New Canaan Country School Beginners students (ages 4 and 5) enjoyed their annual Lantern Walk celebration with shadow puppet plays, songs and handmade lanterns, which illuminated the night as they strolled across campus by the light of the moon. The students sang “Walk with My Little Lantern” guided by Early Childhood Teachers Jeannie Bean and Carin Walden as they paraded around campus, holding their lanterns. The evening was a much-anticipated event, which culminated a classroom study of light and shadow, puppetry and storytelling.
The unit began with questions: What is light? Where do you find it? How do you make it? Students and teachers talked about the difference between day and night and experimented with shadows. This exploration led to the design of four shadow puppet plays: Water Friends, In Search of the North Pole, Animal School at the Zoo and Hide and Go Seek Dance Party, which were presented that night with puppets created by the children.
New Canaan Country School is a co-ed, independent day school for students in Pre-K (ages 3 & 4) through Grade 9. For more about our Early Childhood program, please visit www.countryschool.net/earlychildhood
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