Knowledge from Native Americans

For this week's class, we started with a conversation around Native American Spirit Animals.  To my surprise, one boy in the class had read a book on the subject and had a tremendous amount of knowledge about Spirit Animals.  He shared a lot of what he knows with our group.  

During relaxation, I asked the students to imagine encountering the animal they chose as their Spirit Animal in the animal's habitat.  They were supposed to imagine their physical surroundings along with the type of interaction they had with the animal.   

After that, we took another look at the artwork I found for inspiration.  Below is one of the pieces I showed the students. 

Artwork by Charlotte Caron

After looking at the images, we talked about how each child would alter his or her image to reflect the chosen Spirit Animal.  Then each student got started on a self-portrait, along with a drawing of the animal.  Next week many students will be ready to combine their self-portrait image with the animal image.  

Here are a few examples of what the students have completed so far.  I'm interested to see how these drawings will transform over the next couple classes!

  

Listening to the Animals

Most Mind Move Make classes seem to be packed with activity each week, but this session was especially full!  To start, each child had the opportunity to present his or her artwork inspired by the book You Are Stardust.  The students explained the ideas contained within their pieces and how the artwork connected to nature and memory.  I recorded what each child had to say about his or her work.  Below I've included part of one child's discussion of her work.  If you'd like to see all of the students' creations from this unit, click here and scroll to the bottom of the page!

After each child had the opportunity to communicate thoughts and ideas about the artwork and give one another feedback, I introduced them to the next project.  We started a discussion about Native American animal guides, or spirit animals.  Many Native Americans believe that we can learn a lot from animals.  By paying attention to nature, reflecting on experiences we have with animals, and remembering dreams we have about animals, everyone has the potential to discover his or her spirit animal.  I learned about many of these ideas through finding the Manataka American Indian Council website.  The students had the chance to write in their sketchbooks about an animal that has been important to them in some way.  Here are a few pieces of artwork that we looked at for inspiration:

Artwork by Charlotte Caron

Artwork by Charlotte Caron

Artwork by Charlotte Caron

After looking at the artwork and reflecting in their sketchbooks, the students started creating self-portraits.  Later in another class, the students will combine their self-portrait with the animal image.  Here are some action shots of the students working:

Movement as Performance

There are three words in the title of this program: Mind Move Make.  The second word is, of course, MOVE, and movement is a big part of our class.  We tend to focus on yoga-influenced movement, but movement can take so many interesting forms.  To demonstrate this I started our class off by showing one of my favorite Flash Mob dances.  It takes place in Belgium in a train station.  Here is a link if you are interested!

I showed the video for several reasons, one being that I wanted the students to see humans coordinating their movements together in a very purposeful way, and that this could be achieved in a chaotic place like a train station.  I asked my students to work in groups of three to develop a movements piece that described a phrase from the book You Are Stardust.  The students drew one phrase from several that I printed out on folded pieces of paper.

Listening to the students develop their movement pieces was really interesting!  One group got started right away actually moving together while another group talked out their ideas before starting with movement.  I gave everyone about ten minutes to choreograph their mini-performances before presenting them to the class.  Each person had a list of the phrases that could have been selected and we had to guess which phrase had been chosen when the students were finished performing.  As soon as we were finished, one student looked up at me and asked, "Can we do that again?"

After the performances were complete, the students worked really hard to finish their You Are Stardust-inspired artworks.  I was very proud that everyone finished by the end of the class!  Here are the completed pieces.  Next week each child will have a chance to tell the story of his or her artwork.  I'm looking forward to hearing about these gorgeous pieces of art!

Sense of Taste

Mind Move Make students have been exploring the human senses.  I asked them to identify some experiences in which we've learned about our senses.  One girl remembered using the sense of touch to investigate a mystery object.  Another student mentioned listening, both to one another during discussions and to the singing bowl during relaxation time.  We use our sense of sight to look at new works of art.  Smell and taste are two of the senses we haven't explored yet.....until today!

When I told the students we would be focusing on the sense of taste they got really excited.  After the students found "calm" I placed a mystery food on his or her open palm.  The children could smell the food before eating it.  I asked them to pay attention and focus on the texture of the food as well as the taste.  After all the students finished eating the food they asked for another chance to try the experience again, so we had one more round of tasting before we talked about it.

I asked the students to identify the "mystery" food (a chocolate chip) and describe it.  One girl raised her hand and articulately explained that the chocolate chip was smooth and cone-shaped in her mouth.  She also noticed the slow melting of the chocolate on her tongue.  A boy in the class said, "It just tasted awesome."

During the movement portion of the class, we played Pass the Drishti.   Two different students led us in yoga-influenced movement and poses.  It is wonderful that the students know enough to be able to lead the group in a series of movements.

Art-wise we continued working on our You Are Stardust pieces.  Next class will be our last to finish this project.  Many of the students have put interesting finishing touches on the works, and I'll be excited to see them completed next week!

Cloud City

After welcoming the students and checking in with them, we launched directly into relaxation!  I guided the children through a story while they visualized their own images of the story in their minds.  I asked the children to imagine that they were in the sky, hopping from one cloud to another.  I asked them to feel the texture of the cloud under their feet as they stepped.  Then they were to pause on top of a cloud, part the white fluff and look at the view below.  Each child was to imagine any type of landscape he or she wanted below.  I encouraged the class to consider the details of the landscape.  Were there plants and animals below?  People walking about?  Tall buildings or bodies of water?

