Planning - SUMMER

In today's Friday lesson we had the task of coming up with certain aspects of summer we enjoy, and what reminds us of summer. Actually, I found this to be harder than I thought. Summer isn't just about the sun and the beach. We also had to develop our ideas into potential activities to do with the students at Valence. My list was as follows:

SUMMER!

Songs:

Summer Loving - Grease

Summertime - Dizzee Rascal

Summertime - Will Smith ft Dj Jazzy Jeff)

Summer of 69 -  Bryan Adams

Here comes the sun - Nina Simone

My idea for using songs was that we could use them as a backing track in the transitions for any sequences we devise in the future or we could create movement pieces - like a dance - to one of these summer songs to fit the theme of... summer! Alternatively, we could learn the words together and sing it like a choir with added actions for those unable to join in vocally.

Films:

Grease

High School Musical 2

The Last Song

Parent Trap

The Endless Summer

My idea for incorporating films into the work we do with the Valence students was that we could do scenes from these summer classics! As a theatre student myself, I think acting is a great way to build confidence - especially for the Valence students - and is a great way to forget our own hectic lives for a moment and have fun playing someone else! It also takes a lot of concentration to learn lines (they wouldn't have to be complicated) and that would also help them advance mentally. 

Activities:

Every summer, I have great fun sitting outside in the sun (with extra sun cream obviously with being a ginger) and just letting myself loose doing something creative! We could team up with the Valence students and create own T - Shirts which would be cool to wear during whatever performance we decide to do. Making tye dye shirts is my favourite - they're so easy to make and they look beautifully summery. We could also make bead necklaces or bracelets... I hope that doesn't seem like an exercise for little kids because I LOVE doing those. It requires concentration and helps extend a persons creativity, so I think doing either would be great fun and very beneficial. 

From this point, we had to ensure that our activists were suitable for every student at Valence as their abilities varied. With the movement dances to the songs we could make the movement doable with any body part. If someone was unable to use their legs they could use their arm or vice versa. The acting theatre idea is very suitable as, regardless of the disability, almost anyone can join in their own way and with their own input. I noticed that those who could not speak had sound boards and those who could not walk had motorised chairs. The activities like shirt and jewellery making is almost suitable for everyone too as we can give first hand help and their ideas and themselves as a person could still come through.

:)