TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
Study Guide
Contents
Directions for use.
Chapter notes.
Information slides.
Explaination
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This guide has been created to help you in your studies.
Please read through the notes on each chapter AFTER
you have read the chapter as they only highlight SOME
of the key ideas. After the notes, there are Guiding
Questions. You should try to answer these to better
understand the book.
The Guiding Questions will be used on quizzes, tests,
and assessments.
If you come across an  that means there is a link to
more information on that word or topic. Just click the
 to access the information then click ⏎ to return to
the original slide or click to go to the next slide
Guiding Questions
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Guiding Questions are separated into different categories in order to
‘test’ different levels of reading skill.
Recall: asks you to remember facts or events from the story
Predict: asks you to predict what might happen in the story by using
evidence from what has already happened
Hypothesize: ask you to guess what or why something happened based
on the situation, people, time period, etc.
Consider: asks you to consider your own feelings or opinions on a topic.
Contextualize: asks you to put the story into context (put it into the time
period and attitudes of the setting, i.e. 1930s Maycomb)
Expand: asks you to expand your ideas away from just the story to think
about bit thematic questions (questions about a story’s theme – main
message) and how the story relates to other situations, etc.
Chapter Notes
Chapter 1
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Introductions:
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Maycomb, Alabama
A ‘slow, sleepy’ town in the heart of the deep south
 Many very poor residents
 Many racist residents
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The principle characters (see “To Kill a Mockingbird PPT”)
Jem, Scout, and Dill spend the summer playing pretend
games where they act out stories
The Radley House
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Jem runs up and touches the house; Scout sees a flicker of
movement behind a curtain.
Chapter 1: Guiding Questions
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6.
Recall: Why are many residents so poor?
Recall: What is Atticus’ profession?
Hypothesize: Why might Dill come to stay with his
aunt every summer?
Consider: What are your opinions with regards to Mr.
Radley keeping Boo locked up for so many years? Is
he being cruel or safe?
Contextualize: Was it typical for families in that time
period to hide away any relatives that were ‘odd’?
Expand: Are there societies today that still hide away
those people who are seen as not normal?
Chapter 2
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Scout goes to her first day of 1st grade
Her teacher, Miss Caroline, is new and not familiar with
the people and customs in Maycomb.
Miss Caroline and Scout do not get along.
Lots of interesting characters are introduced and we
learn about life in the school and what it is like for some
families.
Miss Caroline embarrasses little Walter Cunningham
and Scout has to explain the problem.
Walter Cunningham goes to the Finch house for lunch.
He asks for molasses and pours it all over his food.
Chapter 2: Guiding Questions
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2.
Recall: What 2 things happen to cause problems
between Miss Caroline and Scout?
Recall: What doesn’t Miss Caroline understand
about Walter Cunningham?
Chapter 3
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Walter Cunningham goes to the Finch house for lunch.
He asks for molasses and pours it all over his food.
Back at school, Miss Caroline is terrified of a cootie on
Burris Ewell’s head.
Burris Ewell is mean to Miss Caroline and says he won’t
be back at school for the rest of the year.
Scout is very sad that Miss Caroline got so mad at her
and she tells Atticus that she doesn’t want to go to
school anymore.
Quote Atticus says: You never really understand a
person until you consider things from his point of
view…until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.
Chapter 3: Guiding Questions
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Recall: Why might Walter pour molasses over his whole
lunch?
Recall: Why doesn’t the truant officer  care that the
Ewell children don’t go to school?
Recall: Why doesn’t Scout want to go to school anymore?
Contextualize: Do you think that whites and blacks at the
time, in Maycomb or other cities, were able to understand
the lives of their counterparts?
Expand: Do we understand them today?
Predict: How might Atticus’s quote about understanding
another person by ‘walking in his skin’ be important to the
story later on?
Chapter 4
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The school year is passing. One day, Scout finds some pieces of
gum placed into a knot hole of a tree on the Radley property. She
takes it. Jem says that she shouldn’t eat it (the children believe
everything to do with the Radley place to be evil). Jem and Scout try
to figure out who put the gum in the tree and why.
School ends and Dill arrives for the summer. The three children play
a game where one gets in an old tire and another rolls that person
down the street. Jem rolls Scout right into the Radley yard and she
falls out. She thinks she hears someone laughing in the house.
