BSA303, mini pecha kucha, 10 April, 2017

Key Rearch question.  "Communicate" may be a more precise word to use than "talk" as this project is visual as much as verbal

On Ruth's suggestion, the project leads the MPK.  A little girl who gets mad sometimes and loses her temper goes on an exploration of her feelings with the help of an Armadillo and assorted other animals in her imagination.

They hang out in a warehouse full of junk, a metaphor for a mind full of lots of ideas and things with some organisation, and some of the junk becomes characters.  Each of these characters deals with emotions in a way that makes sense to their species and relates to how human's process stress.  The possum is made from pasta and eats herself when she's stressed, the armadillo rolls into a ball for protection, the fish is made from yarn and knitting needles and is hard to get close to, the rabbit is made from computer cables and runs away and plugs into technology, and the tuatara, who snaps and charms to get her way, is armored on the outside but warm inside.  

I'm in NZ and this project starts here so I am looking first at what NZ needs rather than the US.

Focus on the Family is a resource website for parents and they had some good information on teaching anger management to kids.

The It's Not OK campaign began in 2007 and was examined in 2014 to see how it was going and who was being served.   They observed that there was a gap in how children and non-english speaking minorities were being engaged.

In addition to teaching reading, writing and arithmetic, Sesame teaches character and life lessons.  They have dealt with death, birth and families on their show and created

the Little Children, Big Challenges series of dvds to support parents and caregivers who want to talk to kids about focused, difficult, topics.  

Mr. Roger Neighborhood aired simultaneously with Sesame Street, beginning in the 60s and tackled real world issues in gentle, respectful ways that focused on talking to the kids about their experiences.

This is the part that makes me cry- Mr. Rogers invited Officer Clemmons to cool his feet in a pond with him and wiped them off with a towel afterwards.  It was a lovely moment of two men who were different on the outside but still had the same needs and feelings.