Curriculum Work - Lincoln Elementary School, K-1, teacher Wendy Frankel-Reed:
Thursday, 3 November 2005
This is the 3rd week I have observed in Wendy's class. It has been a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with the very young child - ages 5 through 7. Wendy's focus this season has been shelters of all kinds. What kind of shelters there are and what purpose they serve to those who use them, real or imagined. Wendy would really like for me to work something in to the lesson plan that has to do with the shelter theme. There will be a time scheduled for this activity in the morning sometime in the 2-1/2 hours that I normally volunteer. This is something Wendy and I still need to iron out.
A parent of one of the kids recently brought in a small, maybe 5" x 7" at the base, fairie shelter. It was made of all found objects from outside. She had even made a couple of fairies to go in it, no bigger than 2". Gathering the natural materials and working with them to build a shelter will be a link to the autumn environment. I am going to lead the kids (in small groups at a time), in making their own fairie shelters. I will be photographing the original model and the kids in making their own versions.
As an introduction I will be reading a book to them about fairies and where they live, I do not have the title yet as Wendy will be giving that to me tomorrow a.m. Also tomorrow a.m. I will be leaving a handout to send home with each of the kid's parents for bringing in the necessary supplies for next Thursday's class.
The structures will be made with bark, moss, twigs, leaves, needles (fir or cedar tips), pine cones, small rocks (flat, round, etc.), lichen, acorns, and whatever else the parents and kids come up with.
I will provide wooden bases and appropriate glue to use for assembling. The model will be an easy way to instruct the kids on how get started.
LESSON PLAN OUTLINE
Lincoln Elementary
Wendy Frankel-Reed’s K-1 Class
Lesson/Activity for November 10th and 17th, 2005
Building faerie shelters from natural, gathered materials.
8:45-9:15 - Set up centers with supplies for creating faerie homes. Do a Quick review of book on faeries that Wendy has selected for me.
9:15-9:30 – Read story to the children at circle time.
9:30-10:30 – Move to centers for building, guide children in activity.
Small groups , 8 at a time. The kids who
do not get to complete their ‘home’, will continue and finish up next
Thursday.
10:30 – clean up and discuss with Wendy, (children will be at recess).
11:00 - Wendy reviews activity with kids after recess.
This is the letter I sent out to parents of all the children in the class.....
To the Parents of Wendy’s dear Kindergarten/First Grade children
My name is Allyson Sims. I am an Evergreen College student who has been volunteering in Wendy’s class for the last 3 weeks. I will be doing a classroom project with the kids that ties in with my class at Evergreen. The name of the program is Arts, Environment and the Child.
Wendy and I have come up with something that works well with the shelter theme that the kids have been experiencing this autumn.
One wonderful parent made and brought in a faerie shelter. Well, we loved it soooo much that we knew instantly it was a natural fit for what we were both doing in our curriculum.
So, what I would like to ask of you and your little loved ones is to gather materials for us to make the shelters in class next Thursday – Nov. 10th.
I will be providing the wooden bases for the foundation and the appropriate glue.
If you could bring:
BARK (GOOD SIZE CHUNKS FOR WALLS, SMALL PIECES FOR WHATEVER, ETC.)
MOSS, LICHEN, LEAVES, TWIGS, NEEDLES (such as fir or cedar – little snippets)
PINECONES, ACORNS, CHESTNUTS, ROCKS (SMALL, ROUND, FLAT, WHATEVER), SEEDS OR SEED PODS
The idea being to gather natural things that fit with the idea of a cool faerie dwelling. Thanks so much in advance,
Allyson Sims, Parent Volunteer Alumni
SELF EVALUATION/REFLECTION
I had an incredible amount of support on this. The most wonderful array of supplies was brought in. I was overwhelmed. I still had all my own loot as well.
This activity proved to be timely and really fun for the kids. With the help of other parent volunteers and fellow student Robin, it all went pretty smoothly. The second week we did the activity we made the following changes, which made things 'flow' easier. We lined the supplies up in order of use all on one long line for them, buffet style. Made supplies more visible to them, not so much as an adult sees things. We also discovered that cold glue is just too frustrating and Jennifer (volunteer) promptly set us up with multiple glue guns with the restriction that they were 'grown-up' use only. They were totally fine with that, but it was tedious meeting everyone's needs, plugging and unplugging the guns for use.
The children were very engaged and naturally creative in using the available materials, most of which would only be available at this time of year - autumn. A non-seasonal favorite though, were glass marbles - these were very magical and had to be doled out. That seemed to make it even more great!!! I loved hearing and being part of the conversations while they built the little homes for their faeries
Working in smaller groups was the best way to do this big of an activity. When one or two were done early, they went back to their classroom and a couple more kids came up. The class has 23 kids and we got through everyone in the two sessions.
Wendy absolutely loved the project and the kid's reaction to it. After my wonderful time with her little darlings, other parents had organized a faerie making session for the following week. I'll go back to see how that went.
This project 'felt' right with autumn. An indoor activity comfortable for young children. Using almost exclusively natural and collected items from nature was a stimulating and tactile exercise. It was ooey and gooey, a thing most kids love! It was also a project that fit in with the curriculum Wendy had going on.
