Ms. Dianne tells The Gigantic Sweet Potato to Ms. Ragusa's first grade class 2-17-09
Friends:
After a four day weekend, today was my fifth day at Bissonet Plaza Elementary doing my Louisiana Story Fest residency. My day began in Ms. Ragusa’s first grade class where I told a new story, The Gigantic Sweet Potato. Then we explored Louisiana’s jazz and brass band music with scarves, movement and dancing. The class was enthusiastic and we had so much fun.
I then went to Ms. Presser’s second grade class. I always love visiting this class because they are so well-behaved, inquisitive, and are genuinely interested in learning. After telling my story, I was even able to share a little social studies lesson with the students. Afterwards, we danced to jazz music with our scarves. Those students can really get down!
Ms. Presser's second graders dance to jazz music 2-17-09
Then it was on to Ms. Johnson’s kindergarten class. We had fun with The Gigantic Sweet Potato, Pile it on the Pie (a cumulative chant with Louisiana foods), and a frog subtraction handplay. We then danced to the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and Marcia Ball.
Ms. Johnson's kindergarteners play with scarves to jazz music 2-17-09
After kindergarten, it was back upstairs to Ms. Frechette’s third grade class. Ms. Frechette was out and the class was a little unsettled. It took a while to get them to where they needed to be to rehearse. But when they did, it was wonderful.
Ms. Frechette's 3rd grade storytellers rehearse their Brer Rabbit story 2-17-09
They are performing “Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby” and the story is going to be fabulous! I can’t wait to see it come together for performance day next week.
Ms. Frechette's 3rd grade chorus rehearses 2-17-09
After lunch, I went to Ms. Morales’ fourth grade class. Were they excited to see me! The class worked quickly and nearly effortlessly creating their chorus parts for their story, Jean Sotte – Foolish John. It was amazing. They were so good – in fact, they rocked!
Ms. Morales' 4th grade chorus rehearses 2-17-09
The 4th grade storytellers did an equally astounding job. They went through their parts quickly and worked well with the chorus. I think they are going to turn out an amazing performance.
Ms. Morales' 4th grade storytellers 2-17-09
After 4th grade, it was on to Mr. Joyce’s fifth grade class. While the class, as a whole, did a much better job than my last visit, they were still so disjointed and chatty. There are several class clowns and students who are attention-seekers. This disrupts the flow of the lesson and causes constant interruption and counseling. Once I was able to get the chorus to focus and commit to their part, they settled down a bit.
Mr. Joyce's 5th grade chorus rehearses La Petite Fourmi 2-17-09
Once the storytellers began their parts, things started to flow a little better. The storytellers were more focused than the chorus and really tried to execute their roles, working on properly pronouncing the French words in the story.
Mr. Joyce's 5th grade storytellers rehearse La Petite Fourmi 2-17-09
It will be interesting to see how this group of 5th graders performs their story next week in dress rehearsal and during the actual performance. I look forward to seeing tomorrow’s classes.
Until next time…
Warmly, Dianne
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
hi im averyana from ms.arnett class why’d you put me on here i mean youre great! im on a website im so happy the storytelling thingy you forgot the thing about the mike when we speack on it rembmer bye see you next week
hi i loved the bissonet performence it was the best thing i did did. you see me at after care i saw you