Fourth Grade Fable Theater!

Our group meeting last Thursday consisted of only three students!  Fortunately vacationing children didn't put a damper on our fun.  After all, "The show must go on!"  I made some quick changes to a play that I had on hand, took on a non-speaking role, and away we went!  They had almost as much fun performing this story as they did watching the resulting video.  Enjoy!

Yay, it's Reading Thursday!

"Yay, it's Reading Thursday!"  That's what the kids have been heard saying when they realize what day it is.  It's the day that volunteer readers visit the Hopkinton Rec Summer Camp to share a good book or two.  I know that the grown-ups feel the same way!  The volunteers love spending time with these eager listeners, the parents are happy that the children are spending time with books, and the staff members are thrilled to see the kids' enthusiasm!

I brought in a laptop so my group could watch the video from last week.  Before I had a chance to ask them if there was anything they would have done differently, they asked if they could re-record it to make it better!  I didn't need to offer any suggestions; they recognized on their own what could be done to improve their performances once they were able to evaluate it.  I told them we could do "The Sick Lion" again in a few weeks after they've had a chance to act in a few more plays.  Stay tuned!

In the book we're reading, Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary School, Mr. Jupiter tells his students about George Washington's false teeth.  Despite the legend, they were not made of wood.  Click here to learn the surprising materials that were used!

Here are some pictures from our last "Reading Thursday".  Enjoy!

Matt, a student from Chariho High School, reads to a group of elementary school students.

Eager readers!

Mrs. Falcone reads to a group of newly-minted middle schoolers!

Summer Reading at HopRec!

Thanks to the efforts of Chariho teacher Brenda Medina, the Hopkinton Recreation Summer Read Aloud Program is in full swing!  The program invites Chariho staff members to volunteer an hour of their time to read aloud to the participants of Hopkinton Rec Summer Camp.  (The reading program is also taking place in Charlestown!)  The children are grouped according to age, and the readers can bring along their own favorites to share or the books can be provided.

This is the second year of the program, and I love it!  I signed up to take the same group every week: students going into fourth grade.  To help them along their way to qualifying for the Rooster Games next spring, we are reading the RICBA nominee The Fabled Fifth Graders of Aesop Elementary.  Each chapter concludes with a moral, and we've been discussing what they mean and how it reflects what happened in the story.

As an extension activity, I transformed a number of Aesop's fables into scripts for the children to perform.  Last week we tried it out for the first time, and we had a blast!  I was really impressed by the kids' enthusiasm and have started selecting pieces our next meeting.

During the read-through I helped the kids with pronunciations and defined words they didn't know.

All of the kids used a marker to highlight their own parts in the script.

I'll post a video of their first performance below.  Considering we only did one read-through, I was really impressed!  I plan to show it to them so they can critique what they did and discuss what they might want to improve the next time.  Keep an eye on the blog for more videos!  :)