What do a girl in foster care and a 91-year-old widow have in common? A crossword puzzle related to Orphan Train highlights some of the similarities the two characters share in the book. The puzzle pulls out key details from the novel to test comprehension.

Concepts

reading comprehension, historical fiction, novels

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Support struggling learners by making a list of words to fill in the blanks
• Assign as homework to serve as review for a test on the novel

Classroom Considerations

• Expects students have read Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline

Pros

• Uses a mix of clue types including statements, questions and fill-in-the-blank sentences, providing great variety
• Answer key lists answers in puzzle and next to individual clues

Cons

• Lacks author name and includes the word the, which is not in original title of novel

Common Core

RL.9-10.1 RL.11-12.1