First Graders celebrated Sukkot this week by learning about the agricultural holiday. Activities included learning the blessings, learning about the etrog and lulav, as well as decorating Rashi's Sukkah.
First Graders are also continuing to practice letter names, sounds, and how to form them.
Rehearsal for Grade 2 play As part of the Rashi Theater Program students learn the skill of playwriting. This process starts in Grade 2 with their work, "Diary of a Rashi Second Grader." In this process the students learn about monologues and dialogues and how to write in the basic playwriting format. In Grade 2, the diary entries become their monologue. Monologues are a great way to talk about emotions and express what the "character" is thinking. They learn that dialogues are just a conversation. We work on this process together as a big group and we spend time talking about the possible topics for the dialogues and then brainstorm character options, setting options and list a few facts that can become the main part of a character's speech. Students learn that anything can speak in a play, yes even a rock or the Charles River. The best part is watching the "voice" of the character come alive as they practice saying the line and writing what th...
This year I have had the opportunity to work with the lower school students on their wonderful After School fall show, The Twelve Dancing Princesses . I am the Production Assistant for the show. As somebody who has worked with Bonny in the Rashi School Theater Program for a very long time, I love seeing all the students show their love for theater every Monday. It brings me so much joy when I get to work with them and give them acting advice, the helpful tips and tricks that I was taught when I was younger by the student leader helping out. I love being able to work with the students and gain closer bonds with them as both a regular student and a role model. I choose to work with these students because I know how fun and exciting drama can be especially when you are a part of a younger age group. I feel like the older you get the more awkward or ¨embarrassing” certain shows and roles can be, which can affect your acting because it might be a little out of your comfort zone. This parti...
As you heard from the ITS Theater Officers recently, Rashi is a member in good standing not only with the International Thespian Society (ITS), but also (METG) which is the Massachusetts Education Theater Guild. METG has been around for a long time and was originally just a High School Organization that ran the HS Theater Festival in Massachusetts. Over the years it has developed a Middle School Division that runs workshops, Theater Contests and MS Festival as well as a Boston Initiative and the MET (musical) Awards. You may hear the students talking about "Festival" which we run out of In School MS Electives program. Middle Schools from around the state hold a 2 day festival at 6-7 host sites and each school presents a 40 minute play that is adjudicated by professionals. The students earn All-Star Awards as well as Bronze, Silver or Gold Medals for the school. It isn't as competitive as the High School Festival where schools move on from Preliminaries to Sem...