It's been an exciting first few weeks at After School! The students have been participating in some incredible new classes as well as some of their favorites from last year!
We've Got Game lives up to their name with their Introduction to Basketball class. Students in grades 3-7 are learning the fundamentals of the game such as dribbling, passing, and controlling the ball.
Coach Erik and Coach JoJo introduced the students to a new game that tests their agility, accuracy, and ball coordination. The game 'Jail Ball' works like 'Knock-Out' with a twist. If a student does not make a shot before his or her competitor then they go to 'jail'. In order to be released from jail, the player's teammate must score a basket which will cause a 'jailbreak'!
In Drama Class, the students have been getting some very interesting prompts from Mr. Nall. Each week, he comes with a bunch of index cards that have random words written on them. Frances in 1st Grade is holding one that simply says 'Pineapples'. Simone in 3rd Grade is holding up a notecard that reads 'Mom, can I stay at his/her house tonight?'
These two very creative actors came up with a short play using only those two phrases. Hilarity ensued with Frances, acting like a puppy, kept asking Simone for her favorite treat, pineapples, meanwhile Simone kept asking her mom (from the comfort of her bed) if she could have a sleepover with her tropical fruit-loving friend.
Each student received a different card and the results were just as ambitious and fun to watch as this one!
Water Coloring class is one of Mr. Nall's favorite classes because he gets to show the students some of history's most famous paintings and expose them to a series of styles that have influenced artists around the world!
Here are some of the paintings we've looked at so far: 'The Mona Lisa (1506)' by Leonardo Da Vinci, 'The Scream (1893)' by Edvard Munch, and 'The Marriage Proposal(1434)' by Jan Van Eyck. Each of these paintings is a prime example of a different type of painting style ranging between realism, surrealism, and symbolism.
Mr. Nall always lets the students choose different ways to paint the picture, because it allows the students to explore the paintings world on their own. Take a look at 'The Scream' painted by Marx on the left. Notice how the wavy lines at the top are green? He interpreted the painting to be set in a pastoral landscape with rolling green hills, while Wyatt chose to make his background a blue sky with a sun, as if the screaming man was catching a sunburn at the beach. Both interpretations are nothing like Munch's original, but each takes a fascinating attempt to answer the hundred-year-old questions, 'Why is the man screaming?'
Morgan in 3rd grade came up with the idea of turning the wedding robe the groom in Van Eyck's painting is wearing into a candy-cane striped gown, as well as placing colorful dots on the tiles of the floor. The colors and patterns on the clothes make it look like a really fun party!
After the class has cleaned up the watercoloring supplies, Mr. Nall shows the students what the real painting looks like so they can compare how their painting is different from the one up in the museum. Who knows, maybe history will decide that their interpretation is even better than the original!