Mr. Mills Blog

It is good to know that in the midst of all this ISAT craziness, there is something to look forward to. With the African American History Fair tonight, the students have a chance to put on a tremendous musical show. I’m looking forward to it…pictures will be up next week.

The 3rd graders gave their puppet performances this week for their classmates and Ms. Graham’s preschool class. We had some bumps and bruises with the performances, but it was fun to see the students be excited to perform and give it their best. The photographs above are from the camera of Mr. Phillips…thanks!

The 4th graders are in the middle of making their videos…this is the crazy part of the project since the students are at different points in the project. Above, you can see one of the groups in action. Also, we will be having a “end of the project celebration” at the Hyde Park Art Center on March 13th from 4 to 7. Slips about this went home yesterday. We are trying to get a head count, so if these can be returned soon, we would appreciate it. Thanks.

Download Ryan’s Breakbeat

The 5th graders are just about finished with their hip hop unit. Mr. Bynum’s class are done with their breakbeats and Mr. Rowell’s class will finish next week. You can hear an example of one of their breakbeats above. We also listened to some older hip hop songs in class this week so the students can hear that hip hop is great art form that can be used for many positive messages. It is too bad that many of the students see it as a money first, almost inappropriate piece of popular culture. Considering it has very modest beginnings, I wanted them to see what the lyrics could be.

The 6th graders are finishing up two things. First, they are going to be completing a finished design for their class mosaic with Mirtes next week. Plus, they are just about to finish their stop animations as well. I will be putting all of the stop animations online soon.

Also, the video editing Saturday Academy will be ending tomorrow. I will be putting the student videos on a DVD to give to them next week. I had a lot of fun teaching this class, so I hope the students learned a lot and enjoyed their time with me on the weekend.

Until next week…