Drama!

Today we had our first theater arts class with Mr. Pratt. I should have brought my video camera so you could see some of the great things they did! Next week.... Our first lesson dealt with pantomime skills. Mr. Pratt taught the students how to work with imaginary object in four steps -- see, touch, use, and release. He had them practice with passing imaginary bowls and then juggling balls. He stressed the importance of looking at the imaginary objects and making a clear release after using them. He had the students act out some simple stories in pantomime. Some students who did particularly good work were selected to model for the rest of the class, and the other students learned to give specific praise using theater vocabulary. This is what is called "aesthetic valuing" in the state arts standards.

Now theater is valuable in two ways to students. First, the arts are important in their own right, and well-educated people should be knowledgeable about different art forms. That is why there are state arts standards. But secondly, theater is an incredible valuable skill for mastering other content areas. Acting out an Open Court Reading story is a fantastically good way to improve reading comprehension. After all, if you can act out the story, you have clearly read and understood it! So we will be using all the skills we will be learning with Mr. Pratt long after his twelve week residency with our class is finished.

Homework: (1) Do the "Latitude and Longitude" worksheet. Note that the map is on the back of the paper. Also do the "California's Natural Regions" study sheet. This is designed to help the students review the second lesson of chapter one. Please look back to find the answers there. (2) Do "Make a Table," Math, page 25. Also do the two review pages, page 30 and page 31. We will be having another test either Thursday or Friday.