FableVision Educator Spotlight

A Special Shout Out to Hazel Reynolds!

Hazel writes:
Here is an activity that keeps children involved, helps them review, and later becomes a very special keepsake. No matter how much time and effort we put into a lesson plan, its contents can sometime fall prey to the lurking threat of the “short term memory monster.” We know that if our students do not actively participate in their learning, they do not retain what we cover. Who among us has not asked our classes, “What did we cover last week?” only to face a sea of blank stares?

I have devised a learning tool called “The Review Scroll” which helps my students make the stories and lessons we cover into something all their own. While my particular class covers Scripture, this can be done with almost any topic. Each week, we cover a portion of Scripture, which is read aloud and discussed. The next week, the children will add to their personal scrolls based on the prior week’s reading. The scrolls help the children to remember what they learned the week before. It is a blank canvas (muslin) that they can fill in with images from the stories studied. Some write stories in their own words. But I like them to draw and colour. Each week as soon as they come to class, they get their scrolls out (completely self-directed and enthusiastic) – drawing and writing about the stories and characters that they learned last week.

I use muslin material because it is inexpensive and its neutral colour is ideal for decorating. A piece of muslin a yard and a half long and 44 inches wide is ideal since it can be cut into four strips, each 11 inches wide. Thus every yard and a half is enough for four scrolls, and so nine yards is sufficient for scrolls for 24 students. I usually spend around $20 for this much material. I use paper towel card board tubes and staple the end of the scroll material to the cardboard tube. The scrolls are wrapped around the tubes and stored each week in a cardboard wine box (the kinds with inserts to hold wine bottles) – with each student’s name written above their scroll cubby hole. This keeps the scrolls safe from week to week. At the end of the year, a second cardboard tube is added at the other end, and the scroll is complete. The scroll is then rolled up evenly to meet in the middle and tied with ribbon or more muslin.

I especially enjoy doing this with autistic children. I usually have one every year. Their mothers clamour for me to take their students. The children are so proud of their scrolls as are the parents. Parents tell me the scrolls are now family heirlooms and are taken out each Easter as part of a new family tradition.

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