Home › Reading schedules › Heidi

Reading schedule · Grades 3–6

Heidi in 5 Weeks: A Reading Schedule

A five-week plan for reading Heidi by Johanna Spyri, one section a week. Each week gives the reading, a short summary of what happens, three discussion questions and the escape room that goes with it. For grades 3–6, in class or at home.

Pacing

At the grammar stage (grades 3–6) short, regular readings work better than long ones. Many families read aloud together and ask children to tell back what they heard before talking about the questions. Each week covers one section; if a section feels long, take two weeks over it and keep the escape room for the end.

Each week ends with an escape room on that week's reading: seven self-checking locks that run in any browser, with no logins, and progress is saved, so a room can be finished another day. Every room has free taster locks to try, and members can open them all.

Print this schedule Escape rooms on Heidi

Week 1: Chapters 1–5

Read: Chapters 1–5

Heidi is taken up the mountain to live with her grandfather, a gruff old man who soon grows fond of her. She spends her days with Peter and the goats and visits Peter's blind grandmother, until visitors come to take her away.

Discussion questions

1. Why are the villagers wary of the grandfather, and how is Heidi different?
2. What does Heidi love about the mountain?
3. Why does Heidi's visit matter so much to Peter's grandmother?

Escape room: Up the Mountain (lockedlessons.com/rooms/heidi-chapters-1-5/)

Week 2: Chapters 6–10

Read: Chapters 6–10

In Frankfurt Heidi arrives at the Sesemann house and becomes friends with Clara, who cannot walk. Heidi gives the strict Fräulein Rottenmeier some bad days, climbs a church tower and brings home kittens, Clara's father returns, and Clara's grandmamma comes to visit.

Discussion questions

1. Why does Heidi find Frankfurt so hard?
2. What does Clara gain from Heidi?
3. How is Grandmamma different from Fräulein Rottenmeier?

Escape room: A House in Frankfurt (lockedlessons.com/rooms/heidi-chapters-6-10/)

Week 3: Chapters 11–14

Read: Chapters 11–14

Heidi grows sad in Frankfurt, and a ghost seems to open the front door at night. The doctor keeps watch and discovers the truth, Heidi makes the journey home, and she spends her first Sunday back on the mountain.

Discussion questions

1. Why does Heidi hide her sadness?
2. What does the doctor understand that the others do not?
3. How does Heidi's return change her grandfather?

Escape room: A Ghost at Night (lockedlessons.com/rooms/heidi-chapters-11-14/)

Week 4: Chapters 15–19

Read: Chapters 15–19

The doctor makes the journey to the mountain in Clara's place, bringing presents, and spends days there with Heidi. Heidi and her grandfather spend the winter in the old house in Dörfli, and Heidi teaches Peter to read.

Discussion questions

1. Why does the doctor come to the mountain, and what does he find there?
2. Why do they spend the winter in Dörfli?
3. How does Heidi get Peter to learn to read?

Escape room: Winter in the Village (lockedlessons.com/rooms/heidi-chapters-15-19/)

Week 5: Chapters 20–23

Read: Chapters 20–23

Clara travels up the mountain at last and spends weeks with Heidi and Grandfather. Peter is jealous, the wheeled chair comes to grief, Clara visits the field of flowers, and Grandmamma and Herr Sesemann come to see her.

Discussion questions

1. Why is Peter jealous, and how does he feel afterwards?
2. What helps Clara grow stronger on the mountain?
3. What does the book suggest about kindness and forgiveness?

Escape room: Clara on the Mountain (lockedlessons.com/rooms/heidi-chapters-20-23/)

Nothing in this schedule is quoted from any translation, so it can sit beside whichever one your class reads.