carrot rounds
celery slices
zucchini rounds

INGREDIENTS/MATERIALS
Large plate
Coloured toothpicks
Small bowls, one for each dip


1. To make a foundation for the Hedge Hog, slice bottom off cabbage to create a flat surface. This is the Hedge Hog's body! Set this on large plate, flat side down.
2. Stick toothpicks all over the cabbage to form "quills" for the Hedge Hog.
3. Stick small pieces of fruits and veggies onto the quills, enough to cover the whole hog.
4. Set out bowls of dip
5. Snackers can pull the quills from the Hedge Hog, dip, and eat the goodies on each quill.

MOUSY SALAD

First place a lettuce leaf on the plate, then create this mouse
Body: 1 canned pear half (narrow end is the head)
Nose: small piece of cherry
Eyes: 2 currants or raisin halves
Ears: 2 marshmallow slices (easily cut with scissors)
Tail: 1 green bean

Having a tea party of any kind would mimic both the Victorian historical period the book is set in as well as several of the scenes in the book.

Eeyore's Snack Page

Lessons on the Internet:

http://www.thinkquest.org/library/lib/site_sum_outside.html?tname=10977&url=10977/carroll/
http://falcon.jmu.edu/~ramseyil/carroll.htm
The synopsis of the 1951 Disney movie about "Alice in Wonderland".
http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/programs/alice/
http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?ID=286
http://www.heysmarty.com/bookportal.asp?portalid=34>


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