Artist in Residence
The Artist in Residence is an opportunity to have
Mrs. McPuppet bring a bundle of new ideas and energy into your school. Puppetry
is not an addition to an already full curriculum but rather a powerful tool that
can be used to “bring literature to life” and make reading magical for children.
The core of the activity is making puppets to reenact folk tales. Puppetry lends
itself to teaching basic reading components such as beginning, middle and end;
sequencing of events; identification of story setting, characters and main idea;
as well as aiding in basic comprehension and re-tell fluency.
The programs come in all shapes and sizes. The final event could be a
performance for another class and family and friends and both would include a
display of the journals worked on by each student. The New York State Learning
Standards for the arts are interwoven into the exciting activities that Mrs.
McPuppet provides.
October 2009: Vail Farm Elementary ,
Second Grade
This weeklong residency focused on
literacy, bringing 2 stories to life with puppets. It began with
a performance for K-2. The children had learned the songs and
were ready to see the stories come to life. For the workshops, I
had my own room to teach in and the first grade classes learned
how to make 2 different kind of puppets to reenact The Little
Red Hen and The Gingerbread Man. On the last day, each class
presented a puppet show for another class and Moms and Dads.
First grade teacher :“Thank
you for adding so much delightful literacy to our beginning of
the year”
Principal: "I got nothing but high praise from the teachers about the
residency and you. Everyone loved it and you! Thanks once
again for providing such a well-thought out and planned
program. We will certainly want to have you back next year."
Principal of Vail Farm Road Elementary,
Lagrangeville, NY.
Primary Grades - Greene Elementary School
This residency was a wonderfully exciting opportunity to bring Mrs. McPuppet
and her lessons about geography, animals, and values into several classrooms.
Drawing teachers in costume into the interactivity of the program adds much to
the sense of fun and wonder for the children.
Fourth Grade -Glenwood School, Vestal, New York
This was a nice example of a four day residency which began with an introduction
to different styles of puppets from around the world. Hand puppetry was taught
and then applied to Iroquois legends. which the students were studying at the
time. The residency was a collaboration between many teachers. The art teacher
worked on finishing the puppets, adding costumes and props, the librarian
and the music teacher worked on the dramatization of the story with the voice,
and the classroom teacher worked with the children on rewriting the legends in their own words. On the final day we
practiced in the morning and in the afternoon the children performed for the
first and second graders.
First and Second Grades- South Kortright Elementary School
This was a nice example of a 10 day residency for six classes which began with a
dramatization by Mrs. McPuppet of a folktale with puppets, costumes, and song. The music teacher worked with the children before the residency so
that they were acquainted with the songs. On the second day we looked at
different styles of puppets from around the world and began making the puppet for the first folktale. Day three we finished the puppets and
started to bring them to life with the story. Each new folktale was introduced with a mini- performance and the next day we would make a
different style of puppet and act out the story with these new puppets, props,
and costumes. The children read different versions of each folktale, discussed their differences after which they wrote their own variation
of the story. We
performed the stories in a final celebration for families and friends.
First Grades-
South Kortright Elementary School
This is a nice example of a one day residency which began with a performance by
Mrs. McPuppet involving many folktales and songs. One story was chosen from the
performance and the children made puppets in one hour sessions to dramatize that
story.
