SEW BOOKISH
  • Sew Bookish Blog
  • Social Justice in the Stacks
    • Where to Begin?
  • E-Portfolio
    • Resume
    • Reflection
    • Artifacts >
      • Goal 1 >
        • Outcome 1A
        • Outcome 1C
        • Outcome 1D
      • Goal 2 >
        • Outcome 2B
        • Outcome 2C
        • Outcome 2D
      • Goal 3 >
        • Outcome 3A
        • Outcome 3B
        • Outcome 3D
      • Goal 4 >
        • Outcome 4A
        • Outcome 4B
        • Outcome 4C
      • Goal 5 >
        • Outcome 5A
        • Outcome 5C
        • Outcome 5D
Picture

Categories

All
2018 Book Challenge
About Me
After Hours
Art
Artsy Babies
Baby Lapsit
Baby's Day
Baby Time
Bedtime
Be Yourself
Birds
Blog Updates
Book & Cookie Club
Book Discussions
Book & Fun Club
Book Reviews
Books
Books For Tweens
Brave
Bugs
Chickens
Christmas
Clothes
Colors
Construction
Crafts
Dance
Diverse Books
Dogs
Doreen Cronin
Dragons
Early Literacy
Education Through Music
Escape Room
Every Child Ready To Read
Fall
Family
Family Storytime
Fandoms
Farm
Father's Day
Field Trip
Friends
Fun
GeoGuessr
Grad School
Graphic Novels
Groovy Tots
Halloween
Hugs And Kisses
Inquiry Based Learning
Interactive Books
Jan Thomas
Kindness
Lapsit Favorites
Let's Try It
Letter B
Life Post
Love
Magical Celebrations
Magic Worlds
Makerspace
Marketing
Marvelous Me
Monsters
Mother's Day
Music
Musical Monday
Music And Movement
Outreach
Outreach Storytime
Passive Programs
Peace
Pets
Potty Training
Preschool Storytime
Programming
Resource Guides
Rewind Wednesday
Scavenger Hunt
School
School Age
Snow
Social Emotional Learning
Social Justice Storytime
Space
Spring
Star Wars Reads Day
STEAM
Storytime At The Museum
Storytime Favorites
Stuffed Animals
Tales For 2s And 3s
Techno Thursday
Techno Tuesday
Toddler Storytime
Todd Parr
Try It
Underwear
Unicorns
Videos
Virtual Groovy Tots
Virtual Music And Movement
Virtual Programs
Virtual Storytime
Winter
Wizards & Witches
Yoga
You Are Awesome
Zoom Book Discussion
Zoom Programs

Archives

November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017

June Book and Cookie Club: Castle in the Attic

6/27/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
Every month I facilitate a book club for students in 3rd - 5th grade.  This program is designed to be a caregiver and child book discussion group.  I plan activities and games based on the book that we read.  B&C Club is one of my favorite programs and I love the challenge of creating new activities and games each month for The Crew (my nickname for my B&C Club participants) to enjoy.

​My plan for this month's B&C Club can be accessed by clicking here.
Our book for this month was The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop.
What's Your Medieval Name? -- Nametag Activity
Picture
medieval_name.jpg
File Size: 1590 kb
File Type: jpg
Download File

I decided that it would be great fun for The Crew to create their own Medieval Name for the evening. 

I made this Medieval Name generator graphic using PicMonkey and found some name inspiration on Storm the Castle.  As I was creating this graphic, I realized that I only had so much space to work with so I opted for gender neutral names.  I also picked out some Jousting horse names for some of the surnames because I found it amusing.
British Word Matching Game -- Icebreaker Activity
Picture
british_slang_memory_match.pdf
File Size: 604 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

