Hamden Hall Country Day School
Educating Students in PreSchool through Grade 12

Grade 3 Students Find Their Place in the Savanna Grasslands

The Taylor Performing Arts Center was home to the wildlife kingdom of the Savanna Grasslands as third-grade students whisked audiences away for a morning of storytelling, music, and art in their class performance titled Finding Your Place as inspired by the book Wutaryoo, authored by Nilah Magruder.
The performance served as a cross-curricular, highly immersive project featuring elements of social studies, language arts, theater, music, and art through the guidance of teachers Alexis Harris 2001 and Natalie Tamjid, theater teacher Lisa Daly, music teacher Rachael Jungkeit, art teacher Sue Bennett 1973, and MakerSpace teacher Ann Kohler.
 
As the lights dimmed, the audience met a leopard, hyena, cheetah, nile crocodile, dung beetle, honey badger, rhino, zebra, and more as the students took to the stage dressed in all black attire with animal head masks representing the different animals that inhabit the Savannah habitat. Students Eseniya Ziganshina and Ryan Farahmand-Kabiri opened the performance in the roles of the narrators as they presented the story of the Baobab tree played by fellow classmates Maggie Gavin and Cairo Woodruff.
 
As the Baobab tree is the only one of its kind in the Savanna grasslands, the audience learned that the tree had been struggling to find its place. Hearing this, each animal took their time to tell the trees how important they were to their environment and the role they have in protecting the animals and surrounding areas. In the end, the Baobab trees realized their own value and that of each animal with regard to their role in their habitat. The show ended with a musical performance of the song Circle of Life with Mrs. Jungkeit on the piano and a reading of a poem highlighting how everyone can make a difference and to live life with purpose and intention.
 
Following the performance, the students and their families were invited to an immersive art show hosted in the Grade 3 classroom. The classroom was transformed into the Savanna as it was filled with different art projects the students completed in class with Mrs. Bennett. Each student completed a tri-fold poster detailing their work about their individual animals including an acrylic painting on wooden palette, an informational book, a mosaic collage, and outline of a Baobab tree as created by broccoli stencils and forks with a sunset background. Other images included cardboard lion relief creations using recycled paper and materials; painted animal head sculptures built using glue and recycled materials; and cardboard construction displays.
 
According to Mrs. Bennett, the students began work on these projects back in January and the students learned about artist Edward Tinga Tinga, who inspired the acrylic paintings. Other performance preparations included the students choosing a particular animal to research and later depict in the live performance. In language arts class, the students wrote informational books about their animals and created tri-fold poster boards detailing facts from their research along with colorful illustrations. The students learned the song in music class with Mrs. Jungkeit and the script and performance staging with Ms. Daly. Mrs. Kohler designed the T-shirts for the students using the cricket machine in the MakerSpace Design Lab as Mrs. Harris designed the animal masks.
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1108 Whitney Avenue
Hamden, Connecticut 06517
Phone: 203-752-2600
Fax: 203-752-2651
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Hamden Hall Country Day School, located less than two miles from Yale University, is one of the best private schools in Connecticut to enroll elementary, middle, and high school students. Our nurturing and inclusive community provides a dynamic learning environment that promotes academic excellence by understanding each child and fostering their individual growth.