1C - Make a Book (May-2010)
The 'Make a Book" initiative is part of the Junior Certificate School Programme (JCSP) and we as a school have being proud to take part in it over many years. The students select a topic and simply make a book for it. Over the years the school has made books on "The Skin", "Road Safety", "Recipes for eggs and cheese", "Computers" and this year "Little Red Riding Hood". It is a cross curricular initiative that includes as many subjects as possible. It has become a very successful project for all students taking part.
This year make a book was undertaken by John Canning (Art teacher) and Shirley Higgins (Home Economics teacher) with the 1C class. The students decided to make a book telling the story of "Little Red Riding Hood". They researched the story in different books and found images of the different characters. As there are five students in the group they each took one character and drew their representation of that character. This was then transferred onto large pieces of cardboard, and the students then proceeded to painstakingly cover the characters with wool, fabric, paint, glue, buttons and lace. The book was then joined together with strong thread.
When the actual book was finished the students were given images from the story to retell in Irish Sign Language (ISL). When they returned to class the story was translated into English. The roles for the film were then decided. Elma read the story, Denise turned the pages of the story to show how to use the book and Anna, Abie and Aine signed the story in ISL. After practicing, the story was filmed and put onto the computer.
The end result is on our school videos page.
The book was shown at the "Make a Book Exhibition" in Dublin Civic Offices and at the school art exhibition, where the Variety Club requested to bring it to The International Variety Club Conference in America. The Special Education Support Service (SESS) has also requested to use it for their website. The Centre for Deaf Studies in Trinity College has also shown an interest in this project. This was also brought to Our Lady's School in Newry, to whom we are linked in the Dissolving Boundaries project.
In English class the students wrote a report on their day out at the exhibition - these reports were put on display on the language board. This project allowed each student to be involved in every manner, instilling excellent teamwork and good class spirit. It helped to develop their literacy skills and to enable the girls to create a story in their own style. English, Art, Home Economics, SPHE and ISL were the cross curricular subjects used in the project.
A huge thanks to all the staff involved in this project - John Canning, Shirley Higgins and Carmel Dudley with special thanks to advisers for the project Eimear O'Rourke, Marie Feeney and Lynn Cullen.
Some of the girls accounts of the exhibition
On Wednesday 21st April, we went to the "Make a Book" Exhibition. It was in Dublin City Centre in the Dublin Civic Office. We left school at 10am to get the 39 bus. Two teachers Shirley and John and also Carmel came with us. We arrived in a room. There were lots of children and teachers from many schools in Ireland. We looked at different exhibits. Some were brilliant, some were ok. I think our Exhibition was the best one. We went to McDonald's for our lunch. Then we got bus back to school. I had a good day out.
Anna 1C
Last Wednesday we went to the "Make a Book" Exhibition in the Dublin Civic Office. We took the bus and arrived in Dublin City centre. The women give me a quiz. We had to answer questions about different exhibits. There were loads of people from different schools. They showed our film on a TV screen. We saw ourselves presenting the story of "Little Red Riding Hood". My favourite exhibit was Willie Wonka's Chocolate factory. We finished the Exhibition and we went to a Puppet show, it was great fun, with great action and lovely music. Afterwards we went to Mc Donald's. When we finished eating in Mc Donald's we went to a shop called "River Island". Then we went back on the bus from the Dublin civic office and we had a laugh. I thought the exhibition was FANTASTIC!
Denise
On Wednesday 21st April we saw the "Make a Book" Exhibition. It was in a big room, full of school children and teachers. We entered a quiz. We had to answer questions about different Art Work. We saw our book, Little Red Riding Hood. They showed our film on a T.V screen. I enjoyed this trip because the books were good.
Aine 1c
