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How to Make the Most of the New Lemoncello Graphic Novel

October 30, 2023 by Amy Leave a Comment

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Chris Grabenstein is releasing a new graphic novel version of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library – and it’s fantabulous! It has all the awesome lessons of the original while maintaining the fun and being true to the storyline.

So, as you know how much I love Lemoncello, I immediately started thinking about all the ways that it could be used to make learning fun – which it is, by definition. Fun, I mean. It’s a Lemoncello!

How to Make the Most of the new Lemoncello Graphic Novel

So here are a few ideas that I think would work for a traditional classroom, independent book clubs, or homeschools.

This version would be great to share with students who may not be ready to read the full novel version. This would make it possible for a whole class to study the same story while making it more accessible to a variety of learners. The same could be true for students for whom English is not their first language.

Students could also read both versions and compare them. They could study the unique elements of a graphic novel and debate how that competes with the depth of language and inference a traditional novel provides. You could even throw in the movie for good measure and compare all the genres. What are the pros and cons of each? For whom? (Those exceptional students who have have seen the play – just think of the options!) –> Need resources to introduce the elements of graphic novels to your students? Check out this scavenger hunt lesson!

Advanced students could put the graphic novelist on trial. Did he do a Grabenstein-worthy job in this transformation? Or graphic novels themselves – are they ‘literature?’

Or go at this same idea a different way. Split the class into different groups. Have some research Chris Grabenstein and the elements of middle-grade novels. Have some research Douglas Holgate and the elements of graphic novels. Set up an ‘interview’ between Grabenstein and Holgate, with students from each group portraying each artist, and let them create questions for the other. Not quite like a debate, but a discussion about the different traits. They would need to know both the literary elements of each style and have a feel for each man’s character and style. I think that could be really fun! Maybe a third group from the classroom could be the press or audience who interviews them.

You could even host a book club-style event in which different groups of students partake of one of the genres each, and then a celebration is held where they formally discuss the issues and compare the genres. There could even be balloons – and maybe birthday cake!

How to Make the Most of the new Lemoncello Graphic Novel

So there you go – some crazy fun ideas to celebrate the release of Chris Grabenstein’s new graphic novel version of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. Tell me – how will you use or enjoy this book?

Ready to jump into the fun? Go back to this original version! Included with this bundle are party decorations, recipes, and games; an escape room; and elements to help you compare the book to the movie.

Graphic Novel Scavenger Hunt image — Graphic Novel Scavenger Hunt

Escape the Library with Mr. Lemoncello: An Escape Room Challenge

January 14, 2019 by Amy Leave a Comment

A few years ago, we were introduced to Mr. Lemoncello in Chris Grabenstein’s book Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. At the time, I had never heard of an escape room, though the book screams for someone to recreate the game from the story. When we chose this book for book club, we had a blast creating recipes for the foods from the book, as well as making the games in the story, decorating the house like a library, and pulling out every other detail we could think of.

Except the actual escape room itself. Because although my book clubbers did have puzzles and clues and figured out how to escape from our house, I didn’t know how to recreate all of those details for you.

Until now.

My Big Helper has been dreaming and scheming and planning with me, and we’ve done it: we’ve turned Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library into an escape room challenge.

The game features Charles Chiltington – who else? – as the bad guy who sets up the story. Following that, there are four games and one Extreme Challenge to solve before you can leave the library and save the day. Just like in Grabenstein’s book, the game features Clunker Cards, the game Bibliomania (which tests your knowledge of the Dewey Decimal system), the First Words game, a rebus puzzle, and more. There’s a simple paper-based ending, of course, because we teachers are busy, and sometimes simplicity rules the day. The book starts and ends with balloons, though, and so … there’s also an option that involves finding the correct balloon, because … there has to be balloons, right?

This escape room challenge is perfect for your upper-elementary or middle-grade classroom, as well as for homeschool groups and book clubs. Each puzzle tests your knowledge in literary and fun ways, all while thinking critically and cooperatively.

If you’d like to know more, you can go here to read a full description and see previews of pages.

Of course, if you haven’t experienced the wonder of Mr. Lemoncello’s library yet, you’ll want to start there. It’s an amazingly creative story with a game designer who will remind you of Willy Wonka (but without the Oompa Loompas). You can read more about the book here, but I know you’ll want to bring it to life just like we did. If that’s you, you can find all the recipes, decorations, games and fun that I created to celebrate this fantastic book here.

Do you want to host your own Mr. Lemoncello escape room? Pin this graphic to share it with your friends!

