Harry Potter Room Transformation: Creating Magic!

I love transforming my classroom. One of my favorite transformations this past year was Harry Potter. I am a huge fan of the books and so are many of my students. This was easy and you don't have to spend a lot of money. A little time and effort goes a long way!

WAND MAKING

Materials: chop sticks, plastic clear beads, hot glue, brown paint, and white paint

Step 1: Put several beads on each chopstick. You want each wand to be different, so I used different numbers of beads and spaced them differently. Then use hot glue and spread it from tip to middle of the chopstick. Let that cool.

Step 2: Create different shades of brown (or buy several different shades) and paint each wand.

Step 3: Let the paint dry and VOILA!

Decorations: 

To enter my classroom you had to pass through Platform 9 3/4.

Floating candles added the perfect touch! I bought LED candles from The Dollar Tree and used fishing line to hang them from the ceiling. I thought I had enough, but quickly realized that I would need more for next year.

The room is decorated, music is playing in the background, and the stage is set. Let the magic begin!

THE LESSON: GRAMMAR REVIEW 

With every room transformation and activity, there must be academic content tied to it. The more rigorous the better!

This past year, I gave students text from Harry Potter and they searched for prepositional and infinitive phrases and marked them with colored pencils. I was able to identify who did not grasp these two skills fairly easily. 

The glasses and wands were just for fun! 

REFLECTION

After this activity, I knew immediately that I wanted to do it again, but I also realized that I needed to revamp the lesson.

Instead of taking part of the text and students highlighted the review skills, I decided I wanted to break it up even further while still using the text. So, I have created 6 packets that each student will work through.

I chose 6 topics from the story and found passages about the topics. I created task cards where the students will demonstrate their understanding of the grammar skills but will also be required to do a creative writing piece at the end.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

The night before a room transformation, I always try to get my students excited about what the day might hold. They may be given a clue, an invitation, instructed to wear or bring certain items. I want my students so energized and curious about what their day may hold. We also have a private team Facebook page. I post clues there as well, so that the parents get in on the excitement as well.

Happy Wizarding To You!

Tricia