Decorate a box that describes your favorite book. Sculpt a character to jump right out of the story!

• 1.

  Choose an interesting book to read independently or with a partner. As you read the story, think about what the characters are like. How do they look (either in the illustrations or your imagination)? Pick one character that appeals to you.

• 2.

  Use Crayola Model Magic® to sculpt a model of your character. Use your own ideas about body shapes, features, and typical poses. Use a craft stick to etch in details. Model Magic fresh from the pack sticks to itself, so just press on pieces.

• 3.

  On a recycled box, write the title of the book, author, and character name with Crayola Erasable Markers. (You may need to cover the box first with paper.) Decorate the box to fit the story theme or character’s personality.

• 4.

  Place your character in the box with its lid ajar so it appears to be leaping or crawling out of the box. Be ready to tell your classmates why it’s a book they should leap into!

Standards

• LA: Read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grade level text complexity band independently and proficiently.
• LA: Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize a text.
• LA: Write routinely over extended time frames(timefor research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
• LA: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
• VA: Intentionally take advantage of the qualities and characteristics of art media, techniques, and processes to enhance communication of experiences and ideas.
• VA: Select and use the qualities of structures and functions of art to improve communication of ideas.

Adaptations

• Working independently or in pairs, students list the characters and their actions. Discuss and compare impressions of main characters. Make character maps to organize story information.
• Students prepare to share their diorama with classmates. IN doing so, students write a summary paragraph that shares the theme of the book read, the main character(s), details about the characters, plot details, etc. in the summary. Present diorama and book to classmates.
• Encourage students to read a non-fiction book on a specific topic or individual. Create a diorama to represent that read. Summary paragraphs share the details of the individual or topic. How might this experience be the same as the fiction read? How might it be different?