NEUTRONS – Instead of art and drama this semester, I am combining both and teaching a moviemaking/animation class. The Neutrons are super excited for this! We started by learning the real basics of animation and how pictures were made to move long before computers and cameras. We made thaumatropes, a Victorian era toy, in class on Thursday. Thaumatropes are a disk with a picture on each side attached to two pieces of string. They are a great illustration of how animation works~ moving pictures in a simple way.
QUARKS – In Quarks we dived into a couple of the “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie” series and learned the fancy word “sequencing.” We worked together to correctly order scenes from the story onto individual sheets and talked about the chain reaction of events that helped us remember and potentially retell the story. We wrapped up class by making a mouse puppet from simple shapes. Fun class! We’re planning on continuing the theme into the next class.
QUARKS DRAMA – We began our time together meetings our new friends Elizabeth & Elliot! And to get to know names better, we played a rhyming name game by thinking of a word that begins with same letter as your first name (i.e. I was “Daring Deanne”). The kids had a lot of fun…be sure to ask your Quark what their rhyming name was. Then we got our bodies moving by playing “Traffic Lights” and “The Big Stretch”. Lastly, our mouths were trying out some tongue twisters. The favorite seemed to be Toy Boat…give it a try by saying it slowly, then faster and faster!
ELECTRONS/MUONS – Yesterday in art, the Electrons and Muons learned about Amedeo Modigliani.He was an Italian born artist who moved to Paris in the early 1900’s. Modigliani painted,sculpted and drew many portraits in a unique style. The figures in his works tend to have long necks,narrow faces and darkened eyes. We tried out this style using oil pastels on black paper and I think the results were awesome! I also think it can be really freeing to draw a portrait when you are trying to achieve an end result that does not look realistic.
MUONS – The Muons took a break this week from Muon Magic, due to our FRIEND-A-PALOOZA™ festivities, but our last project was to craft a scale replica of the Great Sphinx of Giza which is situated at the Giza Plateau adjacent to the Great Pyramids of Giza on the west bank of the Nile River. We examined several photos of the Sphinx from various angles, then set to work cutting, bending, and assembling various pieces of cardboard. The Muons had to develop a plan to design, implement, and construct a replica in under an hour. The project was a success, and took its place next to our Eiffel Tower handiwork. Kudos Muons!

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