PS 40 K-2 Monster Mash

31 Oct 2011, 11:39 AM by kaya, Elementary School

                          Students act like monsters waking up to a slow count

 

The K-2 students in Urban Arts' Music, Arts, Dance & Drama class at PS 40 are celebrating their favorite reason to dress up with their version of the Monster Mash. Students took a break from their usualy busy schedule to share these photos. They've been learning the music scale, choreographing songs, and are planning to create a puppet show based off of their retelling of a famous story. Keep checking the post to hear more!

                                 The MADD class works on their choreography

 

Bashan: I'm 6. I like the music the most that is fast. I think the Moonlight Sonata is good because of the music it has. It's by Beethoven. Dancing in the monster mash song, the beginning is the easiest. I am going to be Spiderman for Halloween.

Jaelen: I am 8 years old. My favorite part of class is the end when we play game. My favorite game is statue. I like to be the guard. The fun part is when we get to dance. I think the Moonlight Sonata is awesome because I hear the "one two three" swing beat. One thing I'd like to make in class is paper airplanes for the puppet show. I'd put my puppet it in the airplane and fly it.

Sabrina: I'm 7, but my birthday is tomorrow so I'm 8! My favorite part of class is when we write stories and maps. I like to dance and play statues. The hardest part of class is remembering what we did in last class and doing it right today. But it can be fun, too. I am excited to make the puppet story.

  Students try different monster poses with Ms. Cristina

On October 23rd, seven former Urban Arts Partnership playwriting students came together in the spirit of friendly competition to participate in the 2011 Montblanc Young Writers Contest, the winner of which becomes the sixth writer for The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway on November 14th. The students met at the new Urban Arts office early Sunday morning and had a quick discussion and pep talk with acclaimed playwright Lucy Thurber, where she explained her career and inspirations, as well as what the writers will be faced with in the upcoming day.

Once the seven alumni settled in with the task of writing a 5-7 minute play in the next 6 hours, Academy playwriting teacher and working New York City playwright Zac Kline was on hand for mentoring and overseeing the new drafts coming through. After a long day of writing, deleting, revising and finalizing, seven new short plays were printed to paper:

-The Warning by Diogenes Martinez featured a sister attempting to sabotage her sibling’s date when she realizes that she will be going out with her ex.

-Anuradha Golder wrote Domino, a play about two activists attempting to sway a friend for one of their causes.

-Dial ‘M’ for Crazy had two mental patients; one a grown woman who acts out like a 10 year old and another who fears the letter ‘M’, being counseled by a new therapist. Written by Maynor Alas.

-Audasia Glenn’s play about three sorority sisters attempting to escape from a cabin in the woods was titled Sadistic Sophistication.

-Three ‘criminals’ doing community service discuss their crimes and what they can do to improve their lives in Emmanuel Minaya’s Everybody’s Dirty Laundry.

-Stuck in the Middle With You placed two strangers with a mutual friends at odds with one another until they discover they have crossed paths before. By Clevins Browne.

-A Devil's Contract brought a lovesick man to hell in order to retrieve his soul from the devil and her hype man. Written by Anthony Naranjo.

Monday afternoon brought the writers, actors and directors together at The National Arts Club for a brief 2-hour rehearsal before the final reading. Lake Bell, Bryan Greenberg and Victor Rusuk of How To Make It In America lent their time and talent to read for two of the plays, and Michael Kenneth Williams of The Wire and Boardwalk Empire gave his talent to two others.

After all the impressive, hilarious and touching plays were read, the 12-person panel (which included Montblanc North America CEO Jan-Patrick Schmitz and last years Young Writers Project winner Elizabeth Cruz Cortes) retreated for a difficult decision. After a tough vote, Anthony Naranjo and his play A Devil's Contract were selected, and this November Anthony will be making his Broadway debut at the 10th Annual The 24 Hour Plays on Broadway.  Congratulations!

 

This week, we were pleased to welcome photographer Jan-Patrick Schmitz, CEO of Montblanc North America, into our new partner school, Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology, for a Master Class on portrait photography with students in the after school photo program with teaching artist Laurie Krupp. 

 

Jan-Patrick shared examples of his work and the techniques he used to achieve certain effects.

Students and Jan-Patrick discuss principles of light and strategies for shooting in both natural light and studio settings.

