Dragon Dens April 19 Recap

Dragon Dens Today: In today’s Dragon Den, we read A Walk in the Words.

Not everybody learns how to read easily or at the same age. Hudson Talbott was one of those kids who found it difficult to read at first. He felt alone and lost in a world of words. Fortunately, his love of stories wouldn’t let him give up – he wanted to know what happened next in books. So, he gave himself permission to read at his own pace, using familiar words as stepping stones to guide him in a story. He also learned he wasn’t so alone after all – lots of brilliant people were slow readers! Hudson’s story shows the challenges and rewards of being a non-mainstream kind of learner.

In our Dragon Dens, we made pieces of tree blossoms that will be put together to make a whole forest of cherry trees. On each blossom, students wrote something they want to accomplish by the end of this school year, or encouraging words that may help someone reach a goal. This was our way of showing perseverance. We can’t wait to see B.F. Day in bloom!

Dragon Dens

Today was our first Dragon Den meeting of the school year! We read the book The Big Umbrella and discussed belonging.

What’s the book all about?

By the door there is an umbrella. It is big. It is so big that when it starts to rain there is room for everyone underneath. It doesn’t matter if you are tall. Or plaid. Or hairy. It doesn’t matter how many legs you have.

Don’t worry that there won’t be enough room under the umbrella. Because there will always be room.

What did Dragon Dens do?

We did community building activities as Dens got to know new participants within their groups. We made Den umbrellas! Every child created a self-portrait for their Den’s umbrella. Our Den umbrellas will be hung in our school to remind us that we all belong at B.F. Day. We are part of classroom, grade level, and school communities. We are the Family School!

Dragon Dens School-wide Event

Dragon Dens are a school-wide event. Students in grades K-5 are placed into multi-grade “dens” with a “den leaders.” Den leaders are school staff, like school leaders, teachers, librarian, counselor, and support staff. 

Each Dragon Den reads the same picture book aloud and completes a correlating activity based on the theme of the book. We also have snacks! Themes may include topics like inclusion, empathy, or kindness. Dragon Dens allow our students to make peer connections across campus, get to know another familiar adult on campus, and discover a sense of community within our school.