Teaching With Disney

[mainstreet1997]

So I just got back from a quick 2 night stay at Bay Lake Tower. Today was my first day at work. I teach 4 year olds so they are always excited when I tell them I was at Disney. One of my kids recently went parasailing in Mexico and I was showing him a picture of the parasailers I saw on Bay Lake. Well one of the kids saw a picture of the castle and they were hooked. That lead to watching a video of Summer Nightastic, to watching a video of Pirates of the Carribean to watching a video of Winnie the Pooh...and and on. (I know very academic right? But thank you YouTube!)

My partner made a joke about me doing a theme with Disney World for a week. The more I thought about it, its not a bad idea. Its summer, we're having fun. We did a two week unit on France for our World's Fair last November.
My kid's parents may kill me but if done right this could be fun.

Obviously my goal is to do Disney but keep it academic. Language, Math, Science, Art, Social Studies.

For example, I saw an idea where someone had pics of the original 4 bird hosts of the Tiki Room. Apparently their feather colors represent the colors of the flags they are from. I could have the kids look at the birds and then figure out what country they are from.

I would probably keep it to the 7 lands of the Magic Kingdom. Any help appreciated.

Thanks!
Katie

 

[dicar123]

We did a two week unit on France for our World's Fair last November.
My kid's parents may kill me but if done right this could be fun.

Katie

So, you don't care if you make the parents mad? Who pays your salary?France is quite different from endorsing a business, any business. I would be beyond furious if my kid came home every day clamoring to go to Disney World, especially if a trip were nowhere near my budget.

I work for a fast-food outlet. A co-worker was recently asked to come and talk to pre-schoolers about nutrition and bring free food. I thought that was outrageously inappropriate as well.

 

[allison443]

So I just got back from a quick 2 night stay at Bay Lake Tower. Today was my first day at work. I teach 4 year olds so they are always excited when I tell them I was at Disney. One of my kids recently went parasailing in Mexico and I was showing him a picture of the parasailers I saw on Bay Lake. Well one of the kids saw a picture of the castle and they were hooked. That lead to watching a video of Summer Nightastic, to watching a video of Pirates of the Carribean to watching a video of Winnie the Pooh...and and on. (I know very academic right? But thank you YouTube!)

My partner made a joke about me doing a theme with Disney World for a week. The more I thought about it, its not a bad idea. Its summer, we're having fun. We did a two week unit on France for our World's Fair last November.
My kid's parents may kill me but if done right this could be fun.

Obviously my goal is to do Disney but keep it academic. Language, Math, Science, Art, Social Studies.

For example, I saw an idea where someone had pics of the original 4 bird hosts of the Tiki Room. Apparently their feather colors represent the colors of the flags they are from. I could have the kids look at the birds and then figure out what country they are from.

I would probably keep it to the 7 lands of the Magic Kingdom. Any help appreciated.

Thanks!
Katie

I think you are well-intentioned, but as a parent I wouldn't be happy if it seemed like a teacher was "pushing" WDW. There are plenty of people who aren't interested in going to WDW, either for financial or other reasons.

IMO, using the disney stories, movies, etc. is different from a teaching unit based on the the seven lands of a theme park, and using attractions and rides as a basis for lessons. That just seems to be advertising a commercial enterprise to the kids.

JMO.

 

[mainstreet1997]

Yeah I guess youre right. Ive just been trying to think of something fun to do this summer and whats more fun than Disney! Thanks for your input.

 

[wdwfan6]

My 4 year old sister came home with a minnie mouse coloring sheet from BIBLE class one night. We just didn't understand how Minnie Mouse could be related to what they were studying. We love anything Disney, but how does Disney fit in to church? Of course your situation is a little different, but as previous posters have said, I would steer away from it.

 

[Robindianne]

Speaking as a teacher and a parent, I think this is brilliant! You could do fairy tales (cindy, snow white, etc); Epcot lands (passports and/or masks, languages - hello in many langs, foods, flag colors); the future including Epcot's future world (inventions, etc). The possibilities are endless! Just don't try to get them to buy Disney stock or pay for a dis trip and you aren't selling a business at all! Mmmmmm. Maybe I'll do something like this too. Good wishes and keep us posted of how it's going ok?

