A: They are all characters in our first Prelude play of the season!
The highly creative kids at Roselawn Elementary School have set the bar high for the year with their wonderfully zany story. I don't want to give too much away (especially since I still have to write up the script!), but it starts out with the President and First Lady discussing where they will live once they leave the White House. They then purchase a house which they discover is full of monkeys. Chaos ensues. Sounds like a Marx Brothers film, doesn't it?
Mrs. Likens, the teacher of this class, asked us to turn our focus toward working on concepts within the mathematics curriculum, which we will defintely be able to do with the story the kids have written. We will need to count monkeys, zombies, bananas, and the cost of building vs. buying a home.
Furthermore, the monkeys are hungry, of course, and this gives us an opportunity to discuss the First Lady's campaign to end childhood obesity and encourage healthy eating habits. In our play, Mrs. Obama teaches the monkeys to garden, naturally!
I love the Prelude program because it is a constant challenge - I never know exactly where the story will end, and no one is better at creating amazing twists in a tale than a group of kids. I also inevitably learn things myself through the process, and now I am off to study the First Lady's Let's Move! Campaign. Did you know the USDA has changed the model for healthy eating? Check it out!
