Story and photos by Mia Pacifico ’28
Fifth and sixth graders are having tons of fun at the Muggles of Messing class. In this class, students get the chance to further explore the magical world of Harry Potter. The class gives the feel of what it would be like to be a wizard at Hogwarts. Bethany Kavanaugh, Middle School Librarian, got the awesome opportunity to teach this exciting class for Winter Term. Mrs. Kavanaugh said, “Her favorite part of the class was the sorting ceremony.” The sorting ceremony is where the students get separated into four different houses: Hufflepuff, Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw. They get sorted into these houses by a magical sorting hat that decides what house they belong in. They also got the chance to paint their wands. Students have many opportunities to make potions, learn about animals at Hogwarts, play Harry Potter bingo, have competitions between Hogwarts houses, and they get to try their hand at Herbology, where they work with plants.
One fun activity the wizards of the Muggles of Messing class did was make potions. They made the potions by mixing slime with different colors of glitter and beads. Henry Wall ’31 in fifth grade said, “I am having lots of fun making potions out of slime.” They all got to personalize their potions by the color of their slimes, all the different glitters and beads, and even by what they named their potion. The fifth and sixth graders felt just like Hogwarts students in Harry Potter.
The students in this class also had lots of fun playing Harry Potter-themed bingo. During this activity, students created competitions between their four different Hogwarts houses to see which house could get bingo first. Fletcher Davis ’31 said, “I had lots of fun playing the Harry Potter bingo. It was my favorite.” Some items that the students had to cross out on the bingo sheet were poly juice, potions, an elder wand, a wizard express, and a chocolate frog, all Harry Potter terms. The students were very invested in Harry Potter bingo and thoroughly enjoyed playing to see which Hogwarts house would win.
Each day there were new fun activities to make the students feel as if they were really at Hogwarts. Whether they were making potions or learning about different animals at Hogwarts, it was always very engaging and fun. These students continued to show their excitement each time they showed up to the Muggles of Messing class.
