Ninjas at Night

For warm-up, the children colored and cut out pictures of a Club Penguin ninja. Then I stapled the pictures together to make a ninja flip book. When they flipped through the pages really fast, it looked like the ninja was actually moving. I found the craft online at http://community.clubpenguin.com/funactivities/arts-and-crafts/ninja-flip-book.htm.

I summarized the fifth book, Ninjas at Night, and asked the children a variety of questions about the book.

When we arrived at the part in the book where the tree house spun, each child received a Dizzy Pill (which is actually a tootsie roll) to help make them less dizzy. After eating their Dizzy Pills, the children were instructed to spin around three times, as if they were in the spinning tree house.

When we got to the part in the book where Jack wrote in his notebook, I showed the notebook I made that has all of Jack's notes in it.

Then, we played BINGO using the word NINJA. For example, instead of calling G47, we would call J47. The kids really enjoyed the game because we kept playing until everyone was a winner! As you can see from the pictures below, we used Cheerios as markers.

At the end, when Jack and Annie found the first of the four things needed to free Morgan from the spell, we used multi-colored chalk to decorate rocks to make our own moonstones.

Pirates Past Noon

As the kids arrived, they worked on a pirate treasure maze (http://www.magictreehouse.com/teachersclub/resource_center/pdfs/4-captain-kidds-treasure-map.pdf) and colored a picture of a parrot, just like Polly (https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPDg9XzChoUdlwRzZTs00hKppNWfTHokIdYMGYycvYWaQkfvu9hueQMGahm4S1SPk87IbGDLZ8fpUYvGEPG_iLTjXjqVGtkMaN11ZcckVYtzDgoGV6XlWp6Q545ztwqUFIBPYIhfhxx-RF/s1600/parrot-coloring-page-kids.gif).

Then, I summarized the fourth book, Pirates Past Noon, and asked the children a variety of questions about the book.

Once again, when we arrived at the part in the book where the tree house spun, each child received a Dizzy Pill (which is actually a tootsie roll) to help make them less dizzy. After eating their Dizzy Pills, the children were instructed to spin around three times, as if they were in the spinning tree house.

In addition, when we got to the part in the book where Jack wrote in his notebook, I showed the kids the notebook I made that has all of Jack's notes in it.

Just like the Jolly Roger pirate ship, we made a black flag with bones, swords, and a skull on it. I handed out a piece of black construction paper to each child, as well as a white piece of paper with all the pirate shapes for them to color, cut out, and glue onto their flag. (http://www.busybeekidscrafts.com/Pirate-Flag.html)

Next, we made a pirate similar to Cap'n Bones! I passed out a black-and-white picture of a pirate with the arms and legs detached from the body. The kids colored and cut out all the pirate pieces, and I helped put the pirates together with brads. (http://www.edupics.com/pirate-jumping-jack-t14320.jpg)

Finally, I brought in a treasure chest, filled with uncooked macaroni. All the kids lined up, waiting their turn to dig for treasure. I had each child close their eyes before their turn, so I could hide a chocolate coin and 5 pennies for them to find.

Mummies in the Morning

As the kids arrived, they got to complete a mummy maze and design their own sarcophagus. I found the mummy maze on http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes/Shape_Mazes/Mummy-Maze.gif and the blank sarcophagus for them to decorate on http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/Sarcophagus%20blank.PDF. The picture below is the sarcophagus I decorated to serve as an example for the children.

Then, I summarized the third book, Mummies in the Morning, and asked the children a variety of questions about the book.

Once again, when we arrived at the part in the book where the tree house spun and took Jack and Annie to ancient Egypt, each child received a Dizzy Pill (which is actually a tootsie roll) to help make them less dizzy. After eating their Dizzy Pills, the children were instructed to spin around three times, as if they were in the spinning tree house.

In addition, when we got to the part in the book where Jack wrote in his notebook, I showed the kids the notebook I made that has all of Jack's notes in it.

Our first craft was making a scepter, just like the one the tomb robber tried to steal. The children colored and cut out a picture of an Egyptian dog head, and then I went around taping the dog head to one of the 12" wooden sticks I bought from Michaels.

Later, when Jack and Annie helped Queen Hutepi read the hieroglyphs in the tomb, we used the Egyptian hieroglyphs to write our first names. I printed out a copy of the Egyptian alphabet for each child, so they could use the hieroglyphs as a key.

Finally, at the end, we got into groups and used toilet paper to wrap each other like mummies! This was a ton of fun for everyone.

