Stellar Learning: “Pluto Gets the Call” Integrates Science and More

This year, the first-grade play explored the solar system. The much-anticipated end-of-year project integrated what students learned in their classes, especially in science. The music and script centered around the students’ fascination with planets, stars, and moons.

Lower School Science Teacher Beth McDonough has been reading the book “Pluto Gets the Call” to every first-grade class for four years now. “Weaving science into the play has been extremely beneficial for my teaching in the Science House. This year, students exhibited a deeper understanding of key vocabulary words. Because the classes are practicing their lines everyday, students were memorizing key facts without even realizing it! It made classes more enjoyable and I was able to provide more in-depth experiences.”

“This collaborative approach encourages cross-curricular connections, with students linking the play to their learning not only in science, but also social studies, literacy, and art,” said Rebecca Amado, a first-grade teacher.

The end-of-year timing allowed students to practice their burgeoning reading fluency, expressiveness, and public speaking. The play also connected to social studies, exploring ideas of community and running a theater. During the Upper School production of “Legally Blonde,” first graders visited the Debbie Blake Kerrick Theater in the Performing Arts Center and created their own theater models as part of their end-of-year projects.

In art, students worked on the scenery. In the past, parents handled the scenery, but now it is student-driven. They incorporated sustainability by using digital playbills with QR codes instead of printed ones.

“Students learned to work as a team and sing complicated two-part songs while simultaneously dancing. Through performance, they were able to teach the rest of the Lower Elementary about the solar system!” said Billy Janiszewski, LES Music Teacher.

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