The War that Saved My Life Novel Study Bundle: Comprehension & Vocabulary

The War That Saved My Life Novel Study Unit includes comprehension questions and writing prompts for reading response, a literature guide, vocabulary, and more for the book The War that Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Using student-friendly printable and digital formatting, this The War that Saved My Life Unit Plan is perfect for teaching literature groups or working with book clubs. Daily comprehension questions require students to focus on text analysis and responding to literature, and the vocabulary focus builds word knowledge and academic vocabulary.

This novel study has easy-to-implement plans and reading comprehension activities to save you hours of prep for literature circles or book clubs. Don't bore students with never-ending chapter comprehension questions that miss the point of this amazing book. Instead, focus on key comprehension skills and dive deep into the plot and core features of the text in a student-friendly format that even reluctant learners enjoy.

With both printable and Google Slides versions included in this novel unit, you can use it in your digital classroom or with in-person learners. 

Your download includes:

✔Daily comprehension prompts in 3 formats for differentiation

• Foldable trifold brochures
• Cut & paste journal prompts for interactive notebooks
• Google Slides

✔Weekly word of the day flip books for text-based vocabulary

✔ Easy-to-follow directions for printing & prep

✔ Instructional planning guide

✔Answer keys

NOTE: Your download will be a PDF. Click the button on at the end of the novel unit to access the Google Slides.

In The War That Saved My Life Novel Unit, you'll find:

1) Student comprehension practice (up to 20 instructional days)

• Each day's work focuses on a single standards-based comprehension skill
• Short, written responses include opportunities to apply thinking to text
• Designed with reluctant and struggling learners in mind
• Built-in graphic organizers to support skill acquisition
• Approachable questions help make connections & start conversations
• No boring multiple-choice or fill-in-the-blank questions!
• Available in both printable trifolds, reading journal prompts, and Google Slides

2) Approachable practice with key reading standards and skills including:

• Generating a main idea and summary of key events
• Explore point of view and its impact on the reader
• Text analysis from the perspective of self & characters
• Identification of cause and effect relationships
• Making inferences and drawing conclusions based on text clues
• Examining character traits & relationships through plot
• And so much more!

3) Text-based & academic vocabulary

• One target word identified for each day's reading
• A flexible foldable format allows for the study and application of new vocabulary
• Opportunities to make connections to academic vocabulary for daily skills

4) Teacher support materials

• Unit scope & sequence lay out the day's comprehension & vocabulary focus
• Answer Keys for all comprehension activities
• Tips for preparation and implementation

*Digital Access Note: This resource includes digital access via GOOGLE SLIDES. For the digital versions, you will need Internet access and a free Google account OR Google Classroom. Learners will work on computers or iPads. Upon purchasing, you will download documents containing links to the digital files, along with easy-to-follow instructions that will get you started in minutes! These are easily shared digitally between you and your students.

Prefer this unit in print or digital? Find them here:

• The War that Saved My Life Printable Novel Unit
• The War that Saved My Life Digital Novel Unit

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How Novel Units from Differentiated Teaching Work...

▸ Teachers can introduce the day's vocabulary word & discuss before reading.

▸ Students complete just one section of the trifold or a single Google Slide each day.

▸ Daily work focuses on target skills needed for success in reading vs. plot recall.

▸ The low-pressure format provides novelty & encourages student engagement

▸ Less overwhelming to reluctant readers and writers

▸ Requires deep analysis and application of text-based knowledge

▸ Encourages discussion about skills & strategies

Here's why teachers & families love these novel units...

♥ We used these for a whole-class novel study. Pre-printed brochures fully encompassed ELA skills for the novel. This is an extremely easy, but very rich set of activities for understanding and enriching student's ELA skills. I will be using this for our first novel study again in class this fall. I highly recommend this! -Allison M.

♥ This does a really good job of focusing on vocab and using context clues, practicing quoting from the text, and target skills. I really liked the way it focused on one skill for every two chapters, which made things really manageable for my students. - Beth A.

★ I LOVE the layout and how it guides my son and I through our reading time. As a homeschool parent, I still wanted to give him that opportunity to discuss and grapple with the text and I love this quick format as a brochure. I also love the vocab focus for each section and the skill listed so I can monitor his understanding of these as we move through a variety of texts this year. - Antonia S.

★ My kids LOVED this book companion. The vocabulary was rich, and I liked the focus on one word a day. I also liked that they had to use context clues rather than dictionary definitions... The tasks were a great review of skills I covered throughout the year. Parent-friendly and easy to implement. - Corinne M.