Kindergarteners at St. Joe Center Connect to Puppetry Center
Mrs. Runyan's afternoon Kindergarten class connected to the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA for their first ACELINK-supported videoconference. The Gingerbread Boy program that they joined is one of the most popular programs offered by the Center.
I was very impressed with the level of interaction and engagement for such a young group of students. Deborah, the presenter from Atlanta, does an excellent job of keeping the kids' attention. She understands how to do this via distance, which is a special talent, and she offered just the right mix of physical, visual and verbal activity.
Mrs. Runyan, the classroom teacher in Fort Wayne, Indiana, said, "It went so well! The children had a great time. I'd like to offer this to my morning class, too."The Center for Puppetry Arts offers programming at all grade levels, and they are well-known for their enthusiastic presenters and engaging programming. For more information about this program or others, you can contact me or visit their website at http://www.puppet.org.
Click here for more photos from St. Joe Center's classroom. ACELINK supports the content for two-way interactive videoconferencing through our programming grant from the Foellinger Foundation.
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Mrs. Runyan sent me two stories that her classes wrote after this program. This is a great example of integrating a program delivered by two-way video into the curriculum:
During an entire week at the beginning of December, I read many different versions of The Gingerbread Man to both of my classes. We compared and contrasted the characters, setting and the plots of the stories. The children then took home a gingerbread man for a “sleep over”. The parents were to write on a journal page what “gingerbread Fred” did with them that night. The children love this experience, which builds language, imagination and reading comprehension skills.
For the first time this year, we were able to see a puppet show of the Gingerbread man from a puppet studio in Atlanta, Georgia through video conferencing. The children watched a puppet show and then were instructed by the puppeteer how to build their own puppet. They loved the show and being able to take home a puppet was even better!
Now each class has worked together and the following is their own version of The Gingerbread Man.
A. M. Class
Once upon a time there was a kindergarten class called “Mrs. Runyan’s Kindergarten. The class wanted to make a gingerbread dog, because it would be faster than a person.
They rolled out the dough, cut him out with a dog cookie cutter and put it in the oven. (We also made a gingerbread bone.) We put it in the oven and set the timer for five minutes.
Mrs. Runyan opened the oven door and the gingerbread dog popped out and ran out of our classroom. He ran to Mrs. Smith’s room. He ran a circle in the room and ran out barking:
Bark, bark and run through the fog,
You can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread dog!
He ran to the media center. He knocked books off the shelf and ran out barking:
Bark, bark and run through the fog,
You can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread dog!
He ran in the office. He ran through all the offices and ran into the hallway barking loudly:
Bark, bark and run through the fog,
You can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread dog!
He ran to the gym. The kids chased him around the gym and the gingerbread dog bounced a ball and ran out barking:
Bark, bark and run through the fog,
You can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread dog!
He ran to the music room. He sat down and played a drum. He bounced on everyone’s head and ran next door to the art room. He painted a pretty picture with his paws.
The class set a trap to catch the gingerbread dog. We put out a teeter-totter to bounce him in the air and then we caught him! But he got away.
Next we tried a net. He ran by and we caught him in the net and the class had him for snack, but it’s okay because we can make another one!
THE END
p.m.
The Gingerbread Girl
Once upon a time a little old man and a little old woman lived in a little house on earth. They were hungry for a snack, so they made a gingerbread girl. They put on some buttons, red licorice for her hair, red hots for her mouth and frosting for her dress.
The little old woman put her in the oven. She baked for 25 minutes. She popped right out of the oven and ran out the door.
She ran to a rocket launch and climbed aboard. She did a count down and pressed the red button: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0, blastoff!!!!!!!!!!
First she landed on Mars. She played with the rocks, but she got bored. She took off for Jupiter. She played with a rocket that belonged to a green alien with big black eyes and 3 fingers (the tops are flat and it said, “Peace”. The alien tried to catch the Gingerbread Girl, but she ran and said,
Run, run and give a twirl,
You can’t catch me
I’m the Gingerbread Girl!
She took off in her rocket ship.
She landed on Pluto next. The aliens followed and when they saw her they got very mad. They chased her and while she was hiding, she fell asleep. The aliens went back to Pluto.
When the Gingerbread Girl woke up, she blasted off for Neptune. This time the aliens were blue. They had little green eyes, a purple mouth and flat ears. The aliens used their 10 hands to try and crush her. She jumped over their arms and back into her spaceship saying:
Run, run and give a twirl,
You can’t catch me
I’m the Gingerbread Girl!
Then she blasted off.
Next the Gingerbread Girl landed on Earth’s moon. The aliens followed her. They caught her, but she got away and went back to earth singing:
Run, run and give a twirl,
You can’t catch me
I’m the Gingerbread Girl!
THE END
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