This week was Week 2 of summer school. It was a truly MAGICAL week! I have 3 "classes" that I teach each week. I teach a reading class twice and then I have magic followed by minecraft. All of my classes are really fun to teach and I hope they are just as fun to be in.
I want to take time right now to talk about my magic class. I started the week with a similar activity to how I start many units: 4 corners. I put a poster board in each corner of the room. Students rotated around the 4 corners and answered the questions that were on each poster:
What is MAGIC?
What tools (props) do magicians use?
What would your magic name be? Ex: Harry Houdini, Margaret the Magnificent...
What magic tricks do you hope to learn this week?
You should have seen the answers! These kids were ready for class! Not only did they fill the whole poster board with answers for the what is magic and what tools do magicians use, but they brought me magic tricks that they already knew and they came each day with tricks to show the class.
After we had made it around to all the posters, I told the class that I had an amazing trick that they would be leaving with. I introduced the Magic Wheel. (Thank you, Mr. Scarano, for teaching me this trick 18 years ago.....It is still my favorite!) As we worked to cut out and assemble the magic wheels, time slipped away. There was a line at the door waiting to get in for minecraft....I still had a card trick that I had planned to teach on Monday but it was going to have to wait until Tuesday. The magicians headed out to their next class but that didn't mean that they weren't practicing their skills and illusions as the day continued!
I was so excited for day 2! Kids brought magic wands and tricks to show the class before I began my instruction. Today it was time for a card trick!
The kids were able to practice this card trick for a few minutes and then we had some volunteers perform it for us. These kids really are magicians in the making. I completely expect to see a few of these kids on America's Got Talent in a few years. Speaking of AGT, I did share 3 of my favorite magicians (illusionists) from this season with the class.
Now please know that when we talked about magic on Monday, one of the things that the kids said was that some magic is really just a kind of prank. It's true. Sometimes we are entertained by what is a "trick." I appreciated the willingness of students to serve as kind assistants to practicing magicians even when the result was a wet face or some other small moment of embarrassment.
Remember those props I was telling you about? Would you believe that one amazing magician even shared his famous magical rabbit with the class on the last day?
What really became the magic was when one of the little learners does an EXTRA trick for the class that she learned on her own. I loved seeing her so motivated.
It will not surprise me at all if I see one of these kids on America's Got Talent in the next decade.
I have a summary of all the tricks that we learned during the week that I will try and share soon. Until then remember this:
