Number the Stars: Favorite novels for 5th grade

Some of the best teaching I do all year is with some very special novels. When we begin reading Number The Stars by Lois Lowry I like to keep track of what we learn about the main characters in chapters one and two: Ellen, Annemarie and Kirsti. Here is a picture of a poster I use. The kids add information about each character on the stickies.

An important foreshadowing clue comes up at the end of chapter three.

Annemarie admitted to herself snuggling there in the quiet dark, that she was glad to be an ordinary person who would never be called upon for courage.

Later on in the novel we will see that Annmarie is called upon to do several courageous things. The first one is when she rips the Star of David necklace off of Ellen's neck. I like to go back then and have the students find the foreshadowing clue.

It then becomes apparent that courage is a theme in the novel. Here are some of the pictures that I have previously posted regarding Number The Stars. Christine

Here is a word sort that could be done after chapter 10

This character report card should be done near the end of the novel

This is a story map that can be created after reading chapter 7

A two word summary created together after reading the novel