I purchased the clipart for this collage from the amazing Krista Wallden of Creative Clips.
I thought it would be fun to have The Crew match British terms and slang to pictures that I mounted on foam core.  This was such a fun icebreaker because it got everyone to work together!
Picture
Picture
Race to Build a Castle -- Discussion Game
Picture
Picture
The Crew was divided into two teams for this game.  Each team took turns answering questions from the book.  If they answered the question correctly, they were given the card the question was written on and used the card as a "block" to build their castle.  To win the game, a team had to earn 20 blocks and have a castle that had 2 towers.  It was a close race, but Unicorn Castle was victorious!
Stained Glass Art
Picture
This was one of the most popular activities of the evening.  For this activity, The Crew drew a design on glossy photo paper with Sharpie markers.  When they were finished drawing and coloring their design, they outlined the shapes of their design with a black marker. I actually had this photo paper lying around my house, so I didn't have to buy any #score!  The idea for this activity came from Happy Hooligans blog.
Castle Challenges
Picture
This is a really cool STEM and team building activity that I found on Teachers Pay Teachers.  I plan on trotting this activity out again during the school year for our Makerspace.  The supplies are super simple and cheap - a ruler and index cards.  I added cups for an additional challenge.
Magic Tricks
Picture
I pulled some magic books from our nonfiction section and marked the easiest tricks (and the ones I had the supplies for) with a post-it note.  Some of the members of The Crew were excited to try out the tricks they learned on their friends and siblings.
Book Display
Picture
We are trying to promote our awesome nonfiction books via display carts for special programs.  Our nonfiction section is tucked away in the very back corner of our department, so the books back there can get a bit neglected.  I thought it would be fun to pull some books that related to various themes and topics in Castle in the Attic. I pulled books on castles, knights, jokes, and riddles.
Biscuits
Picture
Reading this book made me nostalgic for the time that I studied abroad in England (back in 2009).  I had the opportunity to student teach in an English primary school.  The best part of the day was tea time.  All of the kids would go out to recess where they were supervised by parent volunteers. All of the teachers would head into the lounge for tea, biscuits, and cakes.  I'm food oriented, so it's safe to say that this was my favorite part of the day.

​I decided to order my favorite biscuit for The Crew to try.  Unfortunately, Amazon was out of stock on the chocolate covered Digestives so I had to get the plain ones.  I'm not complaining though, I get to enjoy some biscuits with my tea.
Summer Swag Bags
Picture
Picture
Picture
I might have kept one (or three) of the Squishies. Isn't it CUTE?
Last summer I thought it would be fun to give out little "swag" bags with activities and items related to the next book that we would be reading in Book & Cookie Club.  I decided to bring them back again this summer because they were a lot of fun to put together!  

​This month's Swag Bag included Squishies​ (which were difficult to part with because they are tiny, cute, squishy animals), a "box of normal" (a Darice mini clear box with lock tabs purchased at my local Meijer for $1), Ticonderoga pencils (purchased at my local Meijer),Darice holographic star stickers, deco-trope craft with bamboo skewer, and I'm a Balloon! bookmark activity with string.

I have included the PDF to the activity templates and descriptions for the June Swag Bag.
june_bags.pdf
File Size: 201 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    About the Author

    Children's librarian.  Unicorn wrangler. 
    ​Crafter.  


    Disclaimer

    ​​The views ​expressed on this site are my own and do not reflect those of my employer or the community I serve.

    Picture

    Follow Me

    RSS Feed


    Currently reading

    Nine, Ten: A September 11 Story
    Us, in Progress: Short Stories About Young Latinos
    The Librarian of Auschwitz
    The Golden Compass


    Nicole Lawton's favorite books »

    2020 Reading Challenge

    2020 Reading Challenge
    Nicole has read 80 books toward her goal of 100 books.
    hide
    80 of 100 (80%)
    view books

    Favorites

    Picture
    Picture

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Sew Bookish Blog
  • Social Justice in the Stacks
    • Where to Begin?
  • E-Portfolio
    • Resume
    • Reflection
    • Artifacts >
      • Goal 1 >
        • Outcome 1A
        • Outcome 1C
        • Outcome 1D
      • Goal 2 >
        • Outcome 2B
        • Outcome 2C
        • Outcome 2D
      • Goal 3 >
        • Outcome 3A
        • Outcome 3B
        • Outcome 3D
      • Goal 4 >
        • Outcome 4A
        • Outcome 4B
        • Outcome 4C
      • Goal 5 >
        • Outcome 5A
        • Outcome 5C
        • Outcome 5D