Table of Contents
Basic Rationale 2
Major Topics of Study
Literary Devices
Strategies

Before Reading the Text

• Raygor Readability Estimate 3
• Cloze Procedure 5
• Story Grammar 12
• Bloom's Unit Matrix 13

During Reading the Text
• Statement Opinionnaire 16
• Problematic situation 18
• Guided Imagery 21
• KWHL 23
• DRTA (Directed Reading - Thinking Activity) 28
• Bloom's Taxonomy Questions 29

After Reading the Text
• Vocabulary Strategy -Crossword Puzzle 32
• Poetry Bio-Poem 36

Basic Rationale
Holes by Louis Sachar is a wonderful, fun and clever book. Written with a middle teenager as the main character the book has the outward feel of an older adolescent novel. However Holes was written in such a manner as to attract younger readers. The novel opens with a young man on his way to a youth detention camp. He was wrongfully accused and learns about justice through patience. I want to teach this particular novel because of its overall appeal. Most important to me is to teach that we should not always obey all authority. If we retain our suspicions perhaps things such as the Holocaust can be avoided.

Major Topics of Study
Holes deals with issues such as: social groups, obedience to rules, honesty to self, greed, perseverance, and integrity. Holes is an excellent book to teach in either the sixth or seventh grades. Along with these themes, the novel opens itself to be studied with things such as: folklore, family history, Wild West, criminal justice in America, race relations, etc... Additionally, Holes is a great book for teaching about illiteracy and other various social issues.

Literary Devices
In the context of studying Holes as its own unit, it would be easy to study devices such as: Storytelling, plot time lines, dialogue, flashbacks, characterization, and author motive vs. narrator motive. Holes has multiple layers of potential lesson material.