(If you haven't seen Up or Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs in this new 3-D...let me just say, it is amazing!)
I've been thinking of ways to incorporate the movie into our lessons without killing all the fun of going to the movie for the kiddos.
Here is what we are doing:
1. I am reading the original story to them. (I always assumed I had read it before....but apparently not).
2. The kids are reading an abridged version.
3. They are making a chart comparing the different versions of the story: the book, the abridged children's version, the special they saw on tv last year (we call it the Jon Luc Picard version...but really the one where Patrick Stewart plays Scrooge), and the new movie. This chat will serve as the pre-writing exercise for writing a compare/contrast paper. (David will write a page, Alex will write a paragraph and Max will write a few lines...each to their abilities.)
4. I will have them draw pictures and write about how they would have presented each ghost if they were writing the story.
5. We will read about Charles Dickens himself - most likely just on line.
6. We will talk about what life was like during that time period.
7. We are going to play a few games (like those usually featured in the movies..."Tight as a drum..or you uncle Scrooge's purse."
8. They will pick their favorite scene to make a diorama out of.
9. We are working on public speaking a little bit - so I will probably have them present their project as one of the characters.
10. We will put up our Dickens Christmas Village I have been slowly collecting for the past 17 years. The kids get into this process so much more than I ever would have thought. They are often the ones to point out Scrooge's house shouldn't be so close to everyone else's, etc.
Every one of these things will be met with mild groans by my kids...except for going to see the movie. They never want to actually do any work. But their complaints are mild. I am just going into this knowing I will probably have the most fun. And that is totally ok with me:)
Feel free to load me up with any additional great ideas.
