What is the Breadwinner Project?

The Breadwinner Project is a research based, cross-curricular project that spans sixth grade English, Geography and Science. “The Breadwinner,” written by award winning author and peace activist Deborah Ellis, tells the story of an Afghani girl growing up during the early days of the Taliban regime. While reading the book in English class, our sixth graders use the themes, characters, and setting in the book as the basis for work in other classes. They build knowledge about Afghanistan’s culture, history, economy, and climate and add elements from each assignment to a Google Earth project. The project culminates with a mock Afghani market where students share and evaluate one another’s work.

Why Choose This Book?

This project is a more mature iteration of a similar project based on the novel “Bloody Jack” by L.A. Meyer. Our sixth grade teachers used the structure from the previous project, but brought it up to date, to create a more enriching, relatable experience for our sixth graders. English teacher Ms. Laura Drossner discusses the change,

“’The Breadwinner’ links to current events that matter now. The kids hear about Afghanistan in the news and they are curious. That’s what makes it stick. And they make comparisons to their own lives, putting themselves in place of the characters in the book. They develop a real sense empathy throughout this experience.”

How Does It Work?

This multidisciplinary project has many moving parts. While our sixth graders read the novel in English class and begin to prepare for their writing workshops, they study Southeast Asia in both Geography and Science. They develop research skills while also learning how to use Google Earth, a geobrowser that accesses satellite and aerial imagery to represent the earth as a three-dimensional globe. They work on all of this concurrently, truly synthesizing their knowledge by pulling research from one class to build upon their work in another.

Science: Climate and Weather

In Mr. Jim Maloney’s Science class, students study weather and climate during the first semester, which weaves perfectly their well-rounded background research for “The Breadwinner.”  After reading the novel, students select a city of interest in Afghanistan. They then find pictures that related to the climate, geography, and culture of their city, construct the average, annual temperature and precipitations graphs for their city, and write up a short analysis of the climate for display on the culminating day of the project.

English: Narrative and Expository Writing

For the English portion of the project, Ms. Laura Drossner and Mr. Daryl Walsh use “The Breadwinner” to help students master the differences between expository and narrative writing. To set the stage for a narrative writing assignment, our sixth grade English teachers task students with selecting characters and scenes from the novel that they could expand upon. Using those selections, students write narrative pieces from the perspective of characters in the book. For the research-based writing workshop, sixth graders use two research topics selected in Geography class as the basis for their expository writing.

Geography: Research and Technology

In Ms. Cathy Carper’s Geography class, sixth graders study the region of Southeast Asia before zeroing in on Afghanistan. They select two research topics to explore issues in Afghani human rights, culture, economy and history and use their findings to create research charts. Ms. Carper emphasizes the importance of  studying a culture that is so different from ours,

“By acknowledging our differences, we learn to develop an appreciation of what we have in common. Studying these connections gives us a greater understanding of what is right and what is wrong.”

Google Earth

After working on the research and writing portions of the project and with Ms. Etchison and Ms. Carper as their research and technology guides, our sixth graders virtually explore the city of Kabul, as well as other locations from the novel, and create place markers to represent those locations in Google Earth.  Students trace the paths the characters could have taken between these locations, based on the events described in the book. They then add photographs to their place marks, showing what those locations could look like. Finally, students add the written pieces they completed in English class to the appropriate placemarks. Throughout this process, they gain a better understanding of the setting of the book and geography of Afghanistan, learn how to use Google Earth, and gain valuable experience working collaboratively with their classmates.


Using QR codes and their iPads, they share their work at a mock Afghani market, sitting on blankets and using gold coins to indicate whose work met or exceeded the goals of the project.


Check out an example of their work! Download the Google Earth app to your mobile device, and then scan the code below with a QR reader and open it in Google Earth. The project will load on the Google Earth application and you can explore it by tapping on the placemarks. The project selected was completed by Fionn Kinsella ‘19  and Megan Murphy ‘19.

Connecting the Dots

As our sixth graders move through this massive and in-depth project, they start to connect the dots. They see that the work they do is transferable from one class to another. They develop a sense of larger themes that apply not only to the work they do in class, but how we relate to our world. They learn that who we are as a people is a combination of many elements around us from history, climate and economics to personal perspectives and relationships. They learn to empathize, collaborate and above all how to dive deeply into a topic using academic research and analysis to support their point of view.