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Ms. Harkness' Classroom Edit display name

  • John Winthrop Elementary School
  • Dorchester, MA
  • Nearly all students from low‑income households Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more

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Our theater class uses the entire room for activities. This means that we do not use tables and chairs as our time would be spent moving furniture instead of acting and playing! In order to give everyone their own space, we need a seating rug for storytelling and lessons. The rug will be used on a daily basis to help us with our beginning of class routine. If everyone has their own space, we can spend more time learning and less time trying to find a seat! A seating rug will also help us with to learn about personal space and boundaries, which are important not only in theater but as we go through the school day. We also need puppets and a puppet theater to create a drama play station for our preschool and kindergarten students. Some of these students have theater for an hour at a time. Having play stations will help us split our class into manageable pieces for the younger students. It will also give the older students a place to bring scripts they have written to life with puppets they make themselves! Storytelling is extremely important in our classroom because it emphasizes our student's different life experiences and cultural backgrounds. We use storytelling to inspire our acting, create a starting point for script writing, and to connect to our community. Storytelling also supports students' literacy and language skills as well as fostering empathy, critical thinking, and problem solving. The seating rug and puppet play space will enhance our storytelling opportunities.

About my class

Our theater class uses the entire room for activities. This means that we do not use tables and chairs as our time would be spent moving furniture instead of acting and playing! In order to give everyone their own space, we need a seating rug for storytelling and lessons. The rug will be used on a daily basis to help us with our beginning of class routine. If everyone has their own space, we can spend more time learning and less time trying to find a seat! A seating rug will also help us with to learn about personal space and boundaries, which are important not only in theater but as we go through the school day. We also need puppets and a puppet theater to create a drama play station for our preschool and kindergarten students. Some of these students have theater for an hour at a time. Having play stations will help us split our class into manageable pieces for the younger students. It will also give the older students a place to bring scripts they have written to life with puppets they make themselves! Storytelling is extremely important in our classroom because it emphasizes our student's different life experiences and cultural backgrounds. We use storytelling to inspire our acting, create a starting point for script writing, and to connect to our community. Storytelling also supports students' literacy and language skills as well as fostering empathy, critical thinking, and problem solving. The seating rug and puppet play space will enhance our storytelling opportunities.

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About my class

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