Jem, Dill, and Scout play a game of pretend where they act out the
stabbing of Mr. Radley by Boo. Atticus sees them playing it and tells
them they are never to play it again.
Chapter 5
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Jem and Dill begin to exclude Scout from their games
and she starts spending more time with Ms. Maudie.
She learns that some very religious people in town give
Ms. Maudie a hard time because she spends a lot of
time working in her garden instead of reading the
Bible. They talk about judging people, about selfrighteousness , and about hypocrisy .
Quote: Miss Maudie: …sometimes the Bible in the hand
of one man is worse than the whiskey bottle in the hand
of – oh, of your father. 
Quote: Miss Maudie: Atticus Finch is the same in his
house as he is on the public streets. 
Chapter 5, cont.
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Jem and Dill make a plan to use a fishing pole to
put a note through the window of Boo’s house.
Scout thinks this is a terrible (and dangerous) idea.
Jem ignores her. Atticus finds them and tells them to
leave poor Boo (Mr. Arthur) alone.
Chapter 5: Guiding Questions
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Recall: What does the note say that Jem wrote to
Boo?
Predict: Considering the story is about the trial of a
black man accused of raping a white woman, how
might judgment, self-righteousness, and hypocrisy
come into play later in the novel?
Chapter 6
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Dill suggests they sneak into the Radley yard and try to
peek in the hole in the window. Jem likes the idea but Scout
is very scared. They carefully and quietly sneak in one
night. Jem climbs up on the porch but makes some noise.
They all see a large figure come towards them then the
figure backs away. They run. Before they can leave the
yard, Mr. Radley comes out of the house with a shotgun and
fires a warning shot. They children escape out the back
fence but Jem gets his pants stuck on the fence and has to
leave them there.
They return home but find the whole street outside the
Radley house and the word is that Mr. Radley found a black
man in his yard and shot. He says that next time he will
shoot the person.
Chapter 6, cont.
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Everyone wonders why Jem has no pants on (just his
boxer shorts). Dill tells a lie about what they were
doing. The adults are shocked and upset by it.
Jem and Scout have a hard time sleeping because
they are scared of Boo (and Mr. Radley). Jem says
he thinks it was a bad idea to do what they did and
he is worried about getting his pants back.
Jem sneaks back to the fence to get his pants (even
though Scout is terrified for him).
Chapter 6: Guiding Questions
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Recall: What lie does Dill tell about what the three children
were doing when Mr. Radley fired his gun?
Predict: What do you think has made Jem nervous and scared
after he gets his pants back?
Hypothesize: Who was the large shadow they saw? Boo? Mr.
Radley?
Contextualize: Would it have been illegal/unusual for
someone to shoot at an intruder in that time period (would Mr.
Radley’s action have been considered acceptable?) Would it
be considered acceptable now?
Consider: Do you think the children were being playful or
disrespectful? Think about a time when you did something that
could be seen as disrespectful to others – how did it make you
feel later on?
Expand: What is this book saying out privacy?
Chapter 7
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Scout starts 2nd grade. Eventually Jem tells her what
happened when he went back for his pants. Someone
had stitched the hole in his pants.
Scout dislikes the 2nd grade as much as the 1st.
Jem and Scout find many other things in the tree. They
decide that someone is leaving the things for them. They
try to figure out who it is. One day when they walk by
the tree they see that the hole has been filled with
cement. They ask Mr. Radley if he filled the hole and
he says he did. This upsets the children. Later that
night, Jem cries.
Chapter 7: Guiding Questions
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Recall: What gifts do Jem and Scout find in the tree?
Recall: What reason does Mr. Radley give for filling in
the hole?
Predict: What do you think the gift giver will do next?
Hypothesize: Who do you think was leaving the gifts
for the kids?
Hypothesize: Why do you think Mr. Radley filled in the
hole?
Hypothesize: Why do you think Jem was crying?
Chapter 8
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Mrs. Radley dies.
It’s almost Christmas time and it snows for the first time
in anyone’s memory. School is cancelled. Jem and
Scout build a snowman out of mud and snow.
It is very cold that night. As a result, people put more
coal onto their fires. During the middle of the night,
Atticus wakes Jem and Scout and they all go outside.
Miss Maudie’s house is on fire. The people of the town
help take furniture out of her house while others
operate the fire trucks. Jem and Scout watch in fear
(people are worried that the fire will spread to other
houses).
