Pretty much mine and my students favourite part of each term.
I am such an avid reader and I love getting students excited about the books we read.
I usually try to find a book with a movie as a reward/comparison study or books that are in a series to encourage further reading. Every term I have so much fun trying to decide what our novel study will be. I spend time looking for books that fit our terms inquiry and resources that will engage and suit all my students.
This term I had decided on 'Hatchet'. I had made all these resources and had everything super organised and ready to go, only to find on the first day of term half my students had studied the novel in year 5. That will teach me for being so eager!
I had a dilemma that needed to be solved quickly. I had the hard copy of' 'Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children' in my cupboard to pre-read for next year. I just decided to give it a go, thankfully another teacher had read it and could vouch that it would be perfect for my kiddies.
I read them the brief synopsis and showed them the cover. I was trying to gauge if this would suit them and think on the spot of how to hook them in. It didn't take much, they loved it, they were so excited the begged me to start straight away.
"A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of very curious photographs.
As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive."
We read the prologue and first chapter. I only had my students listen at first, pausing occasionally to discuss themes, characters or vocabulary. After I had read the prologue and chapter one I showed them the book trailer. We discussed some of the themes that were already arising from the text and began building our wall of predictions. The students got really excited because they thought the book trailer was a movie trailer, had to burst their bubbles on that one. However it is going to be a movie in 2015.
We started our third session by using Kahoot. I had created a brief quiz to check their understanding. It was great to be able to introduce them to a new ICT tool, have a little fun and assess their needs. Students over the next fee weeks in their reading groups will be creating their own Kahoot quiz. They are going to create them about their favourite books, general knowledge and topics we have covered this year.
I found a PDF copy of all the images in the book and ran them off. Each time we come across a new image in the book I pin it up on the wall for students to analyse. Each morning as I have come in students' have been crowding the wall discussing the images and sharing their predictions with another. It is awesome to see and hear!
Students also are beginning to create a web of the characters. They are drawing relationship lines between them explaining how they are connected and writing adjectives around them. They will continue to add to these as we read.
P3 are loving the book so far. Some have gone home and read ahead (Couldn't stop them with any amount of bribing) and even I am struggling to not read ahead.
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