Pinkalicious ~ The Musical! - A Meek Moose Adventure at the Thea"tuh"

So my pal Andrea at Reading Toward the Stars does this Book Talk linky every Thursday.  Which is fabulous.  Because I love talking about books!  But I'm not so awesome ~ I haven't been fabulous at writing blog posts lately, and have never managed to link up with her.  Well! Today is the DAY!  Even though it's Friday.  And her linky is for Thursdays.  Baby steps, kittens!  At least I've got this in within 48 hours of her original posting.

Annnnnnd, her recent post is what kicked me in the butt.  I have had this post sitting in my drafts section since mid-June.  Andrea did a post about a new Pinkalicious book that is great for Back-To-School.  Back in June my sister was doing some freelance costume help working as a over-hire stitcher for Pinkalicious ~ The Musical!!!

When my sister, Traci, first told me about the musical, I was sort of "How can they make that book into a musical?" And this was foolish- because we all know anything can be made into a musical once you've seen the Simpson's episode about Troy McClure's comeback with the Broadway version of Planet of the Apes.

I don't know what this has to do with Mad Men.  But it was the only one I could find that actually had moving video from the episode.  So I'm gonna roll with it.

Anyway- my daughter has always loved pink, and Pinkalicious- so we decided to take her to go see it. She and I discussed the possibilities of how they could have changed this short picture book into an hour and a half musical the entire three hour car ride. (yes- THREE HOURS- three hours of NON-STOP TALKING- where is my Mother of the Year award?)  We were at a bit of a loss.  I just didn't know how they were going to manage it.

Prior to the show, which was at Adventure Theater in Glen Echo Park in Maryland, we went to dinner at an Irish Pub on the grounds before the show. Glen Echo park and Adventure theater are the cutest park and theater EVAH!  The park reminded me of parks you see in movies - carosel horse ride, dancing stage, bright bold colors! I'd like to go again.  Just not drive.  If a limo want to take me, I'm game.

Bangers and Mash, baby!

Just before the show, I was able to snap this picture of the set.  But then I found out that was a real no-no.  Otherwise, I would have filled my camera- everything was super "adorbs".

Which, honestly, is one reason why I don't read Pinkalicious to my kids at school.  I have it in my library, but it never makes it to the read-aloud basket. I try to pick books to read aloud that both my boys and girls can get engaged in.  And I always fear instantly turning the boys off if I sat down in our Living Room area together and said, "Let's curl up together and read this super adorable book, Pinkalicious!

The musical ended up shaming me enlightening my perspective.  It turns out that what the musical DID add in to the story line (and we knew they'd have to add something) was a call to arms against gender profiling. Amazing, yeah?  Ok, maybe I'm stretching the depth of the water here. But! stick with me for a sec.

There's this whole part to the plot line about the younger brother, Peter, and how he is being suppressed by his Dad's old-fashioned convictions on how pink is for girls and not boys.  And of course, little bro deep down LOVES the color pink. So much of the plot is about Peter's transformation into being honest about how he feels and embracing his love for the color. This also ties in to the end of the book where Peter eats so many cupcakes that he turns pink.

I realize from watching this musical that there is a way to get the boys involved in this story just by adding in some global awareness. Thereby opening up the doors for a discussion on being open-minded, taking risks, and challenging social conventions (when appropriate, of course).

Shaaaa- how are you going to manage that, Heather? Like, as if. Whatevs.

Trust me, kittens! Look- Global awareness- There are other countries that do not consider pink a feminine color. India for example.  There pink is a very manly color.  Other Eastern countries do not necessarily feel that pink is feminine.  In fact, it wasn't until after the 1940s that America and England started feeling that pink was feminine.  Up until that point, it was opposite.

Using the simple story of Pinkalicious as an opener for a discussion on whether or not the students think there are some things only boys or only girls should do would be eye opening- and also an opportunity to research those topics to see where the belief could be dispelled.  I remember being younger and hearing only women should cook- but look at all the male chefs on TV today? Art, design, business- all have held some gender bias, but there's so much out there that proves otherwise.  And the inquiry does not have to be bent on girl power- but balanced out so that boys can feel like they are free to explore different avenues as well.

I never really thought that this story could be something I could ever use to promote social change in seven year olds.  But there it is- just because I saw the musical.  I really hope that Victoria and Elizabeth Kann consider putting the musical on film so that it can be shared in classrooms.  In fact, I think I just need to ask them if they would.

I've gotten a little bold since joining Twitter if you haven't noticed.  It was having my tweet favorited by Dave Burgess (TWICE as a matter of fact) and a personal reply from Susan Branch that has clearly thrown me over the edge.  Now, if only Mike Rowe would acknowledge me- it would be all good.

Here were some photo ops with the cast:

Mr and Mrs Pinkalicious

Alison and Peter

Pinkalicious herself!

So, what do you think?  Did hearing about the theme of the musical get you to see Pinkalicious in a new light? What else do you think you could add to the discussion in your classrooms?  have another book you'd like to talk about?  Go link up with Andrea- EVERY THURSDAY (or Friday if you have time management issues like me)

Barranquilla's Carnival - Colombia's Most Important Folk Celebration - A Monday Made It (well...started it)

So I was up to my ears in construction paper and art supplies today.