So settle in for a good read, and then gather your friends and Escape the Library!

What creative things are you up to now?

NEW! Bring “The Ambrose Deception” to Life with a Scavenger Hunt in Raleigh, NC!

December 17, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

Earlier this month, our book clubs read Emily Ecton’s The Ambrose Deception and we staged a real-life scavenger hunt all over the center of Durham. I tried to recreate the fun from the book by starting our hunt at a coffee shop that also offers doughnuts and other fare, and the kids were paired with drivers, smartphones, and unique clues that would take them to landmarks of all kinds around the city.

Want to know more? Read my full post about our adventure here.

The Ambrose Deception is a really fun book that takes the main characters on an adventure around their home city of Chicago as they solve puzzles, clues, and learn about friendship and teamwork. It’s a great story – find out more here.

The day went so well that we wanted to do it again, and so I made another set of clues for another city: nearby Raleigh, our capitol city. The downtown area of Raleigh is full of unique museums, restaurants, history, and landmarks, all fun places to explore.

This version is set up for four teams, with four clues each. When they solve all four original clues, the Clue Master sends one last clue: the clue to the final location, and the first team there wins.

This product contains everything you need to run a successful scavenger hunt on your own: simply print the forms, get your teams together, and pick a date! There are even certificates you can print for the winners.

*This does require that you are physically in the city of Raleigh, North Carolina.

Running a real-life scavenger hunt is a great way to explore and check out places that may be new to you in your own city or a nearby one. It’s fun to do with book clubs, parties, family groups, or just a group of friends. While both The Ambrose Deception: Durham, NC Edition and The Ambrose Deception: Raleigh, NC Edition are modeled after this book, it isn’t necessary to have read it in order to participate. In fact, it’s much like an escape room, only instead of performing all of your tasks in one place, you get to venture outside for this!

If you’re not anywhere near Durham or Raleigh, North Carolina, or you teach in a classroom that won’t allow you to head outside and explore, don’t fret! Soon there will be a fully digital version of this scavenger hunt that you can do anywhere! Stay tuned ….

You can read more about The Ambrose Deception: Raleigh, NC Edition here. I’d love to hear about your experience if you decide to participate!

If you think this scavenger hunt sounds like fun, Pin this graphic to share it with your friends!

How are you making the most of your literature reading this week? Comment below and let me know!

Create Your Own Mayflower Compact – New and Improved!

October 24, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

I love Thanksgiving. I love everything about it – but I most love the real historical information. Not the cranberry-sauce-from-a-can version, but the we-were-starving-and-now-we-have-much-to-be-thankful-for version.

When I was nine, my grandmother took me to Plimoth Plantation. It was amazing! It was the first time I really tried to put myself in the shoes of historical figures. It was cool and rainy that day, and the houses were dark and smoky. I remember wondering what it must have been like to be cramped into that whole space, more than one whole family at a time, especially with people very sick, for that long, first winter.

Fast forward a few years. When I began to teach, I really wanted to study Thanksgiving differently. I wanted to teach my kids about the real story, and since North Carolina is pretty far from Massachusetts, it was a good bet that none of my students had been to Plimoth.

That’s when I began to teach a big hands-on history unit about the Separatists, the Wampanoag, and … the Mayflower. My favorite way to kick off this unit was by creating our own version of the Mayflower Compact.

The Mayflower Compact was an agreement created when the people on board the Mayflower realized that they weren’t going to be settling where they planned – and where they had a formal document with the king giving them permission to do so. They needed a new document like that, but it would take time for the Mayflower to get that permission and then bring it back to the settlers. In the meantime, they wanted something that clearly stated their purpose for settling in the New World. This compact, or agreement, is thought to have influenced our Declaration of Independence.

I used the Mayflower Compact as a way to discuss behavior for the upcoming hands-on activities. We talked about the original document, it’s meaning, and why people signed it; then we talked about our purpose for our fun projects to come and what our expectations were. My students then used this discussion to write their own version of the Mayflower Compact, modeled after the original.

That’s why I created this product. Inside you’ll find copies of printables with various stages of scaffolding, in both print and a cursive font, for students to sign or create their own Mayflower Compact. There’s also an informational handout and links to sites with more information. There’s a planning sheet designed to help your students think through each part of the Compact before they begin formally writing theirs. There’s also a comprehension checkpoint that could be used for homework, individual or group analysis, or as a study guide or quiz.

I’ve done all the work for you – everything is here, ready for you to print and hand to your students. Bring the real Thanksgiving to life this year in your classroom, and kick it all off with your own Mayflower Compact.

