Teacher Thoughts
As we began our fantasy/dystopian unit of study, I started the read aloud Eventown by Cory Ann Haydu while a book club read her new book One Jar of Magic. While Eventown, which can be read at many levels, is the perfect read aloud for sixth graders, One Jar of Magic is a great independent reading book. The elements of fantasy are evident and my students loved reading about a place where how much magic you have determines your “importance” in society. The book also does a great job of tackling the topic of domestic abuse in a way that made it easy for my students to talk about. They noted that they thought it was important that the book gave resources for students who might be facing domestic violence in their lives.
Student Thoughts
Izzy, Cameron and Anna took notes in their reading notebooks, and also on a shared Padlet. After finishing the book, they selected a project from the “Choice Board” created by my colleague Jillian Madden.
The students decided to create a slide show from the choice board and worked together to create a presentation for their class.
Anna also made a creative video where she uses “magic” (and her mother’s help) to interview the book about possible themes and big ideas.
One Jar of Magic comes highly recommended by this group of sixth graders and their teacher.