             







      And it was this guy's doing:

This is my pal Emerson. He's Visiting International Faculty and my ESOL co-teacher.  We have had an awesome year together.  I was blessed to have him.  The kids adored him as well.  For our last two days together, we decided to teach the kids about his country's favorite celebration- the Barranquilla Carnival. Today he showed them a video of the parade and talked about the folklore story of King Momo, Joselito Carnaval, Death, and some other characters.  I think he got the initial buy-in from the kids after he told them the parade was in the town where Shakira is from.  But hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. After watching the video and talking about the costumes, the kids decided who they wanted to dress up as, and then Emerson and I helped them create costumes today.  We are going to parade on Wednesday- his last day with me *sniff* (he's going to be a Spanish teacher at a Middle school next year). The parade opens with the Queen:

And of course, most of my young ladies decided this is what they wanted to be.  Emerson helped them make dresses out of pink art paper.

Yes- this mess did give me hives.  But I pushed through it.  For the spirit of Carnaval!

Of course, Susan Lucci chose to be a Queen!

She is a talented artist.

We had one hero sign up to be King Momo.  He made a very good crown.



And only one signed up to be La Marimonda.  His mask is excellent.



And everybody else either wanted to be Death or Joselito, the guy who dies from celebrating "too much". Go figure.  But they are all happy and having fun, so then I'm happy too. I ended up helping these folks make vests out of large construction paper to decorate for their costumes.

Amazingly, I am not cringing watching myself on this video.  I think it's because I might have finally gotten the hang of using the diffuser attachment on my ridiculous perm. #perfectchickennest  And the kids don't sound too loud do they?  Aside from the little bossy mcboss boss fight going on there in the background at one point.

Also, on my drive home from work, I think I figured out a better way to make those vests.  I'll have to try it on another Monday.

And here- a final photographic montage.

I should have taken a picture, but they DID clean up every little bit afterwards and the room was pristine.  They are good little moose, I tell ya. Tune in Wednesday for Parade pics!

Did you make anything?  Link up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics!

What sorts of activities do you do for Global Awareness?

Dabbling in the Drama

Soooo, I got to thinking about those continent books I had checked out from the library.  And I got to wondering what sort of educational value I could milk out of those babies during my last days...

And this is what I came up with!
1) Get the kids in seven teams of three
2) Give them a piece of butcher paper for a play backdrop
3) Give them a set on continent books on ONE particular continent
4) Tell them their assignment:
Recreate The Three Little Pigs based on your assigned continent.
-Your backdrop must reflect your understanding of habitats common to that continent.
-Your "pigs" must be animals native to that continent.
-You "big bad" must be a predator native to that continent.
-You must mention the name of the highest mountain, the longest river, the largest city or country, three animal facts about your "pig" character and one animal fact about your predator.

Shazam!  Kept them busy over the last two days.  Maaaaagical!

I took video, but my computer is refusing to allow me to edit it.  Boo hiss.  Luckily I also took pictures.

 

North America : The Three Little Caribou and the Big Bad Cougar

Mount McKinley, The Mississippi, and Greenland is the world's largest island

 

Europe: The Three Mice and the Big Bad Wolf

Mount Elbrus, The Volga River, and Moscow, Russia

 

 

Asia: The Three Little Pandas and the Big Bad Komodo Dragon

Mount Everest, The Yangtze River, and Tokyo, Japan

(looooved the blood coming from the Komodo Dragon, and they put bamboo all at the bottom of their poster, but you can't see it)

 

 

Africa: The Three Little Giraffes and the Big Bad Elephant

(they went with the bully angle instead of a predator)

Mount Kilimanjaro, The Nile river, Sudan

 

South America: The Three Little Parrots and the Big Bad Jaguar

Aconcagua, the Amazon River, Brazil

( poor B, he's ticked that the girls wouldn't read his script as he had "envisioned", and sweet L is ticked because B rewrote her script. Snarf) 

 

Australia: The Three Little Koalas and the Big Bad Kangaroo

( bully vs predator decision again)

Mount Kosciuszko, The Darling River, Sydney

 

Antarctica: The Three Little Penguins and the Big Bad Seal

Vinson Massif, there are NO rivers in Antarctica!, McMurdo Station

 

 

What did I learn from this?

 

1) My kids did a pretty good job finding the information in the books using text features we had learned previously in the year. They rocked that index I tell ya!

 

2) They all only seem to know the version of the Three Pigs where the wolf climbs down the chimney and falls into boiling water and runs away. (Personally, I seem to enjoy the one more where somebody gets eaten.  Is that bad?)

 

3)  The Australia group had the least difficult time saying their lines, because they cut them out and pasted them to the back of their masks.  Smart cookies!

 

 

4) The Africa and Australia group did a better job of putting their information into their play as they had each "pig" make a house at one of the locations they had to research.  The other groups tried this technique, but it wasn't as flawless.  But you know, they're newbies, so good job everybody!

 

5) I should do these sorts of exercises throughout the year at the end of major units of study.  One, it seemed like a nice way to synthesize our information.  For example, what if I did this sort of exercise at the end of our weather unit, but the three pigs had to encounter a different type of severe weather at each home, until they finally made it to the shelter and related storm safety tips?  Oooo, exciting ideas here.  There are three Native American groups they could encounter.  There are three major inventions for both Ancient Egypt and Ancient China.  Matter - solid, liquids, and gases.  Economics - natural, capital and human resources.  Famous American could be split into the presidents, the chicks, and the activists.  Three main habitats- forest, river, and grasslands.  yes! Yes! YES!  I'm on to something now!

 

6) By doing this throughout the year, I'd have opportunities to teach small snippets of fun stuff like puppet construction, or focusing the background on a main idea, or script writing techniques. So by the end of the year, with one big culminating activity, they could put all they knew together.

 

7) Why the Three Pigs?  Because they know it.  Because it has a clear sequence of events that makes it easy to separate other bits of information into.  Because it creates better group dynamics (for realz, yo!)

Ah, the wheels are turning again my friends.  Why does this always happen to me at the end of a year?