Wonder Wall of Precepts

So this post has been a long time coming.  If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you know that we read Wonder by RJ Palacio as a read aloud this year.  My students were captivated by it...especially the Julian chapter.

In the book, a major storyline revolves around the precepts that Mr. Browne, a teacher, teaches the students each month. These are short quotes that become sort of "rules to live by".  At the end of the story, Mr. Browne asks each of the students to write their very own precept and send it to him on a postcard.  So that is what we did.

I first had each student create their own "Wonder picture".  You see, each of the chapters are broken up with a picture of the child telling the story.  The picture is drawn with very little facial features and only using black ink.  So that is what we did.  Here is mine I used as an example with the kids.

Then, I asked them to choose a precept that related to their own life.  This could be a famous saying (like the one on my Wonder picture) or something that they made up on their own.  Underneath their picture, I had them write their name and the precept.

Finally, I asked them to write a postcard in friendly letter style to Mr. Browne explaining their precept.  Since they were supposed to be on summer vacation, I had them take on that persona.  A kid, formerly in Mr. Browne's class, explaining the precept on vacation.  They then used the address in the book to complete the postcard.

 

The kids really had a great time doing this. They connected so deeply with the book, that making their own "chapter" was fun for them.  They loved trying to make their Wonder picture resemble themselves but still keep it within the style of the book.  And writing the precept really brought it all together (and added a more academic element as well).