A Handful of Stars Novel Study – Teacher’s Discussion Guide – Print and Digital

Description

Have you read “A Handful of Stars” by award-winning author, Cynthia Lord? If you want your students to be able to cite text evidence, have deep comprehension, and study characters with NO PREP for you, I’ve got you covered!

This touching novel seems like a story about a young girl trying to save her dog’s eyesight–but as the book unfolds, we see themes of friendship, racism, family, and more addressed.

Lily realizes that we can have many different people in our lives and learns lessons from a migrant worker, a veterinarian, and her own grandparents as she navigates her journey without a mother of her own. There is a TON to think about with this little gem!

This novel unit is a little different than others out there… there aren’t a ton of question pages… vocabulary in isolation… quizzes… worksheets… or projects.

Instead, it is filled with suggested teaching points and reflection questions (in three formats—full page reproducibles, “clippable” and now DIGITAL versions to glue into reader’s notebooks).

This resource is meant to nurture discussion, “close reading”, and proving ideas with evidence from the text. If you are looking for an in-depth resource to use

• with small groups
• as a class read aloud or
• to support individual students with quality instruction and deep thinking

You’ve come to the right place!

My goal is to help teachers nurture a love of reading and talking and writing about books! This resource is perfect to use with whole class novels, guided reading groups, or even for one-on-one instruction in interventions or for homeschoolers.

What do you get?

• A page of teaching “tips” and suggestions FOR EVERY SECTION! After using this book with students many times, I have gathered a collection of “things to notice”, places where students sometimes struggle, and other literary elements that I like to highlight with the text. This is what teachers find SO helpful as it reduces planning time and makes sure instruction is rigorous and engaging.

• Full page reproducible copies of open ended, constructed response comprehension questions focusing on key plot elements, deeper thinking, and proving ideas with examples in the text for EACH chapter—providing students the opportunity to show their understanding and to give them a way to organize their thinking for discussions. These are NOT fill-in-the-blank, low level questions!

• The same questions or “prompts” in a format that makes it easy to cut and glue into notebooks.

• The prompts and organizers in digital slide form for TONS of flexibility.

• A sample response checklist to help you assess and to help students recognize the level of expectations required of their work

• A list of the grade 4 and grade 5 standards connections to see how this book can help meet the requirements of the CCSS if needed

• A set of “bonus” response pages that can be used with this resource to cover certain areas in more depth, to use as assessments or as enrichment, or to extend the learning further

• A set of graphic organizers to provide even more ways to help students show their deeper thinking about the text

I hope you enjoy this and other novel units in my store.

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Looking for more high quality literature resources?

Historical Fiction Unit for Any Text

Sarah Plain and Tall Novel Unit

Esperanza Rising Novel Unit

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All rights reserved by ©The Teacher Studio. Purchase of this resource entitles the purchaser the right to reproduce the pages in limited quantities for single classroom use only. Duplication for an entire school, an entire school system, or commercial purposes is strictly forbidden without written permission from the author at fourthgradestudio@gmail.com. Additional licenses are available at a reduced price.