Kindergartners’ STUDIO in a School Projects on Display

The PS 8 auditorium has been transformed with bright works on paper created by the kindergarten classes through their STUDIO in a School enrichment residency.

2013 Studion K collage pic

2013 Studio K collage description

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belinda Blum, STUDIO in a School artist and facilitator, spoke to kindergarten parents earlier this month describing the process through which the kids worked up to their final project.  They did several studies with paper, including using paper to make shapes, creating painted paper and using different kinds of paper to make smaller works of art before they made their life-sized paper people.  The subject was “someone you admire.”  Some children admired family members, while others admired friends from class.  The bright paper people featured creative details for their bodies and clothing.  The paper people feature interesting details such as teeth, pockets and brightly colored accessories.

By Alison Clarke
Photo credits to Emy Gargiulo

Ms. Erdos Talks About the PS 8 Drama Program

adriane-erdos“I regard theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” – Oscar Wilde

Theater has existed for thousands of years, and at PS 8, it is currently part of the weekly curriculum for children from pre-kindergarten through grade five.  There are long-term countless benefits to studying drama in school from such a young age.  Children are able to use the skills they learn to help them succeed in other areas, from the (current) playground to the (future) board room.

Recently, I sat down with PS 8 drama teacher Adriane Erdos to learn more about why theater is an important subject for elementary schoolers.  She explained some of the benefits, gave a little advice to parents and guardians looking to incorporate theater and pretend play into daily life, and broke down the curriculum by year, explaining that it is a “cohesive, comprehensive, progressive” program, meaning that each year builds upon the one(s) that came before.

“Making literature come to life and making it something specifically about the person reading it (is key),” according to Ms. Erdos.  Skills that can be learned and reinforced in drama class include confidence, social interaction, reading, comprehension, emoting, empathy, emotional identification, waiting, personal discipline, overcoming stage fright, improved communication, sequencing, following directions, being imaginative, taking control, creativity, public speaking, relating to each other, how to be a respectful audience, improvization, collaboration, expression through movement, strategic thinking, and gaining a better understanding of settings and characterizations.

Parents and guardians can help lend their support by encouraging kids to use their imaginations in everyday life.  One suggestion from Ms. Erdos is to ask children to re-imagine an object, asking, for example, “What else could this scarf be? What can it do?”  Another idea is to do improvization with children – which can be especially helpful when it comes to matters of conflict resolution (and encouraging children to put themselves in another person’s shoes).  Pretend play is a favorite of many young children.  Don’t be afraid to play along!  “Talking gibberish” is especially fun with younger children, Ms. Erdos says, plus it’s a great way to “encourage communication through body language and expression.”  Also, when reading, encourage kids to put themselves in the place of the characters, “to be the main character.”  Ask questions about how children can relate to the characters and what they would do in a character’s situation.  Don’t just read the story – enter the story.

Drama by Grade 

Pre-kindergarten:  Eric Carle
Pre-schoolers are reading Eric Carle’s stories in their classrooms (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Very Busy Spider, etc.) so Ms. Erdos has the students put on The Very Quiet Cricket.  Kids are exposed to sequencing and work on their communications and waiting abilities.  In performance, each child has his/her own line and movement.

Kindergarten:  Fairy Tales
It is this year that children learn how to be good audience members.  In each class, students take turns acting and watching.  They have the freedom to ad-lib lines, work on characters and settings, and answer questions like, “How would Little Red Riding Hood walk?”  They get into their characters through physicality, and seeing the story from various perspectives.

First Grade:  Ezra Jack Keats
First grade is all about imagination and creativity.  With Keats’s The Snowy Day, Ms. Erdos is looking to “exercise all of (students’) senses.  What does the snow feel like?  What does it smell like?”  They become Peter and the classroom becomes the storm. They use their imaginations to touch, taste, see, hear, smell . . . it ends in a very elaborate play.  This requires a lot of discipline as the kids need to work on movement, blocking, learning their lines, and rehearsing.