The students' work was uploaded for viewing and reflection toward the end of the class to discuss what tools they used to capture their subjects in different ways.  Examples of students' work from the shoot can be seen below: 

"We turned the room into a photo studio.  We used paper backgrounds to shoot portraits.  Lighting can show the details in people's faces, and I learned not to shine too much light into someone's face.  It can be a little bit hard.  I like taking pictures and talking about other people's work that's awesome and unique." - Danissa, 9th grade

"I was shooting portraits of a friend of mine.  Sometimes I shot them from different angles with different framing.  I tried some with natural lighting and some with hot lights.  My favorite part was taking pictures and manipulating the light to my advantage." - Kylan, 9th grade

"We were learning how to bend light to the best angel that suits our frame.  My favorite part was learning how to manipulate natural light to capture the moment.  I like how photography shows the common factors between different people.  I love the class." - Venitia, 9th grade

 

 

At Manhattan Acadmy of Arts & Language (MAAL), teaching artist Vee Bravo has been collaborating with science teacher Mr. Gallanero since the beginning of the year to integrate digital media/ video into the curriculum for The Living Environment class.  Over the course of the year, MAAL students will be creating a "digital handbook" for the class consisting of original media to complement the class.

Students have begun working on original educational media- short videos that illustrate specific concepts from the Living Environment curriculum.  The current batch of videos focus on students demonstrating how to properly use various science tools and instruments, with students handling all the production, shooting and editing.  The videos will be in both Spanish and English, and we are also exploring possibilities for distributing and sharing the videos so that other students can access and benefit from the videos.

"We were working on balance scales and how to use them to measure stuff.  We're making videos, so we learned about shooting different kinds of angles.  The videos show people how to use science equipment like balances and other things." - Sashaly, 10th grade

"I worked on shooting using two video cameras for different angles.  More angles will show how to use the equipment better.  I want the videos to help next year's students.  it's fun because I like having a camera in my hands." - Carolinie, 10th grade

"We are editing today using the computer.  We're making a video about using the balance scale to measure an object.  This video will help us learn more about science." - Edwin, 10th grade

Friday September 30th was a great day for the Peapod Academy and Montblanc and the attendees of the Black Eyed Peas concert in Central Park to raise money for programs that alleviate poverty. The day started early with us four representatives of the Peapod Academy’s Media Lab, me (Lorenzo Jackson), Genesis Urena, Petra Wilmer, and Ihor Grynthestiky. We met at 11:30 and discussed the goal for the day, which was to make a short documentary on the concert and our own experiences revolving around how the Peapod Academy is helping us to rise above the astounding poverty rates in New York City. 1.8 million people in New York live under the poverty line, and the concert is to benefit Robin Hood’s contribution to programs, like Urban Arts Partnership, that assist in lowering the risk of poverty.

 

We met with the staff members of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus near Central Park. Everyone spoke about their journeys in life and their professions. The students and the staff headed over to the John Lennon Bus and were given their passes for the concert. The students were then given an exploration of the amazing 3 in 1 studio bus. The beginning part of the bus is an audio and video production room; the center studio is for recording and mixing, leaving the end part of the bus a green screen room.                                                                                                                            

We were given the opportunity to interview Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas, and as we waited we prepared questions and set up for the task. Genesis and Petra were the interviewers, Igor ran the sound and I ran the camera. When Taboo arrived it was lights, camera, action and the interview gave us insight into why Taboo and the Black Eyed Peas felt so strongly about fighting poverty. Taboo spoke about growing up, how arts are important, and the meaning of the concert. The rest of the time we spent collecting footage from around Central Park, even getting to go backstage and film the 60,000 people in attendance as they waited for the concert to start. We went the whole day interviewing people, getting footage of the fans and concert and taking pictures of the very unique Black Eyed Peas themselves. With help from the staff members Hans Tanner, Kyle Baudour, and Ryan L’Esperance the documentary footage was a success.                                              

As the day was ending everyone met back up at the bus to have individual interviews on how the day went and the meaning of the concert to us, the students. I feel taking arts out of school is killing diversity and imagination. If you were look into the crowd every ethnicity was there, and everyone was enjoying themselves, all for good cause. Overall the day was amazing, all the students were great in spirits and we are very thankful to Montblanc and the John Lennon Education Tour Bus.                                                                                                                                               

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