10.25.14 Posters

It was time for the annual book fair at school. This year there was a new twist or rule set that encouraged children to more fully complete their boards on their own. I was a little hesitant about this wondering what kind of mess it might turn into but was happily shown just how capable they can be.

The kids had definite ideas on what they wanted and how they wanted to present themselves. I loved watching them work and think through the describing of their books. Unfortunately, the little girls were too involved and some scribbles showed up on the finished projects. But as the competitive side of me bristled with no blue ribbons this time, I am very aware that they learned a lot. The real win is the advancement of thinking. And in respect to Addie her skills in processing the written word- both hers and the authors was greatly advanced.

We tried diverting the little girls with popcorn. Livy helped me make it. Between the two of them they removed the lid to the air popper while I was sharpening pencils and we had popcorn everywhere.

I had not purchased green paint- no one had ordered it. Addie informed us we just had to mix the yellow and blue. We did and it worked well! She's learning all kinds of things at school. 

She was all kinds of help in so many ways. Here she is loving Mark while he is coloring his tiger he traced on his poster. He is a really great artist and my most careful color-er.

Aliza likes mystery books. She chose the Westing Game. A book that has a yucky cover but is a great mystery that was not easily solved. She had fun coming up with a way to convey the message of the book. For this kiddo who eats books like cold cereal I think it was especially valuable to have to stop and think about what she read.

I forgot to take pictures of the finished products. 5 kids in elementary school 5 boards completed. Addie learned a lot about writing doing this project. I did not loose all my hair but there were times in the 20+ hours she and I spent composing -mostly me spelling, erasing, demanding more careful work that I thought I would go CRAZY!. But it was pivotal learning project with a lot of worth. Glad we're done till next year and thankful our school still offers/requires some higher level thinking projects.