Visual Art and Drama in the Library

Fourth graders worked on their individual quilt blocks that must incorporate three symbols of the Underground Railroad. Next week, they will finish these projects and write paragraphs about their blocks, how they designed them, and the symbols they chose.

Students in Reader's Theater club consulted each other and worked together to design a story from three random nouns. We played a game called "Story Court," in which participants had only a few minutes to develop a story with a beginning, middle and end. The story was told (and acted out) to the jurors and the judge (Mrs. Owen, of course). If the story did not have the necessary parts, the students were given a sentence of guilty and were made to do something crazy and silly for their peers. The students enjoyed the guilty verdicts as much as the not-guilty verdicts!

I am continually amazed (and entertained) by the creative, talented, and energetic students at St. Therese. They keep me on my toes as a teacher, make me smile, and cause me to wonder who and what they will become in this life. I believe great things are in their futures.

Idea Webs

Second graders are writing and illustrating their own books! I will be collaborating with Ms. Kizer, second grade teacher, to help students through the processes of brainstorming, planning, pre-writing, editing, revising, sketching, etc., so that each student may enter a book in the MPB's Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrator Contest for 2009. Entries are due by March 31st.

We are using Loreen Leedy's book titled Look at My Book: How Kids Can Write and Illustrate Terrific Books.

Last Tuesday, we spent our time in literature connection looking at the overall process, practicing brainstorming and recording our ideas on a group "idea web, " and brainstorming and recording ideas for individual student projects.

An idea web starts with a main idea in the center. Then, students branch out from this main idea and write down everything they can think of around that main idea. They may not end up using everything, but it helps students get started with what can be the most difficult part of writing.

Ms. Kizer and I plan to focus on the process of writing and the importance of editing, and revising. I never write something perfectly the first time around! I frequently misspell words and may occasionally use incorrect grammar. There is always room for improvement and for saying something better. We hope that the students will learn some of these important lessons through this project.

Our History, Our Future

February is Black History Month (or African American History Month). In the library and during literature connection, all classes will be reading books about African Americans who have done things great and small to make a difference in our history as a nation.

Last Thursday, we focused our attention on Harriet Tubman-- what a courageous, giving, and amazing human being she was! We read Faith Ringgold's Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky and discussed how slaves communicated with each other about the underground railroad. Then, Mrs. Tarleton showed a power-point presentation she developed about the underground railroad with photographs of safe-houses, hiding places, and important people in the effort to free slaves.

In the coming weeks, classes will be making paper quilt blocks from the show-ways or symbols of the underground railroad. When the blocks are all put together, they will show us the way to our history. And, I believe this path also leads to our future.

Simple Gifts

Yesterday's literature connection lesson for third through sixth grade students came together serendipitously. The week before, I found a PDF for making a hot-dog booklet of the words to Simple Gifts to commemorate the inauguration of Barack Obama. I showed it to Mrs. Tarelton, and she got excited about bringing out the xylophones to let the children play the melody. I did some research on the Shakers, the religious community from which the song emerged; she did some research on the song itself. This is how the lesson came together:

• First, students made their own hot-dog booklet. They practiced following step-by step directions using math vocabulary such as horizontal, vertical, and fractions. Even though this seems like a simple process, it is more difficult than it looks for some students. Students who had never made a hot-dog booklet before said, "This is tight!"

• Second, I explained who the Shakers were and are and put the song in context. If you want to learn more, visit the website for a documentary about the Shakers by Ken Burns.
  

• Third, we read the words of the song aloud from the booklet and discussed why this song might have been chosen for the inauguration. The students had some very good thoughts about the mention of freedom and simplicity in the song. One student thought that the words "turn" and "turning" signaled how President Obama would like to "turn" the country around through his leadership and through a rise in civic responsibility. We also asked what it means that the 160 year old words and song are still relevant to us today and shed a unique light on our society at this time.

