Books to Movie Summer. You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have…Summer Slide!
UGH! Everyone wants summer…teachers need it to recharge, rejuvenate and redo lessons before they start again in the fall. They look forward to sleeping without alarm clocks, lunches that last more than twenty minutes and reading “grown-up” books.
Students LOVE the summer, as well. They look forward to the free days, the sleeping late, no homework, no bus rides.
Until Day 4 and then the chorus of “I’m bored” can be heard around the neighborhood. And after a joyous summer, teachers are faced with the dreaded summer slide. How can we avoid the boredom and the summer slide at the same time?
We need parents to help. More and more parents are feeling hesitant about helping their child…they don’t want to do more harm than good.
AND they don’t want to teach their child something the “wrong way.” Some parents also deliberately stay away from schoolwork and opt for a “homework-free” summer. That’s where “A Books to Movie Summer” comes in.
Many children’s books have been turned in to movies over the years…some better than others. The argument for which is better (by the way, the books are ALWAYS better) is an ongoing debate.
Engaging the family in this debate can only benefit the child. Parents can look at reading a classic, like a Charlotte’s Web. Taking the time to read the words of friendship, desperation, and loss allows a child to connect with those emotions words on a page and images in their head before they become the spoken word from a character in an animated or live-action film.
At the end of the each chapter, concrete discussions about what happens are the springboard to predictions and drawing conclusions and the what ifs of the story.
Discussions can include all the levels of Bloom’s without being directed by a “teacher” but by curiosity.
Parents might even want to keep a list of scenes from the story they want to look for in scenes in the movie.
At it’s very core, the commitment is a chapter a night.
At the educational level, it is book talks, inferencing, debate, summarizing, and so much more.
But at its broadest stroke it is family togetherness.
It is sharing in emotions.
Books to movie is all about building background knowledge for love, friendship, and loss. It also becomes a family movie night. The movie can be shared on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and a box of Kleenex®, especially if they are watching Charlotte’s Web.
Whether parents have access to cable, Netflix®, or their public library, this summer could be one to remember for the whole family…with a side order or no summer slide.
If you would like some ideas for Books to Movie ideas for Charlotte’s Web, CLICK HERE or the picture above.