A Cross-Curricular Guide to HOLES

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.

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.