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Castle Book Report Project
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Castle Book Report Project
$7.50
Castle Book Report Project: Are you looking for an engaging, challenging, and extra large (25 in. x 18 in.) book report project with a medieval theme?
This castle reading response set can be used as a group book report project for a novel that the whole class has read together, or as an individual student book report project.
A teacher wrote me and shared that she used these castle templates for a group project for her unit on Fairy Tales, and that these templates worked well with her theme.
This castle themed book report project will provide you with all of the teaching resources that you need for your students to write about the key elements of their book. The writing responses have all been worded to have a castle theme to them.
Traditionally, requiring students to write about the story elements of a book (characters, setting, plot, etc) is a task that most students find quite boring.
By using these uniquely shaped castle graphic organizers, your students will be eager to complete the writing sections for their book report projects that will help them to build a strong and fortified castle.
This uniquely shaped castle book report project contains 11 worksheet templates that assemble into a large castle. The finished castle project measures 25 inches in width and 18 inches in height.
These finished castle book report projects will make a brilliant classroom bulletin board display of your students' work. Everything that you need to complete these Castle Book Report Projects is included in this set. All that you will need is scissors, glue, tape, and coloring pencils.
This castle book report project includes the following:
3 assembling directions worksheets
4 first draft writing worksheets
11 castle templates
11 color castle templates
1 grading rubric
5 page bulletin board display banner
9 bulletin board accent pieces
3 adapted pages to use if you want to use this as a group project instead of as an individual student project
Castle Book Report Projects What's Included?
This castle book report project includes 3 pages of assembly directions on how to prepare and assemble this project.
Depending on the age of your students, you could assemble these castle projects ahead of time for your students. Each castle takes me about 10 minutes to assemble myself. I have given my fifth grade students the direction sheets, and they were able to assemble their projects themselves. If my students assemble these themselves, I cut out the two templates that have flags on them ahead of time for my students because these are narrow lines to cut along.
There are 3 pages of directions on how to assemble this project, the first 2 are shown below. There are also assembling directions and tips on the actual castle final draft templates.
I believe that the writing process is important and that teachers should use process writing whenever possible. For this reason, my students never begin their book report projects by writing on their final draft templates, instead they write on first draft worksheets. Then, they edit and revise their work on their own, with a partner, or in individual writing conferences with me.
This castle book report project contains four worksheets for students to write their first drafts on. On my first draft worksheets, I have designed the writing line spaces to match the spaces allotted on the final draft castle templates.
This Castle Book Report Project contains the following writing components:
Title Information: Book Title, Author, Genre, Name, and Date
The King's Vocabulary List: Find 5 words that you are unfamiliar with from your story. Write the word on the first line and the definition on the line that is after it. If you are familiar with all of the words from your story, then choose words that interesting and related to the plot or the characters.
A Crowning Achievement: Think about something special that a character in the book did and write about that event. This character could have been kind or helpful to someone, brave in a dangerous situation, or achieved a special goal.
The Castle Dungeon: Think about something that a character in the story did that was wrong or a mistake. Describe why this character should be sent to the castle dungeon. If your book does not have an event like this in it, use your imagination and create something that a character has done.
An Event to Remember: Think about the most important part, or your favorite part, of the story. Describe this part of the story using descriptive adjectives and colorful verbs.
Setting: The setting is when and where the story takes place.
Main Character: Write a description about the main character in your book.
Due to spelling differences in English (words like color/colour and favorite/favourite), there are two sets of resources for this castle book report project. You can select the spelling that is used in the country that you are from.
This castle book report set includes 11 templates that assemble into the shape of a castle. Inside the two roof triangles and the castle door, students draw and color three pictures.
On each template, there are directions that help students to cut and glue the templates together. Below are examples of the first 10 templates:
The King's Vocabulary List and A Crowning Achievement templates:
The Castle Door and Castle Dungeon templates:
The An Event to Remember and Setting templates:
The Main Character and Title/Author/Name templates:
The Castle Roof templates: (Students draw a picture in these two triangles.)
There is an optional step in this set that includes adding a drawbridge that folds open and closes.
When I am first introducing my students to a new project, I believe that it is important for them to have a visual picture of what their final draft should look like. I always assemble the project myself beforehand and complete it.
My students enjoy seeing my castle book report project first. They also enjoy hearing about the book that I chose to do my book report on, and this gives me a great chance to promote a book that I would like to encourage my students to read.
To save you time in coloring your example that you show your students, I have included color castle templates of this project for you to use. Below are examples of the first 8 out of 11 color castle templates.
