Students spent two afternoons—two hours each Tuesday and
Thursday—for approximately 9 weeks each semester—in the
afterschool program. One of those days was in music, dance, and
acting classes and the other day was in literacy workshops
(readers’ theater, literacy-based computer lab, and
playwriting). For both semesters, performing arts classes
culminated in a performance of a condensed version of a musical
--with all students participating in the show--in the afternoon
for the students at HOB and in the evening for parents and
families. This semester, the performance of “The Wizard of Oz”
will be April 3. The first semester playwriting classes began
writing plays using the iPad application “Puppet Pals,” where
students worked in pairs composing short plays by speaking
aloud, then creating animated characters in the program. From
here they discussed the structure of plays, the importance of
specific story elements (character, setting, conflict,
resolution, etc). The second semester playwriting classes, then,
we