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Posts Tagged ‘play’

This week: Willy Wonka’s Magical Chocolate Factory

Monday, July 26th, 2010

The Art Centre Theatre (formerly Teatro delle Muse), proudly announces its production of:  Willy Wonka’s Magical Chocloate Factory

willywonka
Performed by Children ranging in ages from 4-21, Roald Dahl’s timeless story of the world famous candy man and his quest to find an heir comes to life in this stage adaptation of Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, which features the songs from the classic family film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The memorable score features “The Candy Man”, “Pure Imagination”, “Oompa Loompa” and ”I Want it Now” by Academy® and Grammy® award winners Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. The play was cast, rehearsed, set built and music learned all within a two week period. Cast members met on Monday July 12 at 1:00 and have rehearsed every day since for 4 to 6 hours every day, Monday through Friday, and some weekends to get their show ready. The show has a two week run and features children from throughout the DFW area. ½ price ticket days are Wed. and Thursdays throughout the run of the show.

“This is a truly student run show,” Jamey Jamison Executive Director Art Centre Theatre, “ the kids do everything, from the lights and sound to the costumes and the set … oh and did I mention they sing and dance too?”

“This year we invited kids from the City of Plano’s “Jumpstart” to come be in the show as well . We auditioned them and picked several especially talented kids who we scholarshiped into the program,” Jamey Jamison, Executive Director of the Art Centre Theatre, “This is a very diverse cast of rugged experience and raw talent. We are very pleased.”

“I am very excited about this show,” Kathy French, Director, “ It has all the elements that good theatre has, and the music is just phenomenal, we have some really good singers in this cast – exceptional.”

“I love this part, it is one of the most fun things I have done all summer,” Taylor Timm – AKA Willy Wonka, “I am really enjoying the process of BECOMING someone else.”

Willy Wonka will open Wednesday, July 28 , 2010 and perform through Sunday Aug. 8, 2010. Performances for Willy Wonka will be Wed., Thurs., Fridays and Saturdays at 7:00pm, and Saturdays  & Sundays at 3:00pm. For exact dates and show times please visit our web site and click on the “Productions” Tab or “Tickets” Tab. Ticket prices are $12 online or $15 at the door. Advanced online purchase (before opening) are only $10 with coupon code “Willy”. For tickets, please visit our website, www.ArtCentreTheatre.com. Online ticketing is available with NO service fees and allows patrons to select preferred seating.

The ArtCentre Theatre (formerly Teatro delle Muse), strives to offer a full range of professional theatre. Selected works will include classic, contemporary and new plays that audiences will find entertaining as well as thought provoking. Involvement from the community will cross all demographic lines to include educational programs and community service projects. The Theatre is located at 1028, 15th Place (northwest corner of Avenue K and 15th Street) in historic downtown Plano. For further information, please visit our web site www.ArtCentreTheatre.com

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Are Inappropriate Government Standards Hurting our Children?

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

I don’t know about you, but I am firm believer that children need to play, they need down time, time to learn to socialize with others and be creative and imaginative in their structured time. The following press release shows that new core stands may lead to a plague of standardized testing in Kindergarten! Forcing young children to stay seated and focused for long periods of time feels like punishment - for both teachers and students.

As a mom of two elementary school children, I have watched my children suffer from the lack of down time and creative time at school. I give kudos to my kids’ school for doing their best to work creatively with our children given the current government requirements. It makes me very sad to think that there will be more testing imposed on children at such a young age. Read the press release below for more details.

To find out more about the Alliance for Childhood, visit them online here.

College Park, MD, June 8, 2010—The Alliance for Childhood today warned that states considering adopting the new academic core standards released on June 2 could set in motion a spate of inappropriate and harmful testing of young children.

The Alliance, a nonprofit partnership of researchers, educators, health professionals, and parents concerned with healthy child development, argues that the kindergarten standards in the Common Core State Standards Initiative fly in the face of well established knowledge about how young children learn and are based on “guesswork,” not science.

“The new ‘common core standards’ for kindergarten perpetuate a serious error that has dominated early education in recent years,” said Joan Almon, the Alliance’s director. “Most kindergartens now devote the bulk of their time to teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. And standardized testing and test prep have become daily activities in many kindergartens. But there’s no evidence that this approach has produced long-term success.”

The proposed kindergarten standards, on the whole, are not research-based, says the Alliance. “There is simply no definitive research showing that certain skills or bits of knowledge (such as counting to 100 or being able to read a certain number of words) if mastered in kindergarten will lead to later success in school,” according to a recent Alliance statement. “At best, these standards represent educated guesswork, not educational, cognitive, or developmental science.”

The new standards, which individual states may adopt if they choose, will worsen the pushing down into kindergarten of inappropriate learning goals that are better suited to older children, said Almon. Experience shows that such ill-conceived standards lead to teaching methods that thwart young children’s natural curiosity, interests, and energy.
“In far too many kindergartens, the drilling and testing of literacy and math skills have banished active hands-on learning and the play-based teaching techniques that are time-tested and most effective,” said Edward Miller, senior researcher and co-author with Almon of the Alliance’s 2009 report, Crisis in the Kindergarten: Why Children Need to Play in School.

“The new kindergarten standards will worsen this problem,” said Miller. “They focus on discrete content knowledge and ignore the well documented need for an integrated approach to young children’s cognitive, physical, social, and emotional development. The sheer number of standards being proposed—more than 90 for kindergartners—will require long hours of instruction if children are to achieve them.”

Recent research shows that tests have proliferated in kindergarten despite expert views that testing before age eight is highly unreliable and leads to unjustified and harmful labeling of children as failures. Play or “choice time” has been reduced to 20 to 30 minutes a day. In many kindergartens, there is no time for play at all.

There is one bright note in the standards document, however, said Almon.

“The writers of these new standards did get one thing right in relation to young children,” she said. “They brought themselves to actually use the word ‘play’—something that most other standards writers have scrupulously avoided.”

Almon noted that in the section called “What is not covered by the Standards,” it says, “[T]he use of play with young children is not specified by the Standards, but it is welcome as a valuable activity in its own right and as a way to help students meet the expectations in this document.”[1]

The Alliance recommends that teachers and school administrators in states that choose to adopt the standards put this statement about play front and center as they develop ways to implement them. “When play and play-based learning are at the heart of education, young children master content much more deeply than when schools rely on didactic instruction,” said Almon.

“Hundreds of studies have shown the value of play in fostering physical, social, emotional, and cognitive development of children,” said Miller. “Yet there has been a serious erosion of play-based learning in early education in recent years, and these new standards are likely to drive it even further out of classrooms.”

Instead there needs to be a public outcry in favor of play and play-based learning in kindergartens, said Almon. “Parents, in particular, need to express loudly the concerns that many are feeling.”

[1] See http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards/english-language-arts-standards/introduction/key-design-considerations/.

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