Scarecrows tell book tales at Madison elementary

Halloween has come and gone, but students at Madison Elementary School will long remember their ‘literary scarecrows.’

This year, the school incorporated a new feature to the annual Teacher Treat Trail that brings the school families together to trick-or-treat their teachers in their classrooms.

“We added the new element of the scarecrows,” PTA president Melanie Davis said. “Each grade level was given the assignment to design a scarecrow based upon a book. The results were amazing.”

Emily Free and Paula Nichols, both PTA officers, coordinated the scarecrow project. “The students enjoyed working on the crafts and the scarecrows. It helped them learn more about the book represented,” Free said. “It helps to do hands-on work on a project and discuss it as they work, rather than just writing a report.”

Classes discussed their selected book in detail while making crafts for the scarecrow scene. “The children loved seeing the scarecrows on display. They were all very good,” Nichols said.

Kindergarten classes presented “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” Eric Carle’s story of a voracious caterpillar who constantly eats before it eventually transforms into a butterfly. The students built a six-foot, stuffed caterpillar, situated on a hay bale.

Outside the school’s entrance, Dr Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat” greeted visitors and students with his red-and-white top hat and a smirk. Paint-stamped footprints circled the cat, along with pinwheels of multi-colored slices of Solo cups.

“The Wizard of Oz” was the choice of the second-graders. Dorothy the scarecrow wore her blue-and-white pinafore with a blue jack-o-lantern head. A convincing twister was made of fluffs of cotton, shaded in gray. The wizards’ hot-air balloons floated overhead.

For the Harry Potter book series, third-graders designed a lifelike replica of Harry. Fourth-graders emphasized the spiders for “Charlottes Web.” The fifth-graders’ scarecrow represented “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” while the sixth grade depicted “Chronicles of Narnia.”

To view the scarecrows at Madison Elementary School, visit http://www.facebook.com/MadisonElementaryPtaMadisonAl?ref=hl.