So I just got back from a quick 2 night stay at Bay Lake Tower. Today was my first day at work. I teach 4 year olds so they are always excited when I tell them I was at Disney. One of my kids recently went parasailing in Mexico and I was showing him a picture of the parasailers I saw on Bay Lake. Well one of the kids saw a picture of the castle and they were hooked. That lead to watching a video of Summer Nightastic, to watching a video of Pirates of the Carribean to watching a video of Winnie the Pooh...and and on. (I know very academic right? But thank you YouTube!)

My partner made a joke about me doing a theme with Disney World for a week. The more I thought about it, its not a bad idea. Its summer, we're having fun. We did a two week unit on France for our World's Fair last November.
My kid's parents may kill me but if done right this could be fun.

Obviously my goal is to do Disney but keep it academic. Language, Math, Science, Art, Social Studies.

For example, I saw an idea where someone had pics of the original 4 bird hosts of the Tiki Room. Apparently their feather colors represent the colors of the flags they are from. I could have the kids look at the birds and then figure out what country they are from.

I would probably keep it to the 7 lands of the Magic Kingdom. Any help appreciated.

Thanks!
Katie

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

If done correctly it could work
Heck, if at my high school we got away in AP Environmental science with watching Avatar then you can get away with teaching 4 year olds important things with a tie to disney.

 

[mainstreet1997]

Robindianne,

Thanks for the positive support but I think our fellow members here are right and I should probably drop the idea.

But I had fun thinking of stuff like the Tiki Bird thing - or turning our waterslide into a mini splash mountain and recreating the tea-cups with Sit and Spins!

 

[mainstreet1997]

Hollywood we kind of are already doing that. Were doing Ocean and might watch Nemo on Friday. I did that one year and did a HUGE unit where we learned about a lot of different animals. I was so proud when we watched Nemo and it got to that scene when Marlin and Dory are chasing the pretty light....and the kids yelled out "ANGLERFISH!!"

 

[onelilspark]

Perhaps doing Disney for an entire week would be a bit overkill, but what about interspersing Disney into a lesson every now and then?

My cousin is a math teacher and every year she shows her students Donald in Mathmagic Land. It gives kids an opportunity to see that what you're teaching them can be found in everything...even cartoons! ...though I don't know if Mathmagic Land is 4 year appropriate...she teaches in the MS level. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_in_Mathmagic_Land

 

[mainstreet1997]

Just a note to tell you guys I think I'm pulling this off!!!

I've decided rule #1 will be (well actually rule #2 since rule #1 in my room is "Have fun") "You are not allowed to go home and beg your parents to go to Disney!"

But I was talking to some of my parents about it and they are excited about it. In fact one of my parents said this is a good thing. They are going to Disney in February for the first time so her son will kind of know some of the things that are down there. Besides, Dad is driving her crazy saying "Do you think we'll see that at Disney?".

So here's what I came up with.

Tomorrow (Monday) I'm going to talk to them a little bit about Walt Disney and were going to watch Steamboat Willie. Then were going to have a little drawing lesson how to draw Mickey's face.
Then I made a Hidden Mickey activity. I found some pics of Hidden Mickeys around WDW and turned them into coloring pages using photoshop. The kids will have to find the Mickeys and color them red.

Tuesday were making glitter fireworks. Also, I made an activity with pictures of dolls from Small World and the kids have to figure out what country they are from and write the name of the country. I only gave them 3 choices for the countries and the dolls are pretty much wearing the colors of their flag.


Thursday, I created teacups out of Sit and Spins, the kids have to estimate how many times they can spin then actually do it and see how many times they can spin and write down their answer.
We are also coloring and naming parrots to create our own Tiki Room!
Also I made my own Buzz Light Year game by printing out lots of Zurgs (which I covered with velcro), each one worth a different amount of points. Each child gets a blue ping pong ball and a green ping pong ball covered in velcro. The idea is to throw their ball at the Zurg targets, then add up how many points they got on each throw.

Friday, I made a Peter Pan game where they start at the Darling House and have to answer questions to move along the stars to Neverland. Were also going on a Haunted Mansion "ghost hunt". I printed out lots of silly ghosts (that I even painted with glow in the dark paint!) and put dots on them. The kids have to count the dots, find the same ghost on their paper and write the number on it. Were also doing a little "Critical Thinking" - I printed out the stretching room portraits and covered the bottoms and I'm going to ask the kids what they think is happening in the bottom of the picture.

