Harry Potter - Celebrate the End of First Year

I had so much fun with this unit and got as much back from the students as I put into it. It was our final day with the book before I packed it all up for next year. I brought in a ton of fun goodies to share.

I created some Acid Pops from sour ring pops dipped in water and then coated with Pop Rocks.

I made some cauldron cakes from Lil Debbie Snack cakes and Twizzler strings for the handles. I poured out some butterbeer for each. It was cream soda with whipped cream.

As a parting gift I gave each of them a small cauldron filled with sour candies, topped with cotton candy to look like flames, and of course a spider ring on top.

They couldn't believe it when I told them they could take the cauldrons home. I think they got confused because I kept telling them that they couldn't bring the copies of HP01 home because they were donations.

It took longer than the suggested five weeks, but the kids hung in there with me all the way. There were lots of groans and whines when I asked them to bring back the books. Many asked if were going to read Chamber of Secrets next. I told them I always read the first in a series to get them excited to read the rest on their own. Hopefully I've sparked a love of reading in some of them. If not for reading in general at least for J.K. Rowling's classic series.

We watched a few scenes from the movie to compare to the book. I loved sitting there listening to all the gasps when characters first arrived on the screen. The clapping at certain events such as Harry's midair capture of the Remembrall. Loads of laughs and squeals throughout.

It's over now and I'll miss it. We've only got 50 more school days together, and I think I've accomplished my goal of bringing my class closer together.

Thanks for following me on this magical  journey. Let me know if you try something similar in your classroom!

Harry Potter - Final Countdown

So sorry I've kept you waiting for a month for my next installment to this fantastic journey! We've been really trying to finish the book and just reading like crazy. The vocabulary work was all done. The comprehension questions were written up. The sketches were completed. And our writing piece is up on the wall.

We do this Snow Globe writing piece every year to help the students gain more practice with using sensory details and including tons of figurative language. They have to pretend they are stuck in a snow globe and figure out a way to escape. This year I just tweaked it a little and had them think if they were cursed into the globe and how could they use their wands as a means to get out. We studied spells such as these.

I need to get back to school in order to put up one of their writings for you later.

 

 

 

Our House Cup competition is over as well. We've been adding jelly beans to our House Cups. We counted them and then divided them equally among the House members And the winner is....

 

RAVENCLAW!



Our final two Potions lessons were completes. I really loved making the Forgetfulness Potion. It turned out to be a mix of water, veg oil, food coloring, and Alka-Seltzer. Which low and behold makes a kind of lava lamp. The kids were freaking out!

Here's a shot of our group making Mandrake Revitalizing Drought. This one was weird since it included Bat Dung (cocoa puffs).

 

 The best part of this whole EIGHT week unit came when I got the final exams (we were calling them N.E.W.T.S.- Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests). Every single child, all 20 of them, scored 91% or above. It was incredible. The whole test included simple recall, as well as some tough analytical ones. They had to write complete sentences which has proven hard to get them to do this year. But all of them managed to answer exceptionally well and scored Exceeds Expectations on their finals.

It made me so happy that they all got so much out of this book. If you want your own copy of this test, check it out here.

 

 

Harry Potter - Chapter 8 - Potions Class

SOOOO much fun today!

Today Professor Wilfred Waldicott made an appearance as the Potions Teacher.

I followed Amelia's (Where the Wild Things Learn) instructions to a T as I gathered the materials for my four potions lessons. If you are interested there is a freebie from Amelia's blog where you can download the very Potions book that I used! It was kinda fun sticking labels onto ordinary objects to turn them into Potions Ingredients. With names like Powdered Unicorn Horn, Gillyweed, and Flubberworm Mucus how could you NOT feel like you are entering the dungeons of Hogwarts to partake in a class with Professor Snape?

 

 

I was able to purchase two large cauldrons for each of four houses and several little bottles to put things like dish soap, borax, and vinegar in for the lessons. The students had to come up and find all the ingredients they'd need to complete each experiment.

The first one was Exploding Filibusters which came with a lovely aroma that permeated the classroom. You can tell as these kids were holding their noses as they mix up the Dandelion Root (dry yeast) with vinegar.

I wasn't sure how well my class would behave with all of this fun going on. But this first experiment went really well. They were listening and working together and talking quietly. So we went into experiment number 2: Snape Slime.

Here's where I made my biggest mistake. I listened to Amelia and bough some table covers at the dollar store. This one was going to be messy. However, I managed to leave them in the car. I wouldn't recommend this!

Snape slime was really gross Awesome! I was afraid to let the kids stick their hands in the cauldrons with borax floating around in there, but the directions said to do just that. In we go. The stuff resembled snot but firmed up after a bit. I had to make the kids put their take home bags of slime away after listening to them slap and pat their bags like overzealous bongo players.

There was a lot of clean up involved with these two - just so you know.

