We Found Some Fun!

Remember my post on Finding Fun?  Well, we found some!  My friends have been very busy with some projects recently, and I thought I would share.  We've been working on a couple of things.  First, my friends completed research reports and drew a picture of the person on their cover.  I think they came out GREAT!!

 

Love the jets hanging from the title

With Mickey on his shoulder!

A bored George Washington

A very stylized Meriwether Lewis

Jimmy Carter who was "as nice as his teeth were big."  Yeah, right out of the report.

Derek Jeter who "never married but has tons of girlfriends."

As I wrote, I think the covers all came out really well.  Happily, the reports were also great.  Well, except for my friend who insisted Martin Luther King Jr. worked hard to put an end to democracy.  Sigh. . . 

The other project hanging in my room is one I have done many times over the years.  For a reading log project, my friends had to make a mask of the main character.  Then, they had to give a speech explaining the physical and emotional traits of the character and how he/she/it! was important to the story.  To make the mask you stretch out a wire hanger, cover it with the cut leg of a stocking, and make your character's face using any materials you like.  Here they are hanging on my windows.

  Here are some of the masks that I thought came out well.

This is Isabelle from Fortune's Magic Farm by Suzanne Selfors.  Sadly, her nose fell off on the bus.  No, not in the book.  On the bus my friend rides to school. At least I know this friend made a nose for their character.  You will see later that someone didn't think having a nose or mouth was particularly important.  Go figure!  I like this mask because you can see the time and effort that went in to making the yarn hair. 

  

Here we have Zeus from D'Aulaires' Greek Myths.  You have to love the crabby face and lightning bolts in the beard.

This critter is Mrs. Frisby from, what else, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien.  This book is an old one but still a goody.  To be honest, it has never been one of my favorites, but my friends like it.

This mysterious veiled lady is Maddie Masterson from School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari.  I thought the veil was a nice touch.  Sadly, her mouth and nose weren't done.  Really?!!

Above is the mask one of my friends did for the book Bad News for Outlaws: The Remarkable Life of Bass Reeves, Deputy U.S. Marshal.  The mask is not particularly detailed, but I wanted to show it to you because THIS IS AN AMAZING PICTURE BOOK!  Bass Reeves was a former slave who escaped to freedom in the Indian Territories and became a U.S. Marshal.  He was one of the most respected Marshals, making over 3,000 arrests in his lifetime.  This book tells his story and some of the more interesting arrests he made.  The boys in my class are nuts about this book, and after my friend gave his speech we now have a waiting list of girls who want to read it.  Winning!! (Yeah, I just got all Charlie Sheen on ya!)



So, that is what we have been up to lately.  It's been fun for us all.  Now, I'm knee deep in administering DRA2 reading assessments.  Gosh, they take a long time!

What have you been up to?  Find any fun lately?