Big Al: The Perfect End of Year Activity!

Happy Thursday!

I wanted to pop in and share an activity I did with my class today that is PERFECT for the end of the year. My professor in college (the same amazing one who shared the class meeting ideas) did this with our class several years ago and I love it!

I started off by reading the picture book Big Al by Andrew Clements- yes, Andrew Clements! My kids LOVE Andrew Clements (he wrote the very popular book, Frindle) and we read his chapter books throughout the year. The kids loved to hear that he also wrote a picture book!

The story is about Big Al who is a big, clumsy, scary-looking puffer fish who incapable of making friends because everyone is so afraid of him.

But after he saves a large school of fish from being captured by fisherman's net, he becomes a hero and is loved by all. The story is just too cute. It's a great lesson about acceptance and the kids are always captivated by it.  And who could resist adorable Al?!

To start, I hid the book cover in a file folder and read the story without showing the kids any pictures at all. We stopped at crucial parts to talk to our partners, make predictions, and discuss the turning point. The  *fun* part of the lesson came at the end.

I gave each group one large piece of blue butcher paper, lots of various colors of construction paper, and glue. They were charged with the task of creating what they thought Big Al looked like using tear art. They worked together (with some pushing and prodding on my part ;) ) to create their version of Big Al.

Each group's creation was unique. They turned out great!! I have to share all of them! 

At the end, I did a big reveal of what Big Al actually looked like and the kids were excited to see that they were pretty close!! 

If you need a fun, engaging, give-the-kids-a-chance-to-talk-but-still-think activity for the last few days of school, this is it!!! Thanks, Mrs. Duhon, for the great idea!!! 

That's it for me tonight! Just a few more days for me to enjoy all of these amazing kiddos. I'm going to miss them so much!