Mind Maps of the Commons

December 12

All of the students received bracelets made by people from the amazon, the lungs of our planet.  They are a reminder for each child that they are responsible for the commons.

Sixth and seventh grade met first thing in the morning in the art room to critique the mask designs.  There were some great ideas for using natural materials like leaves and twigs.  One of the designs had a crown of leaves and the long hair acted as a trunk for the tree.  There were several designs that looked like super heroes.

Sixth and eighth grade have finished their mind maps of the commons and they are beautiful in terms of the content and as a visual expression.  Both grades summarized their rising action and chose characters for each scene. The sixth grade wrote the chorus of their song.

Seventh grade brainstormed ways they can keep the commons in the conscious of the whole school by giving bracelets out at the performances to everyone, making posters and commercials to be performed during morning announcements. They also discussed how to introduce the commons to pre k and k.  They worked on three of the monologues, the river, the woods and Scott Douglas.  They also came up with a partial list of their interview questions and we now have identified 12 of the 13 interviews.

Mask Sketches

Created by 7th and 8th grade students

Overview of Beyond Recycling: Creating Communities that Share and Care for the Earth.

For the second year Young Audiences New Jersey is coming to work with the upper grades.  This program in funded by Met Life and Young Audiences National.  This year they will work with grades 6-8.  Grades 6 and 8 will create a play with songs around the theme Beyond Recycling: Creating Communities that Share and Care for the Earth. The 7^th grade who participated in the program last year will be creating their own version of Our Town about people in the community who have and still contribute to maintaining what we all use and are all responsible for. They will be interviewing people in the community and will present the play at the senior center. This 8-day Theater arts residency will give students the opportunity to learn the theater tools needed to create and develop an original musical theater piece for younger students about creating a sustainable earth. These workshops will be led by teaching artist Eloise Bruce in collaboration with Mrs. Bakazan, Ms Razza, Ms Weiss and Mrs. Lardieri, This project is an outgrowth of YANJ’s work with New Jersey Learns (NJ Learns), a program that unites schools and communities to learn and change together to instigate, sustain, and scale up the innovations and best practices that contribute to sustainability and that characterize Education for Sustainability. The residency will also include a performance by the George St Playhouse, an award winning theater known for its success presenting original plays for young people that deal with current issues facing youth today.

December 5

Definition of the commons

Sixth and seventh grade students reviewed the elements of design particularly as they relate to theatrical design and designed masks for water or a tree with the intent to use natural materials.  Here is a design by Antonio for water and by Cord for a tree mask.

Sixth and eighth grade were introduced to the commons and heard the Estonian folktale about the Boy Who Talked to Trees.  They started brainstorming their possible rising action and got ready to do their mind maps. They got an overview of the residency letting them know they are writing a play for younger students that will be performed in many other schools. They saw two videos The Hummingbird by Wangari Maathai and The Wombat.

Seventh grade did the project last year and they are expanding their reach into the community by interviewing the people in Winfield Park who are the keepers of the commons.  They did an imaginative assignment of interviewing the Rahway River and a real interview of Scott Douglas who has worked at the school for 36 years. He said, I am responsible for a safe and clean environment in this building that is the bottom line.  Most of you participate in sports and we try to maintain athletic fields. In addition to that I have a special license that allows me to work to maintain the boiler in the school.   The students will take those interviews and turn them into theatrical monologues for the play.