The Rashi School | Classroom Blog

  Each year as part of the Third Grade writing curriculum the students focus on the differences between a Fable, Folktale and Fairy Tale.  The students read a mixture of Fables and Folktales and then learn how to take a story and develop it into a script.  They start with a storyboard or sequencing brain frame, which focuses on the "What happens next" concept.  They learn the basic structure of a script and start to develop the character's voices, but putting the story into their own words.  They use a bit of basic stage direction and before you know it they are playwrights.  They work on this process in both their Language Arts writing classes and their Hebrew classes.  In Hebrew, they are using vocabulary they already know and work with the Hebrew teachers to assist them with the words they need to learn to bring their Fable to life.  The students learn that when you become a storyteller it doesn't matter the language you speak, but how you tell...

 A group of Middle School Students in grades 6-8 were able to attend the American Repetory Theater's production of "Life of Pi" recently. This production is currently in preview before it goes to its new home in New York at the Gerald Shoenfeld Theater in March 2023.  The story was adapted from the novel by Yann Martel for the stage and first opened in London and is the winner of 5 Olivier Awards (equivalent to our Tony Awards).  We were able to see it at the A.R.T. in Cambridge during its North American Debut and after the performance there was a demonstration on how they make and use the puppets for the show. "It was interesting to be able to see different elements of acting, puppetry and tech (lighting and projections) to tell the story of show.  The script was well written and it kept the audience engaged and entertained as well as kept an element of surprise all throughout the show. Not only was the puppetry demonstration interesting, but they brought life to th...

Each year the Middle School students have a Shakespeare residency that progresses through each of the grades.  The work is a collaboration between the Language Arts classes and the Theater Department.  In Grade 6, the students are introduced to Shakespeare, who he was and how his use of language is both beautiful and complex.  The students will work on monologues from various plays, giving them an introduction to the language and characters.  As they work with the monologues in both prose and poetry, they discover how the words can be taken from the page to the stage and expressed with their voices and bodies.  The 6th grade students will be participating in this residency in March. First Rehearsal for Grade 7 In Grade 7 this year, the students studied an abridged version of "Romeo and Juliet" and worked on scenes from that show.  Discovering how the charactes can come alive through the words.  The students shared these scenes this week and gave reflec...

 The Kindergartners are busy preparing for their production of "Stone Soup".  The performance is based on the original story that was written in 1947 by Marcia Brown, depicting soldiers traveling to a town,  looking for food and were turned away from the townspeople.  The soldiers create a soup using water and soup and convince the townspeople to add to the soup until finally they have a delicious soup which they all can share.  Our Rashi story is adapted by Bonny Parlee using animals as the main characters.  At Rashi we are always striving to make our world a more fair, kind and inclusive space.  You will see this theme in our production. The Kindergartners have been working with Bonny and Nick Linder on how to use their bodies to move like the animals they are portraying.  They have been memorizing lines and learning how to project their voices on stage as well as learning simple choreography for each animal.  In Hebrew with Ari Marcovski t...

  Trying on Costumes for the first time! The Lower School After school Drama Elective has been working on "The Rainbow Fish" to be presented on Wednesday, December 14th at 2PM and 7PM.  Middle School students have a chance to work with the Lower School students during rehearsals.  They help with acting coaching, backstage management and in some cases they work on design for the Lower School Performances.  Hear what our two Middle School Production Assistants have to say about the Lower School Drama Elective. Submitted by Oliver L, Grade 8: Production Assistant and Light Designer At Rashi, the Lower School Students have many options for After School Electives. One of these incredible activities they engage in is the Lower School Play. This year’s play is The Rainbow Fish . The story follows a special fish, Rainbow Fish, in an underwater kingdom, who thinks he is better than everyone else due to his shiny, colorful scales. After an incident, the whole kingdom ends up ...

 On Wednesday, December 7th at 8:15 the First Grade will be presenting "The Mitten".  The script is based on the book by Jan Brett and adapted by Bonny Parlee for the Rashi First Grade.   Progression is built into the Rashi grade level performances and the first graders will be saying a line by themselves for the first time on stage.  They have been working in the theater this past week and learning where to stand to say their lines, how to project their lines by using a big voice, the importance of facial expressions and body language and how to become a storyteller on stage.  The production is a collaboration with the Classroom Teachers, Music and Hebrew Departments.

 The Middle School After School Drama Elective will be presenting "A Wrinkle in Time" on Wednesday, Nov. 16th at 1:15 and Thursday, Nov. 17th at 7PM.  The students have been hard a work over the last seven weeks working on auditioning for parts,  technical designs for scenery, sound and costumes, staging the scenes and working on lots of tongue twisters as well as focusing and acting exercises. Students in the tech program afterschool start their rehearsals with the cast doing the warm-ups and exercises together.  Many of the MS students work tech for one show and then act on stage for another during the season.  This way everyone has a chance to gain some acting skills as well as building team cooperative skills. " This week in tech we did a lot with the help and supervision of Mike and we built set pieces." - Arlo Rogloff - 8th Grade.  Students work with Tech Director, Mike Finke on the proper and safe use of power tools and use these tools to build many ...