And the Winner Is…
By: Mary Kienstra on: April 6, 2016 in: #tlap, creating, Engagement
The first day back after Spring Break is a good day for something out of the ordinary – like revealing the winner of the Book Madness! So today was the day. I gathered my students around the book madness brackets. You know, the bulletin board covered in black with the “DO NOT PEEK” sign. I started my speech about reading and books and the voting. I stalled. And I stalled. Until they were jumping up and down, begging to see the results. And the winner is…
After announcing the winner, tradition has it that the students have a celebration activity that goes with the book. Last year’s winner was HOLES by Louis Sachar and the activity was a relay to “dig” treasures. So the pressure was on. The kids wanted to know – what would be this year’s celebration?
This year students created a scene from the Harry Potter series. Kids were provided an hour of class time along with boxes, blocks, Legos, Play Doh, and construction paper. Watching the kids in action was so interesting as they focused in on their favorite scenes and their construction styles. This was truly creativity at it’s best!
Ultimately, we had a selection of drawings and variations on dioramas as well as one stop-motion video. At the end of class, we toured each scene, listening to a very short presentation about what happened there.
My mission is to help kids learn to love reading, not just learn to read. I think this project embodies that goal – from nominating a favorite book to creating a book trailer to voting and finally to creating a scene. This was a good journey with good books!
