Potions

Double, double, toil and trouble,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Fillet of a finny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake.
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork and blind worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing.
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Before students see our production, I make sure that all the teachers have a story synopsis, and I offered suggestions to prepare their classes.

The littlest kids could draw pictures of what it means to be a friend or what power means to them or what they would put in their witches' potion. The older grades could write on those same themes.

I stopped by Tina's third-grade classroom. On the wall her students had hung cut-outs of cauldrons with their potions listed like recipes. Tina had even figured out a way to apply the potion principle to arithmetic.

Back in Room 42, I had the club members pull out their notebooks.

"Today's journal assignment is to create your own potion. What would go into that magical brew? And what would you use it for?"

Had me thinking it was about time to whip up a concoction to clear my head and get a great night's sleep.


CHILDREN'S WRITES: A Journal Entry

peoples hair
the germs, in air
snakes and rat
maybe a whole cat
I would wear a magicians hat
How about a toe
Nails of a dog
I'll try out a log
Dirty clothes
An apossum

My potion would be so every one would have enough money to have a horse.

—Celia, 4th grade

hair of a fly, a tail of a rat, head of a butterfly, wings of a tat, a stem of a flower, a drop of water from a shower

Potion: To be a knite

—Garth, 4th grade

My potion is to get a bear fur a frogs tong a birds wing a rats nose and bublebees sting and Pages ear Wendys eye and the snakes poop.

—Krystal, 3rd grade

I would want to make a potion that would make my parents let me have anything I want. I would put my moms toothpaste, brothers gum, yams, dads hair, wing of a fly, spots of tiger, bulb of light, cats wisker.

—Eleanor, 4th grade

tung of cat and tail of dog. Dinamite and ear of rat. Crown of King and finger of Prince. Sord of gard head of trator. Organ of bat and foot of liserd.

Potion: to make shakesper acters get a long.

—Henry, 4th grade