Harry Potter Lesson Plan
Activities to Celebrate JK Rowling's Bestselling Series.
It will be a big summer for Harry Potter fans. JK Rowling’s upcoming conclusion to the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Scholastic), will be released on July 21st, a mere week after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Brothers) opens in the nation’s theaters. No books in recent memory have drawn students to reading like the Harry Potter series, so it is fitting to commemorate the final chapters of Harry’s story with writing lessons lessons as fantastic as the books themselves!
Pensieve Poem
Harry learns about the villain Voldemort by viewing the memories of others in Albus Dumbledore's pensieve. The memories swirl like whirlpool and pull Harry in so that he feels like a participant in each event. Language arts students can likewise create swirling pensieve poetry to pull their readers into the memory of a scene as experienced by anycharacter in any one of the Harry Potter books.
Content Areas: Reading Comprehension, characterization, poetry, figurative language, parts of speech
Materials: lined paper and pen for rough draft, construction paper, scissors, a large circle stencil (a Frisbee or other disc would work for this purpose), thin lined magic markers, “magic” scraps (see below).
- Ask your students to write a memory poem for their favorite Harry Potter character. Ask that the poem reflect a specific memorable event that occurred in any one of the books. Allow students to use their own free form, or, as an alternative, use the opportunity to review or assess student knowledge of grammar and literary terms. For example, you might ask your students to begin with a riddle of a title (Hurtling to Hogwarts) followed by specific grammatical or literary requirements.
Line 1: A verb phrase reflecting the event (Sputtering car crashing)
Line 2: An vivid adjective-noun pair (Whirly Wood)
Line 3: Two alliterative verbs (spiraling, spinning)
Line 4: An adverb to describe a verb in line six (nauseatingly)
Line 5: Onomatopoeia (Whomp!)
Line 6: Verb (Falling)
Line 7: Adverb to describe a verb in line nine (painfully)
Line 8: Onomatopoeia (Smack!)
Line 9: Verb (Crashing)
Line 10: A metaphor (a colliding train)
Line 11: A simile (like an angry fist)
Line 12: Two alliterative verb (falling fleeing)
Line 13: Alliterative verb-noun pair (facing fate!)
Line 14: Quotation (“Oh NO!”)
Line 15: Concluding word (SNAPE!)
- Ask students to use a stencil to trace a large circle onto colored construction paper.
- Then students will use scissors to carefully cut a spiral into the circle. The spiral should be at least an inch wide, so it is less likely to break.
- Students should write their poem directly on the spiral (ask them begin writing several inches from the middle and work their way out). Students can rotate the circle as they write.
- Finally, attach “magic” to the end of the “memory” by adding foil stars, ribbon, sequins, shiny beads and any other decoration to the end. Punch a hole at the very center of the spiral and hang from the classroom ceiling!
Daily Prophet or The Quibbler
A classroom newspaper is always a great opportunity for students to write for an audience, but writing for a wizarding newspaper is a bunch more fun! Ask students to work in groups in order to create newspapers like the ones in Harry Potter.
Content Areas: Reading comprehension, desktop publishing, narrative writing, expository writing, any other form of writing that fits the purpose of the newspaper
Materials: Student writing, computers, publishing software
- Ask students to work in groups to create published writing for each of the books in the Harry Potter series.
- Suggested sections: Weather, Muggle News, Hogwarts Happenings, Musings from the Ministry of Magic, Misuse of Muggle Artifacts, Famous Wizards, Letters to the Editor, Animagus Sightings, Deals at Diagon Alley
Now... if you could only find some owls to deliver the news!
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