Last time, the main play we read was A Midsummer Night's Dream. This time, our main play was Romeo and Juliet. We read both of these stories by reading a shortened version written by Lois Burdett who has taught Shakespeare to her 2nd and 3rd graders for years. She writes her play in couplets, just like Shakespeare, and sometimes uses his own wording.
Besides Romeo and Juliet, we also studied about Shakespeare's life and times. Here are some resources:
- William Shakespeare by Haydn Middleton (What's Their Story?) - great kids biography of Shakespeare
- Romeo and Juliet by Lois Burdett (Shakespeare Can Be Fun) - she has 5 in this series and this is our 2nd - very enjoyable and it helps to make Shakespeare's stories understandable and fun! We really enjoy the kids art wor and short stories - the kids' vocabulary is amazing!
- Shakespeare's England: Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, and William Shakespeare by Cavendish - I actually read this myself and never got around to sharing it with Alexandra, but she would have enjoyed a lot of it
- Shakespeare (DK Eyewitness Books) by Peter Chrisp - great photos, etc, of Shakespeare's time
This is such a good little mini-unit that I'm going to have to borrow it. I really would like GB to learn to appreciate Shakespeare. Thanks for the references!
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a book I read called, "Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire" by Rafe Esquith. There is also a dvd movie on Netflix by the same title. Very inspiring! Victoria is not far. I'll have too look up that Arboretum.
ReplyDeleteMartha