My Arts Bridge Experience

Lesson 4 Today we focused on Weather to go along with what they're studying in Science. We started with an exploration of the question: How does weather affect our lives? (This is part of one of their science benchmarks.) I had each table be a group and I assigned them to discuss a specific kind of weather. Sunny, Snowy, Windy, and Rainy respectively. I asked them to discuss a series of questions about how the weather impacts their choices. What will you... wear? Do? Eat/drink? Where will you go? After that we talked about how when weather becomes extreme it can be dangerous. We talked about the recent Pole Creek and Bald Mountain Fires. The students had a lot of comments and stories to share because many of them knew people who were evacuated. Many of them knew a bit about how it started. We talked about how when it doesn't rain for a long time then the earth gets dry and then when lightning strikes it catches on fire more easily. Then we talked about how in the

Lesson 3 Similar to last class, we listened to a piece of music to inspire the students to write stories, only this time it was individually. We listened to Grand Canyon Suite: On the Trail by Ferde Grofe min 5:59-end: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=6_7DA1G6tVs&frags=pl%2Cwn I was amused by the kids reactions when the music abruptly got loud and the tempo sped up. It was quite the contrast to the "twinkly" beginning. Mrs. Bruce suggested that they use a vocabulary word in their story. I thought that was great. One of the kids was able to use all six, which was impressive. The students' stories were very creative. Some wrote about thievery, some rescue upon a galloping horse, some dreaming, some a bear chase. I had them share their stories in groups and I asked them to try to read fluently like a real narrator or storyteller. Afterwards I got comments from some of the students about whose story they were impressed with and why. Some t