This isn’t the ballet recital, though I promise that post is on its way. Before her ballet recital, Violet took part in the school’s Spring Performance in May. Her class put on a show on the big stage at the BSU Special Events Center – quite a feat for both the Early Learners and their teachers! It was the culmination of a project they had incorporated into so many aspects of the classroom all year long.
Violet's character: Bad Kitty!
The Early Learner program Violet is fortunate to be a part of at Foothills is a Reggio Emilia-inspired program. A significant part of the Reggio approach is the philosophy that curriculum should be guided by the students and their interests. Academic concepts like science, math and literacy, as well as art and music, are integrated into projects that are shaped by the children and their interests at the time. Often when the EL teachers can identify a broad interest of the students that can turn into a project encompassing multiple subjects and learning languages, a larger, year-long project may evolve. This year that turned out to be The Fairy Project.
Violet’s teachers described the Fairy Project this way:
In the Fall the Early Learner teachers noticed that many children in the classroom held an affinity for dramatic play, the creation and development of story and characters – especially stories involving good guys and bad guys, magic and power. in October, Bannon donated her fairy house to the Early Learner classroom. The fairy house became the catalyst and platform for dramatic play and discussion amongst classmates about concepts of good, bad, and power.
Over a seven month period, this dramatic play led to lively discussions and sharing of ideas between children. Finally the children created and developed a common community story which involved vivid good guy and bad guy characters which became known as The Fairy Project.
The Fairy Project was less about fairies and more about children grappling with questions that interested them such as: “What makes a bad guy bad?” , “Could a character in The Fairy Project be both good and bad?” , “Is it possible for me to be both good and bad?” , “what would make me good in our world?” It also became a beautiful example of a project that at its heart, taught the importance of negotiation, the skill of listening to one another and continual building of awareness of various individual needs, preferences, and opinions in the classroom.
Although The Fairy project became a stage performance and a documentary it spanned a large range of languages in the classroom including dramatic play, music, story and character development, scientific investigation, literacy, and expression through the visual arts.
The documentary is absolutely worth watching (and that’s Violet in the opening photo behind the shadow screen):
Violet participated in The Fairy Project in several mediums. She was particularly engaged in the art projects it inspired: from making a sculpture with wire and beads and real twigs of the tree that was central to the story, to working diligently on the life size tree the kids later created for the stage. She also loved the work they did with the shadow screen. Most of all, though, she liked working with musical instruments and sound effects, experimenting with both to enhance the mood and intensity of what was being played out in the performance. Among her favorites were the spring drum, the bells, shakers and the lap harp. And in the weeks leading up to the performance, she helped create a musical score for the show.
As the kids prepared for the Spring Performance of The Fairy Project, Violet decided she wanted her role to be that of a musician. We talked about it, and she practiced playing her part of the score in several dress rehearsals. So when the curtain came up the night of the official show, I looked all over for her in the dark corner of stage right where I knew the music teacher and accompanying students were positioned. Come to find out, she decided shortly before the performance began (as in, after arriving backstage!) she changed her mind and decided she wanted to play the part of a bad guy: specifically, a bad kitty. True to all that we love about the program, her teachers honored that choice, even at the last minute. Here’s the live performance – watch for Violet crawling out of the “bad guy house” on the right (stage left) after the ominous music gets started. She’s wearing her kitty costume from Halloween. She reappears again after returning to the bad guy house, so keep watching!
We were so proud of her for getting up on such a big stage in front of so many people. And she loved it! She couldn’t wait to show us her bad kitty moves outside afterward.
Rowrrr!!!!
What an amazing opportunity for Violet . . . and what fun for all of us! Ruby especially loved watching her big sister up there on the stage.
Waiting for the show to start!
Violet and her biggest fan
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I really loved, she was so bad (and sweet) and so beautiful. Congratulations on the presentation Violet, you are really great. And thank you Jenn loved your post.