The Final Crazy Wednesday

This morning the students had PE and Spanish. After these two lessons I taught a lesson on children in conflict. Instead of looking at evacuees and children during WWII, I talked about children that are currently in conflict: child soldiers. I found a website called “Invisible Children,” it was very interesting. Three college students from California traveled to Africa to find information about children in conflict. The created a documentary about child soldiers in Uganda. I was eager to learn more about the site and a program they started called the bracelet campaign. Bracelets made out of reed and recycled wire by the Uganda people are sold to the United States. The money goes children in families in need. I thought this might be a very cool project for the year six students next year during their unit of inquiry. They could see if they could actually order some of the bracelets. With each bracelet is a short film about the person that made it. The bracelets also symbolize different things. The symbolism of the bracelets combined with the conflict issue would fit perfectly with the POI conflict unit. I suggested this to Ms. Lisa. I might even see if I can get involved and see if I could get SEA to sponsor an event.

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php

In the afternoon I taught a math lesson on circles and using a compass. The students created different size circles for their assignment by measuring a radius or diameter. I also asked them to create triangles within the circles and they needed to measure the angle with a protractor.

The next lesson was with my extended writing group. I really have enjoyed working with this group and teaching writing lessons, something I thought I’d never like. Today I asked the students to create a list on their mini whiteboards of words they like, and word they don’t like…not the meaning of the word, but how it sounds. I did a similar activity with Jill Potts and my education methods class last spring. On the SMART board I showed an example of what I wanted the students to do. Under words I like I had shenanigans, falafel, rubbish and kabob. I explained that these were all funny words and I like how they sound. Under words that I don’t like I had moist, spouse, and fork.

The students had a lot of fun creating lists of their own. The high level of excitement in the room about a writing activity was surprising. The students’ energy level made it fun and gave me confidence. As a class we created a big list on the whiteboard with all of our favorite and not so favorite words. I also told the students that they could write words in other languages, which was really neat. I think we had German, English, Danish, Spanish, and French. This is something you would not be able to do in the states.

After the writing activity I was supposed to teach my last intercultural lesson on Chefcharon, the Moroccan orphanage supported by SIS. Instead I joined with two other teachers and we made Holiday cards with a candle on the front. Mrs. Hartland explained that different cultures and religions do not all celebrate the same holiday at this time of year, but most of them have a symbol of light. She said this was her way of cheating by making Christmas cards, but still tying in the multi-cultural theme. The students were also encouraged to write Merry Christmas or Happy New Year in more than one language on their card.

In the past, Mrs. Harland was an art teacher, this was obvious today when she was explaining to the students how to make the card. It was hilarious, she was so clear, and seemed to be speaking to them as if they were idiots. But she swore that at least one of the students would do it wrong. Ms. Claire and I were rolling laughing. I wish I would have had it on tape.

“Ok now children this is how you are going to make your card. You are going to get one piece of tag board paper, now two…one.

Then you are going to fold it in half like a book, make sure your corners are together. You want your card with the binding on the left side like a book. See watch, I’m going to take my card, go sit down and read a book. First I need to open my book (she closes her eyes) I reach down and lift the corner up, see. Now I can open my book. If I had it with the binding on the right side I would sit down to open my book, try and lift up the corner and oop, oops (she pulls at the folded corner) look, it won’t open.

The next thing you are going to do is get a stencil of a candle. This is a s-t-e-n-c-i-l, you do not cut the stencil, you only trace it…so you shouldn’t have scissors anywhere near the stencil! (Claire and I start laughing)

So you are going to want to place the stencil on your card and press it down firmly with your fingers. She holds up her left hand, what do I do with this hand? (“You hold then stencil” – students) She hold up her right hand, what do I do with this hand? (“You trace the candle” – the students). Right, now see how firmly I’m pressing down so the stencil doesn’t move, my fingertips turn a little white. You might have to pick up your hand and move it so you can trace all the way around the candle but you should already have some marks drawn to help you line it up again if the stencil moves.

Ok no you are going to glue on the blue paper for the candle. Not green, not red. Because if you use green you will have red holly leaves or blue berries. The candle needs to be blue. (Claire turns to me, smiles and whispers, so much for creativity with this card) Next you can cut out the candle on the front flap of the card. And when you cut, I know your thinking – why does she need to talk to us about how to cut – but many students and some adults do not know how to cut properly. When you cut you turn the paper not the scissors. She pretends to cut out the card by turning the scissors and cutting toward her and twisting her arm into multiple uncomfortable positions to prove a point. See all you need to do is turn the paper. Watch, I’m cutting, I’m cutting and oop – look I’m at the and of the line, now I must turn the paper and continue cutting. I’m cutting, I’m cutting and oop, I’m at the end again, I must do what? Turn the paper.

Next you need some holly leaves, we will have stencils for this two and you need two leaves. You glue the leaves at the end of the candle. Then you need three berries, not two, not four. When you glue things they should be in odd numbers – it looks better. Then you have your card.

She explains that somebody will not have the card facing the right way; it will have the binding on the right. I thought, no way, no way…but sure enough one student had the binding on the wrong side and another student cut out both layers of the candle so there wasn’t a background to write a message on, perfect.
Despite the two mistakes most of the cards turned out really well, I even got to make one!