Robobook
<img class=”alignnone size-large wp-image-2012″ src=”http://hafuboti.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/robocloseup.jpg?w=584″ alt=”” width=”584″ height=”428″>Just when I thought that I was done writing about this year’s <em>Summer Reading Program</em> – I remembered something. I had been completely and utterly inspired by <a href=”http://brycedontplay.blogspot.com/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Bryce Don’t Play’s</a> <a href=”http://brycedontplay.blogspot.com/2012/11/story-action-pod-bot-edition.html” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Story Action Pod: BOT Edition</a>. She even shares her printables – you should go get yourself some!
We’d never tried having the kids create a book before, and I thought it’d be a fun passive activity to put out for July. I made my own version of the activity pages (because I’m particular about using a particular font in our printables) – the only thing I kicked myself for leaving out was putting a spot for kids to write their names.
And here’s how the display/program looked:
<img class=”alignnone size-large wp-image-2007″ src=”http://hafuboti.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/robobook1.jpg?w=584″ alt=”” width=”584″ height=”262″>
Two quite important things that we figured out about this after no children had turned in a worksheet after two weeks:
1. Notice how everything’s up in a window sill? That sill is directly above our activity table. I thought that everything looked perfect there and was very eye catching. After all, when we put things up there that we don’t want checked out – people try to check them out.
Our newest team member Julia suggested that I move everything onto the table directly below, and move our monthly coloring sheets up to the sill. I did that.
2. Many of our children are wildly shy and have yet to discover the obsessive joy of<em> firsties</em>. So, I seeded the book with three fake robots that I created showing various skill levels in drawing/writing.
My most advanced creation:
<img class=”alignnone size-large wp-image-2008″ src=”http://hafuboti.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/mine.jpg?w=584″ alt=”” width=”584″ height=”755″>
And what happened after we did those two things? We started getting submissions! The day that I moved the items six inches lower and put in the fake entries we had a girl bring up a worksheet for our book. I think that we ended up with around a dozen different robots. After this experience I’m very encouraged to try another “create a book” passive program.
Here’s a few of my favorites (even though all had their charms, and one was downright freaky – I’m not sharing the freaky one):
<img class=”alignnone size-large wp-image-2009″ src=”http://hafuboti.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/robo1.jpg?w=584″ alt=”” width=”584″ height=”755″>
<img class=”alignnone size-large wp-image-2010″ src=”http://hafuboti.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/robo2.jpg?w=584″ alt=”” width=”584″ height=”755″>
<img class=”alignnone size-large wp-image-2011″ src=”http://hafuboti.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/robo3.jpg?w=584″ alt=”” width=”584″ height=”755″> A <strong>HUGE </strong>thank you to <a href=”http://brycedontplay.blogspot.com/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”>Bryce Don’t Play</a> for sharing such a great idea – I can hardly wait to try more!
