I am positive that the kids who actually did go home and say that phrase to their parents were greeted with some pretty interesting looks. But how else could you possibly begin a study of Morocco than to watch the last 2 minutes of such an incredibly famous movie, a Bogie movie nonetheless, that takes place in Morocco’s most exciting and mysterious city!?!? It is cinematic history. an icon. a landmark. an institution.
Of course, if you ask the kids, the video clips of the snake charmers in Marrakesh’s famous or infamous market, Djemaa el fna far outweighed a silly black and white movie. Don’t get me wrong, watching King Cobra’s ‘dance’ is pretty amazing. And all of the performers who frequent the market. Dancers, storytellers, vendors of fruits and veggies, sellers of cloth and trinkets. Jugglers. It is a circus. It is a street fair. It is a madhouse. But this staffer would rather endure a root canal than an up close and personal interaction with a snake.
We also looked at some of the amazing mosques and mosaics that call Morocco home. The kids made drums and attempted to cover them in personal mosaic designs. We listened to fables from Morocco, and talked about storytelling. We are going to do a unit soon on storytelling. Can’t wait for that!
Again, soccer is the game of choice. They play a lot of games we play. Marbles too. Since this week is a short week, we did our foodal journey of discovery on Thursday rather than waiting until Friday. The Armstrong group (grades 4/5) made couscous with onion, red pepper, cucumber and carrots. We made mint tea as well. It was beautiful in the glass jars!
The younger kids got the chance to draw some snakes on our smartboard, while we looked at the different perspectives of seeing an object, in this case a coiled snake like the ones in Djemaa el fna. They did a great job. Then we practiced doing the cobra yoga pose and then they drew chalk snakes outside. You could say do math with chalk outside on the basketball court and they would think it was the best idea ever! Enjoy the photosssssssssssss.
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