Novel Studies for Grades 6 and 7: The Call of the Wild and Treasure Island
Novel studies for Grades 6 and 7: The Call of the Wild and Treasure Island
Two adventure classics, each with a full teaching route. Students read the book chapter by chapter, then step back to look at a literary lens and write about it, and the teacher guide holds the answers.
See the novel studiesIn short: Each unit gives every lesson an explanation with a worked example, a supported practice page and an application case. The Call of the Wild (Grade 7) has nine lessons: seven chapter guides, then naturalism as a literary lens and a closing lesson on character, theme and argument. Treasure Island (Grade 6) has eight lessons covering the six parts of the novel, map and inference work, and persuasive and narrative writing. Students read the novel itself; the units do not reproduce it, and a free primary-text link is provided.
Choosing a text
Which novel suits which class
The two books suit different readers. Jack London's The Call of the Wild follows the dog Buck through a harsh northern landscape. It has seven chapters and a strong theme of survival, which makes it a natural Grade 7 choice for asking how setting and instinct shape a character. Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island is a pirate adventure narrated by a boy, Jim Hawkins. Its 34 short chapters are grouped into six parts, and that structure gives Grade 6 readers clear places to stop and check what they have understood.
Many schools teach one book in each year, and the units are written that way: Treasure Island for Grade 6 and The Call of the Wild for Grade 7. In the UK and Australia the same units sit roughly in Year 7 and Year 8, since Year = US grade + 1. If you teach a mixed Grade 6 and 7 class or a multi-age homeschool group, you can run both books at once with different reading groups, because the lesson pattern is the same and your instructions do not change.
The Call of the Wild
Nine lessons for a seven-chapter novel
The Call of the Wild unit gives every chapter its own guide: 1 Into the Primitive, 2 The Law of Club and Fang, 3 The Dominant Primordial Beast, 4 Who Has Won to Mastership, 5 The Toil of Trace and Trail, 6 For the Love of a Man and 7 The Sounding of the Call. Each lesson has an explanation with a worked example, a practice and explanation page, and a case card where students apply the idea.
Two more lessons lift the reading above the plot. Lesson 8 introduces naturalism as a literary lens, so students can ask how nature, instinct and environment push Buck's choices. Lesson 9 turns to character, theme and argument, where students gather their evidence into a claim about the book. Two vocabulary pages, a learning check and a project (brief, record and a reflection page) finish the unit. In total it has 35 classroom pages and a 14-page teacher guide.
Treasure Island
Eight lessons built around six parts
The Treasure Island unit follows the novel's own structure: Part I Chapters 1–6, Part II Chapters 7–12, Part III Chapters 13–15, Part IV Chapters 16–21, Part V Chapters 22–27 and Part VI Chapters 28–34. A book of 34 chapters can lose a Grade 6 reader, so the unit adds 17 chapter inquiry pages, each covering two chapters, which gives 34 chapter prompts in all. Students read the chapter and build evidence on the page before you discuss it.
Lessons 7 and 8 step away from the plot. Lesson 7 covers map, setting and inference, a good fit for a story that begins with a treasure map. Lesson 8 asks students to write persuasive and narrative pieces. The unit has 49 classroom pages, and the 22-page teacher guide includes nine chapter-key pages for the inquiry work.
Reading the book
The novel is not in the box
Neither unit reproduces its novel. Each includes a free primary-text link, and your students need access to the book for the chapter reading. Decide early how the reading will happen: whole-class reading aloud, partner reading in class, or chapters read at home before the lesson. The tasks ask students to work from evidence in the text, so a lesson where half the class has no copy turns into a summary exercise.
A short routine helps with both books. Give students the chapter or part before the lesson, ask them to mark one line they want to talk about, and open the lesson by sharing those lines. It takes five minutes and shows you who has read closely. The practice pages then have something to build on.
Checks and feedback
What the teacher guides give you
Each teacher guide has answers and teaching notes for every lesson, an assessment key with feedback, and a section on differentiation and observation. The Treasure Island guide also includes the chapter keys. That means you can mark a set of case cards against expected responses instead of writing every comment from scratch.
Both units come with editable DOCX text editions and a 17-slide presentation for introducing and wrapping up lessons. The text and images were created with AI assistance, and sources and the AI disclosure are in each teacher guide.
Pacing
A planning guide for both books
The units give no timings, so this is a planning suggestion rather than a fixed schedule. Allow one period per lesson and add periods for chapter reading.
| Phase | The Call of the Wild (Grade 7) | Treasure Island (Grade 6) |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | How-to page and Lesson 1, Into the Primitive | How-to page and Part I, Chapters 1–6 |
| First half of the story | Lessons 2 and 3 | Part II, Chapters 7–12, and Part III, Chapters 13–15 |
| Second half of the story | Lessons 4, 5 and 6 | Part IV, Chapters 16–21, and Part V, Chapters 22–27 |
| Ending | Lesson 7, The Sounding of the Call | Part VI, Chapters 28–34 |
| Lens and skills | Lesson 8, Naturalism as a literary lens | Lesson 7, Map, setting and inference |
| Writing | Lesson 9, Character, theme and argument | Lesson 8, Persuasive and narrative writing |
| Check and project | Learning check, project brief, record and reflection | Learning check, project brief, record and reflection |
Resources
The novel studies and what goes with them
The two units come first. The Middle School ELA Bundle adds an argument writing unit and a poetry unit, and the complete curriculum covers the whole of Grades 6–8.
The Call of the Wild | 9 Lessons, Chapter Guides & Naturalism | Grade 7
Treasure Island | 8 Lessons, 34 Chapter Prompts & Map Work | Grade 6
Middle School ELA Bundle | The Call of the Wild, Treasure Island, Argument & Research and Poetry | 4 Units | Grades 6–8
Argument and Research | 8 Lessons, 3 Text Sets & Citation | Grade 7
English Language Arts Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for Middle School ELA
Grade 6 ELA Pack | Grammar, Writing Prompts, Word Study & Reading
What you get
What is inside each unit
- Seven chapter guides for The Call of the Wild, plus naturalism and a lesson on character, theme and argument
- Six part guides and 17 chapter inquiry pages for Treasure Island, with a lesson on maps and inference
- Answers, chapter keys and an assessment key with feedback in each teacher guide
- Editable DOCX text editions and a 17-slide presentation with each unit
- A learning check and a project with brief, record and reflection in both units
- A free primary-text link for each novel, so students can read the original
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Questions teachers ask
Frequently asked questions
Do the units include the novels?
No. The novels are not reproduced. Each unit provides a free primary-text link, and students need access to the book for the chapter reading.
Which grades are the units written for?
The Call of the Wild is written for Grade 7 and Treasure Island for Grade 6. In the UK and Australia they sit roughly in Year 8 and Year 7.
Are answers included?
Yes. Each separate teacher guide has expected responses and teaching notes for every lesson. The Treasure Island guide adds chapter keys, and both have an assessment key.
How long does each unit take?
The material gives no timings, so plan by lesson. Allow about one period for each lesson, plus time for reading the chapters and for the project.
Can I edit the pages?
Yes. Each unit includes editable DOCX text editions of the classroom material and the teacher guide. The PDF is the print reference.
Are the units endorsed by a state or exam board?
No. TeachLessons is an independent publisher. The units are written with Common Core-style reading and writing expectations for Grades 6 and 7 in mind, and they are not approved, endorsed or certified by any state, district, department, ministry or exam board.
Teach both books, and add argument and poetry
The Middle School ELA Bundle holds The Call of the Wild, Treasure Island, Argument and Research and Poetry: Read, Think, Create for $74.99, compared with $109.96 for the four units bought separately.
See the ELA bundle