We ran out of time and only got to these two. I'm planning on finishing up the other two closer to the end of our read aloud. It's taken us five weeks to reach chapter 9, so all 17 should be done in 10 weeks, right? I don't know how Amelia go through all this in five weeks. Oof!

On another note our owl research is complete. For the writing I only had them focus on one topic since the area to write on the owl body was small. They could write about what the owls looked like, ate, lived,  or their predators. Also it was a great lesson on narrowing down your topic. Some kids had trouble sticking on the topic. Definitely made it easier to know who to involve in a small group on narrowing topics!

Harry Potter - Chapter One - The Boy Who Lived

I had to take a deep breath before uttering those words - The Boy Who Lived. I could go on and on about the amazing storytelling ability of JK Rowling and amaze over the subtleties she thought out from the very beginning. But this isn't about my love for her writing. It's about the students.

They all cracked open the cover of their brand new books and turned to chapter one, page one of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. And we began... As we savored every word there were many gasps and "Oohs" as they recognized important details Ms. Rowling sprinkled throughout the book that would become major plot points later on. Now this is why I wanted to do this unit. The literary comprehension is catching on. They are seeing how an author establishes character traits and builds up backstory without giving everything away from the start.

The writing activity is flowing so naturally from our reading. They have been so enamored with their wands they can't seem to put them down. So asking them to think how this wand came to be was so easy. We spent one day on collecting details about how our wands looks, feel, and even smell. We brainstormed a list of woods to choose from and delved into magical creatures that might have donated an item to the wand's making. My class is pretty creative already with personal narrative writing, but this is the first time this year I've delved into the fantasy realm with them and they are blowing me away. Their stories are sequenced naturally and include details from their plans. Plus they are having fun with them and want me to read each one before they finish.

Normally I tell them I won't read the whole thing until they turn in their Final Drafts, only the section they feel fits in with that days lessons. But these are too fun not to read as they develop. To keep them quiet and working I've taken to playing the audio version of the book read by the amazing Jim Dale (another donorschoose item!) while they write.

During the day when I find a free moment or two, I find myself throwing in some wand lessons. Of course we started with

1.) ONLY point your wands away from people
2.) Keep your wands to yourself, this includes hitting, poking, or touching other people's stuff
3.) Keep your wand in a safe place. If it ends up on the floor, don't be surprised if someone steps on it.

Harry Potter Unit 01 - First Years Arrive

They arrived. Dragging their feet and rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, but they arrived. All 24 of them. 19 days away from the routines and procedures of school were clearly evident as they chattered like magpies over a few bits of string. Then they caught sight of their teacher who was dressed in a black robe and wearing a tall pointy hat. In his hand was a stick he kept waving around (think swish and flick) as they approached. Now, understand, these little ones have grown used to their teacher's eccentric moods, but this one was waaay beyond.

They greeted their teacher and may have passed a small word or two about the new year. Then they got to their desks. Quips of "What's this?" were used often when they located the folded bit of parchment waiting for them. It was addressed to them so they could open it. Confusion was the first response after reading this letter, but it soon dawned on them as they put the clues together. Their teacher was UP TO SOMETHING!

Like I mentioned before, there are only three days of school this week. I decided NOT to start reading the book until next week. But there is certainly tons of things that we can do before reading a book, right? I handed out their individual copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (thank you Donors Choose) and we discussed what they already knew about this character. They knew a lot, let me tell you. About 7 of them had already read the first book. We read the summary on the back and applied it to what we knew. I gave them some background on the author and chatted about theme and genre.

The next day we jumped on the train of character traits. There was some work to be done about separating out what is a trait and what is a feeling. We also thought about how these character traits could be collected in order to make a judgment about the person as a whole.

The third day was all about decorating our wands, so there was very little academia involved.

I had them paint the wands all black first in order to bring out the texture of the glue and then add new colors. Word to the wise: lay down paper before you let them start painting. Saves on TONS of mess. They had so much fun choosing and painting their wands. Many wanted to start using them already, but I told them they couldn't use them until they've passed the Wand Use 101 class. I was SIRIUS!

Another thing I did during this short week was have them work with their new housemates on a few projects to get them used to each other. I thought with it being the start of a new year it was perfect timing to get to know each other a little better. I had them fill out a survey with each other to get them talking.

They also had to take the concept from our character trait study and apply it to themselves. They needed to come up with three traits they all share and then design a house crest to hang above their seating area. This was an interesting conversation to listen to.

 

 

 

Here are a few more shots from our week:

 





Harry Potter - First Day Jitters - Harry Potter set up

Okay, I think I'm ready.

I've got my costume set for tomorrow. The door is set up as Platform 9 3/4. It's a recycled Christmas decoration from another teacher. I removed the stockings. I might put a cauldron in the fireplace for the Floo Network, but that doesn't come about til Book 2.

