This experience would not have been possible without massive parent support! Parent volunteers did everything from running the spotlight, providing refreshments, helping to costume all 87 students, running lines and rehearsals, hanging artwork, taking photos, and MUCH MORE! Indeed, there was "much ado," but the results? Immeasureable. In addition to an integrated, real-world experience with reading, writing, public speaking, technology, music, dance, art, and theater, students gained an appreciation and understanding of Shakespeare. As Stephanie Nelson, one of the two fabulous parent directors along with Elizabeth Lambert, told the audience on the night of the performances, “Now, when the students meet Shakespeare again in future years, he will be like an old friend.”
William Shakespeare once said, “The play’s the thing.” Well, the play was certainly “the thing” for our fifth graders, who performed Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing on November 16 and 17. The experience began with research on the Elizabethan Age, a whole class reading of The Shakespeare Stealer, and some theatrical training; then culminated in four performances involving all 87 fifth graders. The unit provided great cross-genre comparison between non-fiction texts on Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth, a historical fiction novel, and one of Shakespeare’s comedies. Along the way, students learned new facts and vocabulary, became acquainted with Shakespearean dialect, explored plot and characterization, created artwork including coats of arms and masquerade masks, learned a maypole dance, participated in all the technical aspects of theater from costuming to using the sound system, and built lasting friendships and memories. This experience would not have been possible without massive parent support! Parent volunteers did everything from running the spotlight, providing refreshments, helping to costume all 87 students, running lines and rehearsals, hanging artwork, taking photos, and MUCH MORE! Indeed, there was "much ado," but the results? Immeasureable. In addition to an integrated, real-world experience with reading, writing, public speaking, technology, music, dance, art, and theater, students gained an appreciation and understanding of Shakespeare. As Stephanie Nelson, one of the two fabulous parent directors along with Elizabeth Lambert, told the audience on the night of the performances, “Now, when the students meet Shakespeare again in future years, he will be like an old friend.”
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jane
12/19/2016 03:06:40 pm
awesomw
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May 2017
AuthorKaren Redmon originally migrated to SLC from Memphis, TN. She has a Bachelor's in International Relations from BYU and a Master's in Teaching from Westminster. She's taught 4th, 1st, and 5th grades. Her interests include: camping, hiking, swimming, dancing, singing, pottery, sewing, theater, music, reading, and most of all-- learning. Categories
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