Themed Literature Unit
   - Spring 2008

What carries us through hardship?

The literature unit we'll be doing this spring includes books about people in various cultures, times, and places who went through hardships. During this unit, we’ll be discussing what personal qualities and outside help got the characters through these bad times.

Hardship can take many forms, and sometimes to our kids, hardship simply means that they have to get their homework done before they can watch TV. Even though this may not seem serious to those who have gone through major hardships, young students can still gain an understanding from connecting this personal experience to some of the experiences they’ll be reading about in the unit. Most of the stories and poems in our unit are about very serious hardships, but I’ve included one story at the end that is quite light hearted and amusing.

The students will be answering three questions during this unit of study:

• What is hardship and what forms can it take?
• What inner strengths and personal strategies help us get through hardship?
• How can other people and things outside ourselves help us get through hardship?   

Students will explore these questions while reading the books that I’ve chosen for this project. Most of the reading can be done during class time; however, students will be expected to do some of their reading at home if they don’t finish it at school.

In addition to the reading, students will be discussing what they’ve read in small reading groups and writing in their reading journals almost daily.

At the end of the unit, students will be expected to complete a writing assignment, and this paper will be the assessment that I use, along with other ongoing assessments, to arrive at their grade.

I hope that the time we spend studying hardship and the ways to get through it will be a good opportunity for families to discuss the subject with their children, possibly sharing hardships in their own lives or the lives of friends or other family members.

If you have any questions or concerns about this upcoming unit, please feel free to contact me.

 Sincerely,