Lesson plans for Stargirl and Love, Stargirl – Great Literature Circle Ideas

When we started to use lesson plans for Stargirl with our middle school students several years back, we quickly fell in love with Leo, free-spirited Stargirl, and even Cinnamon!  We were able to enjoy Spinelli’s fantastic novel while also teaching Common Core standards.   What a wonderful combination!  I am including a sample from our lesson plans for Stargirl.   These handouts will let you see how we engage our students with important ELA standards throughout the entire novel.  After you look at the table of contents, you can purchase the entire unit for Stargirl and begin to use the unit in your classroom today.

Last year we started to use Love, Stargirl as a follow-up unit.  We did not have time to read the sequel to Stargirl as a whole class, so we developed a unit that allowed us to use Love, Stargirl as an independent read in two classes and a literature circle novel in two classes. Since Love, Stargirl is a letter (the “world’s longest love letter” no doubt!), we divided the unit into dates.  Each handout begins with comprehension questions to ensure students are “getting it”.  Many activities were created with support in the Stargirl unit so that students are likely to have successful experiences on their own or in a small group.  For example, an extended metaphor is written in each unit.

We have included the extended metaphor Love, Stargirl handouts in our sample for you to enjoy!