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Teaching When You Reach Me

When you Shmoop me.

  • Activities: 14
  • Quiz Questions: 109

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Single parents. Wacky '70s clothing. Creepy time-travel.

Yup: this recent YA classic (Stead's book won the Newbery in 2010) pretty much has it all. And our teacher guide does, too.

In this guide, you'll find

  • DIY science fairs—hey, it's what the book's protagonist would want.
  • reflective epistolary writing to examine the book's structure and its purpose.
  • a characterization activity based on prizes and, our fave, post-'70s inflation.

What are you waiting for? Get going with this teaching guide before the students can't handle the suspense and flip ahead to the book's retro, amazing conclusion.

What's Inside Shmoop's Literature Teaching Guides

Shmoop is a labor of love from folks who love to teach. Our teaching guides will help you supplement in-classroom learning with fun, engaging, and relatable learning materials that bring literature to life.

Inside each guide you'll find quizzes, activity ideas, discussion questions, and more—all written by experts and designed to save you time. Here are the deets on what you get with your teaching guide:

  • 13-18 Common Core-aligned activities to complete in class with your students, including detailed instructions for you and your students. 
  • Discussion and essay questions for all levels of students.
  • Reading quizzes for every chapter, act, or part of the text.
  • Resources to help make the book feel more relevant to your 21st-century students.
  • A note from Shmoop's teachers to you, telling you what to expect from teaching the text and how you can overcome the hurdles.

Want more help teaching Teaching When You Reach Me?

Check out all the different parts of our corresponding learning guide.



Instructions for You

Objective: Why do we yawn? Why do cats land on their feet? How does skin heal itself? How does time work? There are tons of things in this world that people question. After a brief discussion to get their brains in motion, your students will each choose their own mystery, briefly research it, create a poster, and present it.

Since this is a mini-research project, one to two days should suffice. If you want something more in depth or a written report also, add more time.

Materials Needed: Poster board and supplies; computers and Internet; additional research sources (books, magazines, etc.); pen and paper; copies of the book

Step 1: Turn to Chapter 7 in the book, the day Sal got punched and Miranda was carrying her Mysteries of Science poster home. Ask students the following questions:

  • What was Miranda's mystery?
  • What are some other mysteries out there? (You might want to jot some of these on the board for Step 2.)
  • What did Miranda include on her poster? (7.4)

Step 2: Give students a few minutes to choose a mystery to research. It might help them to talk it out in small groups or with a partner. They might choose something that you know has an answer, which is great because then they'll find the answers to their question. They also might not, though, which is equally cool.

Step 3: Have the kiddos get out pens and paper. They need to do two things:

  • Write down the focus of the research. (i.e. How do bees find their way home?)
  • Think about and write their own theory. (i.e. They follow sounds like a trail.)

It's important kids do this before they research so they actually have a theory before potentially finding out the answer.

Step 4: Go over the guidelines for the projects. Here they are:

  • Include theories for your mystery, both other people's and your own.
  • Include the answer to the mystery if it has been solved.
  • Use words and illustrations.
  • Include a title.
  • Keep it neat and interesting.
  • Find info from at least three sources (and make sure they're legit). 
  • Cite your sources.

Step 5: Now it's time to research and take notes. There are lots of places to find info. Here are a few to hook your students up with:

Step 6: Once they're done researching, give students time to synthesize their info on posters.

Step 7: Set aside class time for everyone to present. This can be done whole class or in small groups to save on time, but either way, get excited to learn something new from your class.

Instructions for Your Students

Objective: Why do we yawn? Why do cats land on their feet? How does skin heal itself? How does time work? There are tons of things in this world that people question. After a brief discussion about life's mysteries, you'll choose a mystery to briefly research, create a poster about, and present.

Step 1: Turn to Chapter 7 in the book, the day Sal got punched and Miranda was carrying her Mysteries of Science poster home. Consider the following questions:

  • What was Miranda's mystery?
  • What are some other mysteries out there? (You might want to jot some of these on the board for Step 2.)
  • What did Miranda include on her poster? (7.4)

Step 2: Which of the many mysteries out there interests you? Choose one of them to research.

Step 3: Get pen and paper out do two things:

  • Write down the focus of your research. (i.e. How do bees find their way home?)
  • Think about and write your own theory. (i.e. They follow sounds like a trail.)

Step 4: Here are the guidelines for your project:

  • Include theories for your mystery, both other people's and your own.
  • Include the answer to the mystery if it has been solved.
  • Use words and illustrations.
  • Include a title.
  • Keep it neat and interesting.
  • Find info from at least three sources (and make sure they're legit). 
  • Cite your sources.

Step 5: Time to research and take notes. There are lots of places to find info. Here are a few to get your started:

Step 6: Got lots of info? Good. Now put it all together on your poster.

Step 7: Present what you found out and enjoy learning fun facts from your peers.