The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Pre-Reading

SEL Check

On this

Ghost-scale,
How are you

feeling today?

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What spooky stories/legends do

you know about?

The Legend of Sleepy

Hollow

By Washington Irving

Today’s Learning

Targets:

★

Learn, listen, and
discuss background
information for a
specific text

★

Use context clues to
understand unknown
words

★

Identify Figurative
Language and use
inferencing

Essential
Questions

How does figurative
language impact a

story?

How can we use

inferences to

understand a text?

What is a superstition? Are you

superstitious?

Poll

Check any superstition that you believe

• Friday the 13th is bad luck

• Finding a penny on the floor is lucky

• Ghosts are real

• It is bad luck for a groom to see the bride before the wedding

• Walking under a ladder is bad luck

Background

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Legendary American author Washington Irving published “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in

1820.

In the late 1700s, the little village of Sleepy Hollow, New York, was haunted. Quite literally. People

far and wide knew the village’s reputation for being the stomping grounds for hundreds of

ghosts, the most famous of which is the Headless Horseman.

The tale follows schoolteacher Ichabod Crane, who moves from Connecticut to Sleepy Hollow.

Main Characters

Ichabod Crane

A native of Connecticut, Ichabod Crane comes to

Sleepy Hollow to work as a schoolteacher and

singing master. He is tall and extremely thin with a
huge appetite and a certain amount of greed. He is

especially interested in ghost stories and the

supernatural, because he believes in it.

Main Characters

Katrina Van Tassel

The only child of a wealthy farmer, Baltus Van

Tassel, Katrina is eighteen and universally known
for both her beauty and her riches. She is also a

flirt. She is one of Ichabod Crane’s singing

students, and she is the object of his desires.

Main Characters

Brom Bones

Brom, short for Abraham, is boisterous, burly, and

the hero of the area, known for his heroics and

feats of strength, for which he earns the

nickname Brom Bones. He is especially for

skilled on horseback. He is mischievous, but he is

often motivated by goodwill.

Vocabulary: Context Clues

Jonny flung off his
coat and boots then
sat in a chair in the
living area, brooding

Multiple Choice

What does the word "Brooding" mean?

• Excited

• Crying in sorrow and grief

• Unhappiness of thought (Anger)

• Burning feeling on the skin

Vocabulary: Context Clues

Mitchell was a skinny,
gangly sophomore who
stood awkwardly in the

corner.

Multiple Choice

What does the word gangly mean?

• Fat and happy

• Tall, skinny, and awkward

• Full of food and extremely full

• A group of people who hang out

Vocabulary: Context Clues

I was nervous as I
climbed the rickety

flight of stairs.

Multiple Choice

Choose the picture that would represent the word "Rickety"

Vocabulary: Context Clues

He walked through
dense bushes in the
forest, a thicket he

was not prepared for.

Multiple Select

Choose three words that you would use to describe a "thicket"​ ​ ​

• bush
• dense
• building
• trees
• pizza

Vocabulary Review

Brooding
Unhappiness of
thought (Anger)

Gangly

Tall, skinny, and

awkward

Rickety
Poorly made;

unsteady

Thicket
Dense bushes

Fill in the Blanks

Categorize

Options (4)

She was as brave as a lion

The cloud was a bucket of cotton candy in the sky

She was like a mouse as she tried not to wake her parents.

She was a storm cloud when she barged in the room.

Label these sentences as either similes or metaphors

Similes

Metaphors

Multiple Choice

Which one of these would be a hyperbole?

• The clock was as loud as a firecracker

• That plane ride took forever

• He was a statue in front of the crowd.

• Time is money

​Stage Directors & Knickerbocker	​Hesik
​Martha	​
​Ichabod Crane	​
​Ida	​
​Katrina Van Tassel	​
​Hans Van Ripper	​
​Brom Bones	​
​Stefan	​
​Baltus Van Tassel	​
Yost	​
Wolf	​
New Schoolmaster	​

Noun Verb and adjective practice: https://wordwall.net/resource/38494342/parts-of-speech/noun-verb-adjective-sort