Students will enjoy a great ghost story, while examining the themes of blended families, guilt, forgiveness, and communication. We will practice using context clues to determine meaning of any new vocabulary. We will practice making connections to the characters and the events in the story, like riding bikes, exploring a path in the woods, keeping a younger sibling safe.

I have taught this book several times to a class full of 11-12 year olds who enjoyed it immensely.  Fall is the perfect time of year to enjoy a ghost story like this one!

Homework Offered
Our work, reading and discussing will primarily be done in class, interactively.  Students will want to read teacher comments on classroom page each week, and respond to "think questions" there in a "written conversation."  Accommodations can be made as needed or requested.
0 - 1 hours per week outside of class
Assessments Offered
Informal assessment is primary evaluation of whether student is engaged, "getting it," growing vocabulary, and understanding the themes in the story. We will talk about these things throughout the reading, and an end of book writing assignment on one of the themes can be a more formal assessment option if desired. It will be graded on a four-point scale, with comments from teacher. For example:        4= student understood theme very well
                             student used several examples from the text to support his/her ideas
                             student shows competency in writing fundamentals (spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar)
                             student includes use of some new vocabulary words in response
                       3= student understood theme
                             student used 1-2 examples from the text to support his/her ideas
                             student may have 1-2 errors in writing fundamentals
                             student may include 1-2 vocabulary words in response
                       2= unclear whether student understood theme
                             student may lack more than one example from the text to support one's ideas
                             student may have several errors in writing fundamentals (5-10)
                             student may not have used any new vocabulary words in response
                        1= student did not understand theme
                             student did not provide examples from the text
                             student has many errors in writing fundamentals (>10)
                             student did not use new vocabulary words in response
Grades Offered

We may examine a map to look at the area of the country that the story takes place. (It is somewhat vague.)