Summer Camp 2011 - Daily Diary: Lafayette Day 5

Here are some excerpts from camp at Lafayette last Friday! The exercise was a "Jumble Dream" that the students created from lists of characters, settings, and conflicts that they came up with as a group. We assigned each idea with a number 1-10 and then they chose 3 numbers which corresponded to a number on each list. This gave them the three pieces to construct a story from.

Ruby:

These wings suddenly appeared on me. I was flying. There was blue sky. The clouds were thin, see through and scratchy.

Suah:

Stemdy liked being on a different planet. It was different from his home back in Mars. Although he missed his family he was very interested in the theatre he was in. He sat in every single seat and finally went on stage. He was trying to practice how he could make friends.

Genie:

One day when I was with my friend Ape, who called me Bananas (my real name was Apples) we found a big hole the size of a coconut. We were so curious that we poked our little heads in a little too much. We fell in. The hole was very deep.

SJ:

He has a green backpack shell. In his shell he has a small bank. He is the richest kid in the whole sea world. But he is the unluckiest turtle in the sea world because bad turtles try to steal his backpack.

Below are pictures of the finished creation books that they started the day before!

Summer Camp 2011 - Daily Diary: Lafayette Day 4

Here is some of the work from our incredible students today at Lafayette! The writing samples and books are from the prompt "write a creation myth"!

Andy:

Aliens made the Earth by using their building powers. Their building powers made hills, animals, living things, sun, stars, the whole earth. They made air with their magic breath.

 

Ruby:

Once there was a knitted tree out of brown and green yarn. It was so small that nobody could really see it. The tree was as big as a grass blade.

 

SJ:

One day when they were making more monkeys, they made a mistake. Since they were tired, they forgot the tail and the fur. They made five fingers and five toes.

Suah:

Big bombs were dropped from the sky because inside each little bomb there was something in it, like a tree or a mountain, anything. Cuckoo was tired so he dragged his ax behind him, which made the Grand Canyon.

 

Genie:

Exodi made the plants, oceans, streams, dirt, soil, and everything on Earth right this second, except…humans! And with a clap of his hands, he made the two very first humans on Earth, Brian and Eevee.

Summer Camp 2011 - Daily Diary: Miraloma Day 4

Today we discussed the relationship between dreams and creation myths, focusing specifically Aboriginal and Native American cultures. Students watched a video, read explanations of the myths and then discussed them before writing their own myths. While they were very proud of their work, many were reticent to share them on the blog today because a number of them will be reading these pieces at the reading/exhibition tomorrow afternoon. These excerpts were taken directly from the dream journals of three students:  

Titus

I was sleeping in my bed in my dream and I don’t really know how this happened, but in my dream, I dreamed that I fell off my bed and that everything started spinning. 

I was Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We were fighting the Triceratons (which are basically Triceratops on tow feet). We were trying to defeat their imaginary leader, Traximus.

Elizabeth

Monday night I dreamt that I called up my friends and the next day me and my six friends rode to Stonestown Galleria for free ice cream. It was Alessandra, Sohila, Riong, Faith, Praise and Michelle. On the way back, we got eaten by a cabbage. Too bad for him, we ate our way out. Next, we were surrounded by carrots. We also ate them up. Next were squashes. They exploded on us then we were gunked with squash juice. We turned around and headed out the other way and everyone slept over at my house. The next morning, I saw a thing that had donkey legs and a tail, an eggplant head, a cabbage body, a carrot neck and olive eyes. Then I woke up.

Calla

I dreamed that I was frozen in a giant cube of Jello and I could not get out. Then my brothers, Jonas and Jasper were going to eat me and the Jello, but the Jello wasn’t locked, so I got out and became a giant. 

I dreamed that I was in my house and three giant furry monsters were playing cards.

In the afternoon we talked about Aborigine dreams and looked at examples of their traditional dot art. We sketched  ideas and then each student painted a piece depicting a favorite animal:

Isabella did a jellyfish, Madeline did a tiger, Emily painted a dolphin, Calla a spiral/snake, Emil a dragonfly, Elizabeth did a polar bear, Emogene painted a turtle, Eli a panther, Titus did a lizard and other animal, and Junior painted an entwined snake and lizard. The results are awesome!

Summer Camp 2011 - Daily Diary: Miraloma Day 3

Here are some of the beautiful writing samples from camp yesterdays morning!

Eli

(Pencil Dream. Personification Exercise.)

If a pencil had a dream it would probably be of drawing because that is what they do best. If I were a pencil I would have a dream about being a pencil and being a pencil is quite easy because you just stand there and do nothing at all, but, if someone picks you up you will start drawing and you will draw a picture of a plane or a car or a grinder and lots of things. If a pencil has a nightmare, it would probably dream of getting its tip broken or not being able to draw.

Choochie

(Excerpt from exercise in which the students attempted to write stories that bore no resemblance to reality.)

