May 07, 2008

The Last sessions - posted at last!

Learning Intention:

· To use drama to explore the possible emotions of people at the time of the Great Fire of London.

· To develop the skill of empathy.

· To understand why events happened and why people did things in the past.

Steps within session:

· Draw a box (use a real example found on the Internet as a basis) – taking time to draw the icon (to draw the children into the story). Give details – It was found by a builder working on an extension to an office block, not far from the fire station, he was digging the foundations. Elaborate on what he saw and what he did with the discovery. Muse thoughtfully – “It is such an interesting box, actually buried over 300 years ago, on a site close to the Great fire of London. This is the size of the box. “It is made of… Its handles… It was locked…” (Convention 16)

· “I wonder why someone might bury a box and then not come back to dig it up again? They can’t have come back. It has laid here for over 300 years, since the day it was buried.” Listen to the children’s ideas but don’t answer – take what they give. Nod & ponder.

· “We could have a look at what happened. I’m going to ask Mrs B if she could be the person burying the box, just for a moment. Of course it wasn’t Mrs B who buried the box, but someone else who lived over 300 years ago. But we could see that person as if they were in a picture or a painting. Let’s take a look.” (Convention 8) Children can look and interpret – “What can you see? What might be happening?” – encourage the children to read Mrs B’s distressed body language.

· (Convention 7) Talking to the person in the painting. “We could ask the person a few questions. Would that be helpful? Excuse me (person can now move and straighten). The children can ask the person questions about what they are doing and why. The person can be paused anytime – just like a film, if needs be. Or they can be activated to hear but not speak – causing the children to choose their words carefully, in front of this distressed stranger!

Review of session

For me, this session and the following activities were my favourite of the whole frame! The children's responses were amazing and I was applying drama conventions more confidently than before.

I started the session as described above in the first 2 bullet points and we listened to the children’s ideas. Again, the children readily accepted Mrs B as someone else and made lots of suggestions – reading her body language. When we activated the person to speak, the children used their enquiry skills to find out more about what that person was doing.

They established that something very important to the person’s family was inside the box and that the box was being buried to protect it from the raging fire. They made links with what they had learnt about Samuel Pepys and discovered that this person was also affected by the fire of London. They automatically adapted their tone of voice, because they could see that the person was upset and anxious.

We then discussed: “If there was a fire like that today, what would you try to save?” A fascinating discussion took place about ‘sentimental value’ and they went off to draw/write what was precious to them.

The children were totally engaged for the duration of this session, which lasted about 50 minutes!

The next few episodes took place that afternoon and over the next couple of days:

· We went back to looking at Mrs B, as the person burying the box in the painting and I said “This is just a small part of a very large painting….” The children then became part of the painting. They were great at this – as the photos below show! Their ideas were totally independent and reflected what they had learnt so far.

One boy was crouched, shielding his eyes from the fierce flames.

A girl was using a hook to pull the burning thatch of the roof.

Another girl was guiding her horses to safety.

Another boy was slumped over – when we talked about each others poses, we decided to activate this person, because the children were worried that he might have died. He did rouse slowly and stretched and yawned and said he was sleeping. The other children responded in a worried tone – “Don’t you know there is a great fire raging!” – He had been oblivious!

· We used drama to see the moment that the box arrived at the museum. Again the photos show fabulous expressions on the children’s faces, demonstrating the thoughts and feelings of the museum curators, as they tried to figure out how to open the box without damaging it.


We also explored the moment that the box was finally opened and used freeze frame to see the faces of the museum curators!

This seemed a great place to stop! The drama had really slowed things down and added such tension to key moments. We never did find out what was in the box! We didn’t need to – so much learning had taken place in the different worlds of MOE! It was like the ending to a really good film – it was left up to our imaginations.

Learning Intention:

  • To handle artefacts with care
  • To bridge the imaginary and real worlds
  • Spend time handling 17C artefacts

Review of session:

The children were shown a key that had been found by metal detecting in a field. “This key had lain in the mud for about 300 years…”

Each child got a chance to handle and examine the artefact. One child commented that it could be the key to the box and I replied “Well in our story we could imagine that if we want to…”

This led to a discussion of where the person would put the key – our story led us to imagine that the person had sent it to a cousin, just in case he didn’t survive the fire. We then used shared writing to compose a letter to accompany the key – through this we conveyed our feelings about the fire.

We also looked at some other artefacts that dated from the period, including buckles and coins. The children really liked the idea that they could be holding a coin that Samuel Pepys himself might have held in his hand!

January 12, 2007

Fire - Session 7


Learning Intention:
· To work as part of a group, contributing and sharing ideas.
· To participate in drama activities
· To use drama conventions to support the history curriculum – to ask and answer questions about the past. To develop vocabulary linked to the passing of time.

