Express Yourself #7 - Express Through Performing Arts

Writers!

This week the Water group looked at Enxin's interest in ballet. The children told each other about what they know about the dance but no one knew how to do ballet.  We found some videos on Youtube that showed us a few ballet moves. (The 5 Basic Ballet Positions , Ballet 101 : Basic Ballet Positions for the Arms , Cathy Roe's I'm Learning Ballet) The children were very eager to show what they have learned to the others. It was unanimous that a ballet performance would be in production. We brainstormed some ideas for the performance but the children all had very different things in mind. In the end, we decided to do more than one performance.

Practicing ballet moves

The children created their storyline for the ballet dances by focusing on the beginning, middle, and the end of a story. After the stories were created the children picked the music that goes well with the dance and the story.

To date we've put on Aiden's Sharkie Village and Enxin's Rapunzel. They were both a hit and already there are request for more shows!

Express Yourself #6 - Pirate Feast

Ahoy matey!

"Walk the plank!"

When the I read the book How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long, the children were intrigued with the way pirates act, especially with their table manners. It made them want to dress up as pirates and try acting like one.  We had a pirate feast and during the feast, the children talked with their mouth full, ate with their hands, did not say "please" or "thank you" and at the end of the feast they didn't need to clean up (but we cleaned up after we took off our pirate costumes)! They had so much fun that it attracted children from the other group and they asked if they could participate in our activity. Enxin said, "Hey, why not invite them to a pirate feast too and we can show them how to be a pirate." So the next day the Water Group hosted a pirate feast. They expressed their knowledge about pirates through reading their Pirate book and a short skit of pirates walking the prisoners off the plank. The show was followed with a mighty feast that everyone greatly enjoyed!

Eating like a pirate

Serving our guests at the pirate feast

Preparing for the feast

Express Yourself #5 - Practicing our Thinking Skills

 This week Water group had a blast exploring Mila's interest in pirates.

To begin, the children used their researched skills by collecting information from a variety of books about pirates. They found many interesting things and decided to organize all the facts and to create a book of their own.

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Express Yourself #4 - Express through songs

Coming up with the lyric

Little composers

This week Water group looked at Aiden's topic, the police. The children gathered and shared their knowledge of what they know about police.

Aiden: "They catch bad guys."
Cameron: "They wear badges and they have guns."
Alan: "They drive police cars."
Natalya: "They help people."
Enxin: "They make us feel safe."

Then we read the story Office Buckle and Gloria. During the story Peter asked, "There is a police dog? How do they catch people?" So we watched a video of how a police dog helps police officer catch a robber. The children were amazed at how fast the dog catches the robber and how well the dog listens to the officers.

Performing the song

After the story and the video, the children really wanted to express their gratitude to the police officers and Aiden chose to make up a song for them. The children came up with the words and the tune (with a piano app)  all by themselves. They were so proud of their song that they wanted to share it with the other groups.


Police Song
tune and lyric by Water Group
Police catches robbers
Police catches bad guys
Knock, knock, knock,
Knock, knock, knock.
They make us feel safe
and they're here to help us.
Thank you!

Express Yourself #3 - Family Poems and Letters

After talking to each other about their families, the water group put their feelings and thoughts about them into written words. Using the Smartboard, the children drew pictures and wrote a poem about their family. Not only did the children write poems, they wanted to express to each individual members in their family and one of the best ways to do that is to write letters. When the letters are done, we put a stamp on the envelope and put them in the postbox.

Express Yourself #2 - Express Through Talking

Water group is exploring Jayla and Natalya's interest in families.
First, the children told each other a little about the members in their families. Then they described their feelings for their family and why it is important to them.

Mila: I love my family because they help me.
Aiden: Sometimes I feel angry with my family because they cough on me.
Alan: I like my daddy and mommy because they play with me.
Jayla: I like to play with my brothers.
Peter: I like my family because they are good to me.


The children decorated cut out paper dolls to represent their family members. As they worked on the activity, they expressed more opinions about their family members.

At the end of group time, the children gathered and found out they have learned more about each others family by expressing through conversations!

Express Yourself #1 - How We Express Ourselves

Water group talked about different ways that people can express their ideas. The children looked through pictures and found people expressing feelings and messages through dances, paintings, music, conversations, books, photography and dramatization.

Enxin and Jayla like the idea of expressing themselves through dancing. Aiden likes music. Natalya likes painting. Alan loves photography and Peter likes dramatizing.

Each child picked a topic that they would like to explore. For the next 7 weeks, we will be exploring each topic and looking at different ways that we can express ourselves. The children have agreed to be open-minded and try different ways to express their topics.