Twenty-four Macdonough 4th Graders attended their first session of Literature for Lunch this week.
Chaelyn, from Kids’ Korner, will facilitate various enrichment activities based on themes in each of the books, (including science, art, music, cooking, gym games and more). The club will last for 10 sessions and will include a viewing of the films based on the books to conclude the club.
During the second session of Literature for Lunch: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, students were able to express themselves through art. In Chapter 2 of our book, the faun, Mr. Tumnus, plays a tune for Lucy on a strange little flute that makes her "want to cry and laugh and dance and go to sleep all at the same time." The club members discussed how Lucy was “hypnotized” by the power of the faun's strange music. We also discussed how often times music has the ability to make us feel many different emotions all at once. We shared different song examples with each other, expressing the emotions each song makes us feel. Then, using liquid watercolors and bristol board the students created paintings based on the emotions they felt while listening to some new age music by Enigma.
Literature for Lunch: The Bridge to Terabithia-Session 2Katherine Paterson, author of The Bridge to Terabithia, uses descriptive language to enhance her writing. In our story, she often uses a figure of speech called simile. She’ll express a resemblance between two things by using the words, like or as. For instance, “mad as flies in a fruit jar.” During session 2 of our club, students searched through the beginning chapters of the book, trying to list as many similes as they could. Following this exercise, we played a game called, Apples to Apples Jr.-The Game of Crazy Comparisons. This fun-filled game enriches the students’ use of adjectives to describe a variety of objects, sometimes in a hilarious way.
Literature for Lunch: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe-Session 3
Music plays an important role in the book, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. C.S. Lewis uses descriptive language to illustrate musical moments in the story. He does this in such a dynamic way that the reader can imagine, almost hear, the music he describes while reading. Some notable instances are; when Mr. Tumnus plays his strange flute song, when the mermaids and mermen are singing, and when Aslan makes an entrance at the Stone Table.
During Session 3, of Literature for Lunch-LLW, the students were able to use a variety of percussion instruments to compose a piece of music. The purpose was to create music that could convey the feelings a reader might experience when reading a particular book passage. The club was divided into two groups. Each group was given a choice of book passages. After reading their passage out loud, the children worked together to create and share their musical piece with the club. They were asked to describe the feelings associated with their book passage and if the musical piece conveyed those emotions effectively.
Literature for Lunch-B2T Session 3
In Bridge to Terabithia, the main character Jesse loves to draw. Drawing is Jesse’s “other” escape, second only to running. He tends to draw animals, but not just regular ones. He likes to draw improbable animals or animals in strange situations. During Session 3 of Literature for Lunch we spent recess learning about a poet who also likes to create odd animals, Jack Prelutsky. In his book, Scranimals, he combines both food and animals to create odd creatures, like the “Potatoad” or the “Bananaconda.” Prelutsky then writes poetry describing the bizarre animals. The pictures in the book, by Peter Sis, remind us of the descriptions of Jesse’s silly drawings in The Bridge to Terabithia. Students had a chance to create their own Scranimals. (Like Ham PLUS Camel EQUALS a Hamel). Students were encouraged to write poetry to describe their Scranimals at home.
Session 4: LLW
During Session Four of our The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe Literature for Lunch Club, we had a chance to stretch our legs along with our imaginations. This week we combined the two clubs and met in the Macdonough gymnasium. We played teambuilding and active games based on our book. The first game we played was called, “The White WHICH?” This game is played by first having the adult secretly pick a child to be the “White Witch.” This child uses a special hidden handshake that turns the other people in “the castle” into stone. Another child is the “Guesser” and must figure out who the White Witch is before all of the children have become statues. The next game we played was called “Narnia Tag.” In Narnia Tag, one child is the White Witch. That child runs around carrying a magic scepter (a cardboard tube with a balloon on top). Just like in the book, a tag from the White Witch turns you into a stone statue. The game is similar to the game of “freeze tag” but with a twist. One child is designated as “Aslan,” the lion from our book. That child carries a yellow scarf “tail.” Statues can be turned back with a loud roar from Aslan. Aslan circles a statue while roaring and this awakens them to play on. If Aslan is tagged, that child must go to the “Stone Table” and do five jumping jacks before returning to the game. We got quite the work out, all while making connections to the text.
Session 4: Literature for Lunch-Bridge to Terabithia
As a group we discussed and decided that the most important theme in our book, The Bridge to Terabithia, is FRIENDSHIP. An unexpected friendship between our main characters, Jesse and Leslie, is formed and thrives throughout the story. Based upon this central theme, we decided to celebrate the special friendships in our own lives. Each student was given paper and crafts supplies and was encouraged to write a letter for someone special to them. Poetry books were made available if they wanted to write friendship poetry. Some children chose to write acrostic poems or haiku for their special friends. Lunch-time was spent sharing the poetry of Jack Prelutsky and completing our friendship letters.
Literature for Lunch: LLW-Session 2:
