I love teaching media. It's so interesting, for me and for the students. We rarely do the same thing twice. For our kindergarten students, we've established and reviewed the foundation definition. Usually we'd jump into using Webkinz, but this year, based on their capabilities and interests, I wanted to try something different.
Room 110 is a small but energetic group with students that have very focused affinities for certain topics. The class is obsessed with dinosaurs, so our "making media" project is for them to make their own stuffed dinosaur toy.
They selected dinosaur outlines and chose their favourite colours for the fabric two weeks ago. Last week, they cut out the pattern and traced the pattern on the fabric. They were a bit scared to see the pins that were needed to hold two pieces of fabric together. This coming week, we'll use fabric scissors to cut out the dinosaur shapes, and then they'll use the library sewing machine to stitch the two pieces together and stuff them with batting. Our media conversations might centre around the audience and fictionalizing dinosaurs.
Room 110 is a small but energetic group with students that have very focused affinities for certain topics. The class is obsessed with dinosaurs, so our "making media" project is for them to make their own stuffed dinosaur toy.
They selected dinosaur outlines and chose their favourite colours for the fabric two weeks ago. Last week, they cut out the pattern and traced the pattern on the fabric. They were a bit scared to see the pins that were needed to hold two pieces of fabric together. This coming week, we'll use fabric scissors to cut out the dinosaur shapes, and then they'll use the library sewing machine to stitch the two pieces together and stuff them with batting. Our media conversations might centre around the audience and fictionalizing dinosaurs.
Room K2 is a classroom that was a combination of two different groups. They took a while to become cohesive - they used to play only with their friends from the previous class but now they are mixing much more freely. Since they didn't have as many shared experiences or likes, Jen Cadavez, their ECE, suggested we take advantage of their common interest in Ernie, the school library skinny pig. Students always visited him and fed him hay - why not make some media related to him? We plan on making a book but before we do, we needed some close-up time with the potential main character. Two weeks ago, we opened the cage and passed around Ernie while he snuggled in his sleep sack. Last week, we sketched Ernie as he wandered freely around his cage. This linked so well with our recent school-wide PD where the TED talk we watched encouraged us to spend more time in the learning zone (failing, trying new things, discovering strategies) than in the performance zone (demonstrating our solidified knowledge, sharing the end result). This was even true for Mrs. Cadavez.
We have a skinny pig in the library today and we took turns to take a closer look at him. I was a bit scared to hold him on his own and held him while he was in sack. Students need to see that we too, as educators have fears as well! @MzMollyTL @AgnesMacphailPS @EarlyYearsTDSB pic.twitter.com/DmqQfIZdan— Jen Balido-Cadavez (@jenabee_c) October 21, 2019
Our next steps will involve some non-fiction research reading/viewing and our book might tie in information about skinny pigs with strategies for dealing with anxiety (i.e. "Don't Be Scared Ernie" can explain that Ernie is fearful because he is a "prey" animal, not a predator. Some of his strategies - like hiding in his "pigloo" or having treats to lure him out - can connect to ways students get scared and what they can do to reduce stress). Media conversations may touch on choosing what we do and don't put in books and different ways of showing the same thing.
Room K1 consists of some keen lead learners and quiet but equally interested collaborators. One of their class routines involves watching a couple of videos just after lunch to settle everyone down and get ready for the afternoon. One of the videos they like to see is called "Mystery Box". They sing along to the song and joyfully respond to the clues that indicate what is in the box.
One day, it hit us like a lightning bolt - why not make our own Mystery Box video?
This project is taking a little bit longer. One week, a small team painted the Mystery Box so it'd look like the one in the video we know. The next week,we recorded the class singing the Mystery Box theme. The following week, we learned how the box can turn on the video through stop-motion animation. Last week, a small team of kindergartens used an iPhone, tripod, and sto-mo app to film the first part of the video, where the box turns.
The students have decided that what will appear in the Mystery Box is a book. They've already broken down the book into its composite parts (cover, paper, pictures, words), which is a neat media conversation. Future talks for media will involve production values (because Super Simple Songs, with 18.4 million subscribers on YouTube, has more experience and resources than we do to make these things), audience and comparing videos.
Thank you to the classroom kindergarten teachers for being so supportive of this media unit (and our library unit on leaders and followers) - Stephen Tong, Jenny Chiu, and Diana Lung. Thank you to our ECEs for going along on this unpredictable learning ride - Jennifer Balido-Cadavez and Thess (Maria Theresa) Isidro. Thanks to our principal for being interested in what the students are doing and tolerating office visits to give updates - Matthew Webbe. Most of all, thanks to the students for inspiring these ideas and making media projects with personal significance and meaning. (And Happy Diwali to those who celebrated this past weekend!)
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