Educational Excellence Since 1912
Hamden Hall Country Day School
Educating students in PreSchool through Grade 12

Reader’s Theater with Grade 5

Fifth-grade students jumped, slithered, glided, and crawled as they brought the stories of author and illustrator Eric Carle to life in celebration of Read Across America Day.

The 19 students along with their teachers, Lisa Collins and Monica Emanuelson, gathered together in Swain Library on a sunny morning. In the audience sat PreSchool and PreKindergarten students with their lead teacher, Heather Robinson, and assistant teachers Arielle St. Arnault, Molly Meka, and Janae Staltaro. Faculty members also joined including Director of Lower School Lorri Carroll and Early Childhood Director Catelin Fee 2004.

“These stories are so full of life and color as they take the audience on an imaginary journey,” said theatre teacher Lisa Daly. “Performing the stories in a theatrical format brought the audience in, and the younger students were engaged and having fun.”

Opening the performance was the first of four stories, The Very Busy Spider, which tells the story of farm animals trying to divert a young spider from spinning her web. A stuffed animal spider was used as six students represented the farm animals. With their painted face masks, the students ran around the spider trying to stop her, but with no success. The spider successfully weaves her web into a beautiful creation.

The second story brought to life was Brown Bear, Brown Bear, which introduces readers to the colors of animals in the wild. With paper-plate drawings of different animals, the students followed call-and-response format to ask what animal they see. The audience answered with “brown bear,” “green frog,” and “black sheep.” The third story was Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, in which a little girl wants to carry the moon, but can’t so her father promises to bring it down for her. Playing the role of the moon, one student used a rainbow-colored cloth to show the stages of the moon while another played the girl trying to capture the moon. Three other students each took turns reading the excerpt.

The final story, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” follows the life cycle of a caterpillar as it transforms into beautiful butterfly. One student acted out the part of the caterpillar emerging from the egg as the others used paper-plate props with pictures of food to represent the caterpillar’s growing hunger. Using lanterns and colorful ribbons, the students moved into a circle to create a cocoon around the caterpillar before a butterfly finally emerges. The performance ended with a sing-along to the children’s tune Caterpillar, Caterpillar by Kira Willey. Lower School music teacher Rachael Jungkeit played the piano as the students sang and danced to the lyrics.

A quick question-and-answer session followed the performance. One PreKindergarten student asked how long the rehearsal time was to which fifth-grader Ethan Miller answered it took about five weeks. Another student asked how they learned their lines so quickly and fifth-grader Lauryn Bennett answered they rehearsed together once a week and practiced at home.

Aside from reading and performing the stories, students created artwork inspired by Eric Carle with Lower School art teacher Sue Bennett 1973. All the pictures were on display around the library. Fifth-grader Sade Smith noted that her favorite story was Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, and her art piece was inspired by dogs and the colorful world Eric Carle presents in his stories.
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Hamden Hall Country Day School

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Hamden Hall Country Day School is a nurturing and inclusive community with a dynamic learning environment that promotes academic excellence by understanding each child and fostering their individual growth.