SHADOW PUPPETRY WITH STEAM (STEAM=Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math)

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This is the project you supported for our diffendoofer kinder on donorschoose.com

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http://www.donorschoose.org/project/shadow-puppetry-with-steam/1765312/?timestamp=1446685570192&challengeid=20671137&pma=true&pmaId=3224238&pmaHash=IzOrFh8VZYGMlmNiuEP07g%253D%253D&utm_swu=2879&rf=page-siteshare-2015-11-proposal-teacher_3224238#pm14410285

Shadow Puppetry With STEAM

My students need art materials (posterboard, feathers, sequins) and resource books to support their creative explorations of the ancient art of shadow puppetry

My Students

My students need art materials to blend literature, music, science and art. The mission of our small charter school is to teach core subjects via arts integration. This multifaceted unit uses native stories of the southwest as a diving board to explore actual local ecology.

In this STEAM project my students will get to be story tellers, performers, and shadow puppet designers.

They will be exploring engineering to create their puppets. They will use cooperative learning and problem solving to act out their stories. They will be exploring digital technology to film their performances. Their animal characters will be supported by scientific observation. They will have a chance to visit with puppet artists. They will be inviting our school community to view their productions.

My Project

First students will be sketching their characters and setting and then transferring the images to posterboard, using prediction, measurement and calculation skills. Creating each movable shadow puppet will require the use of fine motor skills with scissors, metal fasteners, and rods/straws. Embellishing the puppets with layered color cellophane will lead to exploration of color theory. Using the puppets in a shadow play will inform them about physical science. Their story will come alive through their own telling, adding sound effects/live music, and making their characters perform the actions. They will get to observe local animals and plants that they could incorporate into their productions.

When students get to construct meaning and explore the "ways of the world" through creative dramatization, it powerfully impacts their motivation, their self-esteem, their engagement and their retaining content.

They make valuable connections between the visual/performing arts and the core disciplines. I find that this type of project sets each of my students up for success. They can each reach their full potential and be joyful, proud participants in their own learning.