12-8-10 Ms. Chieffo's 2nd grade class loves The Gigantic Sweet Potato!
Friends:
Today was the third day of my artist residency at Bissonet Plaza Elementary. Ellen Miller, the librarian, applies for a grant every year from the Arts Council of New Orleans to fund my visit. It’s my 13th year at Bissonet! Yay! It has been so much fun teaching the upper grades how to fracture fairytales and sharing stories with the lower grades. My day began in Ms. Morrow’s 4th grade class. They were so excited to see me! Ms. Morrow told me that one of the students even told her that she dreamed about me coming to class! How cool is that?
The students were very attentive and enthusiastic about the project. Their class was assigned “The Little Red Hen.” I loved the ideas that oozed from their creative little brains. One group came up with “The Little Green Gator,” to take place in the bayou. Another group created, “The Little Ninja Hen.” They did great work and I can hardly wait to see the stories take shape! Awesome work, Ms. Morrow’s class!
12-8-10 Ms. Morrow's 4th grade class works on their fractured fairytales
Next, it was on to Ms. Frechette’s third grade class. They were a sweet group of students and were excited about their project. Ms. Frechette’s class was assigned “The Gingerbread Man.” After analyzing and breaking down the story, it was time to work on fracturing the tale. One group came up with “The Rat Race,” about a school science teacher whose rat escapes from the maze and students, a teacher, and a principal end up chasing the rat. Too clever! Another group came up with “The Beignet Boy,” changing gingerbread to a beignet and setting the story in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The last group created “Easy As Pie,” changing the gingerbread to an apple pie with ice cream for eyes, a cherry for the nose, and whipped cream for the mouth. The pie rolls instead of runs. What amazing work!!
12-8-10 A student in Ms. Frechette's class works on her Twisted Tales worksheet for her group's story, The Rat Race, based on The Gingerbread Man
In Ms. Joy’s Pre-K class, we had so much fun with my story, The Gigantic Sweet Potato. They giggled and had a blast participating in the story!
12-8-10 Ms. Joy's Pre-K students get into the action in The Gigantic Sweet Potato
After the story, they made Sweet Potato Pals and they came out so cute!
12-8-10 Ms. Joy's Pre-K Sweet Potato Pals!
Next, it was on to Ms. Chieffo’s second grade class. The class enthusiastically received the story of The Gigantic Sweet Potato and had fun participating in the performance. Afterward, they created Sweet Potato Pals.
12-8-10 A student in Ms. Chieffo's 2nd grade class colors her Sweet Potato Pal
I love the faces Ms. Chieffo’s second graders created on their Sweet Potato Pals! No two are alike. They are as unique as the students who created them. 
12-8-10 Ms. Chieffo's 2nd grade Gigantic Sweet Potato Pals!
After lunch, it was time for Ms. Tonguis’ first grade class. Boy, were they excited to see me! I always have a blast with Ms. Tonguis and Ms. Bonnano joined us too. It was like a big Sweet Potato Party. LOL The students had a ball with the story. They were so participatory and full of laughter. Joy rang through the air!
12-8-10 Dianne de Las Casas tells The Gigantic Sweet Potato to Ms. Tongui's first grade class
They enjoyed creating their Sweet Potato Pals. The word “Pals” was one of their vocabulary words! Look at these precious Sweet Potato Pals from Ms. Tonguis’ first graders!
12-8-20 Dianne's awesome Sweet Potato Pals in Ms. Tongui's first grade class
My day ended in Ms. Dagneault’s 5th grade class. The class was so excited to see me that they had a difficult time settling down. Even so, I was able to get through the lesson and we had enough time to start group work. They were assigned “Cinderella” and there were lots of great ideas bandied. I loved “Cinder Man,” the story of a fellow who wants to go to a rap battle to see his favorite female rap artist. Then there was also “Minirella,” Cinderella in miniature! These students are so creative and incredibly bright. I can’t wait to turn these amazing stories into story reader’s theater scripts!
12-8-10 Ms. Dagneault's 5th grade students works on her Twisted Tales worksheet
After school, I had a really awesome, unexpected treat. I stopped by Ms. Muller’s Pre-K classroom and she fed me collard greens. Get this… the greens were grown in the Pre-K garden.
12-8-10 Ms. Muller's Pre-K garden growing cabbage, lettuce, and greens!
They were the best collard greens I have ever tasted! Ooooh yeah! Thank you so much, Ms. Muller and Ms. Renee’!!
12-8-10 Yummy collard greens from Ms. Muller's Pre-K's class, taken straight from the PK garden!
Another fabulous day at a fabulous school. Keep up the fantastic work, Bissonet Plaza Elementary!
Until next time…
Warmly, Dianne
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