Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Using the novel Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the school's fourth grade curriculum will be beneficial to the students on numerous different levels. Not only is it a popular book in a popular series of books and movies, it is also a book that has increased the excitement of reading in this age group for children around the world. it's mixture of reality and fantasy creates an exciting, interesting and challenging read for the children. By reading this novel, the students will come away with learning such lessons as the importance of friendships, overcoming hardships, goal making and growing up. They will also walk away with the literary lessons of fantasy literature, a larger vocabulary and a more in-depth reading comprehension.

Although it will require some additional work for the teachers to adjust their curriculum projects to the new novel instead of Charlotte's Web, as was typically used in the past, this adjustment will really be quite minimal. Both novels are surprisingly similar in their themes and lessons. Therefore, many of the projects used for Charlotte's Web can simply be adapted to the new novel. For example, instead of a farm theme, there is a wizard or magic theme to the otherwise basic educational lessons.

Because this novel is already so widely read or watched by this student population, the students will already be familiar with the concepts and themes. This will limit any potential psychological impact on the students. Although there are various scenes of violence and death found throughout the book, these issues can be dealt with as part of the class reading process. Before a violent or potentially disturbing scene is read, it will be important for the instructor to prepare the students for this and discuss it both before and after it is read.

One project that may be fun for the students to do with the reading of this novel is to incorporate a Hogwarts theme into the classroom so that the students are taught like they are students at Hogwarts. Each class can be a different group and there can be contest between the classes that tie in with the reading of the novel.