Making Literacy Delicious: The "Matilda" Cake Challenge at DuPont Hadley
- Website Contributor
- Feb 25
- 2 min read
Sometimes, the best way to get a young person to love a book is to take the story off the shelf and put it on a plate.
At our DuPont Hadley CASE site, a recent read-aloud of Roald Dahl’s Matilda reached its most legendary milestone: the Bruce Bogtrotter cake scene. To celebrate, our staff turned it into a full-sensory event. Our youth spent the afternoon decorating and devouring a massive chocolate cake, recreating the entire confection moment in real life.
Empowering the Underestimated
The story of Matilda is a uniquely kid-centered narrative. Roald Dahl wrote with a deep understanding of what children are truly capable of, even when the adults around them don't see it. Middle school can be a time when students feel underestimated or overlooked. By engaging with this book, our youth are connecting with a character who, despite being dismissed by the "Trunchbulls" of the world, finds her power. At CASE, we strive to be the "Miss Honey" in their lives, the ones who accurately assess their capabilities and believe in their potential.
How to Engage Reluctant Readers
We often hear from students who claim they "don't like reading." Usually, that hesitation comes from seeing literacy as a stationary, solitary task. By bringing the plot into the physical world, our CASE teams flip the script on after-school learning.
When a story becomes a shared, hands-on experience, complete with frosting and a bit of a mess, it stops feeling like a chore and starts feeling like an adventure. For the students who might usually tune out, the anticipation of "cake day" gave them a tangible, exciting reason to stay locked into the narrative.
The Power of Creative Literacy Programs
This Matilda celebration is just one way we bring books to life. Our staff uses a variety of interactive strategies to help students find their own reading voices:
Character Work: Students experiment with accents and vocal emphasis, learning how to give a character a unique personality through performance.
The Reading Workout: To keep energy high, we’ve implemented reading exercises. Every time a specific keyword is read, the group performs a jumping jack, lunge, or squat. It turns a quiet activity into a physical challenge.
Visual Storytelling: We’ve used hands-on art and collages to help students map out the themes and settings they encounter in the text.
Literacy and Learning at CASE
We love seeing our DuPont Hadley staff use their own creativity to spark a student’s imagination. Whether we are doing lunges during a chapter or decorating a three-tier chocolate cake, the goal is the same: making sure our youth know they are capable of big things.
When literacy is this interactive, even the most reluctant readers find themselves asking, "What happens in the next chapter?"
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