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#Teacher’s Corner: Cereal Box #Book Reports (Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish, ages 6-10)
As so much of the plot of Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish centers around a box of cereal, I thought this clever and fun idea to build a book report around a cereal box was the perfect class or home school activity to feature here on the Katie & Kimble Blog. The activity comes from the book 24 Ready-to-Go Genre Book Reports by Susan Ludwig (Scholastic) and was adapted for the Katie & Kimble Blog by Mrs. Barbara Day, a 4th grade teacher from Des Moines, Iowa.
My students read fiction, and created a Cereal Box Book Report. Students were to invent a cereal based on a fictional book that they had read during the month. They were to think of a name and shape for the cereal that was somehow connected to the book they had read. We covered real cereal boxes with paper, and each side of the box was to follow a specific guideline:
* Front: the name of the cereal and picture to go with it.
* Back: A game based on the story, which must include information from the story.
* Right Side: Ingredients—the characters and story setting. (Some of the kids got confused on this one and just listed food ingredients.)
* Left Side: A summary of the book, including the main conflict and resolution.
* Top: The title and author of the book, and the student’s name.
The last step was for students to plan and present a commercial for their cereal to the class. I was very pleased with the results. We had 100% completion of this project, and the kids seemed enthusiastic.
Thank you to Mrs. Day for sharing your classroom experience with us, and to Ms. Ludwig for allowing us to reproduce such an exciting classroom activity from her creative book. We appreciate it!
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble seriesamong the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
Now you can read the first 6 chapters of Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story for free. Click here to download the PDF. All the pictures are included!
Watch the Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story Video (for ages 6-10)
Here’s something fun to do! Watch the video for Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story! The video tells the story of how Katie and Kimble meet, shows lots of colored pictures, and uses the Kimble, Kimble chant. You can find the words to the Kimble, Kimble chant over
on the sidebar of this blog and chant along.
You can click here to watch the video on You Tube, or you can watch the video below.
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
©2010-2012 by Linda Thieman
Twinkle’s Song: Twinkle, Twinkle, Great Big Dog! Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story for ages 6-10
Twinkle, Katie Russell’s big Old English sheepdog, is one of the most popular characters in the Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story series. One of our Katie & Kimble readers wondered if Twinkle had a song. Here’s the answer!
Twinkle sort of does have a song! Here is what I am thinking. Well, have you read the Kimble, Kimble chant? It’s over on the sidebar and also on the last page of the Katie & Kimble books.
Well, this chant almost fits into the melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” I especially like the part where it goes, “Twinkle, Twinkle, great big dog!”
So, I guess, at this point, Twinkle’s song is “Twinkle, Twinkle, Great Big Dog!” I thought that was kind of fun!
Here is how the Kimble, Kimble chant fits into the melody of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” You CHANT the first two lines: Kimble, Kimble is a ghost. Katie, Katie loves her most!
Then you can either keep chanting, or you can start singing, “Twinkle, Twinkle, great big dog.” And if you start singing there, the rest of the chant fits into the song perfectly! I did not plan that, so I think it’s pretty funny!
Give it a try!
You can listen to the Kimble, Kimble chant when you watch the Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story video here!
Or, click on Freddie on the sidebar up at the top of this blog page. She’s the Katie & Kimble Blog host and she will recite the Kimble, Kimble chant for you!
Fun Katie & Kimble Hint: On the sidebar, click on the yellow stripes to hear Twinkle barking!
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
Paperback version: $5.95
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story!
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2)!
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 6-10]
Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look normal. But the Russells don’t know they are living with Kimble, the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to Kimble’s mother.
© 2008 – 2012 by Linda Thieman
Meet Freddy, the Katie & Kimble Blog’s Little Talking Host! (ages 6-10)
This is Freddie! She’s the talking host of the Katie & Kimble Blog. If you turn on your speakers and click on her picture over on the sidebar, you can hear her recite the Kimble, Kimble Chant. (You can find the words to the Kimble, Kimble Chant on the sidebar of the blog, too.)
