As a fourth grade teacher, I have become obsessed with this series, in the most positive sense of the word!
I bought the first book a few years ago at our school's Scholastic book fair on a whim. Once reading it, I had to read more. I quickly became engrossed in the characters and adventure of the hunt for the 39 Clues.
One thing that I love about this series is that it renewed my passion for reading. My enthusiasm and excitement for this series has spread to my fourth grade students as well. I am able to talk to them about the books that I am reading and loving and my excitement gets them excited about reading as well, whether it is this series or another book/series that they are equally as passionate about.
I also love 39 Clues because of the different threads of learning that are captured throughout the book. Readers are able to grasp on to one small thread of a topic discussed in the book that may interest them and encourage them to learn and read more about something that they were previously unaware of. When I have shared these books with my class through read alouds and other experiences, they have picked up on geography, history, and literary lessons that they may otherwise have lacked interest in learning.
In my classroom, students always know about what is current with this series because of my enthusiasm about it. We pre-order copies of the newest releases and students always are excited to receive the books and try to keep up with how quickly I read and enjoy them. I began an after-school 39 Clues club and have had a great response from students so far. Each time I schedule it, it is filled to the maximum capacity with students. What is really neat to see about the club also is what each child takes away from the books. Some love solving the clues, others love interpreting the cards, several prefer the challenge of the interactive games online and a few simply come to discuss the books with their peers. I think this is another reason why I love sharing this series with my students- there is something for them each to enjoy.
I also have turned much of Scholastic's marketing ideas for the book into useful lessons to engage my students in reading and comprehension skills. For example, when the cover for the 8th book was released, our class previewed it together and worked to find all of the clues hidden inside the cover. Once we did, a passage from the book was revealed. We read it together and had a great shared reading lesson on inferring, as the students tried to figure out where this book was taking place. This impromptu lesson was a great real life lesson for my students on how to use evidence from the text to infer, a skill which at times can be challenging to teach. My class was engaged and excited to combine their research skills, comprehension strategies, and clue hunting abilities to figure out the next setting of the book.
Apart from these types of experiences, I have also expanded the ideas behind 39 Clues into my social studies lessons. I create clues for the students before each new unit so that they can use the resources they have been presented with in class to determine what topic they will be learning about next. I've found this to be another great way to build their enthusiasm about learning and tie in excitement about reading!
Thank you for sharing with others about this great series!
As a fourth grade teacher, I have become obsessed with this series, in the most positive sense of the word!
I bought the first book a few years ago at our school's Scholastic book fair on a whim. Once reading it, I had to read more. I quickly became engrossed in the characters and adventure of the hunt for the 39 Clues.
One thing that I love about this series is that it renewed my passion for reading. My enthusiasm and excitement for this series has spread to my fourth grade students as well. I am able to talk to them about the books that I am reading and loving and my excitement gets them excited about reading as well, whether it is this series or another book/series that they are equally as passionate about.
I also love 39 Clues because of the different threads of learning that are captured throughout the book. Readers are able to grasp on to one small thread of a topic discussed in the book that may interest them and encourage them to learn and read more about something that they were previously unaware of. When I have shared these books with my class through read alouds and other experiences, they have picked up on geography, history, and literary lessons that they may otherwise have lacked interest in learning.
In my classroom, students always know about what is current with this series because of my enthusiasm about it. We pre-order copies of the newest releases and students always are excited to receive the books and try to keep up with how quickly I read and enjoy them. I began an after-school 39 Clues club and have had a great response from students so far. Each time I schedule it, it is filled to the maximum capacity with students. What is really neat to see about the club also is what each child takes away from the books. Some love solving the clues, others love interpreting the cards, several prefer the challenge of the interactive games online and a few simply come to discuss the books with their peers. I think this is another reason why I love sharing this series with my students- there is something for them each to enjoy.
I also have turned much of Scholastic's marketing ideas for the book into useful lessons to engage my students in reading and comprehension skills. For example, when the cover for the 8th book was released, our class previewed it together and worked to find all of the clues hidden inside the cover. Once we did, a passage from the book was revealed. We read it together and had a great shared reading lesson on inferring, as the students tried to figure out where this book was taking place. This impromptu lesson was a great real life lesson for my students on how to use evidence from the text to infer, a skill which at times can be challenging to teach. My class was engaged and excited to combine their research skills, comprehension strategies, and clue hunting abilities to figure out the next setting of the book.
Apart from these types of experiences, I have also expanded the ideas behind 39 Clues into my social studies lessons. I create clues for the students before each new unit so that they can use the resources they have been presented with in class to determine what topic they will be learning about next. I've found this to be another great way to build their enthusiasm about learning and tie in excitement about reading!
Thank you for sharing with others about this great series!