pictures from the art show

I really enjoyed myself yesturday at the Children's Art Show. I loved walking around and seeing how excited the students were. I'm impressed with our cohort and the inovative art activities they did. I was happy that all my students who I invited came to see the art. They were thrilled to see their artwork on display. I thought a lot about which students I wanted to invite. I chose the students who I thought deserved a boost and often go unrecognized. In the process I made 5 students extremely happy and a few students who were not chosen sad. I wish I could have invited everyone. I think next time I would celebrate everyone's art, that way everyone would feel validated. For the art show I worked on the welcome board, it was off to the side but I heard from others that it did not go unnoticed. I think if I were to have an event at my school I would involved the students in the welcome greeting.

Teaching Music

I had the opportunity to teach a music lesson during my practicum. At my school their was no music teacher, so every teacher had to have their own music program. My teacher loved to sing, so the students were use to being sung to. I played a game of "Finder and Seeker". The students used the dynamics of their voices to help one student find an object. The students sang louder as the one student got closer and closer to the object. As soon as I told them they were going to play a game, they were instantly exciting. I needed to remind the students the difference between singing and yelling a few times. Most students were engaged and reinforced their experience with dynamics.

Here is a copy of my lesson plan.

Title: Dynamics Grade: 2/3 Subject: Music

Prescribed Learning Outcome:
Elements of Melody
demonstrate changes in pitch and melodic direction

Key Concepts: Dynamics

Prior Knowledge:
Students should be familiar with music dynamics.
Students should be familiar with the song “Make New Friends”

Materials:
An object to hide

Learning Intention: I can change the tone of my voice to be loud and soft.

Instruction: (30 minutes)

Transition: (1-2 minutes)
1. Students return from gym.
2. The teacher tells the students to walk nicely to circle.

Motivational Activity: (3-5 minutes)
1. The teacher tells the students that they are going to practice using soft and loud voices by playing a game.
2. The teacher tells the students that their goal is to know when to sing softly and when to sing loudly.
3. The teacher tells the students that in order to play the game they need to remember how to sing the song “Make New Friends.”
4. The teacher will remind the students that they sang the song on Thursday with Miss Cousins.
5. The teacher will tell the students to sing along while they sing the song a few times to help remember the words.

Developmental Activity: (2-3 minutes)
1. The teacher tells the students that one person is going to hide an object somewhere in the classroom (where we can still see it) and one person will try to find the object.
2. The teacher will tell the students that the whole class will help the person find the object by singing soft when they are far away from the object and louder when they get closer and closer to the object.
3. The teacher will model hiding the object and have the students practice singing louder and softer as the teacher gets closer or further from the object.
4. The teacher will stress that everyone will get a chance to be either the hider or the finder.
5. The teacher will remind the students that singing loud is not yelling.

Culminating Activity: (15-20 minutes)
1. The teacher will ask the V.I.P. if he/she wants to be the finder or the hider and then pick a name from the popsicle stick container to be other player.
2. The teacher will then pick names from the popsicle stick container to determine which students will be the next finder or hider.
3. The game is played until every student has had a turn or it is time to move on to the next lesson.

Extension:
1. The teacher can teach students the vocabulary “piano” for soft voice and “forte” for loud voice. 2. The students can play both the finder and the hider.

Adaptations:
The teacher can point the students in the right area if they are having trouble finding the object.
Students can sing another song that is familiar to them.

Assessment: Students will be assessed based on their ability to change the tone of their voice between soft to loud.

Resources:
1. Song Lyrics

Make New Friends

Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver
And the other’s gold

Penguin Mask Fun

During my practicum I taught many science lessons on Penguins. In my last week I decided to be brave and make penguin masks for art. My teacher said that the most important part of art is being organized, which is something that I love to do. I cut out the masks ahead of time out from white stiff cardboard, which is stiff enough to manage lots of glue and materials. The students first coloured their masks with felts, the teacher had a box of extra felts for students who needed it. Once students finished colouring, they wrote their names on the back and started to add materials. I organized the decorative materials in egg cartoons (one at each group of students). This worked really well and maintain the materials with very little mess. Each table had a paper plate with glue, the students used popsicle sticks to spread the glue. The students loved it and were very proud of their work. I put on a "Hoja" CD and very little behaviour management was needed. I would definetely teach this lesson again.

A Helpful Resource

I had the opportunity to teach about the lines during my practicum. During my first week of practicum a retiering teacher at the school gave me a number of teacher resources, one of them was "How to Teach Art to Children" published by Joy Evans and Tanya Skelton. I used the book to help me find an activity that I thought would help students understand the types and directions of lines. The pictures above show the lesson that I taught. I put the students work up on a bulletin board outside of the classroom and some inside the classroom. The book is organized into seven different concepts. Within each concept their are seven different lesson activities and worksheets for students. Each lesson has a step by step procedure, list of materials and pictures of completed work. This book was great and very helpful. I look forward to using more activities in my next practicum.

Funny First Dance

Brian & Katie's Evolution of Wedding Dance
Source: www.youtube.com
Play Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QujA8YYgTWU

I am getting married in June and came across theis video. It definetely made me laugh and I was really impressed with the dancing. I am not the greatest dancer, which makes me appreciate others who can dance. I took ballet and jazz dance lessons in my early elementary years. I often needed extra help from the instructor because I couldn't quite get the steps. I remember having fun, even if I was one of the worst dancers. My fiance and I have taken a variety of dance lessons together. He often gets mad because I like to lead, it is very hard to let him tell me where to go. This video definetely made me think of my fiance and I at our future wedding. We will need to take a few more dance lessons, but hopefully we will be able to dance and have fun. I think I will be able to teach my future students that you don't have to be the best dancer, the most important thing is that you have fun.

Haida Art

This is a book that my mom gave me. It's an awesome book because it has the picture of an animal on the left side and then the Haida version on the right side. I decided to experiment a bit and I drew one of the animals. I picked the frog because it is my mom's favourite. I think this would be a fun activity in the classroom. The students could draw their own animals then draw the Haida animal.