"Tutu" Much Fun, by Zulma Rodriguez

A unit on Swan Lake yields pictures, a computer presentation and a ballet performance – all by first graders

"Once upon a time there was a castle perched high on a mountain..." These words revealed to my first graders a timeless world of ballet that allowed them to become kinesthetically involved in experiences that might have otherwise remained only words on a page.

Swan Lake was the first of four ballet stories we read as part of a unit I created to continue my students' fascination with fairy tales. It was also an effort to have them explore new ways of telling a story.

Storyboarding. When the children agreed that Swan Lake was their favorite ballet story, my first step was to assess their understanding of the story. If they knew the characters and the sequence of the action, then they'd know what event was needed to move the story along.

I organized the students into four groups, gave each group one act of Swan Lake and told them to use their own words to retell what takes place in that act. When each group finished, they drew pictures of their act. As they worked, I played a tape of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. They had fun trying to identify what part of the story went with the music.

Then I gave them strips of paper and told them to write what was happening in their pictures. This encouraged them to reread the text and make personal connections that enabled them to adapt the text for their own purposes. When they finished, they laid their artwork on the floor and placed their strips of writing underneath the pictures. I called on students at random and gave them an opportunity to show and read about their art. They quickly became uncomfortable with the order in which the story was being told, so we displayed the pictures on the bulletin board and kept changing their order until we were satisfied with the sequence. It ended up being a huge storyboard that decorated our room for the next month.

Swan slideshow.
Around that time, the second grade in our school showed us a PowerPoint™ presentation of underwater animals. What a great idea – it was yet another way to tell a story. The computer teacher scanned my students' artwork while the kids went in search of the perfect background music for the presentation. It was no surprise when they came up with Tchaikovsky's swan theme. They added a title page with the proud words: "Swan Lake: As Retold by the First Grade Class of The New School of Orlando."

One step further.
I'm a big believer in bringing classroom literature to life through performance, so my class knew we'd be performing Swan Lake sooner or later. Just discussing the possibilities brought smiles and excitement to their faces. I told them the performance I was thinking about would express feelings through movements instead of words, just like Tchaikovsky's music expresses feelings and events in a story without using words. I explained and modeled "miming." We took turns leaving the room and coming back in miming a feeling that the rest of the class had to identify. Next, I showed them a video of Swan Lake performed by the Russian Ballet. We did this many times throughout the unit to focus on a particular piece of music, mood, feeling, scenery and costumes.

Getting their act together.
Then I brought in our school's dance teacher. She choreographed a mini-version of the ballet and taught them to mime the word "marry," how to reproduce the effect of the gracious and dignified role of the queen, how to perform an arabesque, and how a dramatic situation changes the effect of the dance steps. She explained technical terms and shared fascinating ballet facts.

If creative drama brings to mind expensive sets, props, costumes and lighting, think again. Children's natural love of drama coupled with their vivid imaginations is all that's needed. Each group decided on the scenery they wanted for their act. Some guidance was needed for the dimensions of the drawings and the rest was up to them. They used crayons on four long strips of white paper. Once the scenery was finished, we glued the strips of paper on to refrigerator boxes with the ends cut off and one side open, so it would stand on its own. Tutus and ballet shoes were brought in by siblings and other students attending ballet classes, boys were asked to bring tights and that was the bulk of our costumes. No props were used, so the children could concentrate on dancing.

All the children were involved in every aspect of the performance; they improved their self-concepts, learned group skills, developed confidence in their own abilities – and had fun. In this safe environment they offered constructive suggestions to one another and were able to value the differences in others' opinions and their new approaches to problem solving.

Opening night.
The parents and other students of the school became so interested in our endeavors that we scheduled an evening performance. My students were proud that they would be the first group of first graders "in the world" to perform Swan Lake. We began by showing our PowerPoint™ presentation on a big screen. It was helpful for those present who didn't know the story. A performance filled with memories followed. As one student said, "I'll never forget this for the rest of my life!"

Zulma Rodriguez teaches first grade at New School of Orlando, Orlando, FL.