Get a Create Your Own Mayflower Compact printable pack here.

Looking for other creative, time-saving teaching ideas? Check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.

New! Discussion & Writing Packet for Gordon Korman’s “Masterminds”

July 6, 2018 by Amy 1 Comment

Some books lend themselves really well to discussion and debate, and Gordon Korman’s Masterminds is one of them. Full of sci-fi topics and fast-paced action, kids will fly through it, but there’s the potential for fun learning, too.

We used Masterminds for book club (recommended for upper-elementary or middle school) and My Little Man sat with his glass of lemonade and talked about the related issues in the book for two hours! We had a great time with it – and again, later, when we met with friends, we had another great discussion.

That’s why I created this packet – to save you the time and effort and to provide thought-provoking questions for each chapter. They’re organized in chart form, so that you can easily discuss each chapter as it’s read, or, you could cut up the ones you need, put them in a bag, and let the students draw out questions to ask each other.

Great discussion questions usually make great writing prompts, too – and I’ve added writing pages that will ask your students to think deep and explain their reasoning. Use any of these materials for literature analysis as you go or for assessment purposes when you end your Masterminds study.

So go here to get your own Masterminds Discussion Questions & Writing Prompts or here to find other great educational products from my TpT store.

Enjoy!

NEW! Discussion Questions & Writing Projects for Gordan Korman’s “Slacker”

June 18, 2018 by Amy Leave a Comment

I love when you see how a book can be educational as soon as you start to read it. It’s much, much better when that book is also loads of fun to read, and that’s exactly how I felt after turning the first page of Gordan Korman’s Slacker.

Cameron Boxer is very happy to spend his life avoiding homework, hanging out with his friends, and gaming for hours in his basement. It’s not too hard for him to get away with it . . . until he gets so caught up in one game that he almost lets his house burn down around him.

Oops.

It’s time for some serious damage control — so Cameron and his friends invent a fake school club that will make it seem like they’re doing good deeds instead of slacking off. The problem? Some kids think the club is real — and Cameron is stuck being president.

Soon Cameron is part of a mission to save a beaver named Elvis from certain extinction. Along the way, he makes some new friends — and some powerful new enemies. The guy who never cared about anything is now at the center of everything . . . and it’s going to take all his slacker skills to win this round.

Slacker is great because there are so many lessons to be learned – but you’ll be rolling with laughter while you do. I created this packet full of opinion- and culture-based discussion questions and writing projects to maximize learning while laughing. The discussion questions are open-ended, sorted by chapter, and are based on events from the book. Several of the writing projects are similar: they’re designed for your student to make a statement and then back it up with logic.

Other writing projects are different, though. They require students to create newspaper or journal articles based on their predictions about what might happen in the future, or to fill in character perspectives along the way.

I think your students will enjoy Slacker. Give it a read!

You can find Discussion Questions & Creative Writing Projects for Gordon Korman’s Slacker and much more in my TpT store.

NEW! Nature/Literature Scavenger Hunt Printable Pack

May 22, 2017 by Amy Leave a Comment

You know I’m a super big fan of great books. I love it even more when those books lead to more educational investigation, and that’s exactly what Julie Andrews Edwards’ book Mandy does.

Mandy, a ten-year-old orphan, dreams of a place to call her own. Escaping over the orphanage wall to explore the outside world, Mandy discovers a tiny deserted cottage in the woods. All through the spring, summer, and fall, Mandy works to make it truly hers. Sometimes she “borrows” things she needs from the orphanage. Sometimes, to guard her secret, she even lies. Then, one stormy night at the cottage, Mandy gets sick, and no one knows how to find her—except a special friend she didn’t know she had.

This is the perfect book for ten-year-old girls who love tiny houses and stories filled with hope.

Mandy is a classicly-styled story of a little girl dreaming for a home while trying to create her own in an abandoned garden. The story lends itself perfectly to investigating more about the plants and animals that Mandy in her garden at the Shell Cottage, and that’s exactly what the Nature Scavenger Hunt to accompany Julie Andrews Edwards’ ‘Mandy’ will help your students do. Perfect to be done as a family, book club, co-op, or class, this packet includes everything you need to study the flora and fauna in the book.

Inside, you’ll find:
– a listing of all plants and animals found within the book
– hyperlinks for all plants and animals for further research
– printable scavenger hunt boards for both the plants and the animals
– links to additional materials to make investigating nature fun
– a certificate of completion

Want to know more? Come back later this week to find out how one of our book clubs used this packet.

