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A Cross-Curricular Guide to HOLES

by Janet Buckley & Lauren Corcoran

53 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #03-1030; ISBN 1-4120-0660-0; US$11.50, C$14.95, EUR9.95, £6.95

This pick-up-and-go guide is the perfect cross-curricular companion to reading Lewis Sachar's book, Holes, with your students. Classroom-tested, and carefully connected to the storyline, the guide builds on student enthusiasm for Holes, by presenting multi-level, thought-provoking, hands-on, and fun lessons for students from third to seventh grade.

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about the book      about the authors      sample excerpts or Table of Contents      catalogue info

About the Book Are Yellow Spotted Lizards real? Is there a real rock formation called God's Thumb? Is there even a desert in Texas? Use this Cross-Curricular Guide for Holes to drive your students across the curriculum solving questions about the book as you go. The fuel for the trip is student enthusiasm. Natural student curiosity about the book compels students to learn more about everything related to it. Cross-curricular lessons are better than literature guides alone, since kids will see the interrelatedness of things and learn to build connections like that on their own. Holes, a fascinating book by author Louis Sachar, has received numerous awards including the John Newbery Medal, the National Book Award, the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and is an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. The reasons for the book's popularity are clear-it is an intriguing, engrossing tale that grabs the reader's attention from the first page and never lets go until the end. The premise for a companion manual to use with Holes was the same-create lessons that keep students engrossed with one foot in the story as they put the other foot on new material. That way, they tackle new information and ideas as if they are old friends. The energy students have for the book carries over into these lessons. This manual was written by two teachers and is simple to use. Materials are classroom-tested, kid approved, and fun! Activities are multicultural, multi-level and require students to use their higher-level thinking skills in intriguing ways. Clear instructions are given for hands-on projects, centers, Internet research, teambuilding, core subject lessons and art. Standard and alternative methods of assessment have been included. All lessons are teacher and substitute friendly.

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About the Author Janet Buckley and Lauren Corcoran teach in the San Francisco Bay Area. With a combined teaching experience of 24 years, they have come to believe that literature based instruction produces the best results for their students. they have published one other cross-curricular manual for the book Missing May, and have other books for teachers in the works.

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Sample Excerpts or Table of Contents

Subject Matter Guide

Art Lessons/Hands On/Bulletin Board Ideas

Time Mural, Before the Book

Post Cards from Camp

Sneaker Art

Desert Craft Critters

Apicius* Home Cooking

Assessment Teacher Page in each Section

Live Flow Chart/Courtroom Scene Book Wrap-Up Party

Where in the World is the Warden

Fill in the Holes

Book Report Ideas

Unit Test

Drama/Debate

Readers Theater

Stealing the Debate

More Than Onions

Time for a Commercial Break

Live Flow Chart/ Courtroom Scene Book Wrap-Up Party

Put Yourself in his Sneakers

Geography/Map Skills

Is There Really a Desert in Texas?

Inference

Postcards from Camp

Live Character Flow Chart, Book Wrap-Up Party

Courtroom Scene, Book Wrap-Up Party

Where in the World is the Warden

Fill in the Holes

Language

Fun with Language Centers

Onion Laws Social Awareness

Mummy, I Want an Onion

Life Skills

What Happened to Barfbag

Life Tools

Math/Logical Thinking

Holes Math

Dig Deeper

Brain Sizzlers

Research

Accidents Can Happen

Desert Craft Critters

Survival in the Desert

Social Studies

Onion Law Social Awareness

Mummy I Want an Onion

Writing

Literature Response Journals, Before the Book

Flashback Writing, Teacher Page, Section 3

Stories with Sole

Chihuahuan Desert Challenge

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Catalogue Information

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