One of my favorite novels to teach at the middle grade level is Crash by Jerry Spinelli. In fact, it is the perfect text to begin the school year with because students will be able to make personal connections as the characters begin their school year as well.
The story begins with the narrator, John Coogan, explaining through flashback how he got his nickname, Crash. He then goes on to share how another major character, Penn Webb, came into his life.
Flash forward to the first day of seventh grade, and the story takes off for student readers. While I love this book as a read aloud, it is also a perfect literature circle text. Chapters are short, holding student attention, and each chapter ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, begging for readers to continue on. I can’t tell you how often I HAVE to stop reading due to needing to switch classes and students are shouting, “ONE MORE PAGE!” It is that good.
Over the years I have taught the novel in different ways, but I have utilized the same 67 questions for student response to check for understanding. I generated these questions with the idea that students would read them before reading the text, list page numbers where they could go into the text to find their answers, and respond in complete sentences with correct capitalization, grammar, and punctuation. In addition, I wanted my students to answer both literal, inferential, short answer, and extended response questions.
If you are looking for a novel to teach with common core based questions that go chapter by chapter, check out this Crash resource in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Erin says
Angela,
Thanks for sharing! He came to a local book store here in Cincinnati about 5 years ago promoting Love, Stargirl. I adore him! His books are just so perfect for this middle grade level! I love that he wrote back! I once looked into him possibly coming to visit our school…sadly it just wasn't in our budget! Hope your year is off to a great start!
Take care,
Erin
Angela@TheTeachersDesk6 says
My kiddos LOVE Jerry Spinelli! Last year I read aloud his "Library Card." My students went wild over it and then had to read every Spinelli book they could get a hold of. Since they enjoyed his writing so much I had them write fan letters to him and sent them in a large envelope in care of the publisher. He got our letters and wrote back, sending an autographed poster. Isn't that cool?