In honor of Shakespeare’s recent birthday (4/23), first graders took an active approach to learning a little bit about the English language’s most celebrated writer. The first half of our Elizabethan exploration took place outside around campus where I introduced the students to three of Shakespeare’s most popular plays (Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream). Using props and costumes we role-played scenes, examined the difference between tragedy and comedy and learned a bit about Shakespeare’s life. The second half of our time was a scaffolding activity that worked with the theme of “differences” from Romeo and Juliet. In Michael’s Ulik’s book, Romeo the Rhino’s Rocky Romance, a rhino named Romeo falls in love with Astrid the ostrich. While Astrid reciprocates the feeling, her family is against the friendship because “ostriches and rhinos don’t mix”. While this story had a happy ending, it allowed us to consider what might happen if (as in the original version) if people were not allowed to be friends because of their differences. Lastly,
we took the famous quote, What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet (Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, scene 2) and learned what each of our names mean. We were excited to learn that first grade has many warriors, kings and visions of loveliness in it!
