Saturday, January 31, 2009

Sleeping Over with the First Graders



That's right! All day long we had a "sleepover" with our first grade students. It really is a lot of fun. First of all, we get to go to school in our pajamas! For that reason alone, it's fun. Then, we get to parade around the school, infront of about 1000 kids, with those cute little first graders, to show off our pajamas. Too exciting! Next, all the resource teachers set up exciting stations through which the different classes rotate during the day.

In the art lab, we did book covers , illustrating the stories the students had been (or will be )writing about their "sleepover" experience. We discussed the role of the illustrator and how they did artwork that actually told the same story in pictures that the text told in words. We learned that, many times, it is the picture on the cover of the book that first attracted us and sparked our attention to the look at and examine the book further. Then, the students went about taking on the new position as illustrator of their story. They really seemed to get into their designs, coming up with some beautiful covers.

I wish that when I was in elementary school, I had gone to a school like Chets Creek, that designed these fun days for students and teachers. I might have liked school better, maybe even tried harder. "Sleepover" is like the PLAY in Daniel Pink's book A Whole New Mind. So get your PLAY on.....and do some art while your at it!!

1 comment:

Suzanne said...

Carter loved Sleepover! Thank you so much for all your hardwork and preparation, but most of all, thanks for the patience it must have taken to have 6 and 7 year olds all day long. :)