Elementary learners take the stage for our first Theater Intensive!

Why Theater?

Theater offers elementary-aged students powerful opportunities to build essential life skills, including confidence, communication, creativity, and collaboration. Learners develop self-esteem by speaking in front of others and strengthen communication skills through voice projection, body language, active listening, and clear expression. By embodying characters and exploring the Great Stories, students foster imagination, generate new ideas, and deepen understanding. Collaboration is central, as 1st through 6th year students work together in each scene, sharing responsibility for a unified production. Throughout rehearsals and performances, learners also develop problem-solving, critical thinking, adaptability, concentration, commitment, and attention to detail.

Theater Intensive Overview

This year marks the beginning of something new, something exciting, and something truly big.

This new immersive curricular program will engage all our Elementary students in a three-week Theater Intensive and result in a performance for families.

Everyone will be on stage at some point, but learners get to choose what feels right for them. Maybe it’s a lot of lines, or just a few. Maybe they want to sing, or do gymnastics, move set pieces, run sound, or play an instrument. Whatever their talent is, there’s a place for it in this story.

In addition to being a part of a large production and being on stage, students will have integrated lessons on math, geometry, reading, public speaking, music, art and more! We can’t wait to share updates with you along the way and the grand finale performance.

Curricular Integration

Every step in the production process will integrate lessons on a variety of subjects. Much of the set design and character and plot development involves exploring scientific, mathematical, and geometric concepts. Learners can expect lessons on:

Artists
Musicians/composers
Genre of dance/movement
Genre of music
Ratio (distance of the sun to earth)
Geometry (measurement of angles for a set or painting)
Perspective
Geography lessons (deeper lessons on solids, liquids, gases, as we talk more deeply about the universe and formation of the earth)
Specific geography lessons (types of volcanoes, plate tectonics, ring of fire, rock cycle, water cycle)
And more...

Year 1: The Universe, Solar System, and The Earth

The First Great Story, The Coming of the Universe, is an epic journey that began billions of years ago. Through hands-on experiments, visual charts, and a rich allegorical narrative, children are introduced to the universe with a sense of awe grounded in scientific understanding. Designed by Montessori, the story orients children to the vastness of the cosmos, reveals the laws that govern it, and places Earth within this grand context—opening the door to all fields of human knowledge and inquiry.

Montessori urged educators to “give the child a vision of the whole universe,” reminding us that all things are connected and form a unified whole.

This story comes to life through a cast of characters that includes Early Human families, a Roman family, families from the 1700s–1800s, and modern day, as well as personified elements of nature such as Mountains, Air, Water, Fire, Lichens, Flowers, and birds. Characters also include narrators, scientists, laws of the universe, states of matter, volcanoes, and more.

The Great Stories

The Great Stories serve as a foundation for child-directed study within Cosmic Education. Rather than teaching a single lesson, they unfold in many directions—sparking curiosity, inviting emotional connection, and helping children develop a sense of belonging and purpose. By offering hope and a vision of each child’s unique cosmic task, these stories support self-construction and foster appreciation for the countless contributors to life on Earth.

Our Theater Intensive will be a five-year rotation of The Great Stories. Five foundational, large-scale narratives designed to spark imagination and provide a “big picture” of the universe, life, and humanity’s place within them.

Universe
Life
Humans
Language/Communication
Mathmatics

Maria Montessori wrote, “If the idea of the universe be presented to the child in the right way, it will do more than just arouse interest; it will create admiration and wonder—a feeling loftier than any interest and more satisfying.” (To Educate the Human Potential).

Schedule

Guides will cast the show so that each scene includes students from all four elementary classrooms. Before winter break, we’ll meet with our individual scene casts. Those with speaking parts will take their scripts home to start memorizing.

Then, in January, each scene/cast will come together — sharing our days, our gym time, and our creativity as we rehearse and build something amazing. Work cycle will be used for scene rehearsals, gym for physical education, and art and music specials will become spaces for building sets, painting props, and learning songs. In the afternoons, we will explore art, character work, scientific, mathematical, and geometric concepts through lessons, discussion, and debate. Together, we will incorporate these concepts and lessons into our scenes and stage art.

8:15 - Check-in in Homeroom

8:30 - Work Cycle in Homeroom

9:00 - Scene Work/ Lessons

11:55 - Lunch, back to Homeroom

12:30 - Recess for All

1:15-3:15 - Scene Work/Lessons

Updates

The Cedar Classroom will release an issue of the Comets Gazette each week of the Theater Intensive, with updates from the students in each scene. Photos and short video clips will also be posted each week for a sneak peek into how the production is progressing.

Week One: Setting the Scene

In Scene 2, we played some name games to get to know each other. We then acted out three different stories in two different ways, once without the problem and once with the problem. On Wednesday, we started the morning with more name games and theater games after we played counting games. Some people were really excited during the game so that made it hard. Then we had many lessons, including one on the big bang. It was very interesting.

Comets Gazette: Theater Week One