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Funky Snowflakes Holiday

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Week of April 9th Assignments

Pick one of the books you discussed last week.  How would you enhance your use of this book by adding 2 or more music/dance/movement activities.  Keep in mind the "creativity" aspect.  If your book is about farms it is not creative singing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm".  Let your imagination run amok and let's hear some great ideas.  Discuss your ideas with other students.

Read Chapter 5:  "Engaging Children in Music,Movement, and Dance"  Notes and terms.
Answer questions 3 and 4 on page 192.  See below:

3.  An administrator observes the children briefly during your lesson, then asks, "Why are they having
     music during social studies?"  How would you respond?  Why?

4.  If money were available through the budget, a donation, or a small grant, what music, movement,
     and dance materials would you purchase for students at various ages and stages?  Why?

Work on Portfolio once above assignments are done.

Week of 3/26 Assignments

Read  handouts #1, #2, #3.

Activity - Art Lessons - On page 148 in our text there are some discussion questions.  Take a look at the last question #5.  Visit your local library, visit amazon.com, do a web search, raid your teacher's bookcases and your own and look at some of these volumes and others that you feel have wonderful illustrations, paintings,collages,etc.  Pick three books and build a lesson plan (activity) around each.

VCCICC - Engaging a child in Conversation.  Review Criteria for assessment, read the chapters in the Developmentally Appropriate Practice that apply to the age of the child you are going to work with during the assessment and complete write up.  (see below)

Engaging a Child in Conversation:

1.  Your informal assessment of the child's interest, temperament and strengths based on your
      conversation.

2.  Activities you can identify that will build on this child's interests.

3.  How the age of the child and how your understanding of the cognitive and social development
     of a typical child of this age influenced your strategy to engage the child in conversation.

4.  How the environment that you were in supported or challenged your ability to engage in
     conversation.

Integrating music into a school day

Explain how you would integrate music into your children's school day.

Research & Interview Assignment

     Research Assignment
Gather 3 pieces of children's art, ask the children at least 3 open-ended questions about their art.  Attach  the questions and answers to the actual pieces of art or take a picture of the art and attach the
questions and answers to the pictures.  Keep in mind that the art does not have to be all one dimensional.

    Interview Assignment

Ask some parents/or other adults what they think about having art as a part of a school's curriculum.
Make sure you use open-ended questions.  Tell us about their answers and then tell us how you would explain to parents how important visual arts are to learning.


** List questions you asked and their answers and then follow up with how you will educate parents on the importance of visual arts in learning.*

Conference on Play - Questions

In 1992 Wheelock College held a conference on play.  In their brochure they said this about play: "Play is history,poetry and prophecy (Erik Erikson).  Play is communication, play is problem-solving, play is development, play is culture, play is transformation, play is integration, play is connections, play is representation, play is power". 

What do you make of the previous statement?

What might you pull from these comments and integrate into your own philosophy of play and creativity?