Number the Stars Novel Study Comprehension Activities & Discussion Questions

This Number the Stars Novel Study Unit includes comprehension activities for reading responses or discussion questions, a literature guide, vocabulary, and more for the book Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. Using student-friendly printable and digital formatting, this Number the Stars Novel Study is perfect for teaching literature groups or working with book clubs. Daily comprehension requires students to focus on text analysis and responding to literature, and the vocabulary focus builds word knowledge and academic vocabulary.

This no-fluff Number the Stars book study engages students, but it doesn't overwhelm your readers with countless chapter questions that require them to regurgitate the text.

Standards-aligned & perfect for novel studies, small group book clubs or lit circles, independent reading, or monitoring and teaching during read-aloud. The new digital version is perfect for guiding students through the process during home learning.

Your download includes:

✔Daily comprehension prompts in 3 formats for differentiation

• Foldable trifold brochures
• Cut & paste journal prompts for interactive notebooks
• Google Slides

✔ Weekly word of the day flip books for text-based vocabulary

✔ Easy-to-follow directions for printing & prep

✔ Instructional planning guide

✔ Answer keys

In this Number the Stars Novel Study, you'll find:

1) Student comprehension practice (up to 15 instructional days)

• Each day's work focuses on a single standards-based comprehension skill
• Short, written responses include opportunities to apply thinking to text
• Designed with reluctant and struggling learners in mind
• Built-in graphic organizers to support skill acquisition
• Approachable questions help make connections & start conversations
• No boring multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank questions!
• Available in printable trifolds, reading journal cut & paste prompts, and as Google Slides.

2) Approachable practice with key reading standards and skills, including:

• Text analysis and responding to literature
• Exploring character traits & development through events of the plot
• Making inferences and drawing conclusions based on text clues
• Distinguishing cause & effect relationships.
• Generating main ideas and a summary of key events
• Comparing & contrasting characters and settings
• And so much more!

3) Text-based & academic vocabulary

• One target word, identified from each day's reading
• In the daily slide with an embedded link to an online thesaurus
• Includes opportunity to generate a personal definition and use the word in context
• Fosters connections between vocabulary knowledge through synonyms and antonyms
• Opportunities to make connections to academic vocabulary for daily skills

4) Teacher support materials

• Unit scope & sequence lays out the day's comprehension & vocabulary focus
• Answer Keys for all comprehension activities
• Tips for preparation and implementation
• Instructions for digital Google Drive version

*Digital Access Note: This resource includes digital access via GOOGLE SLIDES. You will need Internet access and a free Google account OR Google Classroom for the digital versions. Learners will work on computers or iPads. Upon purchase, you will download documents containing links to the digital files and easy-to-follow instructions that will get you started in minutes! These are easily shared digitally between you and your students.

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How Novel Units from Differentiated Teaching Work...

▸ Teachers can introduce the day's vocabulary word & discuss it before reading.

▸ Students complete just one section of the trifold or a single Google Slide daily.

▸ Daily work focuses on target skills needed for success in reading vs. plot recall.

▸ The low-pressure format provides novelty & encourages student engagement

▸ Less overwhelming to reluctant readers and writers

▸ Requires deep analysis and application of text-based knowledge

▸ Encourages discussion about skills & strategies

Here's why teachers love these novel units...

♥ We used these for a whole-class novel study. Pre-printed brochures fully encompassed ELA skills for the novel. This is an extremely easy, but very rich set of activities for understanding and enriching student's ELA skills. I will be using this for our first novel study again in class this fall. I highly recommend this! -Allison M.

♥ This does a really good job of focusing on vocab and using context clues, practicing quoting from the text, and target skills. I really liked the way it focused on one skill for every two chapters, which made things really manageable for my students. - Beth A.

Here's what homeschool families have to say about the novel studies...

★ I LOVE the layout and how it guides my son and I through our reading time. As a homeschool parent, I still wanted to give him that opportunity to discuss and grapple with the text and I love this quick format as a brochure. I also love the vocab focus for each section and the skill listed so I can monitor his understanding of these as we move through a variety of texts this year. - Antonia S.

★ My kids LOVED this book companion. The vocabulary was rich, and I liked the focus on one word a day. I also liked that they had to use context clues rather than dictionary definitions... The tasks were a great review of skills I covered throughout the year. Parent-friendly and easy to implement. - Corinne M.

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Other Novel Units for Books by Lois Lowry...

• The Giver
• Gooney Bird Greene (Coming Soon)

Other Novel Units You Might Enjoy...

• Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
• City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
• The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

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Terms of Use:

© Rebecca Davies. All rights reserved by the author. These materials are intended for personal use by a single classroom only. Copying for more than one teacher, classroom, department, school, or school system is prohibited. For use in multiple classrooms, please purchase additional licenses. This product may not be distributed or displayed digitally for public view. Failure to comply is a copyright infringement and a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Clipart and elements found in this PDF are copyrighted and cannot be extracted or used outside this file without permission or license. See product file for clip art and font credits.