The Frankenstein Effect

I have created a monster, just as Dr. Frankenstein did when he crafted his. While that sad creature wreaked havoc on the doctor and his friends in a cycle of revenge and a search for love, my "monster" isn't out for revenge. (And, I do love those who are part of it.)

Still...

Children's classic literature is a focus in my classroom. The more books the children read, the more they see classic books reflected in our culture. (For example, the phrase, "We aren't in Kansas any more.") Every Wednesday, I give the children an opportunity to share any classic connections they have discovered over the past week, and afterward they write those down and staple their connection to a bulletin board specifically set aside for this project.

(Not everything up there is actually written down. I do have a baby's swim diaper, unused, of course, that a girl brought in. It has Winnie the Pooh on it, and so yes, that IS a classic connection and we stapled it up. I am probably the ONLY teacher in America with a diaper stapled to her bulletin board.)

Today the children had so many classic connections that it took an HOUR to share - and only half the children got to come up front with their connections! The other half will have to go tomorrow. We simply ran out of time.

The children track the number we have, and every 100, they make a sign featuring the classic connection that hit the number. Today MCM was the lucky gal to share our 600th connection, with LW and KR making the commemorative sign.

I am amazed at how much they are seeing - on TV, billboards, in games, other books, movies... EVERYWHERE. And that's the point I was originally hoping to make - how classic literature endures and becomes embedded in our culture.

But I certainly have created a monster here!