I would kind of like to show them the Magic Kingdom part of the planning video as well but Im debating whether to show it to them at the beginning of the week or the end of the week.

Also, Ive made them pin straps using wide ribbon ($1 at Michaels!) and I'm making pins (hot gluing acrylic jems to safety pins) that they can earn for things like following directions, helping friends, etc. And of course they can trade!

Pics coming soon!

 

[luvsJack]

It sounds great and makes me miss my 4 year old classroom!!

 

[Mickey's Minion]

So I just got back from a quick 2 night stay at Bay Lake Tower. Today was my first day at work. I teach 4 year olds so they are always excited when I tell them I was at Disney. One of my kids recently went parasailing in Mexico and I was showing him a picture of the parasailers I saw on Bay Lake. Well one of the kids saw a picture of the castle and they were hooked. That lead to watching a video of Summer Nightastic, to watching a video of Pirates of the Carribean to watching a video of Winnie the Pooh...and and on. (I know very academic right? But thank you YouTube!)

My partner made a joke about me doing a theme with Disney World for a week. The more I thought about it, its not a bad idea. Its summer, we're having fun. We did a two week unit on France for our World's Fair last November.
My kid's parents may kill me but if done right this could be fun.

Obviously my goal is to do Disney but keep it academic. Language, Math, Science, Art, Social Studies.

For example, I saw an idea where someone had pics of the original 4 bird hosts of the Tiki Room. Apparently their feather colors represent the colors of the flags they are from. I could have the kids look at the birds and then figure out what country they are from.

I would probably keep it to the 7 lands of the Magic Kingdom. Any help appreciated.

Thanks!
Katie

So, you don't care if you make the parents mad? Who pays your salary?France is quite different from endorsing a business, any business. I would be beyond furious if my kid came home every day clamoring to go to Disney World, especially if a trip were nowhere near my budget.

I work for a fast-food outlet. A co-worker was recently asked to come and talk to pre-schoolers about nutrition and bring free food. I thought that was outrageously inappropriate as well.

While I enjoy Disney as much as anybody, I would be beyond livid if a teacher, especially a teacher of impressionable 4 year old's devoted a week to promoting what is basically a big corporation whose main goal is to make money for their shareholders.

While this board attracts people more obsessed with Disney than the usual human being as it is geared towards Disney, the majority of people I run into think Disney is just a fun vacation theme park. No "pixie dust", "magic", etc. Most parents would not be pleased with corporate pushing in school of lessons.

We are headed to Universal soon for HP, not going to Disney, and I would be absolutely po'd beyond belief if my nieces or nephews nagged about Disney because they spent an entire week on it at school. Just as I don't think an entire week of school should be based on HP or Spiderman.

I can see one or two activities based on Disney, but not an entire week solely of Disney. There are still plenty of parents out there that think Disney is anywhere from stupid to evil. Remember all the religious based protests?

And I certainly hope you had parental permission for allowing 4 year olds to be watching a PG-13 movie in Pirates of the Caribbean. Hopefully it was a video about the ride and not the movie that was shown.

 

[Minniemama350]

While I enjoy Disney as much as anybody, I would be beyond livid if a teacher, especially a teacher of impressionable 4 year old's devoted a week to promoting what is basically a big corporation whose main goal is to make money for their shareholders.

While this board attracts people more obsessed with Disney than the usual human being as it is geared towards Disney, the majority of people I run into think Disney is just a fun vacation theme park. No "pixie dust", "magic", etc. Most parents would not be pleased with corporate pushing in school of lessons.
And I certainly hope you had parental permission for allowing 4 year olds to be watching a PG-13 movie in Pirates of the Caribbean.

She didn't say she showed them the pg-13 movie. She said she showed the ride (You-tube). Very different.

I don't think a Disney themed week is necessarily appropriate at school. A few parents being happy is great, but what about the families that could never even dream of such a trip? I hope everything DID go well though. It sounds like the kids would've had fun.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

Just a note to tell you guys I think I'm pulling this off!!!

I've decided rule #1 will be (well actually rule #2 since rule #1 in my room is "Have fun") "You are not allowed to go home and beg your parents to go to Disney!"

But I was talking to some of my parents about it and they are excited about it. In fact one of my parents said this is a good thing. They are going to Disney in February for the first time so her son will kind of know some of the things that are down there. Besides, Dad is driving her crazy saying "Do you think we'll see that at Disney?".

