Welcome Judges

3D ARTS AND CRAFTS BASED ON A LITERATURE BOOK – PROMOTING READING AND ENCOURAGING CHARACTER BUILDING

Nomination Description

TEACHING PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS ( aged 7-10)

Become the hero of the book , the writer, rewrite , reshape , relive the story!

Emily Dickinson once said :’’There is no frigate like a book to take us to lands away’’

The last few years  I  have noticed the unwillingness of many students to read a book . This year I  have decided to encourage literature and  generally reading English books and Ι have  planned  a number of activities ; I wanted to build their confidence , endurance and love for reading . Can you imagine the possibilities when using reading? They are endless! Not to mention the benefits for an English language learner . But  what happens when you try to do your activity 3D, like a shoe Diorama?

I wanted to cultivate a reading habit from a young age and motivate them to spend some time at the weekend -reading for pleasure. Then, I would take the story and make it real, dig deeper into the story , make it special: find out what the story has to teach us. Reading has so many benefits for English  language learners developing their skills, knowledge of the world, it  broadens their  mind and  teaches them  moral values as well.

In the beginning our students were asked to choose a book they liked and read it . I wanted them to have a choice .  It could be any book , fairy tale or story book but it had to be in English or if it was in Greek they had to present it in class in English and tell everyone the story . It was required of them to read all the book on their own pace .

Then we asked the students to create a 3d Arts and crafts based on the main story or characters of the book and bring it to class. They used a shoe box to make it 3D and illustrated the features of the book that they liked.

After everyone had presented their work, sometimes simply as a presentation , other times like storytelling and bringing the actual books in class,  we had class discussions and feelings or recommendations about the books . That is where I sparked engagement, asked them  what if questions, like what if the ending was different, what if  the characters had acted differently , how would they have written it differently and have them reshape the story and  relive it!

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE/EMPATHY

We chose heroes of the book as role models to enhance and promote our student’s well being but most importantly to create  strong character building that has to do with so much more than the language itself. Everything is written and presented in English of course but showing how a character overcame the difficulties and  never gave up   or that he  always showed kindness towards others, these are values we want to emphasize and  they are clearly illustrated in children’s books.

How would they feel if they were in the main character’s shoes, what would they have done differently ; all these  questions are discussed in class by imagining alternatives and absorbing, trying to  understand the choices of the writer, maybe learn about the writer himself as well.

The 3D projects were kept in class for all this time for everyone to see and later presented to parents.

We are extremely happy with our students’ interest in books  after this project.

Learning English is fun , it is creative and activities like these promote  a wonderful atmosphere in the classroom. Not to mention how much they learn as far as the English language is concerned.

Hopefully they will keep on reading and indulge deeper in more literary books as they get older!

One thing is certain ,  they will never read the same way again, they will absorb everything the story has to offer , thoughts , imagination or feelings and they will successfully do it in English!