That's So Surreal!!!

Post Contributed by Jocelyne Adkins, Program Director/Educator

Today we introduced Surrealism, an art and literary movement that began in the 1920's. Surrealist work attempts to reveal the subconscious mind using fantasy and an unusual juxtaposition of images. We discussed with the children how dreams entwine events, people, places and things that are often unrelated in reality: upon waking, our dreams may not make sense to us and may leave us feeling quite perplexed!

We really enjoyed listening to some of the dreams that our students shared with us ~ definitely surreal and perfect for setting the stage for our project this afternoon! Students began by selecting a variety of magazine images and were encouraged to juxtapose and collage these images to create some very curious relationships: below you will find a snake slithering out of a plate of spaghetti, an owl with a toothbrush nose, a child with a chicken head and more : ) Enjoy!

Students observing Mr. Coppersmith's Surreal  collage exemplar

Mr. C's Surreal collage exemplar

Ms. Jenkin's Surreal collage exemplar

Andrew's surreal collage with pop-up elements (sea lion and snake)

Anika

Elise

Emory

Aidan

Laila

Dexter

Jackson

Emory

Xavier

Sound and Movement Workshop with Monica Saydah!

post contributed by Jocelyne Adkins, Program Director/Educator

Professional dancer and Beye parent Monica Saydah visited with us again this spring to conduct a sound and movement workshop. Through a variety of movement exercises, Monica had the students thinking about the following: What sort of sounds make you get up and move?  What sounds make you stand still and listen? Can a movement create sound? Can movement inspire sounds? 

The students had so much fun moving and responding to the sounds, beats and rhythms they heard in the musical selections ~ from jazz, classical, rock, pop and even an a cappela piece. Following the movement activity, Monica asked the children to draw what they saw or heard in their favorite musical selection from the workshop. We thank you Monica for such a terrific afternoon and experience!

Jackson

Joseph

Xavier

Laila (wind)

Emory

Jessica

Jackson

Andrew

Elise

Storytelling Jars

Post Contributed by Jocelyne Adkins, Program Director/Educator

This is one of those really fun projects using items from around the home and yard to create a magical little world, ripe with stories to be told. Inspired by Emily Neuburger's "Storytelling Jars" from her super creative book "Show Me a Story", students used colorful scrap fabric and paper, sticks, tiny magazine images, odd beads and tiny stones to assemble a little scene within the jar. Items can be taken out and re-arranged or new items can be added to set the stage for new stories to be told. Parents: this is a perfect rainy day activity to chase the doldrums away!

Emory: hot air balloon caught in a tree!

Andrew using a dowel to tuck his items into place within the jar

Andrew: tree, nest & birds

Heidi

Heidi: bunny and eggs with tree in background

Mikel at work

Mikel's storytelling jar, in progress

Mikel: sea horse and sea plants

Leila

Leila: bunny, eggs & trees

Joseph: volcano with lava, stones and fish

Xavier with tree & crocodile

We love these! kudos to the students : )

Picture Tales Storybooks

Post Contributed by Jocelyne Adkins, Program Director/Educator

This week our theme is storytelling. For today's class, we were inspired by a writing activity from the book "Show me a Story" by Emily K. Neuburger. Students were given several random  pictures (a person, a place and an animal) and then asked to write a story to explain how and why these images are connected. For parents seeking a solution to a child's "I'm bored!" exclamation, select a few magazines, find random pictures that catch your child's eye and create a story together, linking the images. 

The photos below provide a glimpse of the clever and imaginative stories that emerged from this activity ~ I wish I could have photographed every page. Kudos to the students for their engagement in this storytelling activity, it was rewarding to witness their process and to read the completed storybooks : )

Laila

Laila

Laila

Andrew & Anika (not in photo)

Andrew & Anika

Leila

Emory

Elise

Aidan

Elise

Mikel

Mikel

Mikel

Emory

Leila

Dexter

Isaac

Isaac