Second Grade:  Fractured Fairy Tales
“The arts have a powerful effect on (students) as a way to connect what they’re learning to something tangible.”  The words on the page come alive.  This is when they start to use improvization. They break into groups and each group is assigned a fairy tale.  The kids come up with a setting and adjust the characters, then act out the scenes. Ms. Erdos watches these scenes and uses the kids’ ideas to create scripts for them so they can learn their lines, rehearse, and perform.

Third Grade:  Folk Tales
The students start by reading a few folk tales.  Ms. Erdos “loves that they’re really directly about how to live your life.”  The performance play is based on a tale called “Jumping Mouse.”  The basic plot is as follows:  a mouse wants to get to a far off land and has to face challenges along the way.  For the kids, the mouse represents third grade, and the far off place, fourth.  Ms. Erdos puts them into groups, and each group creates a different challenge for the mouse (for example,  be kind to someone who needs help, face a distraction, etc.).  They create scenes and write the lines.

Fourth Grade:  Improvisation
A lot of improvization games are played in fourth grade.  The kids start getting into conflict and resolution (drama = conflict).  One game is called Entrance & Exit.  Person A has to get Person B to stay in a scene, but Person B has to go.  It makes for “an impossible situation.”  The kids have to be strategic, clever, and determined in achieving their goal (to stay or to go).

Fifth Grade:  Shakespeare
Fifth graders are introduced to the bard through arguably his most famous work – Romeo and Juliet, a tale of star-crossed lovers who take their lives when their feuding families try to keep them apart.  Students learn the synopsis of the play and are taught the prologue (“Two households, both alike in dignity . . .”) in addition to play-related theater games.  Though the play is edited, Ms. Erdos only uses the original language, but makes it clear to kids that no actor should speak a word he or she does not understand.  Students work together on translation while also working on enunciation, memorization, and relating to their characters.  Each group chooses their own setting (for example, teens in a school, a room at home) in an attempt to take the play out of Verona and into modern day America.

By Nicole Panteleakos
Photo credit to Nathalie Schueller

Fourth Grader Talks About the Brooklyn Autism Center

 

DSC04281Tell us about the Brooklyn Autism Center (BAC).
BAC is a school for children with autism and it’s really close to PS 8.  The school was founded by one of my Mom’s best friends, who has twin boys, one of whom has autism.   

Tell us about the after-school program called “BAC Friends.”
BAC Friends is a really cool volunteer program where once a week typically developing kids from neighborhood schools play games, do crafts, dance and sing with kids who have autism.  It’s harder for kids with autism to socialize and play with other kids so this program tries to help them. 

How did you find out about the program?
My friend Ian is in the school.  I’ve grown up with Ian and his brother Jake my whole life. 

What do you do at BAC friends?
Each week we are put into different groups.  Each child with autism is paired with a teacher and a volunteer.  We do arts & crafts projects, games and activities on the SMART Board.  Sometimes a guitar teacher comes in so we listen (and dance!) to music.  Everyone is supportive of each other and it is so much fun. 

Are you nervous working around kids with autism?
Not at all.  The kids are so nice.  I love them so much.  Plus, there is always a teacher around to help. 

What do you love most about BAC Friends?
What I love most about BAC is that we do different activities each week.  It’s a different adventure, something to look forward to.  I feel like I’m really helping the kids and having fun at the same time.      

What are the benefits to kids at PS 8?
BAC teaches you that everyone is different and that’s okay.  Everyone needs friends and I love being a friend to the kids at BAC.  I want them to feel special.  It’s fun to go from being a student all day to being like a teacher after school.  I feel like I’m learning from them as much as they are learning from me.  My mom says that programs like this help prevent bullying. 

Do some of your friends at PS 8 volunteer too?
Yes, three of my friends from school also volunteer each week.  That makes it even more fun! 

If a child at PS 8 is interested in participating in the after-school program, who do their parents contact?
Ray Cepeda is the Executive Director at BAC and he’s awesome!  Send an email to: info@brooklynautismcenter.org. You can also check out their website www.brooklynautismcenter.org
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*Please note: BAC is expanding and will be moving to a new, bigger location for the new school year.

By Jessie Levin, Class 4-308
Photo credits to Jana Levin