What are your kids reading right now?

Adventures in Odyssey: Get in the Show!

May 17, 2017 by Amy Leave a Comment

Lights! Camera! Action!

It’s almost time to submit your audition video. Download the official Get in the Show™ Audition Kit today. The Kit includes two audition scripts written just for the contest and a make-your-own Get in the Show mic to practice with. Each contestant will perform and video record one script to submit. Audition videos may be recorded at a location of your choosing or at a participating retail store location.

Audition videos will be accepted starting June 1, so don’t miss your chance to Get in the Show. Download the Audition Kit today!

Before the cameras roll, check out the Get in the Show Acting Tip videos. Adventures in Odyssey voice actors give practical advice on how to perform your best for a chance to Get in the Show!

LogicRoots Games Reviews: Ocean Raiders & Say Cheese

November 23, 2016 by Amy Leave a Comment

Math has never been my favorite subject to teach. It’s okay, but numbers and hard facts just aren’t my favorite things. That’s why I was excited to be given the chance to review two math games from LogicRoots.

The first is called Say Cheese. It’s a multiplication game that stems from a short story you read from the direction booklet. After that, you distribute cloth bags and the game chips.

Following the rules, you take turns spinning the spinner and following the directions with your chips until someone has none left. With each turn, your task is to determine whether the number on your chip is a multiple of the number on the spinner. With some large numbers on the chips, this can be a bit of a challenge.

My Big Helper was totally up for that. She enjoyed seeing how fast she could determine whether the chips had multiples and usually knew super fast. She liked using big numbers from the spinners and was in it to win it. My Little Man, on the other hand, while he played doesn’t love multiplication. He enjoyed the game but it wasn’t his favorite.

The directions were a bit complicated to figure out. Several times we’d continue play and then have to refer back to the directions to clear something up. Several times we still weren’t sure what we were supposed to do and so just made up our own rules. Part of this, I think, is because English was apparently not the native language of the people who wrote the directions. Also, they often gave examples of the rules instead of just explaining them. Since it is a simple kids’ game, however, this wasn’t a major problem.

All in all, the game was fun. The pieces were colorful and kid-friendly, and it definitely challenged the players to know their math facts. The storyline was cute and the rules are simple. This is definitely a fun, educational game – and best of all, it would be easy to create variations that could extend the usefulness of the game.

Pros:

Colorful pieces
Strong math ties
Simple rules
Variations would be easy to create
Not your traditional math game – asks students to work backwards for find answers
Costs under $20

Cons:

Instructions are somewhat unclear and include a few grammatical errors
It may take some time for students to get accustomed to identifying factors instead of solving mathematical equations

The second game we played is called Ocean Raiders. This game is about addition and includes a variation for subtraction. This game has a board and strongly resembles Chutes and Ladders. The board contains 49 spaces in a non-linear order and has tornadoes that move a player randomly around the board. Essentially, you roll the die and then add that number to the number of the space on which your token stands. Because the board spaces are scattered randomly around the board, the student can’t simply count the proper number of spaces but must add the two numbers together in order to move ahead.

My Little Man loved this game. He had fun zooming his token around the board and especially loved rolling the die, which isn’t a cube. It’s unusual shape makes it even more fun to roll. I appreciate the variations that are included in the rule book. My son knows his addition facts well, and so we completed the game in far faster time than the directions estimated, but it was still fun.

Pros:

Educational
Colorful, fun materials
Sturdy construction
Easy to understand
Simple rules
Several people can play at once
Costs less than $20

Cons:

Could be fun for a limited time only
This same basic game could be played using other game boards, like Uncle Wiggly or Chutes and Ladders

These games would make great gifts! If you have kids learning their addition or multiplication facts, these games would make great additions to their educational tools.

I received a free copy of these games by LogicRoots. All opinions expressed are my own.

NEW! Questions & Writing Prompts for “Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics”

August 22, 2016 by Amy Leave a Comment

It’s no secret – we’re big Chris Grabenstein fans around here, and our favorites are the Lemoncello books.

That’s why I’ve written a series of discussion questions organized by chapter and writing prompts designed to make students think logically and critically. I love when learning is fun, and nothing is more amusing that wacky Mr. Lemoncello; he’s the perfect way to make education exciting.

This packet is completely printable and a total of 22 pages. It’s currently available here for only $3.

So what are you waiting for? Hop over and check it out!

Haven’t read any Lemoncello books yet? You can find them here: