It’s Showtime!

Our colleague Yvonne has two passions—storytelling and young children. Meeting with 20 children twice a week for a month, Yvonne transforms a classroom of children into a theatrical troupe performing such favorites as Swimmy by Leo Lionni and Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr.

During the fun of performing a favorite book, children’s early literacy skills—especially their narrative skills, vocabulary, and print motivation—are strengthened. Yvonne’s teeny tiny theater is the nearly perfect early literacy activity, derived from 30 years of theory, including education researcher Diana Slaughter-Defoe’s finding that “children acquire literacy better when they are actively involved in meaningful experiences with it.”

For the past three years, Yvonne and some of our colleagues have been involved in the Portland Public School’s Early Reading First grant, bringing early literacy experiences to 180 children in nine, inner-city early childhood classrooms. We offered early learning workshops and family fun nights for the parents, in-service day trainings and mentoring for the teachers, and free books and interactive storytimes for the children. The schools and teachers appreciated the personalized service, the children loved the storytime fun, and the parents… well, they didn’t come.

This probably doesn’t surprise you. It didn’t surprise us either, even though we tried to address all of the usual obstacles. We held the events at convenient locations and at various times—evenings, weekends, lunch hour, and child-pickup times—and freely provided the usual incentives: food, gift certificates, transportation, and child care. So, as we brainstormed the plan for our grant’s final year, we asked ourselves: What will parents come to? The answer was easy—a performance.

We weren’t disappointed: the families’ response was tremendous. In nine old-fashioned elementary school gyms, the children performed nine separate productions to the most significant people in their lives—their mothers, fathers, grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, and siblings, many with video cameras, of course.

In preparation for the play, all of the children received a copy of the book to keep and enjoy with their families. Then, during the weeks of rehearsing, the children read the book at home and talked with their families about what part they were playing. The data on children’s learning reveals that parent involvement is very important for children, particularly children from disadvantaged families. In fact, the more intensely parents are involved, the more beneficial the effects on achievement.

Before each show began, we took the opportunity to share with the families why this activity is so important—it helps prepare their children for reading. In less than 30 minutes, we were able to help parents understand how to prepare their sons and daughters for reading in a fun way.

The monthlong “rehearsal” process was the ideal learning environment—lots of interaction, lots of verbal stimulation, and lots of fun. Yvonne and the children read, reread, and retold their favorite story in many fun ways. They talked about the story’s characters and sequence of events, and they created the set using their favorite illustrations.

Yvonne’s skillful approach to working with young children is rooted in developmentally appropriate teaching practices. She focuses on the process, not the end product. When provided a rich, meaningful, and engaging learning environment, children learn.

Each play’s success was brought about by an enlightened teacher, a terrific story, and involved families. What kindergarten teachers want to see on the first day of school are children who are healthy, capable of communicating, and eager to learn. Enthusiasm and curiosity are more important than knowing the alphabet. By this measure, teeny tiny theater was a huge success. Teachers tell us that the children who participated are eager to “do” another book.