The Most Amazing Dodecahedron Book Report Project Ever!

Right before Christmas, I went looking for a book report project on Teachers Pay Teachers. I wanted something that would look really awesome to my students. I had bought each one of my 4th and 5th graders,  Mudshark by Gary Paulsen  for a present, but wanted a project to go with it. I found the most amazing book report project ever!

This is what I found: Dodecahedrons!

 In the beginning I have to confess I couldn't even remember how to pronounce the name. So being a K-2 teacher for years, I wrote the phonetic spelling on the board and my students learned faster than I did. Twelve pentagons are put together to make this great shape. They are huge. Mr. Hughes makes each one fun to color and also give them a focus for each slide.

I had my students read the book over Winter break and answer some questions on an index card that went along with Mr. Hughes' project. When they came back from break, I gave each of them, all 31 of them, a copy of each shape and a detailed Student Direction Sheet which is included in this very thorough project. The packet contained 13 sheets in all.  They had to write their book report first, then color, and then cut out. I checked each step before they could go any further.

Some students did extraordinary work. My ESL students especially enjoyed this because the directions were all written out and they did not have to guess what to do through out the project. They worked independently, but spent a lot of time discussing the book while they were writing and then coloring. We used color pencils and crayons, with a few using markers.

I had protractors handy to help with the folding of the tabs. We folded our tabs outward since I found it was easier for 4th and 5th graders to put together. I had the color in each of the tabs so they would add more color to the project. We used lots of glue sticks and paper clips to keep everything together while the glue was drying. I did not help any of my students with the folding or gluing. 

This entire project took about 6 to 7 days. I didn't let them work on the book report part at home, because I didn't want the pages to get messed up in a book bag or lost. Letting part of the Dodecahedron dry over night really helped.

They were all so proud of their work!

We tried hanging them outside our room on some yarn, but they set off the alarm that evening. :(

We ended up putting some of them in the media center for all to enjoy. Then I decided to hang the rest from my Word Wall curtain. I still have them up. I love the way they look and they still let in lots of sunlight.

I smile every time I look out the window. I told my students they could take them home when they made another one. Mr. Hughes also has other Dodecahedron Projects which I am going to try out.

This was the best book report project I have ever given my students. They did not even fuss once about having to do a book report. 

Mr. Hughes can be found on Teachers Pay Teachers at this link.  I was the first person to leave him feedback on this project, so if you buy this please leave feedback! He has lots now, but everyone, even teachers :), want feedback! 

The project includes Materials List, Teacher Directions :), Step By Step Instructions for writing the book report, Step by Step Instructions for Assembly (with pictures and in color,) Tips for Displaying, and of course the 12 student pages.

Or click the cover of the Dodecahedron Book Report Project to get your copy.

Mr. Hughes has a great blog, An Educator's Life. Give yourself a lot of time to browse through his past posts.

Hope you enjoyed this post. I still have lots more to come so please follow me by email and join my blog! Oh, one last picture... one of my students during silent reading time. He never even knew I took the picture until later that day when I showed it to him.

Thanks for the visit!

NCAGT's 39th Annual Conference - Teaching Digital With Bloom's

I had a GREAT time at the NCAGT's Conference in Winston-Salem. The theme this year was "Gifted Education: Kick it UP a Notch!'
Guess what the logo was... Good ole Texas Pete.

Cute isn't it! We even received a small bottle with our conference bags.

There is a lot to share. Today though I will just share the workshops I attended. I went through the program guide and picked my favorites, mostly Digital Learning. Many of my teaching buds will not be surprised by that! 

I have an online class on Edmodo that is going great. My students are clamoring for more work. This work is very detailed and involves a lot of writing, and they are still wanting more! Mainly because it is digital. Something they relate to and can make a connection to immediately. More on that later!

This pyramid says it all when wanting to use digital media with your lessons. See how many you are already doing in your classroom.

The digital classes I selected were all centered around the Common Core Curriculum and using social media. I am going to start Monday with a lesson I picked up for older students, but will use 4th and 5th grade level books. Digital Retelling and 21st Century Skills by Danielle Sullivan, Union County Public Schools. (I don't have her email, but she did say she would be happy to talk with anyone about what she was doing with digital retelling.) The class was amazing! She used The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe to have small groups interact with a story and produce a digital retelling. I can't use the ppt. she used to explain how she did this, but I will show the one I plan to use for my students as soon as it is finished. 

I have some other anchor type charts from ZaidLearn: A Juicy Collection of Digital Posters.

This one shows some of the Apps that you can use for each of the Revised Bloom's Taxonomy Levels.

This is great to show different websites with learning games and videos.

This is a short post but... I will be back soon with my version of the Digital Retelling and Narratives. If you follow by email, my posts will pop up in your email! The next post will have some digital content from my students! It is easy to do and all levels of learners will be engaged in learning!