After the students constructed these worlds in their imaginations, one student eagerly raised her hand and asked, "Can we share what we saw?"  That was exactly my plan!  One child explained that she imagined she was a raindrop falling through the sky, since she knew that clouds were formed from water vapor.  Another student saw a city through her parted cloud.  She saw her mother walking on the street below.  It was interesting to hear the very different landscapes the children visualized.

The movement portion of our class came next!  I led the students through some warm-up exercises, and as I was doing this I noticed that one student was experimenting with getting into Crow Pose, or Bakasana.  This is a challenging pose, but I encouraged the student and demonstrated it to the other students.  Everyone was excited to try this new pose, and a few students were able to get into the pose!  After that, the student who was selected as the most focused during last class by his peers led us in a series of movements.  He chose the most focused student to lead us for the following class.

Before starting on the art part of the class, I asked the students to remind me of the requirements for this piece of artwork.  One student raised her hand and remembered that they are supposed to include a self-portrait along with illustrating an idea from the book You Are Stardust or a connection to nature.  Another student remembered that the artwork is supposed to be created using many different types of media, or multimedia artwork.

Each student is in a different place for this particular creation.  Our goal is to finish the piece of art during our next class which could be challenging for a few of the students!

Interconnection

"'We live in an interconnected world', what do these words mean to you?"

This was the question I posed to my students at the beginning of Mind Move Make's fourth class during our third session.  I wanted the children to explain the central idea in their own words, and connect the concept to the book we've been inspired by, You Are Stardust.  There were many interesting, insightful thoughts about this.  The students decided that the entire book is about ways that we are connected to nature.  We also discussed how our actions impact all the other living things around us.

After our talk came to an end, I asked the students to set up their yoga mats for relaxation time.  Then I asked them find a comfortable seated position, close their eyes and find their "calm".  I told the children I would place a mystery object in their hands when I saw that each of them had found their version of calm.  I explained they could explore the object with any of their senses except sight and taste.  It was fun to watch the students first use the sense of touch to investigate the object, and then begin to engage the other senses.  Many students smelled their object; some students tapped it on the floor to hear the object.  When I finally let them open their eyes to see what it was, most of them knew already.  I had put one wooden block into each student's hand.  Afterwards I asked them to describe their sense explorations!

Then it was time to move!  After leading the class in a few warm-up movements I turned things over to the girl in class who won the game Pass the Drishti during our last class.  She led everyone in a pose called Thread the Needle, which helps stretch the muscles in the arms and neck.  It is also a subtle twisting pose.  She chose her brother to led the class next time!

For the art portion of the class, everyone is in a different place!  Some students are still in the very beginning stages of the piece, while others are ready to add finishing touches.  They are all illustrating either an idea from You Are Stardust or their own version of how humans are connected to nature.  They must include a self-portrait and it must be a mixed-media piece of artwork.  Here are a few of the works in progress!

Finding Calm

Foreground of one student's artwork

After our one week hiatus for Spring Break, I decided to begin our third Mind Move Make class by re-reading You Are Stardust by Elin Kelsey.  For one student, this was his first class of the third session because he was in Mexico on the TIS fifth grade Capstone trip, so he had never heard the book before.  We discussed many of the concepts within the book to bring them back to our central idea:

We live in an interconnected world.

After refreshing the students' memories about the book, I asked them to find their "calm".  I invited them to identify what calm looks like by watching me.  First, I moved my body all around and whispered to the student sitting beside me in a very unsettled way.  Second, I sat with my eyes closed and my hands on my lap.  "Which time was I finding my calm?" I asked the students.  Everyone understood that during the second scenario, when I was sitting quietly with my eyes closed, I had found my "calm".

Then it was their turn!  The students sat with their hands open on their laps, and I explained that I would place something special in their hands when it looked like each of them found their way to calm.  I also asked them to go back to the time and place that they felt most connected to nature.  With their eyes closed and their hands in their laps, I asked them to imagine and notice the temperature, the color of the sky, and their feelings in their special nature place.  I placed a rock in their hands as they contemplated the peaceful place where they felt connection to the earth.

I had planned on that being our relaxation session for the class, but when the students set up their yoga mats, one student turned off the lights and they all began to lay down and get settled for our traditional relaxation session.  After a busy first week back after Spring Break, I think they needed more time to reconnect to themselves and their breath.  And when I ended the second relaxation session, most of the students continued to recline on their mats, and I asked them if they needed a little more time relaxing.  "Yes!" was the overwhelming response, so I gave them a few more minutes of time to themselves.  I am happy to provide them with the much needed time to breath, be, and process the day as it is extremely important.

Two students playing the singing bowl together

When the students were finally ready to get up and move, I lead them through exercises to warm up the spine along with a Surya Namaskar A series.  Then we played Pass the Drishti.  I put a large, beautiful rock on the mat of the student that I noticed as the most focused to lead us through the next pose.  It is wonderful that the students are familiar enough with the poses that they can guide us themselves.

Before jumping into the art portion of our class I asked a student who has worked very hard on her piece so far to share it with the rest of us.  This was really helpful to the student who wasn't there for any of the other classes to grasp the three-dimensional diorama aspect of the project.  I reminded the children to consider foreground, middle ground, and background for this artwork.  Many of the children began adding color to their artwork today!  Some chose to use colored pencil, some chose watercolor, and many combined the two together.  Next week I'll encourage many of them to include fabric, twine, and textured paper into their works.