“We’re writing a musical, aren’t we?”

This year, the Copper Room teachers had the intention to be present and aware of our environment and to reflect on how these changes shape our stories, celebrations, and values. We were inspired by a book called “A Child’s Calendar“ by John Updike which features a poetic journey through each month of the year. We read each month’s poem nearly daily with the Coppers, which sparked countless discussions and investigations both in the classroom and out.

Throughout the fall, we used our intention to shape the research in the classroom. Each day, we would aim to to at least one thing related to their intention. This work was present throughout the day through provocations, morning meetings, journals, small group work, reflection meetings and more.

Early in the year, we established “buddy play“. We took great consideration on which buddy pairings we thought would best suit every child and their own personalities and goals. We used buddy play to help children expand their play and their friendships through structured play. We made sure to let the children know that this would not be an “all the time” thing and that they would also have time to play with whomever they wanted to afterwards. Children might be asked to make a collaborative drawing with their buddy, or spend a free choice time moving through the classroom with their buddy.

In January, a Lion Dance in celebration of Lunar New Year sparked a heavy interest in puppets and the jobs required to put on a show. While reflecting on this interest, along with the fact that this was a very musical classroom, we turned to one another and said, “We’re writing a musical, aren’t we?”

The day after we had this idea, we came to school and found that another teacher had serendipitously brought in puppets as a choice for the after schoolers the night before. So, the teachers spent a few minutes transforming a piece of our dramatic play furniture into a puppet theatre to see what would happen. 

The result? All of the children flooded to the area spontaneously assigning themselves jobs of performer, concession stand worker, or audience member. When this kind of organized play occurs, we know that we’ve touched on something that feels meaningful to both the children and us… a win-win!

Over several weeks, we offered different elements to the children to use for their “performances.” We used our floorbook to document these experiences. 

Teacher: Who knows what the floor book is about?
Student: A puppet show!
Teacher: Our floor book is going to be a space where all of our ideas live.
Student: That’s the lion dance!
Student: The front people [in the puppet] could show the front people. The back people had to bend down and you only see their leg. We were wondering what it looked like on the inside. Those people had to work together to move. The back one had to work really hard because they had to bend down. 
Teacher: How do our puppets work?
Student: With our hands!
Student: They do practices before they do the real show.

Over the following weeks, the teachers set up an overhead projector in our newly revamped “project area”, and offered different materials to create a “puppet show”.

One day, the teachers added a new tree set piece and translucent shapes. One student created a set design inspired by the lyrics “Mr. Golden Sun hiding behind a tree”.

Another day, the morning projector provocation included wet erase markers on transparencies. As a classroom, we discussed “sets” v “puppets” and determined that the “set stays set” as in, it doesn’t move whereas puppets might be characters or elements that move to make the scene more interesting.

We also offered photographs printed on transparency of a few scenes around Madison and the Copper Room. We hoped the children would begin to think about where a puppet show might place, the season, and what time of day it might be.

While we knew we had the direction for our work – a puppet-show musical – we still needed the content. We discussed the possibilities and realized that it might make a lot of sense for our script to be based on a text the children were already very familiar with… A Child’s Calendar!

As we worked to determine where our musical would go, we wanted to find a way to organize our remaining time together. We used the book “Putting on a Play: The Young Playwright’s Guide to Scripting, Directing, and Performing” to help inform our work.

STEP ONE: THE IDEA – Each pair of buddies chose a month to focus on.
STEP TWO: THE SCRIPT – The buddies wrote a new verse to add to the poem.
STEP THREE: THE CREW – The buddies designed sets and puppets for their month, inspired by the stanzas of their poem.
STEP FOUR: THE REHEARSALS – The buddies practiced telling the story of their month.
STEP FIVE: THE STAGE SETS – The buddies filmed their portion of the show, and created the marketing materials.
STEP SIX: THE PERFORMANCE – The buddies shared their hard work with each other and their grown-ups.

When we chose A Child’s Calendar to be our springboard book for the year, we were aware of its shortcomings in the way of diversity. We wanted to give the children an opportunity to reflect on the year and add some of their own experiences in additional stanzas within our script. We printed photos from some of the “firsts” we had within our year so far and subsequently asked the children to choose some of the most meaningful ones to them. In a following small group, the children identified rhyming words in the book’s poems and brainstormed rhyming words with their chosen events. The teachers then used their words to create new stanzas that would reflect these experiences.

Once the new lines were written, the committee work extended as the children listened to their part of the script and were invited to draw what they imagined in their “mind movie” on transparencies. These drawings were then projected and were used as parts of our sets and puppets.

We added songs throughout the production, related to the various months. We recorded the children (and some special grown-up guests) singing the songs, with help from our Music Specialist. The children worked very hard to create their puppets and animate their months. We are incredibly proud of them! The children’s ability to identify recurring themes in the text and their thoughtful design choices have led to a truly vibrant and dynamic production. This process was a testament to their creativity and their deep connection to the material, making “A Copper’s Calendar” a beautiful reflection of our shared year.

We invited our grown-ups to a special airing of the final product. It was a very special night!

Reflection by Amanda Lautenbach and Mickey Willis, Copper Room Co-Teachers.