Steps within session:
· Look at a portrait of Samuel Pepys – what can we see in this picture?
· Explain that this is a man who was around at the time of the Great Fire of London. What questions would you like to ask him if you could?
· Explain that we can’t talk to him because he lived such a long time ago (about 350 years ago) and is obviously no longer around! “Can we for a minute imagine that Mrs B is that man?” Direct their questions to Mrs B as the portrait of Samuel Pepys, who is activated to speak.

Links with other curriculum work:

Review of session:
· The children talked about the fact that the man’s hair and clothes looked different. 'A' suggested that his clothes look like those ‘in the olden days’. I said that this was a man that lived about 350 years ago and that he was around during the Great Fire of London. This caused a stir because they made links with previous discussion about the fire. “I wonder if we could talk to this man, what would you like to ask him?” they began to generate some questions. “Obviously, we can’t really talk to this man, because he is no longer around, he lived such a long time ago! …..Can we for a minute imagine that Mrs B is this man?” Enthusiastic nods! Mrs B adopted the body stance of Samuel Pepys portrait. “Would you like to ask your questions now?” What was amazing was how the children’s tone of voice instantly changed as if they were really talking to a man they didn’t know! They had readily accepted this convention. Lots of the children were keen to ask questions. They established his name, what he had witnessed during the fire and his role. Through their enquiry they gained so much about the ‘Great Fire’, and in a way that was so much more interesting than just reading extracts from Pepys’ diary to them. They were really focused and engaged! Even some of the more ‘shy’ children, gave an input. Only 4 children did not contribute, so when the session ended, I talked to these children 1:1 and 3 of them had followed what was going on and could talk about what they had learnt (‘Peripheral Learners’). 1 couldn’t and this is a child that I have concerns about, as he finds it difficult to focus during whole class sessions generally.
We then went on to watch the ‘Magic Granddad’ video with the other class and the children linked what they saw with the information they had already learnt.

Additional curriculum coverage:
· Through this work, it has been really obvious that children are making links between what they have learnt previously from a range of sources. The children’s engagement in this topic was evident in the ‘show & tell’ assembly to parents. They were able to convey their interest and what they had learnt enthusiastically to the parents and it was nice to have positive feedback from some of the parents about this.

Ideas for next moves:
·

Fire - Session 6


Learning Intention:
· To work as part of a group, contributing and sharing ideas.
· To participate in drama activities, continue to create and sustain roles (within our frame)
· To create an imaginary recount, using a writing frame to organise their writing.
To use their phonic knowledge in their writing.

Steps within session:
· Out of story – Look at a selection of photos on the IWB, to establish that fire-fighters don’t just fight fires. (Including rescuing a horse from a ditch with lifting equipment, pumping water from a flood etc). Use Mr B’s (a local fire-fighter) photos as well.
· Recap that in ‘our story’ the Chief has asked us to include stories of real incidents in our education brochure. I explained that we were going to make a plan/notes of what we are going to write in our incident report. Use a writing frame to support this.

Links with other curriculum work:
· Mr B is going to organise a visit to the local fire station and a visit from the education officers to learn more about safety.


We have also begun to look at paintings of the Great Fire of London – learning to ‘read’ paintings – ‘What does a painting tell us?’ We generated lots of enquiry questions. About ½ of the class find this hard and tend to make statements. I feel I need to do more philosophy type activities to encourage them to ask questions. The others are at ease and use their natural curiosity to ask lots! These paintings will link the ‘fire-fighter’ work, as they identify differences between ways of life at different times.

Review of session:
· The children are responding well to planning our writing first and are more confident to put their ideas down. Most children understood the task and came up with their own ideas for ‘Where they were when the shout came in’; ‘what they saw when they arrived on the scene’ and what was the outcome’. It was good to see them using/applying the information they are learning on the way through this topic e.g. about real equipment.

Additional curriculum coverage:

Ideas for next moves:

· Portrait convention to ‘talk’ to Samuel Pepys.

Fire - Session 5


Learning Intention:
· To work as part of a group, contributing and sharing ideas.
· To participate in drama activities, continue to create and sustain roles (within our frame)
· To make simple labels to accompany pictures for the brochure.

Steps within session:
· Memo from CFO enquiring how the work on the brochure is going and to inform them that the building work on the new education centre will start in a couple of days.
· Evaluate how the brochure is going and decide next steps.

Links with other curriculum work:
· The children have really enjoyed using the role-play area and having the opportunity to explore their own narratives, independently.
· The children have generated and written questions about what they want to find out about ‘fire-fighters’.

