DAY TWO

MUSICAL STARTERS

To get warmed up today we started with our African Ghana song 'Jambo'.  We had a go at singing it as a canon, which worked really well - this song has quickly become a favourite with this group!

Then we did some music with claves, tapping the beat on the floor and on our toes.  We then used our claves to make a sun and learnt the song: 

Sally go round the sun

Sally go round the moon

Sally go round the chimney pots

Every afternoon

Our claves made a sun and we sang and danced around it.

'The Problem Solvers' Staffboard.

A THANK YOU LETTER
To begin our drama work today we received a thank you letter from Charlie Grinling, which was fun to open and read together in-role as 'The Problem Solvers'. We also reflected on the qualities of our team that made our company so successful.

Dear Problem Solvers
Thank you so much for all your help last week.  Mr and Mrs Grinling are back from their holiday now and they were so pleased that the cottage and the lighthouse had been so well looked after.  They were so happy to come home to a beautifully clean house, a healthy looking garden, and a very happy cat!   They were also relieved that all the ships had been able to travel safely with the bright polished light shining out to sea.  

I told them all about how you visited me and came up with such a good set of instructions.  I also told them that it was you all who stayed in the cottage and did all the cleaning, gardening, and cat feeding, while I got the work done in the lighthouse.

Mr and Mrs Grinling are very impressed with your high quality work and your superb problem solving skills.  I was also very pleased that you were all so friendly, kind, and helpful when you came to visit and stay at the cottage.  You are all very good listeners and have great manners.  You are also great lunch makers!

Thank you, I have told my friends all about your great company!

From Charlie Grinling.

ANOTHER LETTER AND A NEW JOB

Then we received another letter.  This letter was from Mrs Macdonald, a friend of Mrs Grinling.  She had heard about the good work of our company from Mrs Grinling and hoped we could help.  Mr Macdonald had locked himself in his shed at the bottom of the farm and was refusing to come out or say what the problem was!  We share read the letter, talked about what the problem was, and decided that we could definitely help.  Phoebe picked up one of our company phones and rang Mrs Macdonald to let her know we would be on our way as soon as we could (great improvising!).  Without any prompting the team set to work packing the van with supplies......

Opening our letter from Mrs Macdonald.

COLLECTIVE MAPPING
Next we did a drama activity called collective mapping.  On a large piece of paper everyone took turns to add details to a map showing the way between our company office to Mrs Macdonald's farm.  This was a very successful creative and co-operative task - the children loved it!  The map quickly became filled with all sorts of geographical features and hazards including volcanos, robber filled forests, roadworks, waterfalls, a town, a giant lolly shop.......Once we had completed our map the group decided that the twisty roads and numerous hazards would make travelling by van too hard so it was suggested that we travel in the company plane...

"it is a very twisty road"
"there are roadworks here....and a forest filled with robbers"
"we can go in our plane"
"we are going to have a tricky path over an active volcano but also not hitting this mountain here...."
"lets stop at the lolly shop and get a lollipop on the way....we will need to stop in Longs Town"

Collective Mapping

Collective Mapping

Collective Mapping

Lots of individual maps were drawn too....

AN EXCITING PLANE TRIP

The children set up a plane with chairs.  Tom and Myles volunteered to be the pilots (providing a very detailed exciting commentary of our flight over the volcanos and robber filled forests etc), Cameron and Ned delivered food and drink throughout the flight, and Emma was our leading air hostess providing a wonderful safety demonstration and reminded us several times during the flight when we needed to return to our seats due to turbulence (going over volcanos can be quite bumpy!).  There was also a quick landing made to stop and get lollies from the lolly shop organised by Ruby.  The spontaneous improvisation during the flight was very impressive and all the children stayed in role very well.

The team on the company plane.

Emma ended our flight with "Thank you for travelling with Air Problem Solvers.  Please make sure you take all your belongings with you...."  Great in-role work Emma!

ON THE FARM

We finally made it safely to Mr and Mrs Macdonald's farm.  We were welcomed by Mrs Macdonald (teacher in-role) and she took us to the shed where Mr Macdonald had locked himself in.  The Problem Solvers took it in turns to ask Mr Macdonald questions while Mrs Macdonal relayed his answers.  It took quite a while to find out that the animals were making too much noise for Mr Macdonald.  We had to really think hard about the kinds of questions we were asking to get the information we needed, and we also had to listen carefully to catch any clues....Mrs Macdonald was very shy and worried too so we had to be very kind and gentle, and use our manners.

INTERVIEWING THE ANIMALS

The next part of our work was interviewing the animals to find out why they were making so much noise.  For this part of the drama the children became the different animals.  We had a group of ducks and one rooster, a group of horses, a group of pigs, and a group of sheep.  CJ was in-role as one of The Problem Solvers and he went around the groups, with Mrs Macdonald, and interviewed the different groups to see what was wrong and why they were making such a noisy fuss.  Each group decided on what they were fussing about and CJ and Mrs Macdonald made notes to report back to Mr Macdonald.

PROBLEM SOLVED

The animals were indeed very noisy and fussing about all sorts of things.  Some wanted more food, different types of food, bigger pens, more entertainment - perhaps a juggler or even a TV in the pen....Back in-role as The Problem Solvers the team decided they would stay on at the farm for a while and help Mr Macdonald get everything sorted so the animals would be happy and quiet once again.

Another problem successfully solved by The Problem Solvers, well done team!