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Dawnie
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Posted: Dec 10 2006 at 11:18pm | IP Logged Quote Dawnie
Anyone ever done a unit study on The Nutcracker?

My two oldest girls are going to see a local performance of The Nutcracker ballet next weekend with their grandpa. I checked out the story of The Nutcracker and a CD of the music from the library. Any other ideas? Like, what are sugarplums and does anyone know how to make them?

Dawn

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eschuetter
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Posted: Dec 11 2006 at 12:49pm | IP Logged Quote eschuetter
I'll be watching for replies - my ds (5) and ds(2) are all about the Nutcracker this season.

At the craft store I found self-stick foamies kits to make Nutcrackers as well as wooden Nutcrackers (about 3 inches high) that we will paint.

Our library had several great resources:

The Nutcracker Ballet by Vladimir Vasilevich Vagin
Great picture book with an enjoyable retelling of the story

And a DVD (with Mikhail Baryshnikov, no less!)

Also great for this and other ballets is the audio CD:
Ballet Stories by David Angus
The story is artfully told and punctuated with good sections of the ballet's score.

I'm looking forward to other folks ideas... thanks for starting the thread.

Erica
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MaryM
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Posted: Dec 11 2006 at 4:47pm | IP Logged Quote MaryM
The Illustrated Book of Ballet Stories is an excellent resouce for this and other ballet stories.

This site was mentioned last year in the Tchaikovsky study

Dover has lots of great nutcracker materials - paper dolls, stencils, sticker books, stained glass ornaments, coloring books, cut & assemble theater. Lots to choose from.



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Michelle in IL
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Posted: Dec 11 2006 at 11:04pm | IP Logged Quote Michelle in IL
We did a Nutcracker Study VERY loosely last week as dd7 was in a Nutcracker production here that about made me lose my mind.

We visited the Classics for Kids site mentioned on another thread here and listened to a bit about Tchaikovsky. We talked about the original story by E.T. Hoffman. We also discussed the ballet and how a story is told without words--music, dancing, costumes, sets, etc.

We also tied it into Degas and spent a while looking at Degas dancer paintings, sculptures at different sites online.

To add in some science for the week, we talked about how a metal nutcracker is a lever. I was very proud of myself for planning ahead on this one and had purchased the K'Nex Levers and Pulleys set (about $20). Later in the week the lever knowledge came in handy to the kids as they had to get themselves out of a fix they had put themselves in. Ahhhhh, the joys of homeschooling.

Also, if anyone is interested, at pbs.org you can find a printable Nutcracker Sets and dancers for the kids (and adults) to color and contruct. I have them printed but we didn't get to them. Again the madness of the performance clouded my mind for the whole week.
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momwise
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Posted: Dec 11 2006 at 11:04pm | IP Logged Quote momwise
Does anyone remember a feature length film of the Nutcracker. It was out a few years ago. Was it any good?

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