Inspiration for Education: 2015

For the last few years I have read Charlotte's Web by E.B. White with my 3rd graders and loved it. Not only is it a great story, it is so well written that nothing in our anthology comes even close in quality. I love to focus on the writer's craft as we read it. We talk about word choice, rhythm, and description along with giggling over the goose's idio-idio-idiosyncrasy.

This year was our most successful year with Charlotte's Web thanks in large part to the new set of activities I used. I decided to try an interactive lap book approach this year and let me tell you, I am sold! I created a number of interactive items that focused on the Common Core standards and allowed me to focus my teaching while keeping things fun.

I think my favorite part was the character cards. Each of the main characters has a card with a cute picture on the front. But the best part is inside. The kids wrote about each character's physical traits, feelings, character traits and motivations. Then on the back they found a favorite quote made by the character. By the end of the book my kids were experts at each of these key areas.

I made a little video to show all of the fun details for this interactive lapbook project. Check it out below.

Check out this video to see the complete project.

Once we finished reading the book and had completed our lapbook I sent home a book report homework assignment. The kids were given 10 different options for how to do their book report. The options included everything from making a diorama to videotaping a news report about the goings on at Zuckerman's barn. The most amazing part of this homework assignment was that EVERY SINGLE child completed it, even the kids who hadn't turned in a homework assignment all year. They were SO motivated to participate. Once all of the assignments were turned in, we had a Charlotte's Web Day and invited the parents to come and see all of our hard work.