Lesson Planning for Holes

The nice thing about an 87 page PDF is that it is full of a LOT of teacher support materials. The difficult thing about an 87 page PDF is that can be hard to figure out how you're going to incorporate all of the possible choices into a cohesive novel study. When I buy traditional materials from Teachers Pay Teachers (to help my 7th and 8th grade students transition smoothly into public school), I always find that I need to do an accompanying blog post. It's what helps me think everything through and, ultimately, decide on the organization and pacing for these huge documents!

Lord of the Flies. Pride and Prejudice. And, now, Holes by Louis Sachar.

I am considering having the class watch this movie after we finish the book. I don't usually show movies to my class, but I think this one was done really well! And, because it is rated PG, the whole homeschool group could watch it. So I'm thinking that we will have a Pajama Day on Friday, March 30th.

Working backwards from that target day, I have to figure out how it all will flow. First things first, the organization of the document I bought from TpT.

In-Class Discussion
These we will use for in-class discussion questions. I will have to print them; there are ten pages:

p.4 - chapter ?s for 1, 2, 3

p.7 - chapter ?s for 4, 5, 6

p.10 - chapter ?s for 7, 8, 9

p.13 - chapter ?s for 10, 11, 12

p.16 - chapter ?s for 13, 14, 15, 16, 17

p.19 - chapter ?s for 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

p.22 - chapter ?s for 23, 24, 25, 26, 27

p.25 - chapter ?s for 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33

p.28 - chapter ?s for 34, 35, 36

p.31 - chapter ?s for 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42

p.34 - chapter ?s for 43, 44, 45, 46, 47

p.37 - chapter ?s for 48, 49, 50

I can use the computer if needed for the answer key, which is pp. 38-41.

At-Home Questions
These I will send home for at-home comprehension questions. I like that the students have to write -- and then answer -- their own questions. I will have to print twelve pages per student:

reading and comprehension strategies p.43

thinking stems p.44

question sheets pp.45 - 54 (there are ten)

Extra Sheets
IN ADDITION, for further analysis of the text and character development, I will print all of these (there are also ten) and have the students complete and turn in one with each at-home comprehension question sheet. They will be able to decide which one goes best with that particular chunk of the book. In other words, they can complete them in any order but must use all ten:

p.57 - compare and contrast Stanley and Zero

p.59 - most important character selfie

p.60 - series of events - 4 key scenes

p.61 - comic book creator

p.62 - what are they thinking?

p.63 - twenty questions

p.64 - magnify an event

p.65 - text me

p.66 - Stanley before and after

p.67 - a picture is worth a thousand words

Character Portraits
These sheets are potential end of book assessments, but I will obviously need to do more than just this:

Stanley
Zero
X-Ray
Squid
Armpit
Magnet
Zigzag
Warden
Mr. Sir
p.77 - a character of your choice

I think I will also use this Holes Anticipation Guide (last slide of the PPT) for pre-reading. And I like the following Essay Questions for assessment: #1, 4, 5, 8, and 9. My students need to practice writing short essay responses.

#1 - Metaphor
#4 - Symbolism
#5 - Irony
#8 - Prediction
#9 - Personal Experience

Pacing Guide

Monday, Mar 12
in class - Anticipation Guide activity, pass out books
at home - read chapters 1 to 5, answer questions p.45, plus extra sheet

Tuesday, Mar 13
in class - discuss last night's reading and share extra sheets
at home - read chapters 6 to 10, answer questions p.46, plus extra sheet

Thursday, Mar 15
in class - discuss last night's reading and share extra sheets
at home - read chapters 11 to 15, answer questions p.47, plus extra sheet

Friday, Mar 16
in class - discuss last night's reading and share extra sheets
at home - read chapters 16 to 20, answer questions p.48, plus extra sheet

Monday, Mar 19
in class - discuss last night's reading and share extra sheets
at home - read chapters 21 to 25, answer questions p.49, plus extra sheet

Tuesday, Mar 20
in class - discuss last night's reading and share extra sheets
at home - read chapters 26 to 30, answer questions p.50, plus extra sheet

Thursday, Mar 22
in class - discuss last night's reading and share extra sheets
at home - read chapters 31 to 35, answer questions p.51, plus extra sheet

Friday, Mar 23
in class - discuss last night's reading and share extra sheets
at home - read chapters 36 to 40, answer questions p.52, plus extra sheet

Monday, Mar 26
in class - discuss last night's reading and share extra sheets
at home - read chapters 41 to 45, answer questions p.53, plus extra sheet

Tuesday, Mar 27
in class - discuss last night's reading and share extra sheets
at home - read chapters 46 to 50, answer questions p.54, plus extra sheet

Wednesday, Mar 28
in class - complete three character portraits of characters of your choice

Thursday, Mar 29
in class - begin short essay questions
at home - finish all five short essay questions

Friday, Mar 30
in class - Coordinate Graphing Game

Weekend - watch film

This post contains affiliate links to the materials I actually use for homeschooling. I hope you find them helpful. Thank you for your support!