Literature units are an excellent way to teach language arts. Building a series of lessons around a book or story is a good way to engage students and transition form one topic to another.  When possible, incorporate other subjects into your literature unit.  For example, if your students are reading "Number the Stars," include lessons about the history of Nazi Germany, Jewish faith, and Jewish culture. Literature units can be written for any age and reading level.  In fact, a number of commercial literature units materials are available.  At a bare minimum, each literature unit should have the following five components.

1. Vocabulary Section: identify 10-20 new and important vocabulary words in the book.  Teach this list to your students before they begin reading the book.

2. Pre--reading activity: introduce your students to the subjects in the book before they begin reading. If any background information is needed to understand the book, this is the time to teach it.  Identify common themes in the book (such as friendship) and have students discuss them.

3. Comprehension Questions and Activities: choose several places to stop during reading to ask comprehension questions.  In longer books with several chapters, the places to stop reading are obvious.  Ask students what's going on the book and what they expect to happen next.  Using Bloom's taxonomy, choose questions that are appropriate for your students' level.

4. End of Book Questions and Activities: choose questions and activities that wrap up the lessons learned.  Ask students if they agreed with the main character's choices or the author's point (depending on student levels).  Create writing prompts to expand on topics covered in the book or literature unit. You can have students research a topic that was brought up in the novel or come up with an alternate ending. This is the activity that ties together the whole unit.

5. Fun Activity: you should always have at least one fun activity related to the book, more than one is better, of course. This activity can be related to any of the above activities, such as a vocabulary cross word puzzle or a short skit based on a scene in the novel or story.