Thursday, August 8, 2013

SW Reads Day Planning

It CANNOT fall apart like it did last year. So I need to start planning now because it's right after book fair, right when my assistant will be out, and right when I'll either be packing up to move or unpacking because I moved to the new place. Also while advertising the book pumpkin patch. The first plan when October didn't work last year was in April after "testing." No one felt like it then, either. But the KIDS WOULD LIKE IT. Actually had a parent disappointed last year. He'd seen we were listed on the website.




We have done something called Read Around the School (lovingly known as RAtS) before. So I thought I'd sort of base it on that just because even though we never did one last year most of the staff and a good portion of the kids will be familiar with it. Doing a big "thing" ... it's easier for everyone when it's semi-familiar.

Are you tired of the rambling yet? This is really a thinking it all out post. And PLEASE ... if you have any ideas at all please comment!


There are not enough SW stories by a long shot. At least not for kids (cause RAtS actually lends itself best to picture books ... not readers or chapter books) or that we actually OWN in the library. So I sort of thought I'd make some of it fairy tales and then activities that relate back to Star Wars? Will that work? Plus the princesses will grab the female students and staff who (gasp!) might not be fangirls like their teacher librarian. The 5th grade boys who might be reading buddy paired with a 2nd grade girl would BOTH understand they'd need to share choices.

Example Stories & Activities (I would need about 25-30 activities total! 700 or so kids participating.)

  • Origami Yoda excerpt and folding Origami Yodas (sort of a given, right? The thing will be getting a teacher who feels comfortable enough to lead this one ... I'm running around making the announcements)
  • I'd say a drawing lesson from ART2D2's Guide ... but then where would be the "reading"? Especially if it was a guided activity and not them reading the directions on their own. Also ... finding a teacher who feels comfortable with this!
  • by then Jeff Brown's Jedi Academy will be out ... I need to finish the E-ARC to see if there is an excerpt we could use. Not all of them have to have an activity so it would just be an 8-10 minute read aloud.
  • Star Wars Mad Libs ... hmm. Making up my own entirely? Will have to start now. Could I reproduce a page or two from the book (credited, of course) since it would be for a school setting reading activity? Maybe. It's a reproducible, so that's a count against. It wouldn't be much of it, so that's a count for.
  • What is a Wookiee?, Feel the Force, Luke Skywalker's Amazing Story, Journey through Space, The Adventures of Han Solo, or A Queen's Diary. All are DK readers so they would need an accompanying literacy activity because the actual READING part would be short. They aren't the most compelling stories.
  • The Bravest Knight (Mercer Mayer) or The Knight and the Dragon (Tomie dePaola)
  • excerpt from The Knights of the Kitchen Table (Jon Sciezcka) ... that's stretching the SW tie-in but hey! It would introduce them to a new series!
  • one of Carmela LaVigna Coyle's Princess books (Do Princesses Wear Hiking Boots? comes to mind) ... and maybe a Princess Leia bookmark they could color?
  • or a version of the Princess and the Pea
  • or Julie Andrews' The Fairy Princess
  • an excerpt from Shannon Hale's The Princess Academy or Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted? Both have a Newbery behind it. It's been a while so I don't remember.
  • an except from a Princess Posey book? We got them last spring and they were surprisingly (to me, anyway) well received. Wasn't expecting that.


I already have a bunch of printable posters and bookmarks. Some free, some on TPT (even though I go through phases where I take them down because I'm like "I don't own SW rights and I'm not sure I should have even bought the clip art cause THEY didn't have the right, either" and then "But I love them so much I want other people to like them, too." #justification
Check out the Printable Stuff page for links to both. Unless I've taken them down by the time you look.


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PS I did try contacting the 501st Legion (especially when we changed the day). Never heard back. Don't blame 'em ... they'd be so popular there's no way they could say yes to everyone!

2 comments:

  1. I am sooo lost. So your school will do a STAR WARS Reading Day where everything is STAR WARS themed? I like the idea. What about using light sabers to point to words on a Word Wall? You could do a bunch of bean bags in a room called Jabba the Hut Room? Or kids could wear all white and sun glasses so they would look like those soldiers (sorry, I don't know enough about SW to know what they are called)? Or...you know that toilet paper game that people do at Wedding Showers? you could do the same game with the kids in teams of 4 and have them dress up the soldier. Time it and then create a graph to compare who won. The team that wins, gets to have a light sabre fight or gets a book or something. Oh, you could get your Science/Math Teachers Involved by having a timed contest where they gave a shoebox full of legos and had teams build SW ships or something similar.

    Does it have to be STAR WARS? I mean if you're doing a whole Prince/Princess theme, can it be a Royal Reading Day? My kiddos last year (3rd) absolutely LOVED Fractured Fairy Tales! If your kiddos are 3-5, what about the Whatever After Series? The characters are a sister and brother who have to "fix" the fairytale. I did a chapter read aloud and the next month I had about 10 kiddos buy the book/s from Scholastic - they loved them.

    Wow, who knew I could have this many ideas about STAR WARS??

    Deniece

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    Replies
    1. Those are some great ideas. I'm writing them down.

      And yes ... it's supposed to be SW-centric cause it's not anything I made up. It's an actual THING that school or public libraries can participate in (click on the SW pic for the FB page). Added the princesses to try and get more people at school to take interest. Not everyone is a SW fangirl like me. The kids know I am a SW fangirl, too, so I thought this would be a fun place for us to ... meet in the middle, so to speak?

      But the actual "official suggestions" really are more for public libraries or bookstores. People who can offer food and spend more time on flat out games that don't have a learning component. I'm sort of on my own for schools. Until I find some more people who are participating or who can share ideas! Like you!

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