Every classroom culture is unique. If we invite parents to step inside and take a closer look, they will better understand and be able to participate actively in the learning process of their children throughout the year.

I believe that when parents experience situations similar to the experiences of their children in class, they can understand more profoundly how and what is expected of students on a daily basis. They can empathize and offer guidance with greater insight and perception.

[Read more…] about Parent Participation: Integral to Learning Process

If you were to lose your eyesight, imagine what life would be like. If your friend could not see, and you were his guide, imagine that. My students responded in writing to these powerful situations. Then, they took a partner and a blindfold and participated in an experience they will never forget. With eyes covered, partners toured the school. Down the stairs, up the stairs and through the hallways they walked, putting one foot in front of the other, holding on tightly to their assigned guides. Many were fearful, some stumbled and lost footing and some were delighted by the adventure. After fifteen minutes, partners changed roles, giving each student the opportunity to lead and to be led.

[Read more…] about The Walk of Confidence: Growing Empathy Through Vulnerability

What’s in a title that makes you want to pick up a book, see a movie or go out to the theater?

Lightning Strike Kids Opera Company will tell you that the title must be catchy, engage the audience and refer in some way to the deeper meaning of the story. Through alliteration, rhyme, paradox, metaphor or play on words, the students find a way to express what their opera is REALLY about. By asking what a story, song or poem is REALLY about, we access a thinking process that enables students to go beneath the surface of the text to uncover the author’s intended message, unique perspective or personal interpretation. We then ask the same about our own story.

[Read more…] about Back on Track

News Release

March 6, 2014

Imari Davis and Samantha Ruiz

Public Relations Officers

We are Lightning Strike Kids Opera Company, twenty-two third graders in Ms. McGinn’s class. We are making our own original opera. On May 7 at 2 p.m. and May 8 at 2 and 7 p.m. our opera will be performed at Stedwick Elementary School in the All Purpose Room.

[Read more…] about Lightning Strike Kids Opera Company News Release

How can we design and construct the set and lighting for our opera without properly knowing the space we will inhabit, our stage? Set designers and electricians are busy making important decisions to bring our story to life. How many lights should be built? Where must they be placed on stage? What set pieces are needed to effectively tell our story and how will they fit in our small theatrical space?

All third graders in Montgomery County are currently learning measurement and fractions. We learn by doing. With a bit of knowledge about tape measures and how to record accurate measurements, the entire company set out to help our designers acquire the information needed to proceed with set and lighting construction.

[Read more…] about Measuring for Real (Video)

Every Wednesday morning the halls are abuzz with incredible energy for Opera Class. Students walk from place to place with purpose. They know they have a job and they must be prepared. From 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. we meet as a company to work in our respective job groups. Our talented and dedicated volunteers work with us as we specialize in learning the specific skills necessary to carry out the responsibilities in creating an original opera. Each company member becomes an expert in his or her field. The groups work independently. Then, little by little, as we move through the process, students recognize the significance and purpose of each job group and learn that without all groups combining effort and commitment, the opera could not happen. A sense of interdependence is born. There’s no turning back. It’s all for one and one for all.

[Read more…] about Becoming an Expert On The Job