 

 

I created all of the school folders needed for their Hogwarts Packets. 

 

I've got all of my stash out and ready for the Sorting Ceremony tomorrow. I've collected a few HP mementos over the years. Don't judge.

 

We've got this weird three day period this week to start off the new year. Not enough time to start anything new, so we'll be doing a lot of review with some fun projects thrown in. I found a foam friendship wheel (they last longer than the cardboard ones) for creating bracelets and figured out to do the easy stripe pattern from this picture.

 

 

 

Or you could try the 4 model without the wheel.

 

 

 



And we'll be making plastic mesh bookmarks in our house colors from this pinterest idea:

I cut the plastic mesh 7 holes across by 42 holes down. One sheet of 7.5 by 11 sheet gave me 16 bookmarks. I'm making a model and will let you know how it turns out.

Wish me luck!

Harry Potter - Wand Making 101

Today went a lot better than I expected. If you, like me, as a teacher have prior experience with a hot glue gun, you know my fears. When Amelia suggested that I buy large sized bamboo skewers and decorate them with hot glue I was a little frightened. But it worked!

I also thought it would take all day to get 24 of these things done. But it took less than half an hour to dribble hot glue down, around, swirled up, and across each of them to make them unique and special. The best part was figuring out how to use some leftover craft foam as a stand for them as they dried. I'm thinking I might use this later as a place to store them as they paint them as well.

I have tons of paint and glitter from my crafty scrapbooking days and can't wait to let the students loose on creating their own wands.

I have an inkling that we'll need to have a serious discussion about PROPER WAND USE before I let them use these. If you have any suggestions on how to keep this more controlled without any stabbing or poking of eyes, I'd sure appreciate it!

For another idea on how to make your own wands, you could check out this board that my newest buddy, Tina shared on her Harry Potter Pinterest board. MyLitter.com

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Harry Potter Novel Study prep - Hogwarts Here We Come!

Happy 2016!

I for one am excited about returning to school in a few more days. I have some serious plans for my little kiddos. They are going to FREAK~

I have had a few every year that like Harry Potter, some even as much as I do. This year I have several that don't just like Harry, they LOVE HIM!! I can't tell you how jealous they were when I had to explain I was taking a day off from school in order to go to Orlando to see the new Harry Potter park. They wouldn't speak to me for days.

 

 

Back in November a fun blog I follow started a new series. Amelia began detailing a novel study for her room and I was instantly riveted. You should check out Where the Wild Things Learn to see all her drool worthy lessons and super fun ideas. Her ideas were fun and above and beyond the call of a creative teacher. Totally fed into my inspiration brain node. I had to try it out.

She had a weekly update that I eagerly awaited, I may even have harassed her a little when she didn't post on time. By the fifth week, I was praying it wouldn't end. Sadly, it did. Now I'm just awaiting her TpT release of her ideas. When, Amelia? When???

I really wanted each of my students to have their own copy of HP01 but couldn't spend the money to secure twenty copies at $8 a pop. I started looking through Goodwill and used bookstores to find them. I wasn't having much luck. So I went back to an old stand by for funding my classroom.

Donorschoose has helped me tremendously in the past. Check out this blog post to see how I got four cameras for my Photography class. The one thing about them is that the materials need to stay with the schools. So the kids can't keep the books. Boo, but I think they'll have enough mementos from this unit that they will remember all the fun for a while.

I put together a donorschoose request in order to purchase the books and some other items to get us rolling on our Harry Potter Novel Study. These requests are up for three months for people to send in money to help you fund what you need. This particular request was funded in under two hours. Whoo HOO! The books arrived pretty quickly too. I actually had to hide them from the kids so they wouldn't spoil the surprise.

I was worried that some of my parents would not take too kindly to reading about witches and spells out loud in class. I tried to find a parent letter asking for permission to share this wonderful world of literature online. I couldn't find anything. So I wrote my own. I'm including the text here for you to use if you need to use it yourself. I folded these letters up, stapled, and taped them shut. Then I told the students that they were reminders for a parent meeting we had coming up so they wouldn't try to open them.

All of the letters came back with permission signed!

My first order of business is to create Hogwarts' Acceptance Letters for the kids' desks come Tuesday morning. One of them items I asked for was 50 sheets of parchment paper to give these letters a more authentic feel.


I went through the Sorceror's Stone to find how it was written for Harry himself so I could recreate it for the kids. I think I might print one out for myself to keep.

Hogwarts School

of Witchcraft and Wizardry

 

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

 

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarst School of Witchcraft and Wizards. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

 

Harry's letter is signed by his future house mistress, Minerva McGonagall. I plan to sign it as my wizard professor name: Prof. Wilfred Waldicott, Prof. of Magical Studies. Professor Waldicott is going to be the COOLEST teacher come Wednesday, let me tell you!