Activities and Fireworks for Words
March 4 - 8
The Phantom Tollbooth, Chapters 3-8
Workshop Activities
1. Craft – Character Collage
2. Key Points – Word Market
3. Collaborative – Exchanging Words
4. Writing – Synonyms
5. Math/Logic - Popular Letters
6. Genius Principle – Debate
7. Big Activity - Square Meal
8. Movement - Words to Move By
Minecraft Activities
Parts of speech
Aphorisms
Speeches for the royal banquet
Build challenge: concrete poetry
Upcoming Events
Weekly teen hangouts in Santa Ana https://www.facebook.com/events/317560022131506/
Disneyland meetup: March 6 - Worlds of Words and Numbers https://www.celebrationeducation.com/copy-of-theme
Field trips – Trips are currently being scheduled! New trips posted here: https://socalhomeschooladventures.com/product-category/field-trips/celebration-education-field-trips/
4/10 Celebration: Milo's Homecoming https://www.celebrationeducation.com/celebrations
Fireworks
Read through the fireworks and choose about five that you think might interest your child. Allow him or her to select 1-3 of them.
How much toll do you think Milo paid to go through the tollbooth? Take a look at the toll schedule for a local toll road: https://www.91expresslanes.com/toll-schedules/ How much would you pay right now if you were traveling westbound on the 91? If you paid this toll with coins only, how many quarters, nickels, dimes, and pennies would you use? Repeat this scenario based on you traveling eastbound in three hours.
Milo was sentenced to six million years in jail. Go here to see what a million looks like: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1,000,000
Milo said he can count to a thousand. Can you do it?
Here's what King Azaz ordered at the banquet: Pate de foie gras, soupe a l'oignon, faisan sous cloche, salade endive, fromages et fruits et demi-tasse. What do all these words mean? Translate these into English. Try some of these foods.
Eat some foods that are homonyms: pear (pare/pair), tea (tee), pie (pi), pudding (putting), root (route).
Compare Milo's trial (page 62), to the trial in Alice's Adventure in Wonderland.
Eat some of these play on words foods from the story:
light meal 86
square meal 86
somersault 89
rigmarole 89
ragamuffin 89
synonym bun 89
just desserts 89
This is the coat of arms for Dictionopolis: http://butterfluff1066.tripod.com/toll/36.jpg
Notice the various symbols on the image. Design your own coat of arms. You can include personal things such as a family tradition, your heritage, favorite patterns and symbols, hobbies, sports, teams, pets, etc.
Watch all the Schoolhouse Rock Grammar videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLluRBt7zHZhPUAAt1scCNUaXobpUTDklM
King Azaz asked Milo if he could sing songs, tell stories, compose sonnets, juggle plates, or do tumbling tricks. How many of these things can you do?
Compare the banquet in The Phantom Tollbooth to a banquet in the Odyssey.
Make a collection of idioms from the book. Put each idiom on its own 3x5 card. Illustrate each card to show the meaning of the idiom. Perhaps turn this into a matching game. Idioms from the book and their page numbers:
bore no ill will 32
bee in a bonnet 52
sowing confusion 62
upsetting the applecart 62
wreaking havoc 62
mincing words 62
return of rhyme and reason 70
warp and woof 77
beside themselves 77
it goes without saying 79
step lively 80
make mountains out of molehills 86
splitting hairs 86
make hay while the sun shines 86
leave no stone unturned 86
hanging by a thread 86
don't bite off more than you can chew 89
in one ear and out the other 89
if it isn't one thing, it's another 89
out of the frying pan, into the fire 89
bite my head off 89
half-baked ideas 89
swallowed that one 89
compliments to the chef 93
Prepare brief reports on the history of a few letters of the alphabet.
Make your own words tiles.
Create a character grid: https://blogs.tip.duke.edu/teachersworkshop/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2017/11/Character_Grid.pdf
The Humbug's scientific name is insecticus humbugium. Create a list of your favorite animals and their scientific names.
