Thursday 18 August 2011

Art Responses to Literature

Started the old school bin purge this week.  9 years of teaching grades K to 8 leads to a lot of Rubbermaid bins!  And a lot of recycling bins :)

Check out what I found: Criteria for Assessing Art Responses to Literature.  Unfortunately no original source mentioned.

Dear Photograph, Flotsam, Round Trip

Thanks to Missy for this cool idea!  Check out this website: Dear Photograph
The students "take a picture of a picture from the past in the present".  Missy thought the students could use a photograph of their vacation and draw the background around the photo.  Or they could do this at home and bring in the new photograph.  Or you could take the picture of your students at the beginning of the school year and repeat in a different season.  So many ideas!

It reminds me of my TLCP postcard project this year.  We found a similar idea in the picture book: Flotsam by David Wiesner.  We supplemented our project with activities for the picture book: Round Trip by Ann Jonas.


Here are the activities we used: Through The Lens.
Oh and check out this art activity: Sunset Silhouettes inspired by Round Trip.

Curriculum Connections:
Drama 1.4 Communicate feelings and ideas using audio, visual / technology to support and enhance work.

Drama 2.1 Express personal responses (thoughts, feelings, ideas) and make connections to drama experiences (characters, themes, issues) in own work.
Music 3.1 Identify the role of music in community today.
Visual Arts 1.2 Create a narrative work considering the foreground, middle ground and background.
Reading Point of View 1.8 First person point of view - writing in role.
Media Literacy 2.2 Discuss: how does music help convey the message of the text?

Saturday 6 August 2011

Last Night's Nightmares

Here's my favourite poem to begin the school year:  Last Night's Nightmares by Kenn Nesbitt.  This poem has great vocab that interests both boys and girls.  It is also a great small group activity for the beginning of the year.  The poem can be found at: Last Night's Nightmares.

Teacher Prep - cut the poem into individual words and put in a baggy.  Provide the students with a poem in a bag, a piece of constuction paper and glue. 

The Activity - the students piece together their own poem / story titled "Last Night's Nightmares."  You can encourage your students to recognize capitals and punctuation.  Each group shares their new version of the poem.  When each group has presented share the original poem.  EXTENSION: the students can dramatize their poem or they can create a comic strip.

Find more poetry by Kenn Nesbitt at: Poetry4kids.com.
Find more funny poetry for kids at: Giggle Poetry.

GR 2+3 Curriculum Connections:
Reading Familiar Words 3.1 Automatically read and understand many high-frequency words.
Writing Classifying Ideas 1.4 Sort information for their writing in a variety of ways, with support and direction.
Writing Punctuation 3.4 Use punctuation to help communicate their intended meaning (periods, commas).
Oral Communication Active Listening Strategies 1.2 Demonstrate an understanding of appropriate listening behaviour by using active listening strategies in order to contribute meaningfully and work constructively in groups.