Published for the Arts Based School Community
April 13, 2023
How We Do It and Why
By Mary Siebert
“We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” - William Shakespeare
Our very first theatrical performance, twenty years ago, was A Midsummer Night’s Dream with third graders. They were, at the time, the oldest students in the school, and there were fifteen of them. I was their teacher, and noticed that the very characters from Shakespeare’s play already inhabited my classroom. I had Puck-like tricksters, fairy-like sprites, kids with royal presence and others with rustic energy. We tumbled together through the hilarity and discipline and emotional risk-taking of rehearsing. We included smaller children who appeared as little fairies who sang at the end, and second graders who stepped in where we were short of cast members. There was much shimmery, rich, unforgettable learning along the way.
Of course the sets tipped over. Of course there were schedule problems. Of course we were sad when it was over. It was enormous fun, and a lot of work, and when we were done those kids owned Shakespeare.
Grade-level productions have become an important tradition, requiring the focus and energy of all teachers and specialists as they arise each year. Some memorable highlights over the years:
An all-school performance of the opera Barefoot, with 150 students in the cast, based on a children’s book which is told from the perspective of marsh creatures, with illustrations from the ankles down. It tells about a young man escaping slavery who is helped along the way by fireflies, mosquitoes, and other creatures of the marsh, pursued by “heavy boots,” escaping with the help of a home along the railway. Guest singer Chase Taylor played Barefoot. Chase sang at the Metropolitan Opera in NYC last year, and won a Grammy award for his work there.
A celebration of Caribbean culture, again with the entire school, where parents rotated from room to room, to see mini performances of songs and story theater at each grade level. That’s when we learned not to have kindergarten students perform in the evening…they fell asleep!
There was the year when the Romeo & Juliet dress rehearsal was canceled because of a storm. We rescheduled. On the day of the show, a lead performer was home sick, and an other 5th grader quickly learned all of his lines and stage combat. But when we went back to the theater, parents and grandparents in the lobby, costumes ready…the theater’s power randomly failed, and we all went home. When we finally performed it, two weeks later, the first student was back in action, and there were two performances...he did one, his brave stand-in did the other.
There was the unforgettable time when our students were performing the opera Brundibar, which had been performed by children in the concentration camp of Terezin during World War II. Most of the children in the 55 performances at Terezin were transported to Auschwitz, where they perished. One survivor, by this time in her 70s, visited our school and met our performers. She stood and sang the Victory Song with our students at the end.
And there was 2020, the Covid stay-at-home year. Our middle school drama teacher Jordan Brown taught himself how to film little clips of moments from Zoom sessions, piecing them together artfully with art and music on other video platforms (all new to him,) to create a performance for every single class, K-8. It was exhausting, fastidious, heavily detailed work, coaching parents and little children through their scenes from their own kitchen or living room. With the assistance of then K-4 drama teacher Heidi McIver, he saw to it that every class had their show.
Classroom teachers often remark that the experience of putting together and performing a show together creates dramatically improved community within a class or grade level afterward. The mutual support and risk-taking required to tell a collective story to our most important audience (our parents and family,) shifts routine relationships. Students and their teachers often discover unexpected strength, talent, and courage among classmates where they least expected it. Like a pastry chef shakes cookies in a bag of sugar to coat and transform them, telling a group story through theater, music, dance and art tumbles a group together. They emerge in unexpected order, covered with magic.
Save the Date-Lyrics by the Lake for ABS!
We’re working on a special springtime gathering and fundraiser with current ABS parent and Board Chair Larry Barron (The Poet L.B.) Please save the date: May 20! Keep an eye on Thursday Notes for details to follow.
Parent Council Meeting - April 14th-
Our next meeting is Friday, April 14th, at 12noon via ZOOM, link is including in your email. If there is an agenda item you want considered for discussion, please submit the topic to [email protected].
Staffing Updates
Leah Lavin (Community Relations) and Ashley McKenzie (Middle School EC) will be leaving ABS at the end of the school year. Both of these staff members will be greatly missed. Each has had an important impact in our school’s success. It's always hard to say goodbye. We wish them the best as they embark on their next adventures.
Interested in working for ABS?
The Arts Based School (ABS) is a popular and successful K-8 public charter school in Winston-Salem, offering competitive salaries and NC State health plan and retirement benefits to full-time employees.
Warm collegial relationships and a high level of collaboration are consistently noted by teachers as favorite aspects of working at ABS. We accept applications year-round from licensed teachers. Ideal candidates are passionate, energetic, creative, and innovative. ABS teachers are team players who plan together across arts and other disciplines to deliver uniquely integrated curriculum. This contributes to our cheerful, vibrant, learning community, and results in accomplished, confident students.
Our campus, located in downtown Winston-Salem, includes two updated brick tobacco warehouses: a colorful K-4 building with a blackbox theater, dance studio and art room, and an “industrial chic” 5-8 building with a drama studio, an art room bordering an outdoor sketching garden, a modern, light-filled music room, and a large, open courtyard.
For more information and application, check our website: https://www.artsbasedschool.com/apps/pages/employment
Current Openings: Middle School Science, Middle School EC, Teaching Assistant, Part-time K-2 Music and Dance
Don’t Forget about Summer Camp!
There are still a few spots remaining! FAQs, detailed offerings, and a link to sign up are available on our website. You can email Principal Hollis with general questions, or Angela Garner with billing questions.
MAP Testing Begins Next Week
ABS uses Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) to assess each student’s academic growth. We will give students in grades 3-8 MAP tests to determine each child’s instructional level and to measure academic growth throughout the school year, and from year to year in the areas of math and reading. Your child will take the tests on a computer. MAP tests are unique in that they adapt to be appropriate for your child’s level of learning. As a result, each student has the same opportunity to succeed and maintain a positive attitude toward testing. And with MAP tests, we can administer shorter tests and use less class time while still receiving detailed, accurate information about your child’s growth.
4th Grade Videos
Videos of the 4th grade performances of “Like a Family” are now available through the Family Portal on the ABS website.
Assistant Principal for the Day
Does your child want a chance to be Assistant Principal for the day? We hold drawings every month at Friday Sing! You can purchase raffle tickets online or in the front office of your campus to give your child a chance to be Assistant Principal of the Day. Assistant Principals have their own desk, name tag, and list of very important duties for the day. All proceeds from the raffle support our teacher appreciation fund and allow us to do special things for our staff throughout the year. Thank you, and good luck!
ABS Tees!- Last chance to order…
Thanks to all who have ordered their new ABS t-shirt. So far we’ve raised over $800! If you still want to order, you have one more day! All shirts are a soft blended fabric available in youth and adult sizes. Please place your orders before tomorrow, Friday, April 14. All orders will ship to ABS (unless you elect to have them shipped to your home for an additional fee) on May 2. We hope to sort orders and send them home via Thursdays folders as quickly as possible! If you have any questions at all, please let us know.
Save the Date-ABS Graduation
Let’s celebrate our 8th graders! Graduation is scheduled for Monday, June 5 at 12 noon in the ABS Alex Ewing Theater. Seating is limited to 4 tickets per graduate.
Around Town
Film Festival
The world-renowned RiverRun Film Festival is coming up right here in Winston-Salem! If you've never experienced it, this would be a great time to try it out. Fresh new movies and old favorites are played all over town, from April 13-April 22. Tickets sell out quickly.
Songbird Supper Club, a free monthly event to empower women's authentic expression, is having a special Mother and Child event on May 30th. Create something with your child to share for a belated Mother's Day celebration. More information and sign-up at: https://femalesovereignty.org/news