PHOTO – Being sorted!

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Sorting Hat – I had a sorting hat with a small basket under holding small slips of goldenrod paper with each child’s name on it.  With a candle I had written an H, G, R, S on each slip.  Using a spray bottle of water with baking soda added the students would spray the goldenrod paper and it would turn red, except where the letter was written in wax so it appeared.  There house was shouted out and the next name was called.

House Points:  The first house points were added when one the oldest Hufflepuff took two of the younger one’s to the bathroom just before class started.  Once the students realized we were serious about awarding points they got very interested in earning them.  In between classes various trivia questions were asked, each house would confer and tell the house mother the answer – every house that got it correct earns points.  A few other questions were asked during class as I thought of them - I tried to be sure to pick someone from each house equally who raised their hand to answser. 

House points were also earned by scores at the wizard tournament events.

The scores for three houses were close, so the final event finding the snitch (which was worth 10 points) was the deciding factor on which house won the house trophy.

To record the house points I used 4 plastic bottles that I made a label for with the house name on each, and a piece of styrafoam sprayed painted as a holder for all four bottles.  Marbles were used as the point counters.

HOUSE POINTS RESULTS:
Gryffindor: 70; Hufflepuff: 52; Slytherian: 63; WINNERS – Ravenclaw: 67 + 10 for finding the snitch = 77 total

I had debated on whether or not to have houses, or just put every one in Gryffindor, but ended up deciding to go with the houses.  I tried to make sure that everyone would have at least one person they knew in their house.  I was really glad I did have the sorting hat ceremony – every one seemed to enjoy and get into earning the house points.   After we announced the winning house, all the other houses wanted to know their scores too – so we announced each one and clapped and cheered for them all – which was great (and I’m so glad that it happened even though I hadn’t planned for it, it let me know the kids really did enjoy that aspect of the party).

Trivia Questions:
What is Prof. Dumbledore’s first name? (Albus)
What animal does Prof. McGongall transfigure into? (Cat)
How do you great a hippogriff? (Bow and wait for it to bow back)
What do you eat to recover after seeing a dementor? (Chocolate)
What astrological sign is earlier this month? (Taurus – since it was the birthday girl’s sign I added this question)
What does garlic protect you from? (Vampires)
Who is the Keeper of Keys at Hogwarts? (Hagrid)
What is Fluffy? (Three-headed Dog)