If you have ever watched a class rehearse a play during main lesson, you may have asked yourself a very fair question: Isn't this extra-curricular? It's lovely, but are our children practicing a play at the expense of core academic subjects?
The answer is no. And we are glad you asked.
In our play block, the play is the backdrop, not the subject. Our teachers are teaching the same core academics your child needs, using a story the children have lived into so deeply that the learning has somewhere to land. This is not a choice between a play and academics. It is another avenue to the same destination. Read more for some examples in 2nd and 3rd grade language arts.
Second Grade: Sight Words and Encoding
Sight words and high frequency words. Second graders practice their weekly sight words and high frequency words through short narratives, two to three sentences each, that summarize a part of the play's story and include that week's words. Instead of copying words from a list, children read and write them in a meaningful sentence about characters they already care about. The words stick because they belong to something.
Encoding through Kid Writing. In Kid Writing, children sound out words and put them on paper, which builds their understanding of how spelling works. During the play block, the writing prompts come straight from the story. Children are not searching for something to say. They already have something to say, so their energy goes into the skill: listening for sounds, choosing letters, and building words.
Third Grade: Grammar, Composition, and Perspective Writing
Our third graders explored composition, learned how to write a letter, and were introduced to perspective writing by writing letters to their "cousins" about the amazing events that had taken place in the story. One began like this:
Dear Cousin Goose, You will never believe what happened! Brother Goose and I were with Gosling and Duck when all of a sudden we saw a woman falling through the sky!...
Perspective writing can feel abstract at this age. It asks a child to step outside themselves and tell what happened through another set of eyes. Yet eight- and nine-year-olds are still holding on to imaginative play. Because they had lived so deeply into these characters, in a story that meets them developmentally, they could translate that experience into writing from a character's point of view. They did it with ease, and they had so much fun doing it.
In one assignment, they practiced the format of a letter, the conventions of grammar, the structure of composition, and the beginnings of perspective-taking, all without feeling like they were doing a worksheet.
Why This Works
Children learn best when the material matters to them. A story they have rehearsed, embodied, and felt gives every skill a reason to exist. Sight words become part of a story they know. Kid Writing becomes a way to say what they think about it. A letter becomes a way to share news with a friend who needs to hear it. The skills are real, and the standards are met. The difference is that the learning arrives through imagination, which is exactly where children at these ages are most ready to receive it.
When your child comes home talking about the play, listen closely. Underneath the costumes and characters, they are reading, writing, spelling, composing, and thinking. The play is not taking time away from core academics. It is one more way we teach them, and one your child will remember.