When I initially designed this set of castle templates, it was for a group project for the novel The Whipping Boy. If you are interested in seeing a castle group project specific to the The Whipping Boy, please click on the underlined links in this paragraph.
I had a lot of requests for these castle templates from teachers who wrote to me, but they wanted to use them for other novels.
Consequently, I designed this castle book report set to meet their requests. The background castle templates are exactly the same as my The Whipping Boy group project, but I have changed the size of the text boxes to be larger, and I changed the writing topics to be generic so that they could be used with any novel.
You can also use this Castle Book Report set as a group project.
In this castle book report set of resources, you will find 3 additional/substitute pages to use in order to make this a group project instead of an individual student project:
First Draft Worksheet Page 1: I changed name to names
Template With Title and Author Information: I changed name to names
Grading Rubric: I changed this to have wording suitable for a group project instead of an individual student project.
Below are some examples of my students' castle projects from The Whipping Boy. These templates are exactly the same size and shape as the templates in this Castle Book Report Project. I have only made the following changes:
I increased the size of the text boxes.
I changed the writing topics inside the text boxes so that they can be used with any novel.
I hope that these photographs will give you an idea of what a finished castle project looks like. My students have loved completing these castle projects with the members of their group!
This set includes a castle book report grading rubric.
I believe that it is important for students to evaluate their own work, so my grading rubric contains both a student assessment and a teacher assessment component. When the students grade their work, they color in the faces. When the teacher grades the work, the teacher circles the small numbers in each box beside the faces. I often find that my students are harsher on themselves than I am, and that the grade that I give them is higher than they have scored themselves.
Below is an example of my castle book report grading rubric:
Finally, I know that it takes teachers a lot of valuable time to assemble their classroom bulletin board displays. Many teachers spend their valuable time cutting out large display letters or making a banner on their own at home on their computer.
This time is valuable and better spent on developing your classroom curriculum and grading papers, so I have designed a matching 5 page display banner for your bulletin board. If you have access to a laminating machine, you can laminate your banner so that it is durable and you can use it year after year for bulletin board displays of these castle book report projects.
EXTRA GOODIES: For some of my book report projects, I am able to think of, and create, additional accent pieces to help you in decorating your bulletin board displays.
This Castle Book Report Project includes 9 bulletin board accent pieces.
The first 5 castle bulletin board accent pieces are in the shape of a knight's helmet. These accent pieces contain a title helmet and 4 helmets with the main writing topics written on the helmets: The King's Vocabulary List, A Crowning Achievement, The Castle Dungeon, and An Event to Remember.
The last 4 castle bulletin board accent pieces are in the shape of a knight's shield and contain general castle themed graphics on them.
You will be able to design a colorful and dynamic bulletin board display using your students' finished castle book report projects.
These castle graphic organizers are a unique and fun way to get your students excited about completing a writing assignment about the books that they have read.
The writing responses that are required of your students will make them think and write about the main elements of their books in a challenging and engaging way. In addition, this book report set includes castle themed accent pieces to help you in decorating your bulletin board display.
I have designed the worksheet components in this castle book report set so that this project can be completed as a group project, or as an individual student project. These castle templates can be used with any novel, but they are ideal for novels that have a medieval theme or a castle as the setting.
Some of the novels that teachers have recommended to me that would be ideal for these castle templates are:
If you have a favorite novel with a medieval theme or a castle setting in it, and it is not on this list, I would appreciate you sharing the title with me. Please use my Contact Me page in order to suggest a title, and then I will add it to this list.
Click on the ADD TO CART button below to purchase this downloadable teacher resource:
Castle Book Report Project
$7.50
Other Resources with Related Themes:
If I Were a Knight Helmet Shaped Creative Writing Set
Click on the ADD TO CART button below to purchase this downloadable teacher resource:
If I Were a Knight Helmet Shaped Creative Writing Project
$3.50
This creative writing project includes final draft templates for students to write on that are in the shape of a knight's helmet. For this writing assignment, students pretend that they are a knight in medieval times.
This knight's helmet creative writing project is an ideal resource to use with novels that have a castle, knight, or medieval theme in them. These helmet shaped templates would also work well with a Middle Ages social studies unit of study.
For students who are often reluctant about writing, I have found that my students enjoy this writing topic, especially when they get to complete their final drafts on templates that are shaped like a knight's helmet. They enjoy coloring and designing the front covers of their helmet booklets and the finished If I Was A Knight projects make a colorful bulletin board display.
This If I Was a Knight creative writing set of teaching resources includes:
Teacher Directions
Idea Web
First Draft Worksheet
Final Draft Helmet Template
Helmet Cover Sheet Template
4 Helmet Cover Sheet Templates in Color
Grading Rubric
5 Page Bulletin Board Banner
4 Helmet Bulletin Board Accent Pieces
There is a second set of these resources in this set that contain UK spelling and punctuation rules.