So here's what I came up with.

Tomorrow (Monday) I'm going to talk to them a little bit about Walt Disney and were going to watch Steamboat Willie. Then were going to have a little drawing lesson how to draw Mickey's face.
Then I made a Hidden Mickey activity. I found some pics of Hidden Mickeys around WDW and turned them into coloring pages using photoshop. The kids will have to find the Mickeys and color them red.

Tuesday were making glitter fireworks. Also, I made an activity with pictures of dolls from Small World and the kids have to figure out what country they are from and write the name of the country. I only gave them 3 choices for the countries and the dolls are pretty much wearing the colors of their flag.


Thursday, I created teacups out of Sit and Spins, the kids have to estimate how many times they can spin then actually do it and see how many times they can spin and write down their answer.
We are also coloring and naming parrots to create our own Tiki Room!
Also I made my own Buzz Light Year game by printing out lots of Zurgs (which I covered with velcro), each one worth a different amount of points. Each child gets a blue ping pong ball and a green ping pong ball covered in velcro. The idea is to throw their ball at the Zurg targets, then add up how many points they got on each throw.

Friday, I made a Peter Pan game where they start at the Darling House and have to answer questions to move along the stars to Neverland. Were also going on a Haunted Mansion "ghost hunt". I printed out lots of silly ghosts (that I even painted with glow in the dark paint!) and put dots on them. The kids have to count the dots, find the same ghost on their paper and write the number on it. Were also doing a little "Critical Thinking" - I printed out the stretching room portraits and covered the bottoms and I'm going to ask the kids what they think is happening in the bottom of the picture.

I would kind of like to show them the Magic Kingdom part of the planning video as well but Im debating whether to show it to them at the beginning of the week or the end of the week.

Also, Ive made them pin straps using wide ribbon ($1 at Michaels!) and I'm making pins (hot gluing acrylic jems to safety pins) that they can earn for things like following directions, helping friends, etc. And of course they can trade!

Pics coming soon!

I would definitely not use a piece of pure advertising propaganda as classroom material.

 

[Mickey's Minion]

Hollywood we kind of are already doing that. Were doing Ocean and might watch Nemo on Friday. I did that one year and did a HUGE unit where we learned about a lot of different animals. I was so proud when we watched Nemo and it got to that scene when Marlin and Dory are chasing the pretty light....and the kids yelled out "ANGLERFISH!!"

Using a classic Disney movie is entirely different than showing advertising propaganda for a theme park, basing all your lessons on rides in a theme park, and then doing activities which are somewhat unique to that theme park such as pin trading.

This is blatant pushing of not Disney, but of a very expensive vacation destination down 4 year olds' throats.

Same thing would be the learning of Hawaii. It would be one thing to show a movie involving Hawaii, even Lilo and Stitch, yet another to base an entire week's worth of lessons on a particular hotel in Hawaii, using their brochures, their menus, their theming of their lobby, etc.

One would be accenting the study of Hawaii, the other a blatant push of the particular hotel (or in the OP's situation, other vacation destination).

 

[PollyannaMom]

Just a note to tell you guys I think I'm pulling this off!!!

I've decided rule #1 will be (well actually rule #2 since rule #1 in my room is "Have fun") "You are not allowed to go home and beg your parents to go to Disney!"

But I was talking to some of my parents about it and they are excited about it. In fact one of my parents said this is a good thing. They are going to Disney in February for the first time so her son will kind of know some of the things that are down there. Besides, Dad is driving her crazy saying "Do you think we'll see that at Disney?".

So here's what I came up with.

Tomorrow (Monday) I'm going to talk to them a little bit about Walt Disney and were going to watch Steamboat Willie. Then were going to have a little drawing lesson how to draw Mickey's face.
Then I made a Hidden Mickey activity. I found some pics of Hidden Mickeys around WDW and turned them into coloring pages using photoshop. The kids will have to find the Mickeys and color them red.

Tuesday were making glitter fireworks. Also, I made an activity with pictures of dolls from Small World and the kids have to figure out what country they are from and write the name of the country. I only gave them 3 choices for the countries and the dolls are pretty much wearing the colors of their flag.


