May 16, 2012
May 2, 2012
April 26, 2012
Beware the dangers ahead!
E. explains his painting of Scylla and Charybdis.
M.G. adorns herself with scarves for our Siren song.
The group 
After hearing the story of Circe, everyone creates their own pungent potion!Practice!
April 18 -- from PG:
The group came up with a name for their performance--"The Odyssey Comes to Life."
They then began making posters or in some cases invitations for the performance. The date and time had not been determined. [May 19?]
The group went outside to try to determine where the stage would be and where the audience would sit.
They also did some practice using their "acting voices" and learning to keep their bodies turned toward the audience.
Back inside some did some more work on posters while others worked on their costumes.
The group came up with a name for their performance--"The Odyssey Comes to Life."
They then began making posters or in some cases invitations for the performance. The date and time had not been determined. [May 19?]
The group went outside to try to determine where the stage would be and where the audience would sit.
They also did some practice using their "acting voices" and learning to keep their bodies turned toward the audience.
Back inside some did some more work on posters while others worked on their costumes.
April 12, 2012
Under the spell of Circe
April 11 from SM:
"Todayʼs Odyssey class felt like what it must have felt like when some of the crewmen were lost at sea or eaten by monsters or under Circeʼs spell. We were short two and as MG noted, “How funny it is to have the Odyssey in Rʼs house with her not even here!” We also thought it was pretty neat that E was becoming a big brother that very morning.
Miss E. brought out the instruments and everyone jumped right into matching sounds with scenes and so we had our own little Foley Artist session. That morphed into discussion about costume as N. promptly donned scarves and such to go with her sounds, and then the wigs were put on. Having recently visited the New Orleans N. thought that her wig made her look like a ʻFrench Duuudeʼ and so that became quite the theme of the day and was repeated with fervor. As well as other bawdy New Orleans jokes that turned into the typical mad humor of five and six year olds that centers around gastrointestinal events. This was a recurring theme for the day, many giggles to be had.
Finally, after much self control the four girls were able to discuss a bit of costume ideas, practice the Siren Song, negotiate the ʻparade before the playʼ idea, and helped V. pick apart her Scylla and Charybdis scene sheʼs narrating into bullet points to help her find her own words for the retelling. N. started a drawing to help her while she retells her part of the Odyssey.
Everyone worked on their Mosaics again, MG on her 3rd being the fastest layer of tiles Iʼve seen yet! Miss E. put the grout on MGʼs and wiped it off while we all ooohhed and ahhhed over the finished piece being revealed.
Lastly, C. decided she will create simple, yet unique sets to go with everyone elseʼs retelling of scenes, and so began her interviews of what each imagines their scenes to look like.
Everyone agreed theyʼre SO EXCITED to figure out costumes!!!"
"Todayʼs Odyssey class felt like what it must have felt like when some of the crewmen were lost at sea or eaten by monsters or under Circeʼs spell. We were short two and as MG noted, “How funny it is to have the Odyssey in Rʼs house with her not even here!” We also thought it was pretty neat that E was becoming a big brother that very morning.
Miss E. brought out the instruments and everyone jumped right into matching sounds with scenes and so we had our own little Foley Artist session. That morphed into discussion about costume as N. promptly donned scarves and such to go with her sounds, and then the wigs were put on. Having recently visited the New Orleans N. thought that her wig made her look like a ʻFrench Duuudeʼ and so that became quite the theme of the day and was repeated with fervor. As well as other bawdy New Orleans jokes that turned into the typical mad humor of five and six year olds that centers around gastrointestinal events. This was a recurring theme for the day, many giggles to be had.
Finally, after much self control the four girls were able to discuss a bit of costume ideas, practice the Siren Song, negotiate the ʻparade before the playʼ idea, and helped V. pick apart her Scylla and Charybdis scene sheʼs narrating into bullet points to help her find her own words for the retelling. N. started a drawing to help her while she retells her part of the Odyssey.
Everyone worked on their Mosaics again, MG on her 3rd being the fastest layer of tiles Iʼve seen yet! Miss E. put the grout on MGʼs and wiped it off while we all ooohhed and ahhhed over the finished piece being revealed.
