JUNIE B. JONES PROGRAM

41 participants (girls AND boys) attended our Junie B. Jones party on January 26th.

Sign up for the party was limited to 50 participants. As each person arrived, they were given a nametag (Ellison crown die was used). They entered their names in a drawing held later on the program.

We began the party by coming up with a list of words that described Junie B. Jones. Then, I read "A Letter from Junie B. Jones", available on the website (www.randomhouse.com/kids/junieb/) and shared the first chapter from the book Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus. I had prepared a 30 question trivia quiz as a Powerpoint presentation. The kids blew me away with their knowledge of Junie B and her books!

Then, we played a game called "Mystery Socks". I had 8 brightly colored socks with items hidden in them (a ruler, a small toy car, a box of chalk, a plastic key, a reading program button, a pencil, a pair of scissors, and a cassette tape). The kids sat in a circle and passed the socks around, feeling them and trying to guess what was inside. Each sock had a number on it so they could write what they thought was in the sock next to a corresponding number on a piece of paper. It was a lot of fun and they did great!

Then it was time for activity stations. Seven stations had been set up around the room:

Make a Bow--participants accordion-folded a piece of construction paper after decorating it. The girls had bobby pins that could hold the bows in their hair. The boys were given yarn to make BIG bow ties.

Junie B. Jones Winner Craft--I used the extra-large Ellison die to create the award ribbon. Color copies of a piece of art from the Junie B. Jones site were printed off and participants glued this in the center of the award and wrote their names and the words "I'm a Junie B. Jones Winner!" on the ribbon.

Junie B.'s Invisible Monster--One of the teacher- related activities on the site was a handout where the kids could draw what they thought the monster under Junie's bed looked like. The kids did this and handed them in to me to be used as part of a display (along with digital pictures I took).

6 laptop computers were set up with the on-line coloring pages from the Junie B. site. This was a very popular place!

Graduation Caps--The book Paper Hat Tricks I had a great pattern for a large graduation cap.

Junie B. Jones Diploma--Participants simply filled their names out on a diploma that they gave to me. They received these back later on as part of our "Graduation" ceremony.

Junie's Glasses--In the newest Junie B. Jones book, Junie B., First Grader (at last), Junie finds out that she may need glasses! The Ellison glasses die was used for kids to construct and color their own Junie B. glasses.

Once the activities were completed, everyone enjoyed a snack of doughnuts and grape punch. There was just enough time left to have our graduation ceremony and draw names for the stickers that had been purchased as prizes.