novel study

Readers’ Theatre – Masterpiece

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As our five-week whole-school novel study came to a close, we wanted to celebrate as a community. So again this year we orchestrated a readers’ theatre of the final chapters. My third graders continue to amaze me. And I really challenged them this time! Not only was there acting and instruments, I also added shadow puppetry! We had 3 narrators, 12 musicians, 3 puppeteers, and 7 actors. The addition of the black curtains and frames helped hide the puppeteers and voice actors who played the beetles. I was able to purchase those thanks to a Thrivent Action Teams grant. Oh, and the music teacher and I collaborated on an original song for Masterpiece! I wrote the lyrics and she set it to a melody. Listen to it here. (My 6th-grade daughter played it on her guitar.) The kids played and sang this chorus several times during the play. And since the music teacher taught it to all of her classes the week of our performance, the audience was able to sing along. Our first sing-along play! This was a readers’ theatre with lots of new elements. I absolutely LOVED the challenge and chance to be creative! Finally, every student was surprised with a gift–their very own sketchbook and felt-tip pen, like James in Masterpiece, though he had an ink set. That would have been a little to messy and expensive for all 480 students. Again, a big thanks to a Thrivent Action Teams grant for the purchase of the sketchbooks. What a thrill!

One School, One Book – Masterpiece Shadow Puppets

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For the third year in a row, our students participated in an all-school novel study. This year’s title was Masterpiece by Elise Broach. For our opening assembly, the student body was introduced to the characters with a shadow puppet show. Yes! We amateurs pulled off a shadow puppet show of chapter 1 for 500 people. How did we do it? An old overhead projector, white sheet, greenscreen frame, and 2-D paper characters. And, of course, I had to add musical instrument sound effects! Another teacher and I hid behind the screen. I managed the puppets and she added the sounds–one for each character and others as needed. Other staff members joined in on the fun. Our librarian narrated the chapter and our art teacher painted an amazing owl (our mascot) in the style of Durer (the focus artist in the book). Following the assembly, Okie and a Marvin-style cart (the beetle in Masterpiece) made the rounds to each classroom to deliver a stack of novels, one for every student. Isn’t the teacher-created bookmark also adorable! Our team when all out again this year to get kids excited for the “One School, One Book” 5-week adventure.

One School, One Book – Pig Podcast

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I don’t think I’ve challenged myself enough this school year. Why not try a podcast? Ok! It sounded very involved, but once I decided on using www.podbean.com (free), the rest was business as usual. As a class we brainstormed topics to highlight our all-school novel study of The Adventures of a South Pole Pig (fun characters, closing assembly play, trivia, family events, etc.) The kids chose their groups and chatted about what to include. I provided each team with a template. The worksheet had them think of a unique opening for their segment (onomatopoeia, single word, song, etc.), share 5-8 details, and wrap up with a creative closing. We used my cell phone as our recording device, and I saved each section as separate files that I later merged into one podcast on the app. I was excited to have a real audience for this project (mostly parents) and incorporate writing and speaking goals. Kids can do such grown-up things!

Readers’ Theatre – South Pole Pig

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Readers’ theatre plays are my JAM! It is so much fun to take a story (in this case a 288-page novel) and turn it into a play for kids to perform. Yes, it is very time consuming–script creation, costumes, props (full-size working sled!), scenery, musical accompaniment, choral song, and choreography. Plus with the timing of it all, there is a quick turnaround for the students to learn the parts because the closing assembly is right as everyone finishes the book. (I had to read the last week’s chapters on Monday and Tuesday in order to give my students time to practice the final pages of the script prior to the performance on Friday afternoon.) Two parents volunteered to make their children’s costumes, and that helped a lot! And our wonderful music teacher took my lyrics and set them to a beautiful melody. This production was quite a feat, but so magical! Aren’t they the cutest!

One School, One Book – South Pole Pig

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Our OSOB committee are creative rockstars! This was our second year participating in an all-school novel study. The Adventures of a South Pole Pig by Chris Kurtz is a sweet book about friendship and perseverance. With lush vocabulary, endearing characters, and an exciting locale (Antarctic), we had a winner. We kicked off the big event with a whole school assembly complete with a jumbo character puppet show of chapter 1 and a visit from Yukon Cornelius (ode to the Rudolph holiday cartoon). Once students return to their rooms, Yukon hauled the novel packages on his sled to every classroom.

The entire school building was transformed during our five-week event. Check out the large world map that documented Flora’s travels. My co-worker marked new places each week as we read the story. As visitors came to the lobby, they could see just where we were in the journey. What a great geography connection, right? That same outstanding teacher make vocab displays in several locations throughout the building for mini-lessons on context clues. The art teacher helped students construct adorable origami pigs that collaged into this full-size window display. We also had chapter trivia questions and a weekly trivia video. Every day students hunted for our stuffed Flora hiding somewhere in the school. Check out this Adobe Spark video I created to summarize the entire experience!

One School, One Book – Kenny & the Dragon

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Our school has decided to embark on a “One Book, One School” reading adventure! Our novel is Kenny and the Dragon by Toni DiTerlizzi. As a member of this committee, I think we came up with several creative ideas to excite the students and families beginning with a kick-off assembly and book drop off. Our librarian read the first chapter to the entire school as I played the roll of the main character, Kenny the rabbit. (My ideas sound so good when I come up with them, but up in front of 500 people, I was wishing I had that same confidence.) We had borrowed an awesome dragon costume from the high school drama department, which snuggly fit our principal. He was game for it! During the assembly, he surprised the kids as Grahame, the dragon, and announced he had just left a special delivery for them in their classrooms. When the classes returned, they discovered he had left a huge stack of novels, one for each kid, and special scroll letter.

The OSOB committee also set up a little display in the lobby, created daily trivia questions and weekly trivia videos featuring virtual backgrounds from the novel, and centered our annual fall book fair around the theme of knights and dragons to match the story. As we wrapped up the novel, I enlisted my students to perform a readers’ theatre production of the final two chapters. I made a script, cast the parts, and gathered/created costumes and props. Our music teacher helped me match instruments to characters so that all 28 students would have a role in the performance. It was impressive! And I’m excited to see what we conjure up for next year’s OSOB event!

Graffiti Wall

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I sometimes use a traditional paper graffiti wall to accompany a novel study, read aloud, or thematic unit.  It gives students an opportunity to express their thoughts in words and pictures and promotes a written discussion.  The SMART™ Board takes this activity to another level.  For a chapter book, you can have multiple SMART Notebook™ pages, one for each chapter.  The larger electronic version of a graffiti wall also allows you to more easily discuss posted comments and questions with the entire class.  It can be left up for students to use while the teacher reads aloud, during silent reading, or as a literacy station activity.