Along with teaching all the varied tenets of Kindergarten curriculum like adding and subtracting and READING (!), Jake’s teachers also teach him the days of the week, months of the year, Presidential facts, Chinese, and in their spare time, throw together whole ENTIRE plays for the parents to rejoice and ooooh and ahhhh over. This week we were honored to attend Jake’s play, The Mitten, where he was convincing and terrifying as… The Bear.
Unfortunately there is no money in the school budget for professional costume designs, and so The Bear costume fell to me. This is not my gift. Designing, decorating, sewing… really anything related to being a good Kindergarten mom! But, it had to be done.
So I found brown pants, a tan shirt and gloves on sale at Target and then headed off to Michael’s and was happy to find cardboard “bear mask” forms. Bought a bunch of colored felt and went home to cut and piece together. Luckily, my seamstress friend, Karen, said I could come over to finish the details. She helped sew things on (fast, like lightening) and stitch the felt more permanently onto the mask. It turned out pretty well and I was not embarrassed to compare his costume with his classmates (which was really all I was going for)!
It was a little hard to get pictures because, as luck would have it, we chose the wrong side to sit on. So in the pictures of the whole class, you’ll find Jake on the front row, next to the last on the far left. Brown pants/shirt/mask.
And the snowflakes begin to fall… making it hard to see the lost white mitten…
Jake’s best friend, C, is the raccoon pointing into the audience…
And then a star is born! Jake comes to the stage with the Hedgehog (another best friend) and the eagle…
They ask for a space in the mitten because they are sooooooo cold…
The animals let one last mouse inside, but then they sneeze and the mitten breaks open scattering them every which way…
We had a great night and I continue to be so happy with the wonderful teachers and experience Jake is having at school this year!
And for the grandparents… some videos of the songs & exceptional acting!
The Mitten, pt 1 from Joelle Yamada on Vimeo.
The Mitten, pt 2 from Joelle Yamada on Vimeo.
The Mitten, pt 3 from Joelle Yamada on Vimeo.
The Mitten, pt. 4 from Joelle Yamada on Vimeo.
The Mitten, pt 5 from Joelle Yamada on Vimeo.