The Rockets aren’t in Kansas anymore. To build on reading “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,” the Peeples Elementary 1st grade hall was transformed into Emerald City.
The transformation requires a lot of teamwork. Parents receive a message to secretly have their students wear green on the day. As they arrive to school, students "lock on" a pair of green spectacles and are surprised to see their hall is now Emerald City and their teachers are characters from the story.
The immersive activity furthers learning and understanding of the characters and elements explored throughout the book. The students rotated to each of the 1st grade classrooms throughout the day to participate in activities with each teacher and watch clips of key scenes from the movie.
They made stick puppet characters to retell the story, explored tornado tubes, built a shelter for Dorothy and Toto, made a graph of their favorite character, and used their creativity to design and build their very own Emerald City.
Teacher Karen Jones always looks forward to making memories with the beloved tradition. They often have past students stop by and talk about how much they loved it when they were in the 1st grade.
“We hope Emerald Day furthered students' excitement and thrill of reading while expanding their knowledge of story elements and characters,” said Jones. “We hope this day will be a 1st grade core memory they look back on and remember for years to come!”
At the end of the day, they all tapped their ruby slippers and wished themselves home just in time for the weekend.
Posted 10/11/2024