Chapter 8
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Miss Maudie’s house burns down completely. When
Jem and Scout finally go home, Atticus asks Scout
where she got the blanket that is wrapped around
her shoulders. She didn’t even notice it. Atticus says
that it must have been Boo who put it around her to
keep her warm. This freaks Scout out.
Miss Maudie is not upset about her house. She
plans to get a smaller house and have a bigger
garden. Her positive attitude surprises Jem and
Scout.
Chapter 9
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Scout tries to get out of going to school by complaining of
sickness everyday but Atticus makes her go.
One day, a boy claims that Atticus defends black people
and by doing this is a bad person. Scout is very upset.
Atticus tells her she must not get upset over things people
say about him. He says that he is defending a black man
and he explains who Tom is. Scout asks Atticus if he will win
the case and Atticus says no. Scout asks why he would do it
then.
Quote Atticus: Simply because we were licked a hundred
years before we started is no reason for us not to try to win.
The next day the boy bothers Scout again but she walks –
reluctantly – away.
Chapter 9, cont.
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It’s Christmas and that means that they all go to Aunt Alexandra’s for
Christmas dinner. Scout hates this because she has a very annoying cousin,
Francis, (Alexandra’s grandson) who bothers Scout all the time. Jem and
Scout are happy though because Uncle Jack comes as well. They all go to
Aunt Alexandra’s and Francis calls Atticus a “** lover”. This angers Scout
and she tries to restrain herself but eventually punches Francis in the face.
Uncle Jack whips Scout for her behavior and they return home. That
evening, Scout explains to Uncle Jack why she hit Francis and Uncle Jack
says that he was wrong to whip Scout. Later, Scout spies on a conversation
between Uncle Jack and Atticus. Atticus tells Jack that you must always
speak the truth to children because they can detect when you are lying.
Jack tells Atticus he is worried about the court trial (for Tom) and Atticus
says things are only going to get worse for the family and that his children
will have to put up with a lot. Atticus says that they will lose the trial but
they might have a chance on appeal and that the judge specifically
appointed the case to him.
Quote Atticus: You know what’s going to happen as well as I do, Jack, and I
hope and pray I can get Jem and Scout through it without bitterness, and
most of all, without catching Maycomb’s usual disease.
Chapter 9: Guiding Questions
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Recall: What gifts do Jem and Scout receive from Atticus for Christmas?
Recall: What are the reasons that Aunt Alexandra is always giving Scout a
hard time?
Hypothesize: What is ‘Maycomb’s usual disease’?
Predict: Atticus says that Jem and Scout will have a lot of trouble because
of the court case. What kind of trouble do you think will occur?
Predict: Atticus says he is worried that Scout won’t be able to control her
anger and will attack anyone who bothers her. Do you think she will or will
she be able to remain calm?
Contextualize: Was it appropriate/acceptable for parents in this time
period to physically discipline their children?
Consider: Atticus’ quote – how far do you agree with what he is saying? Is
it always important to try or is it sometimes futile?
Expand: Is corporal punishment  acceptable in today’s society and/or
should it be?
Information Slides
These slides correspond to the information links in
the Chapter Notes.
 Truant officer
Someone who makes sure kids go to school; if children
don’t go to school, parents can get in trouble with the
law ⏎
 Self-righteousness
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The feeling of being superior to others.
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 Hypocrisy
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The act of telling someone to do something but not
doing it yourself.
For example: a parent that tells a child it is bad to
smokes but is themselves a smoker.
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Quote: Miss Maudie: …sometimes the Bible in the hand of one man is worse
than the whiskey bottle in the hand of – oh, of your father.
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She is saying that some men act horribly when they
are drunk – they can be cruel and violent; however,
other men can drink and not really change their
personality – at least not for the worse. In the same
way, some people who are religious are kind but
others use their religion to make some people feel
unwanted or bad and that these mean people can
sometimes do things that are even more terrible
than a bad drunk. ⏎
Quote: Miss Maudie: Atticus Finch is the same in his house as he is on the
public streets.
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She is saying that sometimes a person can act one
way in public but be totally different in his home.
For example, a person could be really nice in public
but hit his kids when at home.
She is saying that Atticus acts proper and respectful
in public and also at home. With Atticus, ‘what you
see is what you get’. ⏎
 Corporal Punishment
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punishment in the form of physical pain
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