As a culmination to our Interpreting Characters unit, Sistine Bailey, one of the main characters in The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo, "visited" the fourth grade.

In the novel, which we have been reading aloud in collaboration with Mrs. Hinkle's class, twelve-year-old Rob Horton is stunned to encounter a tiger pacing back and forth in a cage. What’s more, on the same extraordinary day, he meets Sistine, a girl who shows her feelings as readily as Rob hides his. As they learn to trust each other, and ultimately, to be friends, Rob and Sistine prove that some things—like memories, and heartaches, and tigers—can’t be locked up forever.

Dressed as Sistine, I joined my students this week as they carved soap just like Rob did throughout the novel with wood. Sistine quoted Rob’s mother by saying, “You could never tell what would come out of the wood. It did what it wanted and you just followed."

Students used their creativity and perseverance and carved various objects like cars, animals, and hearts. It was a wonderfully smelling activity!