When the children returned after the West Wing Back To School Night, they were overjoyed to see their parents efforts at school. Here are some of the paths the parent’s inspirations took…
- The Line Game – in music!
Teacher Sam shared the importance of the line game in learning how to listen to each other and respond while making relationships. She gave the parent group a list of words the children used to describe the sounds they have made with Stuart (our sound specialist) on instruments in school. The parents created lyrics to go with their ‘song’ based on the group’s interest in shapes:
Shape Train
“shape train is coming.
Time to get on board
And look for some circles
Fun is what we’re dancing for
Were headed to the station
We’re dancing in our seats
Lets find a square
And something good to eat
Could it be a cracker
And Oy! Lets make a sharp turn
Cause this rectangle of a train
is what helps us learn!
“After showing the children the video of their parents playing the song, I read them the lyrics. They started talking about trains and what they sound like. With Stuart, our sound specialist, Rocco made a sound with his mouth that he said was the steam. Juliette had a shaker in her hand and started playing it to the sound of Rocco’s steam. Madeline also had a shaker and shook it to make the steam sound while Ella used a drum to keep the beat. We ended there, for the day and I told the group we would bring shakers for everyone to explore the steam train sound for the song the next time we met.
This is just the begining of where this provocation from the parents could go. After collaboration with the teachers, we are thinking the children will possibly find different sounds of a train that they want to explore: the bell, the whistle, the wheels, and find insruments to make those sounds. We anticipate an exploration of pitch, tempo and speed during our work with Stuart. Another possiblity is that the children will write their own song with the train theme for their parents.” -Teacher Sam
Making molding mummies!
Another focus group of parents worked on expanding a favorite Halloween story by adding descriptive words and translating the story into felt pieces. Amy brought the felt pieces to the East Wing children and they listened to the West Wing children’s new portion of the song and created backgrounds for their felt story.
One little pumpkin rolling dow the hill
two big skeletons jumping up and down
three little witches flying on their brooms
four black cats scratching in the night
five little children saying "trick or treat" (this is the end of the original song, the children added:)
six medium ghosts flying through the air
seven hungry vampires eating fish sticks
eight (****) mummies moaning MMMMM (the parents added **Moldy** to keep the rhythm going.
nine little bats flying (****) (the parents added **from the cave** to extend the phrase.
ten (****) monsters (****) (the parents flushed out the final line with **hairy** and **haunting Halloween**