If you place your cursor over Freddie’s picture in the sidebar, she will follow it with her eyes. Also, you can click on her one time and she will repeat her welcome. If you’d like to hear it more than twice, you can close your browser for a little bit and come back to it later. She will then speak again!
I named our little host Freddie because there are two fictional characters I like who are named Freddy. I am a big fan of the late author Georgette Heyer, and she wrote both Cotillion and Frederica, my two favorites, and both books have a very likable character named Freddy!
Fun Katie & Kimble Hint: On the sidebar, click on the yellow stripes for a little surprise or two!
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
Paperback version: $5.95
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story!
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2)!
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 6-10]
Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look normal. But the Russells don’t know they are living with Kimble, the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to Kimble’s mother.
© 2009-2012 by Linda Thieman
Download Your Free Katie & Kimble Coloring Pages Here (ages 6-10)
Now you can download free Katie & Kimble coloring pages here! The coloring pages show five scenes from Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (a chapter book for ages 6-10, 280L).
Click here to download the Katie & Kimble coloring pages in PDF format.
Or, look on the sidebar of this blog. You’ll find the coloring pages and other fun activities there.
Mom’s Choice Awards® has named the Katie & Kimble series among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.
Winner: Juvenile Books Series.
Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story (Book 1 in the series) and Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2 in the series) are available here:
Paperback version: $5.95
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story!
Click here to order Katie & Kimble: The Magic Wish (Book 2)!
[Reading Level 3, 280L, for ages 6-10]
Nine-year-old Katie Russell and her family look normal. But the Russells don’t know they are living with Kimble, the ghost of a ten-year-old girl. That is, until Katie discovers Kimble and the two of them set off on a quest to find out what happened to Kimble’s mother.
© 2007-2012 by Linda Thieman
Teachers: Suggestions for Stretching Your Paper Budget (Katie & Kimble: A Ghost Story)
We are hoping that some time within 2012 we will be able to include the Katie & Kimble Activity Packets in an online, computer lab system. Keep a look out for the big announcement! Happy Birthday, Shannon!
The Katie & Kimble books come with free downloadable Activity Packets at third-grade reading level for teachers to use as they see fit. There are six Activity Packets per book. Each Activity Packet contains 7 pages, all of which can be adapted for use in ways other than printing out in order to stretch your paper budget. Download Stretching Your Paper Budget here.
The No-paper Alternative
Transparencies: To put the no-paper alternative into practice, have each reader bring a spiral notebook from home. Call it a reading notebook.
The first teacher to use the Katie & Kimble books can take the Activity Packets and burn a set of transparencies that can be passed around from teacher to teacher with the classroom sets of the books. These can be placed on an overhead projector for readers to use.
At the beginning of each Activity Packet, the reader will copy the Content/Getting Started (prediction) page into his or her notebook. Then as the reader completes each of the activity pages that follow, he or she can check off the completed pages.
Readers can write the answers to many of the activity pages in the notebook. In some cases, they will need to write the questions in their notebook and then write their responses. In the case of the floor plan of Katie’s bedroom, readers can sketch it in to their notebooks and then fill in the labels that way, or one reader would stand at the projector as they fill in the worksheet as a group with an erasable marker. This would no doubt be the best way for the crossword puzzle activity pages, too.
PDFs: The reading notebook can also be used in a similar fashion if readers have access to computers. The teacher is welcome to download the PDFs of the Katie & Kimble Activity Packets to as many computers as is necessary and to rename the files to suit her/his purposes. Readers can then work at their own pace and use the above system.
Computer plus projector: If your classroom is equipped with a computer and a projector, you can show the pages on the screen from the PDFs. You are free to download these PDFs into any computer.
The Three-page Alternative
Similar to the no-paper alternative above, the three-page alternative involves running off copies of the Content/Getting Started page for each of the six Activity Packets, front and back, on three sheets of paper. This may make the Activity Packets seem more “official” in the mind of the reader.
Readers can also draw the Awards Ribbons into their notebooks at the end of each packet or draw them on scraps of paper to put up on the wall or the bulletin board.
Download the free Katie & Kimble classroom materials here.