Review of session:
· All the children had designed a fireworks poster –“How can we decide which 1 to include in the brochure?”. A suggested a vote and the others agreed but found this difficult as they wanted to vote for their own and their friends! With support and suggestion that maybe because it was for a children’s brochure they might like one that is brightly coloured or has interesting illustrations, they narrowed it down to 3 and then voted again.
· We went on to create labelled pictures (for Literacy) of our fire-engine and uniform.
· We also added the training room and a dormitory to our plan of the fire station, since these had been suggested.

Although this provided a context for labelling (which has to be covered as a literacy objective) and was better than just labelling a picture ‘because the teacher has told me too’, I still felt this was a bland activity. The labelling on the fire station plan that we had done previously, was far more relevant and purposeful to the children in our imaginative community.

Additional curriculum coverage:
· Using phonic knowledge in writing

The children continue to use the fire-fighter topic books whenever they get a chance (particularly the boys)! Loads of discussion is generated from these! They understand the difference between a non-fiction/information book and stories.

Ideas for next moves:
· Recount an imaginary incident they have attended.

Fire - Session 4

Learning Intention:
· To work as part of a group, contributing and sharing ideas.
· To participate in drama activities, continue to create and sustain roles (within our frame)
· To consider the personal qualities of fire-fighters.

Steps within session:
· Use Luke’s example of turning the fire hydrant in stages: 1, Awareness of weight of the hose; 2, Point the hose in the direction of the fire; 3, What is going through our minds? I wonder…; 4, I hope…; 5, Water begins to flow…focus on task in hand. Establish that we must be the sort of people that are prepared to take risks to save others and that life is valued.

Links with other curriculum work:
·
Review of session:

· “Imagine we’ve just stepped out of the engine on a shout. Look at the building that is burning (all turned to look!). See the flames licking out of the windows and roof. Let’s get the hoses ready. Who’s working with whom?” The children got into 2’s and 3’s and picked up their hoses and began squirting, as 5 year olds would. I slowed them down and explained that I was turning the water hydrant; it was going to take 5 turns. As I made the 2nd turn, we became aware of the weight of the hose and adopted a balanced stance. On the 2nd turn we directed our hoses towards the fire and readied ourselves for the powerful jet of the water. On the 3rd turn I asked “I wonder what each of us is thinking as we look at the flames in the building…” I was so impressed with the thoughtfulness of their responses – the slowing down had a real impact on giving them time to think. The responses included ‘I wonder if the fire will spread to the other buildings.’ ‘I wonder if the building will collapse.’ ‘I wonder if there will be an explosion.’ ‘I wonder if there are people asleep inside.’ I reiterated what each child said, conveying the seriousness/gravity of the situation in my tone of voice. For the children there was a shift and this suddenly became serious business. I was really impressed with the maturity they showed. The shy children based their ideas on ones that had already been suggested by the more confident. All were valued. Significant acheivements for 5 of the class, as they gave very thoughtful responses and it was the first time they had confidence to share ideas in front of everyone. Every single child was there at that moment. WOW! On the 4th turn I asked “I wonder if you are hoping anything…” Again amazing responses: ‘I hope we put the fire out.’ ‘I hope we get the people out safely.’ ‘I hope the water will come soon.’ ‘I hope no-one is hurt’. On the 5th turn they fixed their eyes on their aim. We had a well deserved break, as it was quite an intense session, but what an amazing one! In their weekly diaries to their parents, a lot of the children commented on this particular activity as being one of their favourite. I just wished I had videoed it aaarrrrgh! Hindsight!!!!

Additional curriculum coverage:
· How do you explain the depth of this work!!!! This goes way beyond the National Curriculum content! Never doubt the abilities of 5/6 year olds!

Ideas for next moves:
· Continue with pages for educational brochure – Literacy sessions – labelling equipment.

Fire - Session 3

Learning Intention:
· To work as part of a group, contributing and sharing ideas.
· To participate in drama activities, continue to create roles (within our frame)
· Through shared writing, create a Firework Safety Code (for use as part of the commission from the CFO)

Steps within session:
· Introduce clocking in/out cards to assess children’s engagement with this work. Use this to engage the children in attending a meeting at the fire station.
· Explain that the Chief Fire Officer has sent a letter to our watch – read it out. The commission is to create an educational brochure for school children on Fire Safety, role of Fire-Fighters and famous fires in History.

Links with other curriculum work:
Link to PSHE/Literacy work on Firework Safety. In groups thought shower every thing known about firework safety. Join together for shared writing of a Firework Safety code. Compare this with the one on ESPRESSO.

