Technology and the Shadow ShowThe grey, rainy afternoon was the perfect setting for working with our shadow images. Children spent time reviewing the images, selecting additional images, and added music to their "Star Show" (working title). They often chose movements that featured the same person and put them together. As they chose and manipulated images, they had to work with moving the mouse, as well as scrolling and clicking with the mouse. There was some debate about subject matter. Children expressed an interest in creating a butterfly show or a unicorn show. They eventually decided to complete the work with the current collection of images. Perhaps other shows will follow!
Shadow Images, Part 2Children also used shadow images to work on a translucent shadow kite for the book fair. They selected photos that they wanted included, and arranged them on a kite shape. We noticed that the children chose the same images for both the ballet and the kite.
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As we walked, children admired the Halloween decorations. Of course, being at the park presented children with more opportunities for movement. There was spinning, climbing, flipping, jumping, and swinging. We are seeing children become more competent and confident as they try out new movement experiences. "When you're inside your shadow is in front of you but when you're outside your shadow is behind you."
View the slideshow and captions to gain insight into today's walk including some initial theory, exploration, and enjoyment of being together:
As is often the case for some children, giving time to allow new concepts to ruminate can bring about deeper understanding over time. This seemed to be the case for Maren as on her first day with the idea she chose mostly to observe the dancing. She took photos, wrote "notes," and created some backgrounds for the shadow ballet, but she wasn't ready yet to perform. However, today she arrived to KW with a full plan in place. Wearing her unicorn headband, she announced that she, Lane, Evelyn, and Grace David would perform a Unicorn Dance. When it came time to perform she confidently announced they would use the "My Little Pony music" and she had thoughts for her dancing partners on how they would dance the show. Here is a small discussion at meeting about the children's plans for the story of their shadow dances, to which each child followed through on their plan when it came time to perform: Q: We have been talking about our ideas for the story of our shadow ballet. Do you have any ideas to add today? Maren and Lane: Unicorn Dance! Lane: It's gonna be a story and it's gonna be about two unicorns and they're dancing. Sally: We could dance in our own way. You can do whatever you want. Sam: I'm gonna make a dinosaur movie. While the children worked in these roles, they communicated more often and more intentionally than we had seen previously about their plans: how the children should move, when they noticed "your shadow is blocking my shadow," where to be in relation to the screen and light, etc. A selection of some of the photography taken by children today:Photography of light by Sam:"We're just practicing, so it's okay if we get it wrong" |
Today more small groups went to use india ink at the light table. While yesterday's experience could be defined as exuberant exploration, today's work was more refined. Grace and Maren were the first to try the medium at the hallway light table. They shared their ideas as they used the ink: Grace - It looks a little grey. Maren - Does that look too much? It is too grey. Grace - Look how big my bubble is. (Grace played with holding a bubble at the end of her dropper before releasing.) Maren - (Trying Grace's approach.) Look, I made it ( a bubble at the end of the dropper) big! Now I'll try and see what happened. (She mixed ink into the water.) It got too dirty. Grace - (Erases page) I want to try and do what Maren did. Maren - See what I did. I put a small circle and then a big circle around. See how I did a little darkness there. Grace - (Begins painting.) She creates a large line.) I'm painting it so gentle. The next group was Louise and Joslin. Louise - I'm going to make a Christmas one. I'm making a tree and that's the muscles so Santa can carry the tree." Joslin - (Turning the page around using drips to make lines.) I think I need to make it kind of thick. (She adds more ink.) (After hearing that the lighter shades didn't show up well when used on the projector....) I need to check this in the sunlight. (She holds it up to the window.) It doesn't show up much. (She adds darker shades of the ink.) |
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