There's A Boy in The Girls' Bathroom - Louis Sachar (Novel Study)

The bathroom was set, the toilet paper was rolling and it was time to relieve ourselves with the most awaited novel of this academic year.

All you need is cardboard, pink chart paper and toilet paper rolls to convert your classroom into a bathroom.

A novel which changes the dynamics of the entire classroom and is a personal favourite of the teachers and students.

Bradley's unbelievable stories makes this book believable, engaging and entertaining for the children. For teachers it's an insight into a child's world.

We began the novel by introducing the children to the various cover pages and asked them to predict what the story is about based on the clues from the title and the pictures on the cover.

The responses were marvellous:

1. The boy was probably curious to know how girls do their business.

2. His first language wasn't English and he couldn't read that it was the girls' bathroom.

3. He entered the bathroom because it was a dare.

4. He was new to the school and was quite nervous, so he hid in the girls' bathroom and came out only at the end of the day. Also, he left his toy inside by mistake.

5. He was curious to know if boys and girls have the same fancy equipment in their bathrooms, so he wanted to inspect.

6. He wanted to know what's inside the girls' bathroom, so he dressed up as a girl.

As a teacher I was amazed at how aware my students were when one child came up with the word 'transgender' to describe the picture on the blue cover. An interesting discussion about being open minded and accepting the differences around us, respecting the fact that some people are not happy with their gender which is a natural gift and might have a gender identity, or gender expression, that differs from their assigned sex.

Chapter 1

When we read Chapter 1, we stopped at the following point:

"I have been to the White House," Jeff admitted.

"If you want , I'll tell you about it."

Bradley thought a moment , then said,

I asked the kids what they thought was Bradley's reply. While most of them suggested that Bradley must have lied about having been to White House, they were on the edge of their seats as they waited to hear Bradley's reply. 

"Give me a dollar or I'll spit on you."

3 pages were enough to stir their enthusiasm!

The skills which we focussed on while reading the book were:
End of Chapter 1: Summary Writing
End of Chapter 2 and 3: Writing a Diary entry as Bradley Chalkers - his thoughts and feelings, his worries.

WELCOME TO THE MESSY WORLD OF BRADLEY 

Everyone enjoys giving their two penny bits, including my 9 year olds. Jeff is confused about being friends with Bradley. 

Enter - Our expert advisers (at the end of Chapter 8)

Chapters 9-22 were all about discussions and deep thoughts. 

• He was amazed by how young and pretty she was. He had been expecting an ugly old hag: Students shared some hilarious names they had used for some of their teachers. 
• 'Can I break something?' he asked                                                                                             I asked the students what they'd like to break in class if they were allowed to. Smash, came the reply- windows to break free, the lock to the I-pad trolley for unlimited access, the teacher's laptop so that she couldn't teach anything, tear the jotters- no homework, the teacher's watch so that she can't start the lesson on time
• 'When you tell a lie, the only person you're lying to is yourself'                                               We were working on measuring angles in the Maths lesson. Since most of the students had finished their work, I wrote the answers on the board for them to correct their own work. A student walked up to me and suggested that I erase the answers because some students were still working, and they could copy the answers. Another student overheard this, and responded immediately - 'If they do that, the only person they will be lying to is themselves'

Let's hear it from Bradley

Students wrote a poem as Bradley describing his feelings and thoughts.