There I was, lying in my bed, thinking about how normal my life was as Catherine Davis. I wanted something different to happen. I got out of bed to take a shower and go to school. As I looked in the mirror, it turned red and orange and spun and sucked me into a different dimension where I was a fairy and giants were going through the portal. I tried to stop them but they pushed me. A big man fairy told me to go with him and he brought me to a little tree that was hollow.

Titus

(Pencil Dream. Personification Exercise.)

1. If a pencil had a dream it would probably be about dreaming of how many times t got sharpened in one day or being back at the store. Maybe being a pen.

2. The pencil dreamed about being back at the store in a box with all of his pencil friends. He broke out and tried to leave but a little kid found him and left the store with him in his pocket.

Elizabeth

(Spaghetti Nightmare. Personification exercise.)

I’m spaghetti and I have nightmares. Nightmares that are strong. I’m put in a pot with boiling water, wishing I had a flight gear, a flight gear to fly out of the pot. I’m afraid that it will kill me by cooking, cooking in a pot that’s nice and hot. But once I’m taken out of the package, I want to scream and yell, for I know I’m going to be boiled, boiled on a flaming hot grill.

 
 

Calla

(The Glasses Dream. Personification)

One night I dreamed that my owner was going to run in a race. At the race, he started to run and at the middle, I fell off and he stepped on me and I went flying to the middle of the ocean. A shark ate me. Inside the shark’s belly, it was slimy. Then I found another pair of glasses that pointed its wand at me and said, “Reparo.” I was repaired! Then me and the other pair of glasses swam out of the shark’s belly. 

Madeline

(Pencil Dream. Personification)

My widdle wondwing pencil

Patted on his toes

Then he gave a sniffle all the

Way through his nose

Then he wrote

(I’m very glad) and this is how it goes:

Last night I tried to sleep

I even counted sheep

I also ate some meat

But I knew I couldn’t sleep.

I wondered why and started to sigh

I’ll just clean my seam, then I thought, I know

I MUST DREAM!

I sat in my case and

Began to change

My Hobbit inside of a globbit

And I knew I just had a dream!

Now it may seem

That I am starting to gleem because

Now I’ve had a dream.

Anonymous

(My dream)

I was flying over the ocean. The moon shone over the ocean. The stars twinkled lazily. I dived down, down, through the clouds in the starry sky and glided, arms outstretched, into the ocean. Silence… deep, utter, thorough silence… I saw the stars in the sky blinking, the moon smiling… as I drifted down they faded, went out. Darkness. Darkness surrounding me as I drifted down, down…into nothingness.

Later, we finished our surreal paintings and added "something" behind the door- you'll find out what on Friday! 

 

We talked about how our thoughts and activities are often recycled in our dreams and using recycled materials each student created a sculpture of a character, animal or imaginary creation. Students used glue, tape, glue guns etc. and many chose to paint all or part of their sculpture. 

 

Afterwards each student sketched their sculpture, named it and described it in their sketchbook.

Summer Camp 2011 - Daily Diary: Lafayette Day 3

Today we wrote a Dream World Story in which anything was possible (unlike in the real world) and personified objects by writing dreams or nightmares that object had. Then we made it into a comic strip!

Check it out!

Andy from his Dream World Story:

She replaced the toothpaste with a brown polish and when Justin squirted it the brown polish came out but Justin didn’t notice and started brushing his teeth and in one second he said, “What the BEEP!”

Andy's comic of the banana's dream:

   

Ruby personifying a cup:

Someone was just careless and dumped salsa and avocado in me.

 

Suah- from her Dream World Story:

Then I came across a giant door floating in the air.

 

SJ personifying a lightbulb:

One day my human owner went to Korea for two months.

 

Genie from her Dream World story:

With the monkeys on your back, you and your friend stretch out your pearl white wings and when nobody is looking you fly up into the sky.

Summer Camp 2011 - Daily Diary: Lafayette Day 2

Take a look at some of the outstanding work our students did yesterday at our camp in Lafayette!

Our theme for the week is Dreams. This writing is from a writing activity where the kids imagined (daydreamed) a walk through the forest where they find a key, a cup, a meadow, a dwelling, etc. The way they describe each thing they find tells us something symbolic about them, as symbols in our night time dreams do.

The books they're holding are their writing journals that they collaged and made into their personal dream journal.

Andrew describing “the path”:

I saw a green bumpy path and walked on it, but it moved! It was a gator!

Suah describing “the cup”:

Later along the path I find a cup. Not plastic, but metal. It had these beautiful designs that made the cup look like it was an ancient piece of artwork.

Betsy describing “the cup”:

I see a cup. The sort of cup that they would serve at a rundown bar at the corner of town.

Genie describing “the meadow”:

I walk into the meadow, pick some flowers, and trudge along my way, a bouquet of flowers in one hand and a golden key and cup in the other.

Seung-ju describing “the key”:

And on the path there is a key to a door. It is golden and has a symbol of a tree.

Ruby describing “the cup”:

I see something sparkling glass. It is covered in dirt and moss.