Autumn DIY adventures in the library!

Parade of Books!

Grades K-3!  Mark your calendar for the Stone Scholastic Academy Parade of Books!  Students in grades kindergarten through 3rd are invited and encouraged to dress up in home-made costume of their favorite book character and carry a book to match, to join in our book-loving parade in and around our school on Friday, October 31st at 2:00 p.m.!   Bring the family to cheer on your child, your child's class and the joy of reading!

Again, a gentle reminder:  this is not a Halloween parade, this is a reading celebration. (For any details regarding Halloween, please contact your room parent or check your child's classroom newsletter/website for details.)  Some simple and inexpensive costume ideas from years past may be found here, here, here and here. It's easy to see what a special event this is for our community of readers!  Please, children should not wear masks (which also present a safety challenge when small children march), any horror themes involving blood (zombies or vampires), or television characters/video game characters that were cartoons before they were books.  Please save those costumes for trick-or-treating after school!  As far as books to carry, there are some resources available in our school library and your child's classroom library, but this is also a perfect opportunity to visit the Chicago Public Library (please see Ms. Esme if you need an application for a public library card).  Thank you for your participation!  

 

Haunted House Museum!

Attention, all grade levels!  We need your help!  Take a cardboard box and cut holes in it for windows.  Paint or otherwise completely cover the box with a seasonal color like orange, black, green or purple.  Decorate the outside of your house with ghosts, trick-or-treaters, rotting trees…use your imagination! If you don’t celebrate Halloween, that’s fine!  We welcome fall houses and autumn scenes as well. And this year, we have a theme:  Harry Potter!  You don't have to use the theme, just a suggestion to get your imagination's engine running!

Here are a few rules:

-       No blood or gore or headless dolls, sorry!  We are celebrating imagination and folklore, not horror.

-       Please do not attach any real food or real leaves to your creation.

-       Please do not include or attach anything valuable to your creation.

-       Yes, you can work with a friend or friends or family!

-       You can light it inside with a flashlight or battery-operated lights!

-       You don’t have to make it a house.  It can be a haunted apartment building, or a haunted theater, or a haunted sports event, or a haunted store, or autumn sunset, or apple orchard, or…whatever idea you have!

-       Please ask for a grown-up’s help for cutting out windows or when using new or messy craft materials.

-       This is not an assignment for a grade.  This is extra credit and for FUN!

Haunted houses and fall houses are to be made at home.  They can be dropped off in the library any morning after October 15 and before October 29.  Remember to put your name(s) and room number(s) on your monsterpiece masterpiece!

Autumn Arcade!

Grades 6, 7 and 8!  Inspired by the Caine's Arcade video (below), we are going to have our own Autumn Arcade in the library.  You are invited to make your own cardboard box arcade game with a Halloween or fall theme; decorate and design accordingly! Middle school participants receive up to five points extra credit; the number of points you get depends on the number of kids who play, so make your game as terrific as possible! Keep these things in mind:

-       The same rules apply as for haunted houses:  no blood, decapitation or gore.  We are celebrating imagination, not horror.  Remember, younger kids (k-3) will be playing your game.

-  We do not want twenty-five basketball games.  Even though you may be using a cardboard box, try to think outside of the box, so to speak.  See Caine's Arcade 2 for inspiration.

-       Please ask for adult’s help for cutting out windows or when using new or messy craft materials or tools.

-  Sure, you can work with friends, just make sure everyone does their part.

-  If your game requires balls or other accessories that could be lost, you may want to keep them in a Ziplock bag and wait until October 31st (the day the arcade games can be played) to bring them in. You and your teammates will be there to facilitate the playing of the game.

-  Sure, you can have prizes (but not necessary).  If you do, those should be home-made, too.  Bookmarks are a brilliant idea.  

- Games can be dropped off in the library any morning after October 15 and before October 29.  Remember to put your name(s) and room number(s) on your game.  Can't wait to see what you create!