Happy National Poetry Month! It’s the perfect time to read the new graphic novel adaptation of Kwame Alexander’s Booked:
Icebreaker: Share your favorite sport to play OR watch!
Lots of football and baseball spectator fans in our book club (because of all the great food!)
Icebreaker Slide
Discussion Questions:
- Analyze: Why is Booked a good title for Nick’s story?
- Recall: Find an acrostic, blackout, epistolary and spine poem in the text.
- Apply: Make your own spine poem!
The kids had lots of thoughts on the title! One mentioned the dictionary Nick has to read every night. Another thought there was always so much stuff going on in Nick’s head and in his life that he was always booked. Another thought it was because Nick went from not liking books to liking books by the end. Another observant reader pointed us to the actual poem “Booked” in the text.
We split into small groups for the poetry scavenger hunt and the spine poem activity. Each group found examples of one type of poem in the text.
Book Excerpts
We all discussed the spine poem and then headed into the stacks to create our own! Each person could select one title to use in their group’s spine poem. Some groups worked together from the start; others split up, then tried to make a poem when they came back together.
Spine Poem: Ungifted Fart Squad, Yours Truly, Full of Beans
Building Challenge: Go for the Goal!
We divided into pairs and used our new super cool Essential BricQ Motion Kits to play LEGO soccer! I adapted the following hockey practice LEGO Education activity: https://education.lego.com/en-us/lessons/bricq-motion-train-to-win/hockey-practice#engage
Challenge Setup: A goalie and a forward face off, separated by a 12 inch ruler. A blank score sheet awaits.
I taped some soccer ball clipart on top of the “puck” and removed the hockey sticks, but otherwise we followed the exact same building instructions. Partners took turns trying to score against each other using different levels of force: slow, medium and fast.
The kids LOVED getting to play with these unique bricks. I can’t wait to think of more books to pair these new bricks with!
To read more about getting started with a Bricks and Books Club, read this post.
Please note that LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this content.
Storytime in the Stacks 