The Secret School by Avi

I just finished reading The Secret School by Avi to my fourth graders.  Ida Bidson must pass eighth grade so she can go to high school and become a teacher.  When her teacher leaves the one room school house to take care of her critically ill mother, the school board decides to close school for the remainder of the school year.
 Ida and her friend Tom decide to keep the school open secretly with Ida as the teacher.  Will she be able to teach her students as well as pass her own exit exams?
I chose this book, because I wanted students to compare and contrast their own experience in school with this in 1925 rural Colorado.  We enjoyed reading this together and I see several of my students are reading it again on their own.

Here is a free printable compare and contrast graphic organizer.

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