Freckle Juice

Some of  my 3^rd and 4^th grade students just finished up the book, Freckle Juice, by Judy Blume. It is one of my all time favorite books. I was thrilled when I got my EEF card which allowed me to purchase reading materials for my kiddos. Freckle Juice was my very first purchase. I am proud to say that my purchase was a great one!!

This is a quick summary of the book:

Nicky has freckles. They cover his face, his ears, and the whole back of his neck. If Andrew had freckles like Nicky, his mother would never know if his neck was dirty. But how exactly do you get freckles? For fifty cents, know-it-all Sharon has the answer—a secret family freckle recipe. Fifty cents is a lot of money, but Andrew is desperate. It's not until after he goes home and carefully mixes the strange combination of ingredients that he realizes he might be getting more than he paid for. The concoction made him very sick and didn't give him any freckles. He couldn't face his class the next day without freckles, so he decided he would draw freckles on his face (blue freckles)......... His plan didn't work out quite like he expected. His classmates made fun of him for drawing fake freckles. His teacher gave him the secret recipe to remove his freckles (which was pretty much soap and water). After he returned to class with no freckles on his face Nicky decided he may need the recipe to remove his freckles, too. Of course, Sharon could whip up a recipe for Nicky to remove those pesky brown spots, but it would cost him..........

My sweet girl, Katy Bug. She did an awesome job on her project.

This is her recipe.

This is the mixture that had hot sauce, potatoes, and candy in it.

Brandon's mom said that her mixture was going to taste good, and she was right. It was very yummy. We drank it.

Brandon didn't share with us much.

We read the book, answered comprehension questions, did vocabulary words, and all the other "fun" stuff that went along meeting objectives for the state. All of that was lovely, but the real fun started when we got to do projects that went along with the book. I assigned several different things for the kids to do, but the most exciting was the "Make Your Own Freckle Juice" assignment. I sent a letter home to parents and explained to them what the project entailed. I also added some examples of freckle juice creations that other kids had done. Three of my students brought in the extra credit concoction. It was thrilling. They shared what all they used in their juice and how they made their mixtures. They were a creative little bunch, to say the least. There was one recipe that had instant potatoes in it, one that had peanut M & Ms, and of course they had to add hot sauce in one. After they shared their recipes we made the mixture that was shared in the book. It was quite disgusting, but we had a marvelous time making it. The kids decided how much of each ingredient we needed (the exact measurements were not given in the book). It was a yucky, stinky, icky MESS.

 

When the creation was complete I took the bowl out of the room along with a stack of "freckled cups" and told the kids that I would be back with their drinks. As I was walking out the door I told them that they would have to drink it to get their 100 test grade. I am sure they were squirming in their britches. Little did they know.... Mrs. Burns and I had gotten Lemonberry Slushes from Sonic while they were at lunch. I had them hidden in the cafeteria. I poured their slushes in the cups in place of the gross juice we made together. I had talked to Mr. Lundy (our principal) and Mr. Hollowell (my classroom neighbor that helps us out a lot) that morning about them being in on my scam. I gave Mr. Lundy and Mr. Hollowell a cup of Freckle Juice first and they walked in my classroom in front of me drinking the slush. The kids thought they were drinking the disgusting onion mixture. They started panicking. One of my kiddos, Brandon, even tried to run out of the classroom while yelling. He was not happy that his two favorite men at school were doing something so gross. Then, Mrs. Burns and I grabbed a cup and started drinking it. They were even more appalled. Finally, one of them got gutsy and decided they would try it too. That is when everyone decided they would follow in our footsteps. They were pleasantly surprised at how good their recipe turned out!

My idea of freckle juice was way better than their idea!

See Brandon..... Yep, he is about to run out of the room!

They are all loving their juice from Mrs. Smith. All, but Brandon, he is drinking his own mixture.

 

It was such a fun day! I am so thrilled with that book and all the fun stuff that went along with it. It is going to be hard to top that book with my kids. I think it has been their favorite by far.