Our Class Play

Becoming Playwrights and Actors

   

      The class play is a large and exciting component of our 5th Grade year. The majority of the Dudicorns agree that our play should be original, funny and should include fairy tales or some type of fantasy writing. The students were adamant that the stories we use should not be typical. Less happy endings. No princesses being saved by princes. No marriages. They want something different and unique.

     The collaboration process started with research. What is the structure of fairy tales and how can they be twisted or changed. 

     Using reader's theater, we examined a written script about fractured fairy tales. Students were encouraged to jump into a variety of characters and celebrate their missteps by shouting "I failed!" In this way the stage is set for everyone to take risks and possibly fail. Failure means your trying. 

     Check out these clips of students trying their hand at acting out new characters:

            

                   • Joseph, Quinny and Bridget

                   • Sebi

    Reflection and community conversations is the cornerstone of this work. Students are sharing and reflecting on the work thus far and they are learning to hear ideas and say "Yes, and..." to ideas rather than negating the ideas.

Jamestown Research and Building a Fort

Jamestown: Researching with Primary Source Documents

     Studying history requires learning the habits of historians. As we dove into our historical look at the founding of our country, we began by studying primary source documents. Students studied the Virginia Company Charter to learn who was sent to the New World and what Virginia Company was after.

    The language of the charter was challenging and provided some context as to the class system in England and motivations of the English people. Students were particularly upset by the language of "propagating of christian religion to such people as yet live in darkness" and referring the the natives as "savages". 

      After digging into the charter, students then studied primary source documents about forts. Through their study they made conclusion about the purpose and structure of forts in the colonial time period.

     Once the students had determined, what would be in the fort, they were challenged to plan and map a fort that we could plot outside, Students determined the measurements of each building within the fort, then scaled up the measurements to fit in a space 2 and 1/2 times the map measurements in order to plot the fort. They then had to scout the best place to plot the fort. We ended up in a large field behind the dorms surrounded by the woods.
       

     The woods became a place to search for natural material to enhance our fort and define the spaces. 

     Historians also rely on archaeological findings to make sense of the past. Students used their skills as archaeologists to learn about artifacts that have been discovered at the Jamestown site as recently as the late 1990's. After determining some historically accurate artifacts and where they were found, students created their own artifacts to hide in the fort.

Lead tags that would have been found on crates of supplies.

Chess Pieces

Candlesticks

Glass Beads for trading with the Natives

     Other 5th Grade classes embarked on an archaeological hunt to try and determine, through the examination of found artifacts, the purpose of the fort buildings and spaces,  Our class explored a new fort, Fort Shades, to do the same archaeological work.