Less than $5 Higher Education Literature Games (by date, oldest first)

These three pre-reading activities are the perfect introduction to the literature unit for The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne. The activities are anticipatory and get students in the mindset of Puritan and Colonial New England life, put in the shoes of the community members of those times, learn some initial vocabulary, and have the opportunity to tie this all together by writing what they think the novel is about based on these pre-reading activities.

What does this product include?

• One debate/discussion slideshow with 15 statements such as, "People should always be forgiven for their mistakes, no matter how serious the mistake."
• One group/class game "Secret Sinner"
• One printable worksheet with 8 vocabulary words such as "redemption" and "ostracism" for students to match with the definition. This worksheet has an added game in which when all the vocab words have been matched with their definition, students will unscramble the secret word (which is another vocab word), and they have space to write what they think the novel, The Scarlet Letter, is about based on the vocabulary words

How should I use these activities in the classroom?

You will ultimately determine how these three activities can be used, and they truly can be used in whichever order you see fit. And if you have a class full of students who are completely unfamiliar with the plot of The Scarlet Letter, I suggest completing the slideshow first, the Secret Sinner game second, and the worksheet third (or send it home as homework).

Grab the annotation-supported digital and print copy of the novel here.

Review by coloring digitally! Or download and save as a PDF!