Alternatives to Paper Week

Clay seems to be a bit of an unpopular material still. I feel it may be because their work has never been fired yet. Hopefully the pieces I sent to the kiln at secondary school will return soon to give the children more understanding of the potential of clay. I also feel that perhaps in 'clean' Hong Kong, touching such a 'dirty' substance is difficult for some.

 The wire is starting to catch on. I predict the wire will become a popular material this week. The beads helped draw their attention to the wire. It has moved from simple necklaces to something more imaginative...dinosaurs etc.

A camera! This is the front of the box. Incredible!. Will blog more about this piece in part 2 of the story project, coming soon.

This child has a real passion for colours.

Adding lots and lots of water, until it drips all over the floor!

Children bring in flowers each week. It is recorded by the family in a 'diary'. The bottom left pot contains todays flowers. They are made from wire, pipe cleaners, felt. I had to do a lot of demonstration as some children were feeling a bit lost with no paper around. I only spent a 10 minute period with them so I am looking forward to see what can emerge tomorrow!

The Story Project - Part 1

The "story project" can only be very loosely given this title. I tried to think of a better one but...I am stumped. It could probably be better named, "A Journey in Creative Expression".

The problem with a name for our 'projects' or 'indepth investigations' is this. More and more, my 'topics' are less about a concrete theme, and more about an idea. An in depth exploration in an emergent curriculum, that follows the children every step of the way can never really be tied to one set theme. More often than not, a true project that belongs to the children has a motivation that holds it together. The monkey on the roof had a motivation - get the monkey down! The current project however, has no real "carrot" pulling it along other than the teacher's aim to provide the children with support to express themselves and their imaginiations in as many ways as the children choose. It began with books. Book making. So, without further ado, let me begin with the first blog on this wonderful journey with the children.

This exploration of books and the book making process began with a few children who enjoyed making books. The interest spread slowly. In response to the interest in making books, we provided some tools and materials for joining the books. I held a meeting for anyone interested to learn how to use things like split pins, the large stapler, shoe lace thingy (not the technical name) and rings. At this stage, the interest centered around the feel of the book, how the pages could be turned, how less than 3 pieces of A4 pages just didn't cut it! (The mass paper consumption has provoked a possible 'paper free week' - stay tuned).


Below is a picture of me in, "direct instruction" mode! There is a place for teacher directed in a classroom. But this is as far as I go. The instructions I am giving here are directly related to a current interest, the instructions I give are to provide support for the children's need to create and bind books, and finally, audience is participating voluntarily. The most wonderful part is, the children who do participate go on to teach others.

Once again the interest spreads. We gently encourage children to think about the books around them. We hold small meetings to look at the different kinds of books in our classroom. We focus on two main types - fiction and non-fiction. The children are encouraged to bring some of their favorite books from home to help us think about what makes a great story. The children rise to the challenge to create their own ‘content’ for their once empty pages of the books. We now see a rich array of story and information books being created by the young authors and illustrators of 4V. Teacher Tom, http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-we-tell-stories.html helped inspire me with how to go about recording stories. I approached children when their books were done and asked them if I could record the story on the paper for them. Eventually, children understood this process and began approaching me with excitement, asking for their story to be recorded. Some I would print, and let them stick to the pages of their book, others were scribed directly to their page.

 Some children write and enjoyed writing titles and captions.

Some use beautiful random letters to write their story.

 The books the children brought in had the usual restriction placed on them as any toy or item brought to class - no disney, barbie, or anything linked to a television show. Hard for some!

---

The teachers wanted to invite the children who were not interested in the books, to participate in the story creation process. After all, books are only one of many ways to tell a story! What other ways can we tell stories? I remembered the felt board from my childhood and the rich story telling that took place with this. A child drew a picture that she wanted to discard. I asked if I could use it by cutting it out and using it as a stencil for the felt. More children were invited and gradually the interest spread and children began to cut out their drawings in order for them to be turned into felt board stories. The felt board is a growing story board, in constant use by individual and small groupings of children.

 

Original drawing. Can't change orientation!

Diplodocus made of felt ready for action.

Diplodocus in action on the felt board.

Girl and mystery character riding a dinosaur.

An entire scene.

Next blog...Part 2 of the story project, stop motion animation and photography takes over.