Review of session:
· The children loved the idea of having their own clocking in cards and went off to write their full name – using their initiative of looking on their drawers to spell their surnames.
· I needed to draw them together, so I said “I hope everyone has remembered the meeting for the Blue Watch this morning.” Some of the children clocked in using the ‘imaginary’ machine. Others were milling around, so I asked “Has anyone seen B this morning? I hope he hasn’t forgotten, I wonder if he has his mobile on him. I’ll try to ring him.” It was lovely because B answered his phone and he said he was on his way! The others started ringing their colleagues and they followed B’s lead. “I am a bit worried about time-keeping, I don’t know what the crew manager will say if they are late…” The late-comers began to arrive, clock in and join the meeting. This was so much better than me as the teacher directing them to join us!
· I explained that the meeting had been called because a letter had arrived from the Chief and read it out. The children listened attentively. We talked about who had recently been into schools? 2 confident children started off. “Shall we start with the fireworks poster, since we have just had Fireworks night and it is fresh in our minds?”
· Out of role – what could we include? We split into groups and thought showered what we knew. The children were keen to jot down their ideas, even the reluctant writers because there was no pressure and we worked collaboratively.


Additional curriculum coverage:
· Learning to spell their surname.
· Learning that it is ok to make rough/draft copies – this helped the reluctant writers.
· Sharing knowledge and supporting each other with the writing.


Ideas for next moves:
· Continue to develop company identity

Fire - Session 2

Learning Intention:
· To work as part of a group, contributing and sharing ideas.
· To participate in drama activities, beginning to create roles (within
our frame)
· Create a collective plan of our imaginary HQ.

Steps within session:
· “Can we for a moment imagine that we are fire-fighters?” “If you are on duty during this shift and people looked into the station, what would they see you doing?” Share roles – give emphasis to the enactments and use “So that means our fire station has …” to establish more about the HQ. Emphasis the importance of the job as the opportunity arises e.g. “So we must be the kind of people that…”
· Create plan of fire station with ideas children create.
· Make observations of what the children already know about the role of ‘fire-fighters’.

Links with other curriculum work:
Use ICT/Books to find out about the work of ‘fire-fighters’.

Review of session:
· The children were keen to imagine they were fire-fighters. 2 boys enacted holding the hose to put out a fire. I reflected in my actions what they were doing, adding emphasis to make it more ‘real’ e.g. the weight of the hose and my body stance. 3 girls enacted using computers and telephones. A boy was putting on his trousers and we could see from his movements the thickness and weight of the uniform. 1 girl was very confident to state that they protected us from the fire. I said I had a pair, did anyone else? We put them on. A boy piped up that he had a helmet and the girl said we had gloves to protect our hands. Another boy stated that he had a mask to protect him from the smoke. I made a list on the board of this equipment. It turned out that the children knew quite a bit about the kit. 1 boy was playing basketball outside, a couple of children began to giggle at this, so I said “Well of course we need to be fit for our job, we’ve all taken fitness tests haven’t we?” – They all nodded. Again, 1 girl said that basketball was exercise when we weren’t working. (I later found out that the boy had seen a picture of fire-fighters playing basket-ball in one of the topic books).
· We moved onto the plan of the fire station, using a toy fire engine placed to show where it was kept when not in use. A chil added a button to ‘open the special door where the fire engine comes out’. “We need our fire-fighting clothes in a hurry if we get a shout, could someone show where they are kept on the plan?” 1 boy drew a hook near the engine. “Well I don’t want to put your clothes on by mistake, how will we know who’s is who’s?” He wrote his first initial. Somebody pointed out that another child also begins with that letter, so I suggested using both initials. We were ready for a break, so we stopped for snack; whilst 1 by 1 they chose where their clothes would hang. We then added the computer room and the basketball court. The children were happy to use their phonic knowledge to label these.

I was really please with how confident 1 girl was during this session; she gave a lot of input when she usually stands back. 2 boys were also more engaged then usual. Another 2 really enjoyed this work, as expected. The children who were a bit hesitant at the start were able to use the others ideas to place themselves at the station and begin to create a role. They really built upon each others contributions. A boy gave us a gem – he stated that there was going to be a training session and there was a lot of discussion over who needed to attend – it was great because the children did this with conviction – they were beginning to see themselves as fire-fighters. Another boy stated that he wasn’t sure if he was due to go because he had recently gone to 1! I clarified the date and time and venue with the 1st boy and said that there would be a list on the notice board of those required to attend. I just need to think how to utilise this next as it has good potential!

Additional curriculum coverage:
· Modelled writing a ‘list’ of our equipment and the usefulness of labelling.
· To apply their phonic knowledge in their writing.
· Discussion about exercise keeping us healthy.
· Speaking & Listening skills – building on what others say, making relevant contributions.
· Applying previous knowledge in different contexts.

Ideas for next moves:
· Continue to establish HQ/roles
· Letter from Chief Fire Officer with a commision