Early Childhood Education – ECII 5 year olds
Throughout this year, I have worked closely with CONNECT Researcher Dr. Christine Lee and EC2 Demonstration Teachers Kelly Peters, Arlen Nava, and Eric Varela as we investigated the power of wordless books and play in storytelling. Toward the end of this Spring quarter, the EC2 students in Room 13 were able to transform their classroom space into a theater, bringing life to students’ favorite wordless picture books. The Room 13 Theatre featured Home [1], Field Trip to the Moon [2], Mr. Wuffles [3], The Lion and The Mouse [4], Where’s The Walrus [5], and Where’s the Walrus, and Penguin [6]. Each group had students, or actors, who had been practicing telling their favorite wordless stories on a theatrical stage.
Image 1. Teatro de Salón 13
Before our big theatrical day, students had a tremendous wave of love for these stories. They paid close attention to the art or images that made up these books, grew attached to characters, and joyfully told and retold these stories over time. For example, in the theatrical version of Field Trip to the Moon, we saw the portrayal of a young student astronaut traveling on the surface of the moon and making friends with aliens. As students fell in love with these stories and grew confident in retelling them, they also gained confidence in using Spanish to retell their stories on the theater stage. With their “space helmets”, they told the story of the young astronaut getting separated from his class, with only a box of crayons to keep him company before discovering a collection of odd extraterrestrial creatures. Their theatrical version of the story included witty dialogue and interactive recreations of key points in the story.
Images 2 & 3. Students created props to tell their favorite wordless book stories
As the class prepared to put together their theater, it became clear that props were essential to retelling these stories. For the students, a scene must have the necessary materials to bring life to these characters and scenes. Over two months, students worked on painting and constructing props (e.g. actors in Field Trip to the Moon used old boxes to make space helmets as seen in Images 2 & 3).
What was most joyful to see was how much students loved these stories, and how much they wanted to create their own theater space to tell these stories. Not only were props important, but the entire construction of the theater space was important enough for students to take the time to build. Students wanted to be immersed in every aspect of theater building which included making invitations to the show, creating the theater stage, delivering invitations, creating programs, creating tickets, making concession stands, and making signs.
Image 4. Boletos made by Room 13 students.
As the students prepared for the big day, they made their invitations inviting audience members to save the date. Once they completed the invitations, they ventured to deliver these invitations to family, friends, and even members of the UCLA Lab School community. On the day students delivered invitations, we received envelopes addressed to CONNECT Research staff members. It was clear that students were excited and genuinely loved to be part of a classroom theater.
Image 5. Students delivering tickets to CONNECT Research Staff
Images 6 & 7. Students made signs to advertise the concession stand to attendees.
While preparing for the show, students were also excited to make materials for a real theater space. The classroom was completely transformed and looked like a real theater company. Students created multiple signs to help direct parents, staff, and attendees on how to navigate the Room 13 theater space like “Boletos” to direct attendees to the ticket booth. That excitement was evident in their determination to lead their stations as actors and theater company members. One student kept yelling “PALOMITAS” while handing out popcorn to attendees. He even offered toppings, “would you like any toppings?” while pointing to the salt, butter, and olive oil. I also saw students at the ticket booth, checking attendees in and handing out tickets to be used for seating in the classroom.
Students sold popcorn while yelling “PALOMITAS” (Image 8). Students also ran the ticket booth (Image 9).
On the day of the big show, I was greeted by actors, theater personnel, and ushers (all students). It was incredible to hear students feel extremely excited about all aspects of the play–not just as actors but as people who ran the Room 13 Theater Company. I even overheard a student telling her parent that the proper way of saying good luck before a show was “you’re supposed to say break a leg but not literally only as good luck!!”. Not only did students enjoy telling their favorite wordless picture books, but they also enjoyed the opportunity to joyfully express their love for storytelling by transforming their classroom into a real theater. I truly enjoyed being able to not only see these stories on the stage of Teatro de Salón 13, but also the joyful preparation students took to bring their theater to life.
[1] Baker, J. (2004). Home. Greenwillow Books.
[2] Hare, J. (2019). Field Trip to the Moon. Holiday House.
[3] Wiesner, D. (2013). Mr. Wuffles!. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
[4] Pinkney, J. (2009). The Lion and the Mouse. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers.
[5] Savage, S. (2011). Where’s Walrus?. Scholastic Press.
[6] Savage, S. (2015). Where’s Walrus? and Penguin?. Scholastic Press
Darwin Hernandez is a 3rd year student at UCLA majoring in both Psychology and Education & Social Transformation with a minor in Disabilities studies. He is currently an undergraduate CONNECT Research Intern working alongside Dr. Christine Lee. He is an aspiring educator/counselor with a strong passion for redeveloping curriculum to work with underrepresented youth in South Central Los Angeles as well as therapeutic services for students with disabilities.
This blog post comes from a CONNECT Research study, Storytelling and Writing in Kindergarten STEAM Curriculum. Questions about this study can be directed to Dr. Christine Lee (clee@labschool.ucla.edu).