As part of Class 5’s Humanities curriculum, students engage in an in-depth novel study of Lois Lowry’s Number the Stars.
Set in 1943 Denmark, Number the Stars follows 10-year-old Annemarie’s life in a Nazi-occupied country. Resistance movements throughout the country are challenging the military occupation and, fueled by a deep sense of justice, Annemarie tries to help save her friend, Ellen, and other Jewish people in her community.
As students read through the story, they annotated the text with notes about characterization, conflict and symbols. They then used these annotations to write detailed reading responses on the symbolism in the story and its overarching themes.
One guiding prompt from their teachers asked, “What is your claim about this theme in Number the Stars and which three symbols in the text communicate that theme?” After forming their claims, students found powerful quotes that featured the symbols, contextualized them, and then carefully analyzed that language. The fifth graders also studied tone, noting how the author expressed their attitude toward the characters through word choice, sentence structure and style.
Upon completing the novel, the students were tasked with designing a special 35th anniversary edition cover of the book. The girls had the great opportunity to work with Anna Hauser, an editor at Simon & Schuster, who sent an official cover memo for the students to use to pitch their ideas. Some of the prompts on the sheet included: ‘What tone should the cover communicate?’ and ‘What color palette communicates this tone?’
The fifth graders worked diligently on their enlarged mockups, with their work culminating in a gallery walk in the Hayot Center for Innovation. Visitors to their showcase included Head of School Suzanne Fogarty, Associate Head of School Xiomara Hall, Head of Middle School Hazel Hunt, members of Classes 4 and 7, PC members and Ms. Hauser!
The students delighted in sharing their creative ideas and all that they learned through this study. Each cover included vivid illustrations, a summary written by the student, a quote from the novel and, in some cases, a critic’s positive quote or a letter to the future reader. “I love the individuality of each cover,” remarked Ms. Hall.
When Class 4 students arrived, they embarked on a “symbol scavenger hunt.” Using a sheet with various prominent symbols, the girls were instructed to see how many they could find on the covers—leaving them even more eager to dive into the book next year!
While this project was a fun and creative endeavor, and taught students about important literary devices, it also allowed students to learn more World War II’s devastation and the resilience of the Danish people, all in an age-appropriate manner.
