Did you know that books are for far more than just reading? We've learned this year that it's fun and valuable to talk about our books and think about our books in innovative and different ways. Recently, we learned to keep track of our thinking for our book talks by using post-it notes.
But last week, we tried something totally new...it was even something I had never done before! We had play dates with our book!
Book play dates are a great way to engage in our books in a whole new way, while also using our imaginations. For two days, the kids were put into groups of 2, 3, or 4 and used their books to spark their imaginations and have a real play date. Their directions were to, as a group, pick a book from one of their book bins that made their imaginations run wild. Then, whatever their imaginations wanted them to do, they did!
As expected, Mo Willems's books were a huge inspiration for the kids. To model the activity, I read I am a Frog, a Piggy & Elephant book where Piggy teaches Gerald how to use his imagination. After reading that, we brainstormed ways that this book activated our imaginations, too.
One group discussed Mo's Waiting Is Not Easy. They loved that the book was about a surprise and that the nighttime was an important element to the plot. They also love the Pigeon books and wanted to imagine him being part of their play date. Eventually, they were imagining setting up a hot dog party at night (because Pigeon loves hot dogs!)...they "decorated" the party space, "wrapped presents", "cooked hot dogs", and celebrated their event. It was both delicious and very fun!
But last week, we tried something totally new...it was even something I had never done before! We had play dates with our book!
Book play dates are a great way to engage in our books in a whole new way, while also using our imaginations. For two days, the kids were put into groups of 2, 3, or 4 and used their books to spark their imaginations and have a real play date. Their directions were to, as a group, pick a book from one of their book bins that made their imaginations run wild. Then, whatever their imaginations wanted them to do, they did!
As expected, Mo Willems's books were a huge inspiration for the kids. To model the activity, I read I am a Frog, a Piggy & Elephant book where Piggy teaches Gerald how to use his imagination. After reading that, we brainstormed ways that this book activated our imaginations, too.
One group discussed Mo's Waiting Is Not Easy. They loved that the book was about a surprise and that the nighttime was an important element to the plot. They also love the Pigeon books and wanted to imagine him being part of their play date. Eventually, they were imagining setting up a hot dog party at night (because Pigeon loves hot dogs!)...they "decorated" the party space, "wrapped presents", "cooked hot dogs", and celebrated their event. It was both delicious and very fun!
Another group used A Big Guy Took My Ball, another awesome Piggy & Elephant book. In the book, they play catch with a new friend. This made imaginations go really wild, and the act of throwing a ball, inspired them to have a mud ball fight! I loved how they really took inspiration from the book, and didn't just follow along with what the characters in the book did. So cool!
We also had a group that used a Magic School Bus book to inspire their play time! They knew that Miss Frizzle's class went on amazing field trips on their bus, so they imagined a trip that took them on an African safari! They saw lions and elephants and giraffes along the way. It was a great adventure and they had fun sight seeing together!
Our final group found their inspiration in a nonfiction book about ants. It was a short book with a little information about how ants work and live together. During their play date, this group pretended that they were separated from the queen ant, and had to do on a mission looking for her.
Talk about great imaginations, am I right?! The point of this unit is really to show students how to engage in books beyond simply reading the words on the page. Books are amazing triggers for the imagination, catalysts for new/deep thinking, and devices for traveling and exploring the world. It is my hope that through this year, but especially because of this unit, the kids will see the wonderful opportunities these stories give us for both fun and learning, and these are skills that will help them fall more and more in love with reading every day for the rest of their lives.