Hello! My name is Shelly Smith, and I am a National Board Certified Teacher in Elementary Literacy. My students get results that are much higher than our district/state average! I believe much of it is due to the way in which literacy is taught in my classroom. Welcome to my Literacy Studio! I believe you will be extremely pleased with this unique and rigorous approach to literacy that hooks students from the very beginning. The War That Saved My Life is a historical novel that keeps students engaged throughout. All of the CCSS 5th grade literacy and 3 of the writing standards are covered all within one novel! There is nothing like this on the market. This study will change the way you teach literacy. Socratic Seminars are the backbone to this approach along with the interpretive questions. Students use text-based evidence while responding in their Socratic Seminars and in their written responses. I have learned through my years of teaching that my classroom curriculum needs to be rigorous, engaging, and it needs to meet the CCSS. I originally learned about using interpretive questioning with Socratic Seminars during my time teaching in Tacoma, Washington. It proved very successful in my classroom's proficiency! This unit extends what I did in Tacoma with the district’s basal to how I teach now using novels. Each student has a copy of the novel we are reading. Donorschoose.org is a great resource in obtaining the books you need. One reason I like this whole class approach is that all my students are being exposed to 5th grade reading material, vocabulary, and the 5th grade CCSS. My lower reading students are set up to be successful with 5th grade text because they have heard me read the text before they read it with a partner, a more competent other. In this unit you will find: 1. How to use this resource in your classroom 2. The Socratic Seminar: research base and strategy in practice 3. Teaching vocabulary with novel studies 4. Scripted lesson examples 5. Reading response notebook examples from my classroom 6. Common Core standard alignment 8. 16 Lesson Plans 9. 2 Bonus lessons Let the higher order thinking and learning begin! Key words: fifth grade, fifth grade reading, fifth grade literature, fifth grade literature standards, fifth grade common core, fifth grade common core literature standards, fifth grade reading unit, fifth grade novel study, fifth grade all standards, common core, common core literature standards, novel study, reading unit, complete reading unit, The War That saved My Life, The War That Saved My Life unit,The War That Saved My Life reading unit, The War That Saved My Life novel study, socratic seminar, unit, lesson plans, reading lesson plans, fifth grade reading lesson plans, fifth grade unit, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley,