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Posted by Susan Hyde Apr 16, 2007 |
Throughout the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling makes the four houses of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry come alive in the detailed descriptions of the yearly sorting hat ceremonies and the ongoing house rivalries that take place on the quidditch field. Follow up a Harry Potter Lesson Plan with a "down-to-earth" quidditch competition at your school!
Content Areas: Reading, Art, Fine and Gross Motor Skills
Activity 1: The Sorting Hat
Materials: paper mache recipe, newspaper, a large rolled paper cone, cardboard, glue gun and glue sticks, tempera paint, box cutter or razor knife (for teacher to use!)
- Have students create paper mache sorting hat based on the descriptions in the Harry Potter books. Allow to dry for several days.
- Trace the bottom of the sorting hat onto a piece of cardboard. Have an adult cut out the shape.
- Use the glue gun to secure the cardboard piece to the bottom of the hat.
- Cut a "mouth" hole into the sorting hat large enough for student hands to reach inside the hat.
- Paint the hat black and allow to dry.
- Use the hat to sort each students equally into each of the Hogwarts houses -- Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw.
Now you are ready for a Hogwarts House Quidditch Tournament!
Activity II: Quidditch Tournament
Materials: Brooms, soccer balls, a soccer goal, a tennis ball
- As a class, make rules for an on-the-ground quidditch game in which students use brooms to hit a soccer ball or balls field hockey style to make goals. Use details from JK Rowling's books to serve as a guide. (Class Management Tip: Tell students that on-ground quidditch doesn't have bludgers. It wouldn't do to have a student knocked out!) As students come up with the rules, write them on the board.
- Set up a tourament schedule. (ex: Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin, Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw with the winners of each match playing for the championship).
- Have students work with members of their "Hogwarts House" to create team t-shirts or cloaks.
- In Harry Potter, quidditch teams have a Seeker, a Keeper and Beaters, and Chasers. Ask students to use their Harry Potter books to determine how these positions might correspond to offensive, defensive, and goalie positions.
- As in Rowling's books, goals should count 10 points a piece, but catching the snitch is the real point earner. As time runs out, a referee (perhaps dressed as Madame Hooch or even Professor Snape) might blow a whistle and then throw out the "golden" snitch (tennis ball), and, of course, the "Seeker" who retrieves the ball first ends the game and wins 150 points for his or her team.
Let the tournament begin!