‘The Little School of Horror’ Project

The children were inspired by the NIS Secondary School Performance ‘The Little Shop of Horror’. Charlotte, Michelle and Sarah continued to sing the performance songs in class, explaining that the show was very ‘cool’!  

Over the course of the next few days, Michelle created a story about plants that can eat people during one of her bookmaking projects.

She read her book to the class. Observing a carnivorous plant in Ms. Hannah’s classroom had inspired Michelle to create her own picture book.

All these experiences continued to weave together, with the children deciding that they wanted to create their own version of the show, using some of the experiences they have had in their own classroom.

They decided to make a plan.

They decided to call their show School Little Shop.

Here are the groups initial ideas:

They took their plan to Ms. Heidi. Ms. Heidi gave the group some feedback and helped the children think about the different characters, settings and props they would need in order to create the show.

They documented their ideas in a first draft. They decided on what the introduction, middle and end of the story light be. They brainstormed ideas for props.

The children were eager to create their own props using materials they have in the classroom. Felix and Tyson decided that they wanted to create the carnivorous plants with clay. Michelle, Sarah and Charlotte wanted to use card, boxes and other materials available in the Design space.

The two groups worked in teams to create their props.

The Plant

Felix and Tyson decided to use clay to create the insect eating plant.

Tyson “And this one is die. This flower eat him and he die.”

Felix “The plants eat insects to live. Or they will die. They eat it with their mouth. The white ones are the teeth. Look, he opened his mouth! He is ready to eat an insect because he opened his mouth. I am just putting it in and the squishing it because then it standards upwards (describing the process he is using the create the stem for each plant).

Tyson “He is ready to open his mouth. His flower eats butterflies. This flower eats, like to eat bees.”

Felix “Because butterflies are just caterpillars. They are the ones that eat insects not people.”

Next, they painted their designs. They looked carefully at the details as they painted with care and purpose. They cleared and washed up all the materials they had used at the end of their activity. Taking care of the materials and tools we use is an important part of learning.

Yet another group of children went to the Design room to look for materials they can use to create the props. They found a large box, some bottle caps, pool noodles and fabric. They wanted to make a BIG carnivorous plant!!

Sarah and Charlotte went to collect the paints they wanted to use to paint their props, the carnivorous plants.

They chose the colours they needed and started to paint the ‘Mummy Plant’.

They had to work together to carry the resources they needed to their workspace. Teamwork was import!

Charlotte, Sarah and Michelle added the ‘poisonous liquid shoots’ on their plants. They had a nice discussion about where and how would they add the shoots.

-During the process, they realised that the white glue is not sticky enough to paste the plastic lids, so they borrowed a hot glue gun from Ms. Anna Mila and learned how to use it safely.

 

-After attaching the shoots, they decided to make the leaves for the plants with cloth. It was quite hard to cut the fabric, so they tried different kinds of scissors, experimenting with different ways of cutting.

-They cleaned up the space to make sure that the resources they need are clean and organised for when they return to their project later.

Throughout the process, they communicated with each other, used their thinking skills to solve the problems they encountered, practiced their fine motor skills and used their prior knowledge to guide the decisions they had to make with regards to their project.

We are learning how to:

  • engage with, and enjoy a variety of visual arts experiences
  • select tools, materials and processes for specific purposes
  • use their imagination and experiences to inform their art making
  • create artwork in response to a range of stimuli

Approaches to Learning (ATL’s)

  • express oneself using words and sentences.
  • participate in conversations.
  • use mark-marking to convey meaning.
  • be respectful to others.
  • be aware of own and others’ impact as a member of a learning group.
  • choose and complete tasks independently.
  • share responsibility for decision-making.
  • demonstrate persistence in tasks.
  • use strategies to problem-solve.
  • engage with, and enjoy a variety of visual arts experiences.
  • select tools, materials and processes for specific purposes.
  • use their imagination and experiences to inform their art making.

Stay tuned to learn about what happens next…

 

15 January, 2020:

We continued to add leaves on the ‘Eating People Flower’. The children cut out different shapes of leaves and put them inside and outside of the plant.

Then, they decided to add blood on the plant because “The plant has eaten many people”. They wanted the blood to be ‘really scary’.

Next, they added sharp teeth inside the plant to make it even more scary.

Michelle got into the plant (box) and tested it to see if it was big enough for one person.

Throughout the process, the children demonstrated how they can choose and complete tasks independently, while sharing responsibility for decision-making. It was evident that they can be persist while engaging in their projects.