Submitted by Amy Finnerty, Pennsylvania

Idea posted September 24, 2003

Q: I am a brand-new teacher looking for ideas for programs for next year. Each grade, K-2, performs one musical. Each grade is approximately 150-200 students. Any ideas for simple staging/costumes/script, etc.?

A: I have used "The Cactus Christmas Tree," The Elves Impersonator, and "Bugz" with 1st and 2nd graders, and they all were hits! I did very little costuming and staging for the first two. I had masks for the characters in "The Cactus Christmas Tree," a chicken wire and butcher paper cactus (courtesy of the art teacher), and that was it!

I also used "Rainbow Fish" once and had the kids act it out as one student read it. We added Orff instrumentation to certain words and characters. It was really neat and gave the kids who are nervous singers a chance to shine!