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Test Your Students' Comprehension of The Witches

By Sylvie Colette

Find out what your students remember from your classroom reading of The Witches by Roald Dahl. Choose from the following tests; thirteen short answer questions, multiple choice or descriptive paragraphs.

A Great Book to Study

The Witches by Roald Dahl is a fantastic read aloud book for an elementary classroom. Follow a boy through his run-in with real witches. The story line will capture your students imagination and take them on an interesting adventure. Find out how much your classroom retained by administering one of the following The Witches by Roald Dahl tests.

Give a Short Answer Test

This test could be given as a small group activity for younger elementary students. Have groups of 3 or 4 students work together to come up with the answers. It could also be given individually, especially if the students had read their own copies of the book.

1. What are the characteristics of a witch according to the grandma?

2. What is the one thing all witches want to do?

3. How are the witches going to get rid of the children of England?

4. What country is the grandmother from?

5. What country is the boy from?

6. What do witches think children smell like?

7. Why does the Grand High Witch include an alarm clock in the delayed action mouse maker potion?

8. Why is a piece of a telescope included?

9. How did the witches become wealthy?

10. Why does the Grand High Witch tell all the England witches to quit their jobs

11. The witches of England are going to buy what kind of store?

12. What country is the Grand High Witches castle in?

13. How is the mouse-boy going to stop the witches?

Comprehension Questions About the Characters

In this test the students are asked to describe the characters of the book. Roald Dahl does an excellent job, as always, in making his characters quirky and interesting.

Describe the grandma.

Describe Bruno.

Describe The Grand High Witch

Describe witches in general according to this book.

A Multiple Choice Test

This basic knowledge test is a good one to give young elementary student.

1. Why did the boy go live with his grandma?

__ a. His parents did not want him anymore

__b. His parents were in a car accident.

__c. He ran away from home.

2. Where did the grandma live?

__a. Norway

__b. England

__c. Switzerland

3. Where was the boy from?

__a. United States

__b. England

__c. Norway

4. One bottle of Delayed Action Mouse Maker could change how many kids into mice?

__a. one

__b. 500

__c. 200

5. What kind of store did the Grand High Witch want the witches to buy?

__a. Toy Store

__b. Candy Store

__c. Hardware Store

6. What item does not belong in the ingredient list for the Delayed Action Mouse Maker?

__a. Microscope

__b. Telescope

__c. Mouse tails

Circle True or False

7. The grandma smokes cigars True or False

8. Brunos mother loves mice. True or False

9. The witches print their own money True or False

10. Witches are bald. True or False

Assessment of New Words

Roald Dahl does not talk down to kids. He sprinkles vocabulary words throughout his books that can extend the learning. Consider having the class take home a list of words to look up at home and bring back to share their findings with the class.

Words like; exist, ravine, exterminated, corridor, ingenious.