Story Summary

The circus has arrived in Bear Country, bringing excitement, neon lights, and a whole midway of games. But something isn’t right. As the cubs explore the attractions, they notice that no one ever wins any good prizes, and the adults seem strangely charmed by Ralph Ripoff’s promises. When the cubs discover that the games may be crooked, they face a moral dilemma: expose the dishonesty and risk ruining Dr. Gert’s fundraiser or stay quiet and let the fraud continue.

Their investigation leads them into the Funhouse a place filled with eerie illusions, mechanical monsters, and clues that reveal the truth about Ralph, Captain Billy, and the entire circus operation. The cubs must overcome fear, make ethical choices, and work together to uncover the truth. “The Funhouse holds all the clues.”

This resource includes comprehension questions, word study, creative tasks, journal prompts, whole‑novel activities, and reproducible worksheets.

Learning Outcomes

Students will:

• follow instructions and respond to routine questions and directions
• use reading strategies to improve comprehension of narrative text
• identify grammar, punctuation, and text features that support meaning
• use media texts for entertainment and information
• produce simple written texts for a specific purpose and audience
• make connections between events, characters, and personal experiences
• identify consequences of decisions and actions in daily life
• describe right and wrong behaviour in making a transaction
• follow safety rules and describe ways to obtain emergency help
• communicate using gestures, tone, and basic oral language structures
• identify changes in themselves, others, and the world around them

Introduction Includes

Teacher Notes

• Introduction
• Novel Summary
• Learning Outcomes
• Author Biography
• How to Use This Unit
• Reading Partners
• Activity Cards
• Booklets
• Whole Novel Activities
• Teacher Input Suggestions
• Questions for Discussion
• Vocabulary
• Extension Activities

Chapter‑by‑Chapter Activities Student Booklet

• Chapter Questions
• Word Study
• Creative Tasks
• Journal Prompts
• Novel Extension Activities

Students will need a dedicated place to record their answers, as the chapter‑question pages are not designed for writing directly on them. Before beginning the author study, set students up with a workbook or folder system so their responses stay organized and easy to assess.

Each chapter (or pair of chapters) includes:

• Comprehension Questions Critical thinking about plot, character motives, honesty, fear, fairness, and moral decision‑making.
• Word Study Skills include rhyming, compound words, antonyms, consonant blends, synonyms, double letters, syllables, vowel sounds, and hard/soft C.
• Creative Tasks Drawing carnival maps, designing Funhouse advertisements, creating contracts, writing letters, planning events, and illustrating scenes.
• Journal Prompts Personal reflections on fear, fairness, friendship, dishonesty, excitement, and moral choices.

Novel Extension Activities

1. Story Report Students identify setting, characters, problem, and solution.
2. Venn Diagram Compare two characters (e.g., Ralph vs. Captain Billy).
3. Personality Chart Identify traits with evidence from the text.
4. Questions for Characters Students write five meaningful questions they would ask any character.
5. Feelings Chart Identify three emotions in the story and explain who felt them and why.
6. Character Descriptions Write descriptive sentences for each main character.
7. Matching Game Create character envelopes and match descriptive words.
8. Puppets Build a character puppet with a descriptive sign.
9. Painting Paint the most exciting part of the story and write a description.
10. Main Events Identify one major event from the beginning, middle, and end.

Start saving TIME today!

We give you 100's of NO PREP! lessons to download so you can do what you love! TEACH! 

Take the leap and join today!