Below is a sample of the Teacher Directions page.
I have found that it is helpful for my students to start their creative writing assignments by beginning with an idea web. My students do not have to write in complete sentences in their idea webs, they are just concerned with mapping out the major elements of their story. By using an idea web, this also helps my students to break their stories into paragraphs.
Below is a sample of the Idea Web worksheet that you will find in this If I Was a Knight creative writing lesson plan set. The idea webs are in the shape of a knight's shield.
For creative writing assignments, I believe that it is important for students to go through the writing process. This process begins with their idea webs and is completed when they publish their work on their final draft templates.
For this reason, my students never begin their creative writing assignments by writing on their final draft templates, instead they write on first draft worksheets. Then, they edit and revise their work on their own, with a partner, or in individual writing conferences with me.
Below is an example of the first draft writing worksheet that is included in this If I Were a Knight creative writing set. The lines on this first draft worksheet match the lines and spaces on the final draft helmet templates. Depending on how long your students' stories are, they may need an second copy of this worksheet.
After students have edited and revised their first drafts, you should give them their final draft templates.
This set of Knight's Helmets is designed to be a flip book that is stapled together at the top of the helmet. There is a cover sheet for students to color and design. The second sheet contains the same size and shaped template with writing lines. If your students have written long stories, they will need an additional copy of the template with the writing lines.
Both of these templates have thick border lines around them, so they are easy for the students to cut out their helmets themselves.
Below is a sample of the final draft helmet templates that you will find in this creative writing set.
As I am introducing this writing topic to my students, I like to begin by sharing my story with them. I model my idea web and then I read my story to my students. At the front of the classroom, I post examples of what the final draft templates look like. By providing a visual example at the very beginning, my students know what their creative writing assignments will look like when they have completed all of the steps in the writing process.
I have included 4 different helmet cover sheets for you to use as visual examples to show your students so that you don't have to spend time coloring these helmets yourself.
This set includes a creative writing grading rubric.
I believe that it is important for students to evaluate their own work, so my grading rubric contains both a student assessment and a teacher assessment component.
When the students grade their work, they color in the faces. When the teacher grades the work, the teacher circles the small numbers in each box beside the faces. I often find that my students are harsher on themselves than I am, and that the grade that I give them is higher than they have scored themselves.
Finally, I know that it takes teachers a lot of valuable time to assemble their bulletin board displays. Many teachers spend hours of time cutting out large display letters or making a banner on their own at home on their computer.
This time is valuable and better spent on developing your classroom curriculum and grading papers, so I have designed a matching 5 page banner for your bulletin board display. In addition, I have included 4 helmet accent pieces to help you in decorating your bulletin board.
If you have access to a laminating machine, you can laminate your banner so that it is durable and you can use it year after year for bulletin board displays of these If I Was a Knight creative writing assignments.
I used these knight helmet creative writing templates with my students when we read The Knight at Dawn, a Magic Tree House novel.
Below is a photograph of my students' finished projects. These templates are exactly the same size and shape as this creative writing set, but I changed the title inside the helmet's visor for this particular activity.
If you use these helmet creative writing templates along with the castle book report projects, you will be able to create a classroom filled with a dynamic medieval theme!
Below is a list of the book report projects that are available on Unique Teaching Resources:
If you are interested in viewing the other book report projects that are on my website, please click on one the links below:
If you are interested in reading short descriptions and seeing an example picture of each of my book report projects, please click on the underlined link in this paragraph to go to my Book Report Templates and Projects Page. This page will provide you with a short introduction to each of the book report projects that are posted on Unique Teaching Resources.
If you are looking for some ideas on how to engage your students in reading, please be sure to visit my Book Reports page.
On this page, I describe how I have used book report projects and sticker charts to motivate my students to read books on their own. You can read about how to engage your students in reading so that they will be excited to read books independently and enthusiastic to complete their fun book report projects! To go to this reading page, click on the underlined link in the paragraph above.
If you have any ideas for book report projects that you would like to see on Unique Teaching Resources, please use my contact me page to share your ideas and suggestions with me.
Thank you for visiting this Castle Book Report Project page. Please be sure to check out the other pages on Unique Teaching Resources for a large variety of fun lesson plan activities that will engage your students in learning and save you valuable time.
Sincerely, Heidi McDonald
Creator and Site Manager Unique Teaching Resources
Castle Book Report Project: Are you looking for an engaging, challenging, and extra large (25 in. x 18 in.) book report project with a medieval theme? 
