2025/5/1 1st Grade by Fran

Today I had two delightful tours with first-grade students! Using Yvonne’s recent idea about dragons in the courtyard, I crafted a tour around the concept of dragons. Since they were first-graders, reading Nian was appropriate. I began in the Crossroads gallery by asking what they knew about dragons and whether they had ever celebrated Chinese New Year. Then I read the story and had the students add sound effects (quiet noise). At the point in the story when Mei discovers that the Nian doesn’t like the color red, I passed out red scarves for everyone to carry for the rest of the tour (since we needed protection against any dragons we came upon).

Before leaving the Crossroads, I told the students that we would be going on a dragon hunt. I taught them the rhyme “Going on a Bear (Dragon) Hunt,” which we repeated each time we began a new journey, and explained their assignment: to hunt dragons in the galleries!

We started in Room 5, where they looked for a dragon that might be hiding. Both groups eventually guessed that the dragon was hiding beneath the mountain of the Ascending Dragon. They referred to the story as their evidence. We then discussed the drawing itself, the materials, and the word ascending. Some even found the dragon on the surface of the mountain.

On to the next hunt (Going on a dragon hunt …). Room 6, where they quickly found the dragon (Study for Seven-Headed Dragons). We discussed the materials used, including colored gunpowder, and debated the number of dragons to add to our count (1 versus 7). We stopped at the materials case and discussed the various surfaces and how they were affected by fire, among other things.

Dragon Hunt continued to Canvas on the Moon and The Annunciation of cAITM, in Room 9. Students were asked to discover dragons within the two works on their own. They drew their discoveries, counted, and shared.

The hunt ended in the garden, where the students discovered dragons throughout, keeping a running total. Of course, being first graders, the counts were not precisely accurate, but there were far more dragons than I thought possible in our galleries/garden.

Reflection (what would you do differently?):
The tour worked well with its central theme being something the students were interested in and familiar with. The story of Nian was engaging. I tried to point out during the reading, clues that they could use when engaging with the work in the galleries. 
I don’t think that I would do much differently. The students were engaged, curious, followed directions easily, and enjoyed themselves.

Comments & Suggestions:
I suggest that we discuss taking a short break between the two tours at some point. 
Today, the students (and adults) were given a few moments to use the restroom, take a breath, etc., and I think it made a difference in the second group’s focus. I don’t think anyone mentioned the word “lunch” throughout the second tour!

Perhaps we could consider starting the second tour at 11:15 and concluding it at 12:15. Just a thought.