Fun with Minions!

Our mascot, Dave

This term I have not one but two clubs with 'minions' in their name.  Obviously the Minions movie has been influential for our Year 6's this year!  Last year I was the one who named my book club, we were the 'Ninja Readers'.  I was reacting to the rather lame name (in my opinion) the students chose the year before - 'Very Important Readers'.  This year I felt I should give the naming back to the students, but I did help them come up with some creative ideas first.  We brainstormed a variety of adjectives, then nouns, then combined a few to see how they sounded.  This worked very well, and our book club is now called...the 'Exploding Minions'.  I love hearing our office staff use the intercom to announce our meetings on Fridays!

I let the Exploding Minions decide what sort of things they would like to do in their book club.  This has led to a system where they challenge each other, and me, to read books that they have liked.  I am also in the process of arranging a Skype visit with a book club in Christchurch (I know the librarian from Twitter).  I've never done anything like that before but plan on letting the students do most of the talking!  I'm quite excited to see how the clubs will interact with each other.

I also have an advisory group that meets on Tuesdays.  I learned my lesson from last term's club and made two groups rather than trying to cram everything into one session.  The second group is my attempt to bring more student voice into my decision-making.  The group is made up of selected students from our book club.  I wanted a smaller group so I chose the students who are not student leaders to come and have an opportunity to advise me.  We have an excellent leadership programme at the school but unfortunately not all students get in and I felt this was a way of giving those who were left out their own exclusive club.  And they love it!  They are called the 'Clever Minions' and they are helping me with a number of things.  Just the fact that the group exists has influenced my thinking more than I expected.  I find myself considering an idea and then thinking, "I'll see what the Clever Minions think about it".  So already they've:

• Helped publicise our book fridge
• Come up with place names for our fantasy worlds sign
• Thought of words for our new word cloud signage
• Had ideas for our Skype session
• Taken a survey about "discovery kits".

Their ideas are different and useful and I have a big agenda for our next meeting!

With fresh clubs, new ideas and lots of enthusiasm I am really enjoying hanging out with the minions this term!