Lesson Plans and Teaching Resources for Holes

Use Holes by Louis Sachar to turn your read aloud or small group work into a time to improve comprehension and talk about the text in purposeful ways.

Winner of the Newberry Medal and National Book Award, Louis Sachar's story about a boy with a family curse, and a camp with ulterior motives is a modern-day classic. Holes tells the story of Stanley Yelnats, a boy unjustly sent to a boys' detention center at Camp Green Lake. Stanley endures long days digging five-foot holes under the hot Texas sun with other boys. Soon he figures out that the boys aren't just digging holes to build character; they are digging holes because the warden is looking for something, and that something might be the key to Stanley's family curse. Help readers understand how to determine theme with the Book Club lesson plans and resources focusing on finding evidence to support student-identified themes in the story.

Explore lesson plans and activities to help you teach with Holes in the drop down below.

Instructional Overview

The first page of Book Club for Holes Instructional Overview

Instructional Overview

The instructional overview includes instructional background for determining theme, instructional objectives for each of the Book Club meetings, and a list of the materials and preparation necessary to the Holes Book Club.
Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Management Resources

The first page of Book Club for Holes Management Resources

Management Resources

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.

Meeting 1

Determining the underlying meaning of a piece of literature is an important skill for readers to develop. Using Holes by Louis Sachar, students will explore the development and identification of theme.

Meeting 2

Examining what characters say and do leads the reader to identify big ideas in the text. Big ideas in Holes by Louis Sachar are stepping stones for the students to use to build into the theme.

Meeting 3

This Holes Book Club meeting focuses on discussing how characters respond to challenges. Examining how characters are impacted by challenges helps readers identify lessons that the characters learn which supports the text's theme.

Meeting 4

As students identify possible themes of Holes by Louis Sachar, they need to be able to cite the details in the text that shape their thinking. Students will organize their thoughts by tracking evidence in their Reader's Notebook.

Meeting 5

By looking at the setting, major conflicts, and lessons learned by the characters, students will work together to identify a theme presented in Holes by Louis Sachar.

Vocabulary Connections with Holes

The first page of Vocabulary Connections with Holes

Vocabulary Connections with Holes

This set of vocabulary development resources for Holes highlights the words that are most important for students to know and understand while reading the book.  Through engaging in fun word games, matching words to definitions, and practicing how to categorize words, students will develop the vocabulary necessary to comprehend this story and many others.

Common Core State Standards Alignment
TEKS Alignment

Focus Assessment and Rubric

The first page of Book Club for Holes Focus Assessment and Rubric

Focus Assessment and Rubric

Use this six-question assessment to determine whether or not students understand the key concepts associated with determining theme.

Running Record with Holes

Thumbnail for Running Record with Holes

Running Record with Holes

Use this Running Record to assess oral reading fluency with Holes. Track meaning, structure, and visual accuracy using the first 100 words of the text to determine whether or not this book is a good fit for the readers in your classroom.

Management Resources - Spanish

The first page of Book Club for Holes Management Resources

Management Resources - Spanish

The management resources include a Book Club Calendar, conversation prompts, Student Self-Evaluation forms, Reading Response Board (with optional Common Core alignment), and an Expectations for Book Club anchor chart.

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About the Book

The cover for the book Holes
Title: Holes
Author: Louis Sachar
Genre: Mystery
Themes: Award Winners, Perseverance, Adventure, Relationship Skills, Family, Self Management, Friendship
ISBN: 9780307798367
Publisher's Summary:
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse. A curse that began with his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather and has since followed generations of Yelnatses. Now Stanley has been unjustly sent to a boys’ detention center, Camp Green Lake, where the boys build character by spending all day, every day digging holes exactly five feet wide and five feet deep. There is no lake at Camp Green Lake. But there are an awful lot of holes. It doesn’t take long for Stanley to realize there’s more than character improvement going on at Camp Green Lake. The boys are digging holes because the warden is looking for something. But what could be buried under a dried-up lake? Stanley tries to dig up the truth in this inventive and darkly humorous tale of crime and punishment—and redemption.
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