Wednesday 1 April 2015

A is for Acting, Audio Books and Appliqué


This year my A to Z Challenge has a double theme.  The first focuses on the resources and teaching that may help children with special educational needs learn more effectively and the second is to do with my crafting likes and ideas.

Acting allows children to take on other personas, see things from another perspective, have the chance to re-read and learn lines, encourages confidence and voice projection.  There are many well known actors today that struggled with dyslexia at school and learning lines helped them cope with the daily struggle in the classroom.  I like to be able to film children acting in the classroom so that they have the opportunity to see themselves and improve on their own performance.  Once the initial awkwardness wears off most children love the opportunity to act out scenes and learn dialogue to present to others.  They are also very encouraging as a group to those who are willing to try whatever their possible learning difficulties.  Acting should not be confined to literacy classes either as there are many opportunities in other subjects such as religious education, geography, history and science for stories to be told and learnt relating to these disciplines.

Did your teacher use acting to help you learn when you were at school?  What can you remember acting in or what roles has your child played in at school?  

Audio Books are a useful resource at whatever age or ability in school as they allow a student to access literature that may be beyond their reading skill level.  Sometimes allowing children access to the text as well improves their ability to read more fluidly as they follow along as the audio book plays.  I also think that the children learn to key in their hearing to different readers rather than the sole voice of their teacher and they concentrate harder.  I always remember the awe and wonder of my class when they heard Ted Hughes reading his book The Iron Man - knowing this was the voice of the actual person who wrote the book meant a lot to them.  I also allow children during certain audio book lessons to draw whilst they listen so that they "hear" the detail in the words and understand how an author paints a picture - these lessons have been very effective in an inclusive classroom.

Appliqué is a way to decorate fabric by cutting out shapes and then stitching around the sides of them straight on top of the background piece of material.  It allows greater detail to be added than by simply quilting fabrics together and there are examples of this craft going back thousands of years.  I have found this to be a way children can decorate fabric items such as bags or glove puppets and once we made some applique banners for our new music room decorated with appliqued drums.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find any photos of my old school projects but I did make an applique bag for my daughter when she first started school to keep her pumps and PE kit in with her name appliqued on one side and a heart on the other.

As I did last year, I will be offering some new freebies from my TpT store to coincide with the A to Z Challenge and would welcome any feedback either on the store site itself or here.
This is my new Alien High Frequency word pack for Reception class so click on the button below if you would like to download.




24 comments:

  1. I wish we'd had some of those ideas in school - it would have been so much more fun learning.
    Fil’s Place - Old songs and Memories

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    1. Yes - somehow I think you would have been very successful at performing in front of others :)

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  2. Pempi -- Here we are one year later, back to A to Zing! It's how I first found your blog. :)
    I like your double theme this year and the photo of the bag you made.

    Yvonne

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    1. Yes - it's fun finding out what everyone's up to again :)

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  3. I find it hard enough to come up with one thing to post about each day, never mind two or three!

    I like the idea of incorporating acting and drama into lessons. Kids learn in different ways and for some actually getting up and moving is the best way to help them learn.

    I keep on meaning to get out my sewing machine to play with because I'd love to play around with crafty techniques like applique. I've got a couple of beginner's pattern books I just need to get my act together and try it!

    You did a great job with your bag. I'm looking forward to seeing more of your crafting.

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    1. Yes I can see applique being something you'd be really good at and it's a quick craft compared to many especially with a sewing machine :)

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  4. Applique is one craft I haven't really explored yet. I do have it in mind to try it out on quilt one day.

    Thanks for your comment on my blog.

    Eileen @ In My Playroom (also doing the A to Z Challenge)

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    1. Quilts and applique go really well together so I am sure it will be wonderful :)

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  5. Great start. You sound like a wonderful teacher. I hear that many actors are actually shy.

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    1. Some of my shyest children really come out of their shells when they are "pretending" to be someone else - especially having a mask on seems to help to!

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  6. i am yet to listen to an audio book... but i do like short stories and pod casts.. good choice for 'A'

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    1. Thank you, Pratikshya. I like listening to audio books when I am sewing - it's nice to be able to multi-task :)

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  7. My daughter loved acting throughout her K-12 years! It is so good for kids to have that experience :)

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    1. I think most children like having a go and certainly those that don't like sitting still much prefer "acting" even if they are not speaking.

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  8. I remember role playing and even having to step up to do so. That is powerful stuff!

    Elizabeth Mueller
    AtoZ 2015
    My Little Pony

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    1. It forces you out of your comfort zone at times! I'm heading back to see if my guess was correct on your site A to Z Challenge!!

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  9. I have been currently acting for the past seven years, but I didn't get into it really until my teens when I did stage crew in high school. My cousin also does acting every once in awhile and she does have dyslexia, but she doesn't let it hold her back.

    Megan Herbert
    AtoZ2015
    www.writerscrossing.blogspot.com
    www

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    1. Loved your blog post Megan - it's wonderful to get to know all about others' lives and ambitions :)

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  10. Thank you for the inspiring tips for the classroom :)

    BohemianNERD

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    1. Glad you enjoyed reading - love your blog name :)

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  11. I loved acting at school and I love podcasts and audio books. I can't get enough of them. Makes me wish I had mp3s when I was little, instead of casette tapes.
    Looking forward to reading more posts.
    Stuart
    www.lloydofgamebooks.com

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    1. Being able to make podcasts would be wonderful but I think I may have missed the boat on learning how to ;(

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  12. Great post so true about children and acting I wish I had done more as a child and a mom... Oh well cannot do it all. My mom made us the coolest appliqué... sometimes on store bough plain clothes other times she made it all...
    #Blogging from A-Z swinging by to meet and greet. I am 471 and 472 in the long list, with MOVIES & What's in a NAME Hope you swing by to 4covert2overt and Defining Ways. Hope to meet up everywhere @M_C_V_Egan
    http://4covert2overt.blogspot.com/
    http://mariacatalinaegan.com/
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    ⋯¤♥¤⋯.(^_^)⋯¤♥¤⋯
    ⋰ ⋮ ⋱..._/l\_...⋰ ⋮ ⋱
    ♫ ƤҼƌҪҼ ƌƝƊ ĻƠṼҼ ॐ βԼƐֆֆїɳɠֆ ƌƝƊ βԼїֆֆ ♫...

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    1. Thank you for your kind words and I will be heading over to your blog very soon :)

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