• Fourth, Mrs. Tarleton presented a music lesson on the song. She discussed three composers: Joseph Brackett, the Shaker elder who originally wrote the song in 1848, Aaron Copland who set the melody in Appalachian Springs, and John Williams who recently used the theme in his Air and Simple Gifts (YouTube video) for the inauguration.
  

• Fifth, we listened to a five minute excerpt of Copland's Appalachian Springs. When the string basses come in, my eyes always fill up with tears (four times yesterday!) What a "simple gift" it was to listen to this familiar music with children and see signs on their faces that their souls are also moved. Some students were motivated to want to dance when the trumpets and trombones make their regal entrance. Some students took their xylophone mallets and conducted the entire piece from their chair.

• Sixth, Mrs. T. led a discussion about the musical elements in the Copland excerpt and how the composer changed the melody with different instruments, tempo, embellishments, and dynamics.

• Finally, the children learned to play a portion of the melody on the xylophones. Those who can read music, had the music to read. Those who could not read music were able to follow Mrs. Tarleton's wonderful instructions.

Many elements combined to make our 50 minute lesson on Simple Gifts "tight." We integrated history, current events, music theory, music appreciation, literature, book making, and creative thinking. Simple Gifts is such a memorable tune. I hope that when the students hear it in the future, they will remember some of what they learned about it at St. Therese.

To close this post out, the photo collage below is a collection of classroom work about the inauguration from Ms. Devenney's first graders and Ms. Bentley's fourth graders.

What simple gifts will we share with each other as we move forward in this country during these uncertain, yet hopeful, times?

Illustrating our dreams

January is a time for dreaming. It is the beginning of the new year. It is the month in which we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and re-read his "I Have a Dream" speech.

First and second grade students did some dreaming on Tuesday. First, we looked at how different illustrators had imagined and created drawings/paintings/collages to depict different parts of Dr. King's speech. Then, we took some time to close our eyes, and look inside at our own dreams for what we want to do with our lives. Through pantomime, the students shared their dreams with the rest of the class and used their bodies to make their dreams concrete. Finally, with crayons and pencils, we illustrated our dreams.

At St. Therese, we have future moms, cheerleaders, firemen, police officers, presidents, navy men and women, doctors, and dancers. We will make a difference in the world, won't we?

Hard Work

What do these two photos have in common?

The first one shows a group of first graders reading Wolfsnail: A Backyard Predator by Sarah Campbell. The second one shows a first grader reading Dr. Seuss's beloved The Cat in the Hat.

Today, Wolfsnail won the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award for distinguished children's book for beginning readers. "Dr. Seuss " is the pen name for Theodor Geisel. The author of Wolfsnail, Sarah Campbell, visited third through sixth graders in the fall of 2008 and lives in Jackson, Mississippi. We have her book in our library. It is autographed by her and wishes St. Therese students the joy of discovering God's natural world around them.

This is a HUGE honor for Sarah Campbell. Out of all of the children's books published in 2008 (thousands and thousands), only a handful won honors like this today. Knowing Sarah and listening to her talk about her book, I know much time, hard work, imagination, and dedication went into creating it.

Wolfsnail is art. With simple words and detailed, close-up photography, she reveals to the reader small moments in this enormous universe that might otherwise go overlooked.

It is hard work learning how to read. It is also hard work to write a book that engages children (and adults) and tempts us to read and learn more. What an honor for Sarah Campbell. What a joy that she shared the lives of these amazing creatures with us.

Book Awards

The American Library Association will announce its book awards in Denver at it's Midwinter meeting on Monday, January 26th, at 7:45 am Mountain Time.

Please see:

http://www.ala.org/ala/newspresscenter/news/pressreleases2008/december2008/youthmediaawardsannouncement.cfm

This site has more information including a link for a live webcast of the event and links to an event page on Facebook and Twitter!

Do you have a favorite book from 2008? What would you recommend for the best picture book (Caldecott Award) or the best chapter book (Newbery Award)? I have some favorites in both categories. I wonder if they will win? There are so many wonderful book from which to choose.

Luckily, we are all winners when we read good books!