I highly recommend going through the Phantom of the Opera with your upper grade or jr. high students. This video explains a breakdown of this unit and highlights some of their projects. My 6th grade students loved it. I did this with groups that came into the year well below grade level in many areas, and we read through the unabridged version with all its complexities and they loved it. There are so many awesome themes to pull from this novel and again overall, just a fun, exciting, and even i