Last week third grade teacher Elaine Chu led a workshop for associate teachers on the use of drama in the classroom. We were asked to become colonists and to discuss what we could learn about a particular conflict faced by the colonists in New Amsterdam from a letter and a diagram found in a mysterious box. The third grade teachers have used drama a lot this year to make the social studies curriculum come alive. For example, this morning the third grade teachers acted out Peter Stuyvesant’s arrival in New Amsterdam and his consulting of his Council of Nine about all the problems in the town. The teachers were Peter Stuyvesant, the students his Council of Nine. The Council of Nine was asked to come up with possible solutions to some of the town’s problems.
Third graders are not the only ones to experience the social studies curriculum coming alive in this way. Second Grade teachers have been playing the roles of Brooklyn citizens sharing their need for a bridge across the East River with engineer John Roebling (played by Jacob Rasmussen) in the mid 1800’s. To launch their study of immigration and the Lower East Side, fourth grade teachers invited their students to a formal tea party. Students dressed up in formal attire and ate delicate snacks. At one point during the party, Jacob Riis arrived (played by fourth grade associate teacher Jake Tiner). Riis proceeded to show the gathered elite his photos of How the Other Half Lives. Students then discussed, in character, how they might respond to the poverty and squalor they had observed. One person shared that is was really not his problem; another suggested that a public official should spend a night in one of the tenements. Children became the people they were studying as a way of better understanding them.
Kindergarteners create their own puppet shows each week. In groups of five they first decide what their character will be, and then write the story that connects all five characters, which is no small feat! Students make scenery, practice the play, and perform it for their classmates at the end of the week. This week’s puppet show was developed out of the social studies curriculum, a study of the school. It took place in the cafeteria (which they had visited) and something caught on fire. They called Phil (whose office they had recently visited) and he called the fire department. “The next day everything is o.k. at LREI and everyone comes back to work.” Kindergarteners try on different personalities, work together to make a story make sense, and figure out ways to include everyone. Children who are shy sometimes are more comfortable performing for the group when they are behind their puppets.
Second Graders and Fourth Graders will soon be writing plays as culminating social studies activities.