I would also like to welcome Karen Armstrong to our Blog this week. She is an instructor from the Education Department at UBC and she will taking a look at Multiliteracies in our classrooms. Welcome!
As we all start to relax and get into Spring Break mode, we would like to highlight some of the activities we did over the past couple of weeks.
On Thursday, March 7th, all of the primary classes met in the gym to dance, dance and dance some more! This was our annual school fundraiser called The Dance A Thon. We went through our extensive repertoire of dance moves to songs like The Bunny Hop, The Twist, The Cuban Shuffle, The Mexican Hat Dance and of course, The YMCA!
Multiliteracies in the Classroom:
We continued our exploration of music by listening to two separate compositions then responding to them in a variety of ways.
First, we listened to Camille Saint Saens' "Aquarium". You all had the opportunity to see the finished products of this project during the Gallery Walk at our Conferences. Here is a brief history of the process involved in creating these masterpieces!
1) What is this music about? Listening with eyes closed, the students formed an image in their mind.
2) Sketching and outlining their image:
Painting:
Enjoying the moment:
Thinking, creating, and developing the Cinquaine Poem to accompany their painting:
Painting the background of the poem:
Voila! In case you missed the Gallery Walk, here are some video clips.
On Thursday Sarah and Olivia, our UBC teacher candidates, read the students another entertaining Mo Willems book entitled, "Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs".
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The students discussed what they thought were the beginning, middle and end parts of the story.
Then they illustrated and wrote about these three parts of the book.
Taking this concept of beginning, middle and end in a story, we listened to another piece of music by Sergei Prokofiev entitled "The Dance of the Knights". We gave no infomation about this piece so the children could form their own perceptions and images. We discussed that not only do books tell stories but music does as well. Listening to the music a few times, the children were able to recognize changes in the music and then identified the beginning, middle and end parts. Then they met in groups and talked about images and storylines.
After a lot of collaboration, the students created their story and illustrated the beginning, middle and end parts.
Next was preparing to present their stories. Within their groups, the children decided who would talk about the following items:
1) Introduction & Conclusion
2) Beginning
3) Middle
4) End
Each student had one job.
On Friday, we met with our big Buddies who are seasoned professionals when it comes to speaking and presenting in front of audiences! Using two big Buddies per group of four, our students were mentored and coached. Our Buddies offered amazing guidance and feedback. Thank you!
When we finally presented our stories on Monday, we were truly amazed at the clarity and volume of speech, the organization of each group, and the overall comfort and confidence our students showed through this entire process. Furthermore, we had quite a few students away sick so some people had to take on other speaking parts without any rehearsal. As many of us know, speaking in front of large groups can be a daunting experience but these guys made it look easy!
As we look ahead to term three, Sarah and Olivia will be commencing their extended practica with us. They have many exciting and engaging events in store for us so stay tuned!
In the mean time, we hope you all have a relaxing and very sunny (oh, please) break. We will see you on Tuesday, April 4th.
Thanks for visiting :)
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