2/8/2014 The Arts, and Prepping for President's Day: They Called Him "Honest Abe"

Where time, and funding, may be found to allow the arts to be included in the classroom is a familiar question for educators.  What is not in question are the numerous benefits arts in the classroom may provide.  According to a blog post from Edutopia.com on arts education “Years of research show that it's closely linked to almost everything that we as a nation say we want for our children and demand from our schools: academic achievement, social and emotional development, civic engagement, and equitable opportunity. . . Involvement in the arts is associated with gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Arts learning can also improve motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork.”  

A nice way to make sure that the arts are included while not stressing out your schedule is to integrate art activities into your existing lesson plans.  The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts offers some great free resources for teachers, including Five Easy Drama Games for the Early Elementary Classroom- “Drama games tap into students’ imagination and can be conducted in any classroom for a variety of purposes—in warm-ups or closures, team-building activities, or to accompany and enhance a lesson plan.”

Performing my original play “They Called Him "Honest Abe"  for an audience or as readers' theater is a fun way for your students to celebrate President's Day, or combine it with other social studies activities. The play tells your class about the life of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the US, from his childhood and living in a log cabin to living in the White House.

This play is an original play written for use as readers’ theater, as a part of balanced literacy (Read-Aloud, Shared and Performance Reading or Guided Reading), or for an actual play production. In readers’ theater or through one of the balanced literacy approaches to teaching reading, children are not expected to memorize their lines, yet the reading encourages strong oral skills. An added benefit is performing the play for other classes or parents while increasing social skills, cooperative learning and creativity. Using plays in literacy-based classrooms promotes active listening for the performers, as well as the audience, and offers an engaging way to teach reading skills.  Complete with a teaching guide that lists questions before and after performing the play, words to preview, and extension activities, your students will have fun, build self-confidence, and increase in reading fluency, comprehension and vocabulary development.