We love the Seattle Children's Theater. Since these high quality plays often sell out quickly, we always scour the new brochure at the beginning of the year and choose a play that goes with our overarching concept.
This year we chose The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe to go with our "treasure" concept. We were sure to find lots of things to treasure as we experienced the magic of Narnia....
In the weeks ahead of the play, we read the book aloud.
One day, we received a special letter inviting us to a very special event: a tea party!
It read, in part,
....All you need
to do is go to the Spare Oom. There you will find an old War Drobe tucked into
the corner of the room. Open the door, make your way through and past all the
fur coats and enter the world of Narnia.
Ahhhhh….Narnia. Look
for the Lamppost. Near the Lamppost, you will find Mr. Tumnus’ home made ready
for a delectable and scrumptious tea party. This is England, you know, and we
must have our tea!
Find a seat
and let the party begin. And then we’ll face our problems (math problems, of
course!) [see Narnia Part 2]
So we went through the Wardrobe door...
Past the fur coats, into the land of perpetual winter...
...and entered the land of Narnia where a tea party awaited us.
We had real tea and real sugar cubes...
and real scones and real Turkish Delight.
Later we learned about a real boy who was relocated during World War II from his home in Belfast, Ireland. Meet Mrs. Towne's Dad's penpal.
For over ten years they wrote back and forth.
We marveled at Ronnie's handwriting.
In literacy class that day we wrote letters to each other, a new favorite way of "work on writing."
We were all about Narnia. For days the students were caught up in the
magic of the story and were even role playing out at recess. And finally, fully prepared and engaged, we headed up to Seattle to see the play.
We had lunch and played with the Space Needle as our backdrop:
On the bus ride home, looking at a map she drew:
A map of Narnia:
Comparing the book to the play:
We each wrote a thank you note:
So much to treasure:
good literature
adventure
adults who listen to us
hospitality
integrity
happy endings
springtime
family
friends
Turkish Delight
Stay tuned for Narnia Part 2:
What Is Your Favorite Flavor of Turkish Delight?
A Math Adventure
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