One of the classes that I’m teaching is new to me: Storybook Acting. This is a class that I inherited last Fall. I never thought one could teach acting to 3-5 year olds, but it’s possible if you choose the right book.

I use a standard, creative movement warm-up in a circle–complete with body pats, dancing fingers, and singing the abc’s while touching our toes. In order to mix it up a little bit, I’ve started singing in class. It took a while to brush up on the old hits: “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “Row, Row, Your Boat,” and the classic “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. ” The kids usually sing softly while doing the hand gestures and I inevitably end up belting out the tune with all my heart. It’s actually kind of a fun, since I know they don’t really care about my pitch or tone. When I was a kid, we had a cassette player and a whole bunch of tapes from the We Sing Silly Songs series; I listened to these tapes quite a lot and since my sister was much younger then I was, we used to sing along together. Sometimes I’m transported to a much younger time while singing “The Ants Go Marching”, my fingers enthusiastically marching up and down my knees.
It never fails, but I could play the Animal Game for the entire 45 minutes and the kids would be in Hog Heaven. At four, there is nothing better then pretending to be a kitty or a puppy–the two top choices. Sure, I try to throw some rodents in there, maybe a lizard, or the popular snake–but cute animals are really where it’s at. Maybe we should be blaming Disney for the onslaught of cute cartoon protagonists?

Because it’s acting, sometimes I make them act out every emotion in the book–to music of course. The best one is “Bad Mood,” where the kids stomp around and pretend to be pissed. Last week I had them act out the seasons of the year. Sometimes I try to give them real-life characters, like “Mom,” “Fireperson,” or “Shop Keeper.” I’ve also found that giving the kids numbered dots to use has been invaluable. I make them line up in order, sit in a circle in order, and basically command them using their designated number–yeah, I’m a real drill sergeant. Want to split up a pair of particularly aggressive girls? “Sorry, you have the number five dot and your buddy has number three…you can’t sit by each other because then you’d be out of order.” I have some real buttheads, girls that order other, weaker, girls around…telling them that they can’t hold hands with so-and-so because they suck–which I absolutely won’t tolerate in my classroom. This is actually an isolated girl related problem, because the boys I have are oblivious and too focused on tearing it up to get involved with any classroom dramas.

After we do our acting warm-ups, the kids gather around and I read to them. Books I’ve chosen are Superdog, Ferdinand, Corduroy’s Pocket, Petunia, Diary of a Spider, the Dot, and The Day Jimmy’s Boa Constrictor Ate The Wash (yup, straight out of Reading Rainbow). Many are from the library but a large amount of books come from my own personal childhood collection I raided the last time I was at my parent’s house. I get a lot of satisfaction introducing a new crop of kids to books I really loved as a kid. I also spend a lot of time with the voices of each character, really distinguishing each one so the kids understand the power of voice. Sometimes I’ll ask them questions during the book: “What color is her sweater?” “What do you think will happen next?” “What expression does he have on his snout?” “How many starfish are there on the page?” But if I’m not careful the kids will talk through the entire book…

Acting the book out is always really interesting. Sometimes we’ll designate parts, but often this makes the kids feel bad–inevitably everyone wants to be the kitten, even if the kitten is merely a side character. Therefore, they usually ALL play the lead character, while I feed them lines and give them stage directions. There is usually a lot of running that goes on, as kids get caught up in the story. Sure, there’s one girl who often resigns herself to sitting in the corner and picking her toes with her teeth, but for the most part the kids are super involved.

If we’re really on a role, the kids will really start taking the lead. I’m continually amazed by their capacity to perform. One of my best actors is a quiet girl who must come from a family of Amazons because she’s only four but looks at least six. She internalizes every character, downplays the verbal, and really comes through with her emotional rendering of the character. I can tell the class has an impact on her because I’ll hear her telling her Mom, “Today I got to play Petunia…” which is a lot more reflection then most of my students.

I’m currently teaching Story Book Acting to a group of 4 1/2 to 6 year-olds and a group of young 3 year-olds. The younger ones have a much harder time translating the book to the stage. I read my old favorite, Abiyoyo yesterday, and it was the first time the kids were actually audible with their lines and singing. We worked on opposites, big versus small, happy versus sad. These little ones have taken to bringing a book from home–which I love, because it shows their thinking about literature after class–which we read before class starts. At three, they’re still very much enthralled by being read to, where as my older kids are more interested in asking questions about the book, pointing out every little detail in the illustrations, and showing off their stellar knowledge to their peers.

Recently on NPR they had an interview with Nancy Pearl. She’s a Super Librarian, going to schools to get kids jazzed about reading and writing a lengthy book called Book Crush which researches what the hip books are for each generation. I was in awe of her, listening while driving to work. I wanted to call in and shout, “Yes! Yes! I need your booklist, I love getting kids excited about reading!” Which sounds so Sesame Street, I know, (speaking of, I caught an excellent documentary recently about implementing Sesame Street in different countries, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME STREET, which I highly recommend).

After a little searching, I found Nancy Pearl’s website. I’m not sure what I’m going to write to her, perhaps just simply expressing my camaraderie for getting kids involved with literature. Maybe asking her what I should be when I grow up…if it’s possible to read books to kids for a living. Because, when the day is bright and I don’t have a cold, I find reading to kids the easiest part of teaching. The book carries itself, entrancing the kids, keeping them still and engaged. Perhaps this is what it’s all about…oh, sure, the socializing of three-year-olds is important, which is why the Creative Movement curriculum and all the other classes I teach are significant…but just being read to, man, that’s really what it’s all about when you’re young.