Thursday, I created teacups out of Sit and Spins, the kids have to estimate how many times they can spin then actually do it and see how many times they can spin and write down their answer.
We are also coloring and naming parrots to create our own Tiki Room!
Also I made my own Buzz Light Year game by printing out lots of Zurgs (which I covered with velcro), each one worth a different amount of points. Each child gets a blue ping pong ball and a green ping pong ball covered in velcro. The idea is to throw their ball at the Zurg targets, then add up how many points they got on each throw.

Friday, I made a Peter Pan game where they start at the Darling House and have to answer questions to move along the stars to Neverland. Were also going on a Haunted Mansion "ghost hunt". I printed out lots of silly ghosts (that I even painted with glow in the dark paint!) and put dots on them. The kids have to count the dots, find the same ghost on their paper and write the number on it. Were also doing a little "Critical Thinking" - I printed out the stretching room portraits and covered the bottoms and I'm going to ask the kids what they think is happening in the bottom of the picture.

I would kind of like to show them the Magic Kingdom part of the planning video as well but Im debating whether to show it to them at the beginning of the week or the end of the week.

Also, Ive made them pin straps using wide ribbon ($1 at Michaels!) and I'm making pins (hot gluing acrylic jems to safety pins) that they can earn for things like following directions, helping friends, etc. And of course they can trade!

Pics coming soon!

This sounds so fun!!! And I actually think it's a great way to give a "Disney vacation week" to the kids who aren't going away this summer. I know my son's preschool did fun theme weeks during the summer session, and I wouldn't have thought twice about this one.

I'm not sure 4-year-olds will "get" the pin trading, but I know DS learned to draw Mickey at 5 and was very proud of it. The teacups thing is brilliant, and they'll have a blast with the Zurg game! (Which I don't think they'll associate with the park at all - just their teacher being cool enough to pay attention to what movies they like!)

If you need an extra time-filler, I'd ask them to invent their own rides and describe them to you or draw pictures.

 

[mainstreet1997]

This sounds so fun!!! And I actually think it's a great way to give a "Disney vacation week" to the kids who aren't going away this summer. I know my son's preschool did fun theme weeks during the summer session, and I wouldn't have thought twice about this one.

I'm not sure 4-year-olds will "get" the pin trading, but I know DS learned to draw Mickey at 5 and was very proud of it. The teacups thing is brilliant, and they'll have a blast with the Zurg game! (Which I don't think they'll associate with the park at all - just their teacher being cool enough to pay attention to what movies they like!)

If you need an extra time-filler, I'd ask them to invent their own rides and describe them to you or draw pictures.

Thanks Pollyanna Mom! Well pin trading won't be exactly like it is in the park. Its more like positive reinforcement. We do it during the regular school year - the kids earn "gold coins" and about once a month they get to go shopping for little trinkets or we've done an ice cream bar and they had to buy their toppings. We've even earned water ballons to have a water balloon war! I dont think of it bribing my kids to be good - its encouraging them to behave properly and soon it just becomes habit! Trust me,it works!

My thought is, you know how kids are always admiring eachother's possessions, well if someone has a pin they like, they can trade for it. Were kind of going through that with silly bands right now

 

[mainstreet1997]

This sounds so fun!!! And I actually think it's a great way to give a "Disney vacation week" to the kids who aren't going away this summer. I know my son's preschool did fun theme weeks during the summer session, and I wouldn't have thought twice about this one.

I'm not sure 4-year-olds will "get" the pin trading, but I know DS learned to draw Mickey at 5 and was very proud of it. The teacups thing is brilliant, and they'll have a blast with the Zurg game! (Which I don't think they'll associate with the park at all - just their teacher being cool enough to pay attention to what movies they like!)

If you need an extra time-filler, I'd ask them to invent their own rides and describe them to you or draw pictures.

Thanks Pollyanna Mom! Well pin trading won't be exactly like it is in the park. Its more like positive reinforcement. We do it during the regular school year - the kids earn "gold coins" and about once a month they get to go shopping for little trinkets or we've done an ice cream bar and they had to buy their toppings. We've even earned water ballons to have a water balloon war! I dont think of it bribing my kids to be good - its encouraging them to behave properly and soon it just becomes habit! Trust me,it works!

My thought is, you know how kids are always admiring eachother's possessions, well if someone has a pin they like, they can trade for it. Were kind of going through that with silly bands right now.