Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Diary of a Wimpy Kid Program
Since these books are most popular with grade 5-about 7 or 8 this should be geared towards older Elementary kids and middle school students. Most likely some younger kids will be interested in participating as well.
Some General ideas:
- Trivia Game with teams where the winning team gets a prize. Some trivia questions can be found in this Event Kit.
- The Cheese touch game
- Book read-a-likes
- Discussion of favorite moments
- Have kids decorate a small notebook cover
- Kids fill in and create their own comic strip on their own
- Play Make Your Own Comic
- Personality Game
- Give a copy of one of the books away as a door prize
1. Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Eleven-year-old Harriet keeps notes on her classmates and neighbors in a secret notebook, but when some of the students read the notebook, they seek revenge.
2. Dork Diaries (Series) by Rachel Renee Russell
Follows eight grader Nikki Maxwell who chronicles through text and sketches her move to a snooty new school.
3. Dear Dumb Diary (Series) by Jim Benton
Make Your Own Comic
Get kids into groups of 5 (can vary dependent on how many cells you have in your blank comic). Beforehand create a generic sheet of paper with 5 text boxes made to look like blank comic strips. Give each child a pencil and here are the directions. Each person gets a sheet and they have 30 (or 60 to start) seconds to draw something in the first square. Encourage them to write word bubbles not just pictures if they choose. Then pass it to the person on your left. You now have 30 seconds to draw the next box in your neighbors story. Continue like this until you get your own back then go around the room and see what people wrote. These are usually hilarious and kids and t(w)eens get a huge kick out of them. If you have an especially active group invite some of them up front to act out their comic (so long as it's not too violent!)
The Cheese Touch Game (From DWK Event Kit):
What you’ll need: A small piece of paper or Post-it Note for everyone who wants to play, and a hat or bowl.
Setting up: Draw a small piece of Swiss cheese on a single slip of paper. Fold all of the little slips of paper in half.
Group size: Best for a group of ten to twenty. If you have more than that many kids at the event, it might be best to break them up into smaller groups.
How to play: Players sit in a circle, facing one another. Each player takes a slip of paper out of the hat or bowl. Everyone unfolds their piece of paper and looks at it privately. The player who gets the picture of the Cheese has the Cheese Touch, but this must be kept a secret. The object of the game is for the person with the Cheese Touch to pass it along to as many other people as possible. The person with the Cheese Touch does this by winking at a victim. When a victim is winked at, they have to silently count to five, and then announce to the group that they have the Cheese Touch. That person is now out of the game.The other players are trying to catch the person who has the Cheese Touch in the act of winking. If a player catches the person who has the Cheese Touch, the game is over. Tally up the number of “victims” the person with the Cheese Touch successfully knocked out.When the game is over, the slips of paper are collected again and putmback in the hat or bowl, and players draw again. This game should be played in three or four rounds. The winner can be either the person who passed the Cheese Touch to the greatest number of people, or the person who caught more than one “winker” in the act.
Trivia:
Q. In the book Dog Days what was the name of Greg and Rowley's lawn care service?
A. V.I.P Lawn Service
Q. Who is Rowley's favorite singer?
A. Joshie
Q. What is the name of Greg's least favorite comic?
A. Lil Cutie
Q. What is Rowley's last name?
A. Jefferson
Q. Who does Greg have a crush on in The Last Straw?
A. Holly Hills
Q. What word does Fregly use to let people know he has to pee?
A. Juice
Q. What is Manny's nickname for Greg?
A. Bubby
Q. What does Manny call his blanket?
A. Tingy
Q. What would Greg rather do instead of swim team?
A. Water Jazz
Q. What did Marty Porter have in the second grade?
A. Head lice
Q. Who wins the talent show?
A. Leland
Q. Who's idea was it that Greg start a diary?
A. Mom
Q. What role did Greg play in the Wizard of Oz?
A. A tree
Q. What position on the student government did Greg want to win?
A. treasurer
Q. What did Uncle Charlie give Greg for Christmas?
A. A Picture of Uncle Charlie
Day of the event schedule:
1. Book discussion about our favorite moments from the book
2. Make Your Own Comics activity
3. Cheese Touch Game
4. Personality Game
5. Trivia
6. Read-a-likes
7. Decorate notebooks
8. Cash in mom bucks
Trivia:
Q. In the book Dog Days what was the name of Greg and Rowley's lawn care service?
A. V.I.P Lawn Service
Q. Who is Rowley's favorite singer?
A. Joshie
Q. What is the name of Greg's least favorite comic?
A. Lil Cutie
Q. What is Rowley's last name?
A. Jefferson
Q. Who does Greg have a crush on in The Last Straw?
A. Holly Hills
Q. What word does Fregly use to let people know he has to pee?
A. Juice
Q. What is Manny's nickname for Greg?
A. Bubby
Q. What does Manny call his blanket?
A. Tingy
Q. What would Greg rather do instead of swim team?
A. Water Jazz
Q. What did Marty Porter have in the second grade?
A. Head lice
Q. Who wins the talent show?
A. Leland
Q. Who's idea was it that Greg start a diary?
A. Mom
Q. What role did Greg play in the Wizard of Oz?
A. A tree
Q. What position on the student government did Greg want to win?
A. treasurer
Q. What did Uncle Charlie give Greg for Christmas?
A. A Picture of Uncle Charlie
Day of the event schedule:
1. Book discussion about our favorite moments from the book
2. Make Your Own Comics activity
3. Cheese Touch Game
4. Personality Game
5. Trivia
6. Read-a-likes
7. Decorate notebooks
8. Cash in mom bucks
Links:
Friday, November 19, 2010
Kids Cook A Book Program
This is a great program to get kids to interact with stories they know and love. So often we use books to inspire craft projects, why not cooking projects. I got this idea form a summer reading program in NY that took place in the nineties when I was a kid. I remember going to the library and cooking recipes the librarians created from picture books. When the summer was over I got a little cookbook of the recipes we made which I still have! I would love to know if anyone knows the official name of that summer reading program or if they have any of the materials left from that summer. A far stretch I know.
