Jube School - Creating a Story of Community

Through Campus Calgary/Open Minds, three grade six classes from Monterey Park School came to Jube School at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium to discover Community.  Each class explored, created, and connected to their community through puppet making, puppeteering, and various technical workshops with Jubilee Experts.  Each class created a different animal in the Lantern Puppet Creation, lead by Dean Bareham of the Green Fools Theatre Society. 

 

First, an armature was created from wire and ¼” rounded reed was woven through it.  Students carefully taped joints so the reed wouldn’t move.  Battery operated lights were strung throughout the puppet ensuring a beautiful glow.  Next, using a mixture of white glue and water, students cautiously added squares of rice paper to the body of our puppet.   Fans were turned on ensuring the rice paper would dry in a timely manner. 

The Grade Six students had to work together and find a common language and rhythm that allowed them to build, cut, shape and glue.  They were surprised that each puppet took a whole week to create and that the creative process took a lot of teamwork, communication and patience. 

When all of the pieces were dry, each puppet was put together and bamboo sticks were attached so the students could manipulate them. The grade sixes were ready to learn how to become puppeteers! Students found out very quickly the importance of working together and communicating with each other to move their puppet.  The students are proud of their work and look forward to showing all the students in their school their creations.

~ Karen Youngberg, Jube School Coordinator