The program keeps growing and growing - this week 22 kids showed up for our book club meeting. I am so happy to be able to share my love of reading with these children.

The Knight at Dawn

At the first book club meeting, all of the children showed up at different times, so for the second meeting, I decided to have a warm-up on the table for the kids to do as they arrived. I found a knight maze and two word searches online, which the children really enjoyed.  You can find them at http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes/Shape_Mazes/Castle-Maze.gif, http://www.armoredpenguin.com/wordsearch/Data/2011.06/3021/30210442.085.html, and http://busybeekidsprintables.s3.amazonaws.com/medieval/wordsearch/KnightWordSearch_Easy.pdf.

Then, I summarized the second book, The Knight at Dawn, and asked the children a variety of questions about the book.

Once again, when we arrived at the part in the book where the tree house spun and took Jack and Annie to the castle, each child received a Dizzy Pill (which is actually a tootsie roll) to help make them less dizzy. After eating their Dizzy Pills, the children were instructed to spin around three times, as if they were in the spinning tree house.

In addition, when we got to the part in the book where Jack wrote in his notebook, I showed the kids the notebook I made that has all of Jack's notes in it.

The first activity the children got to do was build their own castles out of Dixie cups. I was amazed by everyone's creativity - two brothers even crushed the cups to make a moat for their castle!

When we got to the part where Jack and Annie were being chased by crocodiles in the castle moat, we played a game called Duck Duck Crocodile, which is played similarly to Duck Duck Goose. I even brought in a crocodile stuffed animal to play the game with.

At the very end, we decorated pictures of knights that look like stained glass when you place them on your window (I found them at the Excalibur Hotel in Las Vegas). The children also used stick-on foam pieces and crayons to decorate picture frames  to put their stained glass picture in. I made the picture frames out of popsicle sticks beforehand.

Outlines

Prior to each book club meeting, I write a summary of the book, chapter by chapter, and think of questions to ask the children during our discussion.

If anyone decides to start a Magic Tree House Book Club in their community and would like to use my outlines, I have posted them on magictreehouseclub.blogspot.com. I hope it helps!

Dinosaurs Before Dark

I made a poster that says "Magic Tree House Book Club" which I placed in the library to help direct families to the right room. 

When the children and parents walked in, they were greeted at the check-in table. The sign-in form asked for the child's name, parent's email address, phone number, and approval to post photos of their child on my blog. I used these email addresses to send reminders about upcoming meetings the day before.

While the parents signed in, the children got to choose from three Magic Tree House bookmarks. You can find these at http://www.magictreehouse.com/teachersclub/resource_center/pdfs/0-welcome-kit.pdf.

I summarized the first book, Dinosaurs Before Dark, and asked the children a variety of questions about the book.

When we arrived at the part in the book where the tree house spun and took Jack and Annie to dinosaur land, each child received a Dizzy Pill (which is actually a tootsie roll) to help make them less dizzy. After eating their Dizzy Pills, the children were instructed to spin around three times, as if they were in the spinning tree house.

When we got to the part in the book where Jack wrote in his notebook, I showed the kids the notebook I made that has all of Jack's notes in it.

During our book discussion, we took a craft break. Just as Jack found a medallion with the letter M on it in dinosaur land, we made our own medallions to wear on all our adventures with Jack and Annie. Prior to the meeting, I cut 3" circles from gold paper, hole punched them, and tied yarn through them to make a necklace. At the meeting, the kids wrote the first letter of their name on their medallions and enjoyed decorating them with crayons.

At the end of the meeting, we made a dinosaur mobile with pictures of the four dinosaurs that were in the book - the Pteranodon, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Triceratops, and Anatosaurus. The children colored and cut out the four dinosaurs. Then, I went around to hole punch and tie yarn around each dinosaur, attaching them to metal hangers.

I was thrilled to have 17 children show up for the very first meeting - what a great turn out! So many children and parents came up to me after the meeting, saying how much they enjoyed the book club and appreciated all my hard work.

Welcome!

I founded the Magic Tree House Book Club at the Newbury Park Library, which meets every Friday from 4:30-5:30pm. Prior to the meeting, the children read that week's book. Then, during the meeting, I summarize the book (chapter by chapter), ask questions, and lead the children in crafts and games related to that week's book.

I'm going to post a summary as well as pictures from each meeting in hopes of inspiring others to start a Magic Tree House Book Club in their community.

The flyer below was distributed to local elementary schools, targeting kindergarten through third grade classes. Most principals and teachers were very eager to spread news of this program to the children.