Identity Boxes
The fifth and sixth graders were each assigned a book to read prior to the beginning of school. The fifth graders read The Liberation of Gabriel King by K.L. Going, and the sixth graders read Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass. One commonality between the novels was the theme of identity; as the stories unfolded, characters' identities were revealed through their actions and dialogue. As a whole class, we discussed how an author reveals a character's internal and external identity. The students then explored their own internal and external identities, and they decorated the inside and outside of shoe boxes to illustrate what they found.