Students develop dramatic skills

The third- and fourth- graders at Sisters Elementary School had an opportunity to work on their drama skills through the Studio to School program over the past few weeks. Miss Lovely, an artist-in-residence, worked with each class for a period of 4-4.5 hours throughout the last four weeks.

"It was a great opportunity for the students to build comeraderie and teamwork," said Miss Lovely. Lovley has been in Central Oregon since 1999. After studying theater at the University of California at Santa Cruz, she began teaching. She has been teaching the dramatic arts to young people throughout her life and now primarily at West Side Magnet School in Bend.

Students in Sisters have been working on their acting skills and learning basic skills of acting on a stage.

"Through each workshop the students get to learn about themselves," said fourth-grade teacher Clay Warburton. "It gives them the confidence to start taking some positive risks."

While the students learned acting skills there were additional goals of the program. Goals included helping students focus their energy, improve their writing and communication skills, expand their imagination, help problem-solve, manage their public-speaking skills, and encourage cooperation.

Teachers tied the drama lesson into their math and social studies programs.

"I would ask what country they were studying," said Lovely, "and have them act it out. It really made them use their critical-thinking skills. How do you create a map of North America onstage? How can you show places like Alaska to the audience without it being blocked by the students playing Canada and other states?"

"She's (Miss Lovely) really nice and sorta funny too," said fourth-grader Phillip Komar. "She makes it really clear what she wants for us to do. I love the big group activities and when I get to interact with other people in my class."

The final event allowed for students to perform a mini-play for the kindergarten students using the skills they learned in their classes.

"My favorite part was creating a family portrait on the stage," said Cooper Alport, one of Warburton's students. "We made a lazy family, a sport family - I got to be the mom."