Lions, and Tigers, and Bears...Oh My!

We have finished our novel study on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz this week and the students absolutely loved it! They were super surprised at the amount of changes from their favorite, the movie, to my favorite, the book. I do believe I converted a good number to favor the book over the movie :)

For the end of our study I decided to steal some pretty awesome ideas from Pinterest. (FOLLOW ME!!) The first activity we did was with the fantastic foldable cubes. (Here's where I got it!) I have done cubes before...but more on a what's your favorite character, what's you favorite scene type ideas. This one on Pinterest just blew my old ones out of the water!  

Talk about practicality through foldables! I did alter the assignment a little. We actually reviewed some literary terms throughout novels and stories. We did our cube with the Characters, Setting, Climax, Theme, Mood, and then a Title Page side. The title page side was for the title of the novel, the author, and the name of the student. I also told my students to get creative in how they represented these parts to their cubes. Students were instructed to use pictures, and as few words as possible! I absolutely loveee seeing their little minds thinking of how they will represent the theme and mood through pictures! Here are some of the absolutely adorable cubes I got!

Also, for the end of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, I assigned a PROJECT! The dreaded project. I did get lots of moans and groans when I said that there was a project...and even some gasps when I told them they only a week to do it! (Whoops!) However, after explaining that, hey, it had Instagram involved, I did get some smiles. I also took this idea from Pinterest. ** I'm telling you... Erin Klein is awesome! She has sooo many ideas worthy tweaking for your own classroom! Mad credit to her!! ** I posted about how it was a wonderful idea a while back...but I am finally now going to use! Whoop Whoop! Finding new things and using them :)

Here's where the idea came from..and here's how they represented it:

Following the end of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, (SPOILER ALERT) all the main characters are separated into different lands. How perfect for a reason to Instagram, right? I mean, how else are the characters supposed to keep in touch with each other? My kids are eating it up! Students are going to choose one main character (Lion, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, or Dorothy) and give them an Instagram account. Then they will make one picture for what that particular character has been up to since they got separated. Finally students will choose a second character and comment on the original picture! I love it!! So, here is my assignment paper and rubric for my students making the project. I can not wait to show some of these off! 

Until next week..and the Instagrams get rolling in, have a great weekend! Love, The Dolphin Team :)