This week’s In the Classroom is about one of our most popular classes, Wild Wild West. In keeping with the goals of the Right At School’s Diamond Curriculum, the Wild, Wild West course engages students in fun and educational experiences that develop their creativity and condition their bodies through active and engaging activities.
In this course, students are transported back in time to the 1800s when people from the eastern part of the United States moved out west for land, gold, and adventure. Students develop their own character and confidence as they learn about people who took risks and set out to improve their lives in a world unknown to them. Students will enjoy learning about this amazing time in history, when fortunes were made and lost, and legends were created.
In this course, students are transported through imaginative play to the days as the Wild West. Much has been written on the benefits of imaginative play for children. Imaginative play allows children the opportunity to experiment with taking risks in a safe environment. It develops problem solving skills. Imaginative play also provides children with the experience of “walking in someone else’s shoes” which develops character and empathy. The imaginative play in the Wild, Wild West course also introduces a part of United States history.
Activities in this course include a nice blend of creative crafts, physical activity, and language development. To spark their creativity student make Wanted posters of themselves and decorate bandanas from potato brands they make.
Students move their bodies as they pan for gold, run Pony Express style relays, kick up their heels in a square dance, learn some roping skills, and herd cattle in a Cattle Drive game. Language development and creativity is enhanced as they learn some songs of the old west, create shadow puppet shows, listen to and write an American tall tale, learn some cowboy slang, and create messages using Morse code.
The fun and adventure of this course culminate in a Western Hoedown where students perform shadow puppet shows and a square dance for the guests and then everyone enjoys singing some songs of the old west and playing some western games.