Refugee Novel Study

About this resource

Teaching Refugee and writing the questions the night before? This novel study for 6th, 7th and 8th grade does that work. It is made for use with the novel by Alan Gratz (the book is not included; students need their own copy, any edition). The story is divided into six parts by stage, with questions about all three storylines in each part. For every part: a question page with five questions on ruled lines, four short answers and one Think Deeper. For every two parts: a page of ten words to look up. Around them: a tracker for the three journeys (Josef, Isabel and Mahmoud), a page for six entries (the three young people and their families), four key terms to find and think about, four themes (home and belonging, courage and hope, fairness and kindness, family), sentence starters, and an essay planner with three prompts and a lined draft page. Every question, term and word has an answer key.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (36 pages)

• 18 student pages, every one with a name line, one instruction, and ruled lines or table cells with room to write
• Before You Read: 5 statements to agree or disagree with, revisited at the end
• 6 question pages, one per part: 30 questions in all, 3 ruled lines under a short answer, 5 under each of the 6 Think Deeper questions
• 3 word pages: 30 words to look up, 10 per two parts, with columns for the page found, the student's own meaning and their own sentence
• Three Journeys, Part by Part: a tracker with a row for each part and a column for each storyline
• The People in the Stories: Josef, Isabel, Mahmoud and their three families (6 entries)
• Key Terms, 2 pages: refugee, the ship, the raft and the long road (where, what it means, why it matters)
• Themes: 4 themes defined, the student chooses 2 and finds evidence for each
• Sentence Starters: 13 starters for claims, evidence, explanation, comparing the stories and endings
• Essay Planner with 3 prompts (claim, three pieces of evidence, so what, ending) and an Essay Draft page
• 6 answer keys: every question (three parts per page), the key terms, the 30 words, the people and themes, and the tracker and Before You Read pages, each with a notes box for your own wording
• A Reading Plan: one-line synopsis of each part, its study pages, and a blank for the chapters in your edition and your dates
• 1 reading log (one row per student page), 1 class grid (15 students), 1 filled example for an invented student
• 1 family page with a discussion question per pair of parts, 1 phrase bank of 16 feedback and conference starters
• 1 binder cover and 6 divider tabs with a spine label to cut out
• Start Here and terms of use

Built For Grades 6 To 8

No mascots and no clip art. Clean pages, body text at 11 point or larger, a numbered question and ruled lines under it. The direction on every question page is the same: answer in complete sentences, with a detail from the story. The word pages ask students to look each word up and use it, and to write the page where they met it. The book is about war, persecution and danger at sea. The questions are plain and nothing graphic is shown; preview the book and these pages for your class.

Type In, Or Print

The name, date and period lines, every ruled line, the word and character tables, the reading log, class grid and family page are type-in fields in any PDF reader. Every page prints clean in black and white. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Middle school ELA, resource rooms and co-taught classes, homeschool families and tutors reading this novel in any month of the year. Several questions are open, with a "look for" key, so check the part notes against the edition in your room before you grade.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

A complete novel study with the record-keeping around it. There is no rubric or point value printed on any student page; the log has a blank for your own wording. It is not a test, a reading-level screener or a clinical tool, and it makes no claim about any student's grade level or rate of progress. The novel itself is not included and none of its text is reproduced.

This resource is not affiliated with or endorsed by Alan Gratz, his publisher, or the owners of the novel Refugee.