Robert Munsch's Paper Bag Princess "Craftivity"

Hi sweet friends (or should I say, strangers?)!  I know it's been a while, but as I've posted before, for some reason this year has been a whirlwind of hustle and bustle, and now, just as I blink my eyes, it's already mid-April!!!  How crazy is that?!

I wanted to share a SUPER cutesy "craftivity" that is easy, fun, and cheap!  It can work for many grade levels, and I guarantee your kiddos will love it.  So what is it you ask?  Well didn't you read my title, silly?  :)  It's a great project using Robert Munsch's Paper Bag Princess story as a "springboard".

For the past few weeks, we've been in our "Author's Study" unit in our curriculum.  Last week, we focused on the amazing children's author, Robert Munsch.  His stories are always a hit, and the students always enjoy learning about him and reading his books!

After reading the story, The Paper Bag Princess, my kiddos completed a "4 Square" about the characters, setting, problem/solution, and their favorite part.  I used the printable from my Robert Munsch Author Study Pack, but technically you could just use any kind of notebook paper or plain paper.  Then, we cut out around the edges and glued it to the back side of a paper grocery bag from our local store. 

Next step?  Cutting up the front, cutting out a "neck hole", and cutting out 2 "arm holes".  Since we're in 2nd grade, and the latter part of 2nd grade I might add, my kiddos are a tad too big to fit in the paper bags as "dresses"...sooo we decided to make them more like vests!  (Which of course, the kids got a kick out of, because it immediately reminded them of Thanksgiving...)  :)  Anywho, finally they got to decorate their bag dresses with things from the story, maybe their favorite part, their favorite characters, etc. etc., and add a  "crown" (sentence strip) with the title of the book.

And that's it!  A super fun, easy, yet creative (and applicable!) "craftivity" to accompany Robert Munsch's story The Paper Bag Princess!

Oh, I almost forgot...the last step?  Show off the cute new "duds"!

(One final silly picture to round out this post...hope it puts a smile on your face!)

Have a fabulous rest of the weekend, and a great week next week!  :)

The Boxcar Children Craftivity!

We've been in our "Author Study" unit for a few weeks now, and lately, we've been focusing on Gertrude Chandler Warner-- the author of The Boxcar Children series! 

I LOVE Mrs. Warner for numerous reasons...the first of which: she was a teacher!  Secondly, she wrote these books for CHILDREN to ENJOY reading, back in a time when there weren't many fun and exciting chapter books for kids!  (Did you know that lots of schools and librarys actually frowned upon her books because of the "adventures" of unsupervised children?!  Crazy!!)

So today, my class did a super fun Boxcar Children activity (really a "craftivity") with The Boxcar Children, Book #1!  I like to call it "A Look Into The Boxcar Children"!  (As a side note, you can use this with ANY of the Boxcar Children books, but my class has just started with #1!)

We began with a copied red "boxcar", which my kiddos colored the roof of with their black crayon.

Then, we cut them out carefully around the edges!

Next, we cut out our "title" to use as the door!  Students added handles and knobs, since there's not one on there.  I even had a fun friend ask if he could put a "keypad lock", because he didn't want anyone to get into his!  (got to love the sense of humor!).  After the door, we cut out our wheels and glued them on! 

Finally, my kiddos got a sheet of lined "boxcar" paper to do their actual reading assignment with!  I had them "retell" the story to me so far  (we haven't QUITE finished the first book yet).  They really gave great details, and went ABOVE AND BEYOND in describing the setting, because "after all, Ms. Hubbard, we ARE looking INSIDE the boxcar!" (again, got to love the humor!)

I was talking to my team this afternoon about this fun project, and the one thing I really loved about it was the fact that my KIDS loved it!  They probably could have had the exact same prompt to write about in our Reading Notebooks, but they wrote so much more because it was a fun and cute new project!  So exciting!

AND, since it went so well, I just HAD to compile it all into a file to share with other teachers!  I've posted in on TpT, and I'm about to post it on TN (which btw, have you seen the new site?!  Ah-mazing!). 

You know how much I love all of you guys, though, SO here's my GIVEAWAY for the evening:  Be the first follower to comment below with the names of the 4 children in the Boxcar Children series, and I will GIVE you my new craftivity pack for free! :)

I hope everyone had a GREAT week, and I hope you will have an even better weekend!  Be sure to stop back by in the next few days for some BIG changes and maybe even a BIG, HUMONGO, ENORMOUS giveaway...hint hint...  :)