The Cay Novel Study & Assessment

Are you teaching The Cay by Theodore Taylor and need a comprehensive, engaging, and standards-aligned novel study unit? This 47-page The Cay novel study & assessment is packed with everything you need to bring this survival story to life in your middle school ELA classroom! With a blend of pre-reading activities, chapter-by-chapter comprehension questions, engaging text-based tasks, quizzes, and writing assessments, your students will analyze key themes, characterization, and textual evidence while staying fully engaged in the reading.

This The Cay literature unit is ideal for:

• Full novel studies
• Daily ELA reading comprehension practice
• Common Core literature standards
• Independent reading activities
• Review for literary analysis assessments

Here’s what’s included in this The Cay resource:

✅ Two Smart Board Notebook files on Direct & Indirect Characterization + Introduction with Map
✅ Anticipation Guide to build student engagement before reading
✅ Introductory worksheet with a Caribbean map to explore the setting
✅ Common Core-aligned comprehension questions for Chapters 1–15 (in grouped chapter worksheets)
✅ “What Would You Need to Survive?” activity—perfect for making real-world connections
✅ Direct and Indirect Characterization worksheet
✅ Mid-unit short answer assessment to check understanding
✅ Pop Quizzes for Chapters 10, 11 & 12
✅ “Creating the Island” project using text evidence (student favorite!)
✅ Silent Reading reflection activities (2 included)
✅ Text-to-Self and Text-to-World connection tasks (2 included)
✅ Novel review sheet to prep for final assessment
✅ The Cay-themed word search
✅ Final essay assessment aligned to literary response standards

This complete The Cay novel unit is ready to print and teach! Perfect for whole class instruction, literature circles, small groups, or independent work, this resource will save you hours of planning while helping your students master key reading standards and literary analysis skills.

⭐ Great for grades 6–8
⭐ Aligned with CCSS
⭐ Ready-to-use and editable components