Waiting - for the magic of books to belong to all!

Here goes!!! Another passion of mine: teaching with music!
Today Mr. Meknelli and I went into our children's classrooms to teach some lessons. We do this kind of thing at least once a year. I had my guitar. Mr. Meknelli brought his violin and flute. Now, I can't just go in and teach a song. No, I HAVE to tie everything into the conversation: comprehension strategies, making connections, predictions, determining what is important,... the kitchen sink, lens caps, and f stops... OK. That was a little exaggeration. I left out the f stops.


In the fourth grade we talked about Martin Luther King Jr. The kids knew a bunch of information about him. We talked about how MLK used his Personal Power to make great change in the USA and around the world. They offered examples of how they use their own Personal Power: to walk for the Jimmy fund, walking for AIDS, finish a bike race even after getting a flat tire and after falling off the bike.
They each had a copy of the song and were asked to illustrate a part that of the song that stood out for them. After admitting that they didn't want to share b/c they were afraid their friends would think they are not cool. We all agreed that we are ALL WAY COOL and so they shared wonderful amazing insights! It was so rewarding!!! Then they sang The Dream Of Martin Luther King, which was written by fourth graders!

The second graders got to bring a couple stories to life!!! We first read Abiyoyo!! It was so fun. Everyone was singing and participating. Many of the quiet children got to help out, which is always an indication that things are going well.
The other book we breathed magic into to make it come alive was Mama Don't Allow.
Oh, they were so engaged and got that I wanted them to know THEY, THEMSLEVES can bring books to life!

Enjoy and have fun with books.

PS I went into the bathroom at the school and one of the teachers there has photos, beautiful photos up on the walls! I had to tell him about blipfoto.com!! He was blown away and really interested!