Teach A Long Walk to Water With Confidence: A Complete Three-Unit Study for the Middle School ELA Classroom

If you plan to teach A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park and want a structure that supports both you and your students from the first lesson to the final project, this comprehensive three-unit study is designed to make that possible. It offers a clear path through the novel while giving students the tools they need to become strong readers, thoughtful thinkers, and informed global citizens.

Across six to eight weeks, students explore Salva Dut’s real-life refugee journey and Nya’s daily struggle for water with a mix of close reading, engaging activities, authentic research, and standards-aligned writing tasks. The unit is rigorous but scaffolded, making it accessible for a range of learners.

What This Three-Unit Study Includes

You’ll have access to over 340 pages of resources, a 279-slide PowerPoint, detailed lesson plans, and editable materials that can be adapted to your students’ needs. Every lesson includes a mix of reading, discussion, writing, and interactive learning—so students stay engaged while developing essential ELA skills.

Unit One: Building Background Knowledge and Close Reading Skills

The first unit helps students understand the historical and cultural context of the Second Sudanese Civil War and the Lost Boys before they dive deeply into the novel. Students practice close reading using task cards aligned to authentic articles from reputable news sources. Reader’s notes support comprehension as they track key events and characters.

To deepen understanding, students participate in activities that explore how culture, gender, time, and place influence Salva and Nya. This unit concludes with a mid-unit and end-of-unit assessment to measure students’ early understanding.

Unit Two: The Refugee Experience and Informational Writing

In the second unit, students analyze the theme Individuals can survive challenging environments in remarkable ways. Using evidence from the text, they study the methods that allowed Salva to survive and lead through adversity.

This work leads naturally into a structured informational writing task. Students use a clear graphic organizer, rubric, and scaffolded materials to craft an essay explaining the methods that contributed to Salva’s survival.

Unit Three: The Life of a Refugee — A Mini-Research Project

The final unit gives students an opportunity to extend their understanding beyond the novel. Using the UN Refugee Agency website, they research a refugee living in the world today. Students synthesize this information into a written and visual profile that can be displayed in the classroom or in the community.

This project helps students connect Salva’s story to real experiences of displacement and resilience, giving global issues a human face. Many teachers have chosen to present these profiles in public spaces, allowing students to contribute meaningfully to community conversations about refugees.

What’s Included in This Resource

This three-unit study contains everything needed to guide students from the first page of the novel to a polished research project:

• A 279-page PowerPoint guiding teachers and students through every lesson

• 36 lesson plans with detailed instructions

• A pacing guide for a 6–8 week timeframe

• Close reading task cards useful all year long

• A beautifully designed Reader’s Notebook for notes, questions, and doodle responses

• Student worksheets that build and scaffold essential reading and writing skills

• RACCE short answer writing guide and rubric

• Mid- and end-of-unit assessments with rubrics

• Interactive activities to support movement and engagement

• Graphic organizers and outlines for the informational essay

• Revision stations to support stronger writing

• A guided research project for studying refugee experiences

• The Life Story of a Refugee project template

  
  

Every resource is editable and available in digital format, giving you flexibility in how you use and adapt the materials.

A Thoughtful, Comprehensive Approach to a Powerful Novel

A Long Walk to Water remains one of the most widely taught middle school novels because it offers students both a compelling narrative and important global context. This three-unit study is designed to help you teach it with confidence. With structured lessons, meaningful activities, and built-in scaffolds, you can focus on what matters most—supporting students as they engage with Salva’s and Nya’s stories and develop stronger reading, writing, and thinking skills along the way.

If you’re looking for a complete, ready-to-use approach to teaching the novel, this resource is built to support you and your students from start to finish.