Some other great books you can cook from are:
Goldilocks and the Three Bears - Porridge
Pinkalicious- Cupcake decorating
Wemberly's Ice Cream Star- Ice Cream Soup
Stone Soup-Soup with a few nice stones in it
Dirty Harry- Dog Biscuits
The Very Hungary Caterpillar- Fruit Salad
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Hungry Bear-Strawberry Shortcake
The Pumpkin- No bake Pumpkin Pie
The Carrot Seed- Carrot Seed Dip
Hello Pizza Man!- English Muffin Pizzas
Seven Silly Eaters- Silly Surprise
The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket- Latkes or Potato Pancakes
Read the short story "Cookies" from the book Frog and Toad Together by Arnold Lobel When you have finished reading work with children to prepare the No Bake Cookie Recipe.
No Bake Cookies
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. butter
Dash of salt
3 c. quick oats
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix first 5 ingredients together in heavy saucepan. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add oatmeal, peanut butter, and vanilla. Drop quickly onto slightly greased cookie sheet or waxed paper. Cool.
Have the child write their name with Sharpie Marker on a piece of wax paper and place the cookies they formed on it. Place wax paper squares on cookie sheet trays and place in fridge or freezer (dependent on time) for about 30 minutes. While they are cooling and firming up into cookies now you can do another story.
The Bun by Marcia Brown. In this folk tale from Russia a crafty bun escapes all sorts of characters in the woods until he meets up with the even craftier Fox.
Baking Powder Biscuits
From the Fannie Farmer Junior Cookbook by Joan Scobey, 1993
Makes 12-15 2 inch biscuits
2 c flour
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
4 T (1/2 stick) butter
3/4 c milk
1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into the mixing bowl.
3. Add the butter and cut it into the flour with the pastry blender or 2 dull knives until the granules are about the size of peas.
4. Add the milk a little at a time, mixing with the fork until the dough is soft but not sticky and forms a ball. You may not need all the milk.
5. Sprinkle the pastry board lightly with flour and turn the ball of dough out in the center of it. Lightly flour the rolling pin and roll the dough out in short quick strokes in every direction, taking care not to press down heavily, until it's about 1/2 inch thick all over.
6. With the 2 inch cookie cutter or the glass cut out rounds from the dough and place them on the cookie sheets. Press scraps of dough together, roll out again, and cut out more biscuits as before.
7. Bake about 12 to 15 minutes, or until tops are golden.
8. Wearing oven mitts, remove the biscuits from the oven, serve immediately.
A quicker easier recipe for biscuits is to use the recipe on the side of a Bisquick box. Kids can then use pieces of dried fruit to make a face on their bun before it goes in the oven. Quick, cute, delicious and easy!
Some other great books you can cook from are:
Goldilocks and the Three Bears - Porridge
Pinkalicious- Cupcake decorating
Wemberly's Ice Cream Star- Ice Cream Soup
Stone Soup-Soup with a few nice stones in it
Dirty Harry- Dog Biscuits
The Very Hungary Caterpillar- Fruit Salad
The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry and the Hungry Bear-Strawberry Shortcake
The Pumpkin- No bake Pumpkin Pie
The Carrot Seed- Carrot Seed Dip
Hello Pizza Man!- English Muffin Pizzas
Seven Silly Eaters- Silly Surprise
The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming by Lemony Snicket- Latkes or Potato Pancakes
No Bake Cookies
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. butter
Dash of salt
3 c. quick oats
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix first 5 ingredients together in heavy saucepan. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add oatmeal, peanut butter, and vanilla. Drop quickly onto slightly greased cookie sheet or waxed paper. Cool.
Have the child write their name with Sharpie Marker on a piece of wax paper and place the cookies they formed on it. Place wax paper squares on cookie sheet trays and place in fridge or freezer (dependent on time) for about 30 minutes. While they are cooling and firming up into cookies now you can do another story.
The Bun by Marcia Brown. In this folk tale from Russia a crafty bun escapes all sorts of characters in the woods until he meets up with the even craftier Fox.
Baking Powder Biscuits
From the Fannie Farmer Junior Cookbook by Joan Scobey, 1993
Makes 12-15 2 inch biscuits
2 c flour
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
4 T (1/2 stick) butter
3/4 c milk
1. Preheat oven to 450.
2. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into the mixing bowl.
3. Add the butter and cut it into the flour with the pastry blender or 2 dull knives until the granules are about the size of peas.
4. Add the milk a little at a time, mixing with the fork until the dough is soft but not sticky and forms a ball. You may not need all the milk.
5. Sprinkle the pastry board lightly with flour and turn the ball of dough out in the center of it. Lightly flour the rolling pin and roll the dough out in short quick strokes in every direction, taking care not to press down heavily, until it's about 1/2 inch thick all over.
6. With the 2 inch cookie cutter or the glass cut out rounds from the dough and place them on the cookie sheets. Press scraps of dough together, roll out again, and cut out more biscuits as before.
7. Bake about 12 to 15 minutes, or until tops are golden.
8. Wearing oven mitts, remove the biscuits from the oven, serve immediately.
A quicker easier recipe for biscuits is to use the recipe on the side of a Bisquick box. Kids can then use pieces of dried fruit to make a face on their bun before it goes in the oven. Quick, cute, delicious and easy!
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