A Wrinkle in Time - Chapter 1

Study guide for 1st – 3rd Grade

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Copywork

About This Passage

This one sentence is rich practice for a young writer: it opens with a describing phrase ('Curled up on one of her pillows'), paints a vivid picture (a gray fluff of kitten, its pink tongue), and strings four actions together with commas (criteria A, B, C, and E). The sleepy, contented kitten is also the quiet opposite of wakeful, worried Meg, who soon tells it she wishes she were 'a kitten and not a monster.'

Curled up on one of her pillows, a gray fluff of kitten yawned, showing its pink tongue, tucked its head under again, and went back to sleep.

Full copywork activity with handwriting lines available in the complete study guide.

Discussion Questions

Narration Prompt

Tell someone what happens in this chapter, in order. Start in the attic with Meg, move to the kitchen with Charles Wallace and Mother, and end with the strange visitor. Slow down at the part you think matters most.

Discussion Questions

  1. When Meg looks in the mirror and calls herself ‘a monster,’ what do you think she is really showing us about herself? Tell what part of the chapter helps you decide, and why she might feel this way.
  2. People in town call Charles Wallace ‘not quite bright,’ but in the kitchen he knows just what Meg needs before she even speaks. What does this chapter show Charles Wallace is really like, and why might other people still get him wrong? Tell what part of the chapter helps you decide.

+ 2 more questions in the complete study guide

Vocabulary Builder

Item 1

Acting very worried and in a wild hurry.

Item 2

High, sharp, and piercing in sound.

Item 3

Strange in a way that is hard to explain.

+ 6 more vocabulary words in the complete study guide

Critical Thinking

+ 4 more questions in the complete study guide

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