The sorting hat was the biggest point of excitement for my students. I did this in the beginning of the day after wand making – in the movies, Harry goes to Diagon Alley and gets his wand before heading to Hogwarts, so it made sense to do the wands first.
How do you sort students into houses?
The sorting hat is also where, as the teacher, you have to make some big decisions.
- How many people do you want in each house?
- Can students request a house?
- Are you sorting students based on character traits?
- Are students going to be sorted at random?
This was a tough decision for me to make. In the end I decided that I wanted an even number of students in each house. Some of my students knew what house they were in and I took that into consideration when sorting my students. I sorted the rest based on personality – it wasn’t too difficult to be honest. When it came to students who didn’t get the house they wanted, I told students that the “sorting hat juice” Hogwarts sent us might put us in different houses than what we think, but that doesn’t mean we have to stay in that house forever. Sometimes our houses can change as we grow up.
How did students find out what house they were in?
This part was SO fun! I told students the sorting hat wasn’t allowed to leave Hogwarts, but Hogwarts was kind enough to send us some sorting hat juice! I used a simple science experiment to make the sorting more exciting. To do this experiment you need cups, baking soda, food coloring, and vinegar. That’s it!
This part takes a bit of prep. Put your student’ names on each cup and place food coloring at the bottom of each cup depending on what house the student is in – red for Gryffindor, blue for Ravenclaw, green for Slytherin, and yellow for Hufflepuff. The food coloring has to dry for 24 hours. The next day, use a spoon and sprinkle baking soda over the food coloring. Make sure the food coloring is completely covered!
My school counselor gave me these vials which added so much to this demonstration. I put vinegar in each of the vials. When I called a student’s name, they came to the front and poured their vial of “sorting hat juice” into their cup. When the vinegar and baking soda mix, a chemical reaction occurs that causes the solution to bubble up. The vinegar also wets the food coloring, so the bubbles turn the color of the student’s house! It was absolutely magical!
Do students get anything after they are sorted?
After a student saw what house they were in, I gave them a special certificate, a crest they could color (I wrote their names on the top as well), and a piece of paper that told them a little bit about their house.
After the sorting concluded, we continued with Harry Potter Day! I used their houses to put students into groups they worked with these groups for potions class and charms class. I also used them to make groups where there was one person from each house.
