6 days to showtime

Today we held our first rehearsal for "Twas the night before Thanksgiving". We began with a Capt Carl-style warm-up and divided into groups. I explained that I had a "map" in my mind as to how the performance goes to the music. After reading the story again, I described my "mind map", and next we tried it out.

Along the way, I asked kids to make up their own ways to convey certain parts of the story, i.e. the leaves floating and whirling through the air, the kids and turkeys reacting to Farmer Mack Nuggett's speech about chopped up turkeys for Thanksgiving feasts, etc. Performances are so chaotic at this stage--ugh, it's painful at times, but I know if we stick it out and really get organized, it will be great. Tomorrow I will work with small groups on their individual parts, while the others work on props and costumes.

I will introduce a new weaving technique for after snack choice--we're diving into the yarn basket! Here we go!