Blog Post 6/4

We began our class on June 4th with continuing to work on our board games.  We got right to work when we were told to start because we were eager to finish our game!  We had all printed images to place on the game board and started to assign their places.  Our first decision was whether we were going to make our game basically geographically accurate or not.  We decided to place our locations (The Berkey Creamery, Beaver Stadium, The Nittany Lion Inn, etc.) in the order in which the lion would go to them which was based on geographical location on the walk down Curtain Road.

 

"Should we start gluing or wait until we decide where all of the locations will be?"  Danielle asked.  And the general consensus was that we should place all of our pieces down where we think they should go before gluing.  This was a great decision because we made many changes in spacing before we had all agreed on all of the locations.  Before we knew it, Kris warned we only had ten more minutes and we all decided we would stay after class to work on the game board so we would not have to meet up later.  We created a to-do list that said we needed to :"create ladders/shoots, write location and direction words on board, make and record instructions, and number the squares."

After this, a powerpoint was shown to give some instructional background on children's drawings.  We learned about why children draw; four categories of drawing including spontaneous, voluntary, directed, copied; and the four realities which were common, archaeological, normative, and prophetic.  With a variety of pictures and videos on the powerpoint, we were better able to understand each example and were kept engaged.  A class discussion of children's scribbling emerged and we all decided there was no specific answer to why children scribble and to take it on a case by case basis.

This led to a discussion within groups and then with the whole class about something we find key in the readings we have done.  The idea of textures was brought up by Beth and then Danielle talked about the idea of pairing a representational drawing with a piece of writing to better express emotion.  Kris stressed the importance of the fact that these two modes of creation should work in tandem.  We then talked about how art can be an additive tool for learning and this sparked another interesting discussion about cutting art programs in schools.  When we hear this idea we immediately think of this as detrimental to students because art is such a key element for expression and exploring creativity.  But Caitlin brought up the idea that maybe by cutting art programs, it forces the teacher to integrate art into the classroom which is what we are learning about in this masters program.  If teachers can realize the importance of discovery through art, they can articulate to parents about how the children are learning many skills besides just "art."  They can learn math through measurement, problem solving, social skills when working in groups, and many more life skills.

We ended the class by working on our board games.  Our group immediately broke off into smaller groups to conquer the work at a quicker rate.  I began numbering the squares, while Caitlin and Jess made the shoots and ladders, while Sarah and Megan began creating the script for our audio directions.  This divide and conquer method really worked because we were almost finished at the conclusion of the class.  I offered to take the game board home and laminate it with clear packing tape and add any finishing touches.  Cailtin offered to record the directions and create the CD of songs to go with our game.  Our group works very well together and we all have contributed a lot to this project.  I am very excited about how the game will turn out, but also enjoyed the journey of making it just as much, if not more!

Mapping

 

Today we went to the maps library to discover how we could incorporate maps into our curriculum. The experience was eye-opening. The goal was to learn about different types of maps, how to use maps in the classroom, find data to make maps, tools for making maps and how to look at real maps. This was accomplished through looking at different kinds of maps including: electronic, puzzles, paper, plastic, and globes. These maps represented different things and were displayed through different kinds of maps. Different maps include: thematic, road, flow, topo, weather, old, new, aerial, and satellite just to name a few.

When we got into the library we were able to look at all the different maps available to us. There are thousands of maps available to us in this library and we only got to skim the surface. At the very end we were show a "fun" map which reminded me of what we are doing with our board games.

When we got back to the classroom we used the information we just learned in the library to remake a board game. Our game is "A Day for the Nittany Lion" and shows where he goes on a busy Saturday. This helps show that maps can be made in very different ways and represent many different things.