Passion for History

Passion for History did a great job presenting their play and song to their peers of Saint Thomas More School. The confidence, creativity, imagination definitely shined through in their performance today. I believe they are prepared for the big challenge on March 1st. Here are some pictures of their performance. Great job team! Below is a recording of their performance!

Ms. Hunson's Team

Today marked the big dress rehearsal and presentation of each Destination Imagination team to their onlooking peers at Saint Thomas More School. Ms. Hunson's group did great! Their topic was on immigration and they changed history with a little twist, a lot of imagination, and humor. I especially enjoyed the facts about immigration that they gave at the end. Here are some photos of them performing. Excellent job! Here is a recording of part of their presentation below.

School Presentation

My dream team, passion for history, will be presenting their play and song in front of the entire K-8 student population this Friday. Although they are ready, they are very nervous to be judged in front of a group of their peers. I think this will be a great opportunity for them and hopefully inspire some other kids to join Destination Imagination next year. Good luck team!

Two more meetings to go...

With only two more meetings to go, everything is falling into place. Erin, Ruby, Katherine, Maeve, Coretta, and Alex have been working hard to make this play, song, and performance it's very best. They are practing their script, use of their props, and have already found costumes! Next week is our big dress rehearsal! Wish them luck!!

Candid pictures of the luncheon...

Here are a few more pictures of the girls hard at work. Ruby is wearing the Martin Luther King costume, Katherine is holding up the Martin Luther King picture while they practice their song, and other rehearsal candids!

Passion for History Luncheon

The passion for History luncheon went well and I believe they did accomplish a lot as well. All that is left now is to practice their lines and memorize the song. Here are some pictures from their meeting!

Final Script...

Today we had an Instant Challenge Workshop meeting at the school from 1:00 until 3:00 p.m. in the school cafeteria. It was called the Instant Challenge Olympics. Each group was given a challenge and only had a specific amount of time to complete each task. These tasks were performance-based and task-based and overall the groups did well. Our group decided that they needed to work more as a united team and believed that this is one area for future improvement.

Erin brought the finished script today. At our meeting tomorrow, each member is going to bring any useful items that they may use to complete their play, and then PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE!!!

Here is the final script:

Scene 1

Narrator (Erin): In a place called Montgomery, Alabama there was a boy named Martin Luther King Jr. He had a friend that was white. Martin Luther King knocked on Billy's door.

Martin Luther (Alex): Can Billy play?

Mother (Ruby): No he cannot play. As a matter of fact, he can not play ever again. I am sorry!

Narrator (Erin): Martin went home and cried. He asked his mother what she meant. She told him about segregation.

Scene 2:

Narrator (Erin): A few years later, a girl named Rosa Parks had to get up from her seat and walked home. That night, Martin Luther King had a dream and the angel said to him...

Angel: Tell Rosa that the bus she was on was a time machine. The next day, Martin told Rosa, and she went back in time.

Rosa Parks(Coretta): AAAAHHH...(then she went on the bus)

Bus Driver: Get up!!

Rosa Parks (Coretta): No!

Narrator: She was then sent to jail. Martin made a bus boycott. They won! His wife had a baby. Finally one day he had a speech.

Martin (Alex): I think we should change some laws like segregation and hate-filled whites. (everyone claps)

Narrator (Erin): Sadly he died in 1963.

End with your song

THE END

Here comes Rosa Parks!

Coretta was rummaging through clothes in the basement to create her costume for the role of Rosa Parks. She found one of my old dresses and cut the bottom off to fit. She attached some fake pearls that were laying around the house, and popped the lenses out of some old sun glasses. Here is her vintage look.

Painting the backdrop

Coretta worked last night on painting the back drop that Erin, Ruby, and Alex helped create. Here are some pictures of the process as well as the final product!

Rosa and Martin

Coretta has been working on the song this week. This is what she came up with.

Verse 1:
Long back, back, our world was bad.
There were signs saying stuff about segregation.
Then Martin stepped in and we are glad.

Refrain:
Martin Luther King was a mighty, mighty, man.
He fought for freedom and we are glad.
He brought peace to our community
And made a difference for you and me.

Verse 2:
Rosa Parks didn't give up her seat
So that made our world a world of peace

Refrain:
Martin Luther King was a mighty, mighty man!
He fought for freedom and we are glad!
If he didn't help, our world would be bad.
He brought peace to our community
And made a difference for you and me

Segregation Signs

Since the play has to take something in history and change it, the team Passion for History has decided to look specifically at Rosa Parks famous choice to not give up her seat. Because part of the rules states that you must change history, Rosa Parks does give up her seat and because of this decision, segregation still exists. Part of Coretta's responsibility this week is to create a protest sign that can be used in the play that highlights how one decision can affect many. Here is a picture of her sign.

Set Design

The team made excellent progress yesterday on their set design. Here is a picture of their back drop and the podium that Ruby made. Everything is ready to go for their meeting on Sunday! Can't wait!

Costume Design

We decided to meet on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at my house to work on the project some more. Each team member has a responsibility to complete by next week. Erin has decided to be our script writer and will be working on that. Thanks Erin! Alex, Coretta, Ruby, Maeve, and Katherine will be working on set design, costumes, and props. So far we have a podium for Martin Luther King, the magical school bus, and a back drop. Ruby will be creating our team sign for us this week. Thanks Ruby! Coretta will be working on selecting a poem for the side trip as well as creating some protest signs. Thanks Coretta!

Here are some photos of some team members experimenting with costumes!

Only five more meetings...

Today we discussed that there are only five more meetings until the big competition. With that said, we needed to really buckle down. The team spent their time between writing the script and creating their back drop. The team also discussed who would be which character and the roles decided thus far are as follows:

Rosa Parks is Coretta
Martin Luther King is Alex
The narrator is Erin

Sadly, Katherine and Maeve will not be able to attend the big competition due to their trip to Colorado, but they will continue to be part of the team offering their expertise in set design and props. Here are a few pictures of them working today.

Martin Luther King Song

As part of the Destination Imagination challenge requirement, the team has to create a song. Although I thought this would be one of the more difficult challenges they were faced with, it came to them quite easily. They have also decided to incorporate choreography and musical instruments to enhance their performance. Here is their first music video and the lyrics to their song.

Martin Luther King was a mighty mighty man
He fought for freedom and the end to segregation
He brought peace to our community
And made a difference in the world

He had a dream...

After having such a long break from school, it was great to see Passion for History so enthusiastic about their project. In no time at all, they were busy looking at what we have done since our last meeting and deciding what else needed to be done by March 1st. The team did an excellent job working on their script and their teamwork was outstanding! So far, this is the beginning of their first scene:

Scene 1
Narrator: In a place called Montgomery, Alabama, there was a boy named Martin Luther King Jr. He had a friend that was white. He soon learned that he could not play with him. When he grew up he wanted white and black people to have the same rights. A couple years later, Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream. Then God told him to tell Rosa Parks that the bus that she was on was a time machine, and to not get up on the bus... Stay tuned next week when more is added to the script!!