Lastly, C. decided she will create simple, yet unique sets to go with everyone elseʼs retelling of scenes, and so began her interviews of what each imagines their scenes to look like.
Everyone agreed theyʼre SO EXCITED to figure out costumes!!!"
Assembling the Mosaic
From EPL, April 4 account:
"Last week Miss E helped the children decide which books of the story each would narrate for the performance. The Cyclops story will be acted out, but each child will tell a subsequent scene in their own words. E. wanted to talk about Hyperion's cattle because he is a "meatatarian" and therefore has sympathy for the hungry sailors who couldn't resist fresh steak.
Then, everyone tromped downstairs to run through their lines for the cyclops scene. C. narrated, while V. portrayed the fearsome cyclops. N. had clearly been well-rehersed and played a sailor with aplomb. They also decided they would like to have a museum to showcase their visual work at the final performance, though everyone wanted to be reassured that they would get all their art back.
After the run through, which Elizabeth noted took 10 minutes, everyone worked on a mosaic, gluing small glass and ceramic tiles to hardwood boards. We looked at some ancient mosaics too, and marveled at their detail. Some of the children's mosaics morphed into three dimensions, while some were abandoned to drawing or to gluing tiles on smaller picture frames. But all were coming along well by the end of class, and were to be worked on the next week if unfinished, and grouted the next week if completed.
Children left with various versions of the text. They would reread the portion of the story they'd be responsible for presenting, and were asked to practice a few times over the coming week."
"Last week Miss E helped the children decide which books of the story each would narrate for the performance. The Cyclops story will be acted out, but each child will tell a subsequent scene in their own words. E. wanted to talk about Hyperion's cattle because he is a "meatatarian" and therefore has sympathy for the hungry sailors who couldn't resist fresh steak.
Then, everyone tromped downstairs to run through their lines for the cyclops scene. C. narrated, while V. portrayed the fearsome cyclops. N. had clearly been well-rehersed and played a sailor with aplomb. They also decided they would like to have a museum to showcase their visual work at the final performance, though everyone wanted to be reassured that they would get all their art back.
After the run through, which Elizabeth noted took 10 minutes, everyone worked on a mosaic, gluing small glass and ceramic tiles to hardwood boards. We looked at some ancient mosaics too, and marveled at their detail. Some of the children's mosaics morphed into three dimensions, while some were abandoned to drawing or to gluing tiles on smaller picture frames. But all were coming along well by the end of class, and were to be worked on the next week if unfinished, and grouted the next week if completed.
Children left with various versions of the text. They would reread the portion of the story they'd be responsible for presenting, and were asked to practice a few times over the coming week."
March 22, 2012
"pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge."
From Ms. E.:
This week,
we read the last book of The Odyssey, in which Odysseus is reunited with
Penelope after revealing his identity in an archery contest and a notably
"bloody" revenge scene. After a few questions about what it meant to
"behead a suitor" and some "eww" responses, all agreed that
the ending was "good" because Ithaca returned to peace and Odysseus
was happy.
The children then tested out their own archery skills by trying to
shoot through a hoop with a bow and arrow on the front lawn. As Penelope (i.e.,
MG) watched, R, E, & N took turns with the bow, and each agreed that
Odysseus was an impressive hero because shooting an arrow straight is harder
than it looks!
After, we
went inside and began the first read-through of the Cyclops scene.
With some coaching, everyone began to get comfortable using loud voices,
interacting with one another as characters, and using body language to enhance
the lines. The group then finished drafting the remainder of the scene's script
and retired for snack. We all discussed ideas for additional ways to present
the material in the final performance such as representing some scenes with
music, art, and puppetry. Mr. S. shared some from his trip to Chicago and got everyone
excited about perhaps creating a Trojan horse of our own.
The second
half of the morning was spent discussing and creating props and costumes for
the Cyclops scene. Everyone made sheep masks and boulders for the cave. By
noon, there was a lot of excitement about creating the armor for the scene and
imagining how to make the cyclops look "hideous." Miss E. also
shared a bit about the mosaic project planned for next week. Lastly, R
showed with everyone how she makes "pocket-sized bows/arrows" with rubber
bands and parts of tinker toys. Each archer seemed intent on refining
his/her skills before next week!
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