Oz Week

Just finished up Oz Week at the DMPH. I had two classes, the morning with Kindergarteners and the afternoon with 1-2nd graders. In the Kindergarten class we focused on teaching kids storytelling basics, as we worked our way through the story of the Wizard of Oz. The kids seemed to enjoy it, they got to make their own paper puppets of the characters and they all "acted" through the story as the teacher narrated and gave them simple lines to repeat. The afternoon class with the first and second graders was a part of a progressive play that involved a class of 4-8th graders. These classes spent the week putting together a 55 minute version of the Wizard of Oz that took the audience to different parts of the building. The first and second graders were the Munchkins. We spent the week teaching and rehearsing songs and choreography, as well as having the kids do various crafts to make the space look more, well, Munchkiny. I have worked with both age groups previously in the summer, but I still learned new ways to handle a group, sometimes games work well with one group of Kindergarteners and not the next group, sometimes the way you explain an activity makes sense to one class of second graders but not the second graders the next week. With kids you just gotta adapt, which I feel like I've done pretty decently this summer. My attitude with the kids and teachers is engaged but laid back. Hard working and self starting but flexible. Next week is Broadway week. I have second graders. And we're doing The Lion King! (from the Disney film, not the Broadway musical).