5th grade storytellers

   Our 5th grade Drama course focuses on the theme of Dramatic Storytelling. Whether it's telling stories in a frozen Tableaux or using our voices to convey different characters or interpreting family folktales in a dramatic format or creating our own unique fairytales to perform, this first year course introduces students to the performing arts where all students can easily access the curriculum and art form.
   This winter, students are taking family stories and dramatically performing them in small groups. They are researching from their families, uncovering stories from when their elders first started school, and then they are script-writing, creating characters, and rehearsing these stories for a dramatic performance. Storytelling as an art form has been around for thousands of years as a way to pass on family legacies and as a way of teaching future generations. You can check out lots of family folklore storytellers on YouTube, as well as a sample of Native American storytelling on this link: Native American storytelling conference: Smithsonian Museum

7th graders as Shadow Puppeteers

    In the busy and creative 7th grade Drama classes this winter, students are becoming shadow puppeteers! Using Chinese myths from their Mandarin course and building upon their Visual Art skills, they are scriptwriting their own shadow puppet plays, designing the puppets and scene designs, and preparing to perform their own creative plays in class this winter. This tricky performance art method has been around for centuries, beginning in Indonesia and catching on throughout the world over the years.
     Our 3rd floor cafeteria has been transformed into a shadow puppet theatre, but if you want to check out professional samples as well, head to YouTube and search for "Shadow Puppets". There are some links on this post that you can view as well.Shadow Puppet play from Puerto Rico