Early Learning

NYC Wolf Trap

CAT’s Early Childhood Educators’ Professional Development Initiative is a professional development and mentoring project for educators who have few opportunities for intensive skill-building. Through the Interactive Storytelling and Emergent Literacy in the Early Childhood Classroom curriculum, the Initiative offers:

Guided professional development – both theory and practice – on how drama strategies support emergent literacy skills, such as recall, sequencing, projection, inference, oral language and vocabulary.
High-quality, direct services to early childhood students in support of their English language acquisition, emergent literacy, and essential social-emotional skills.

Reserve a 5-day mentoring residency

Watch a video about the project

Watch a video about the teachers and students who have who have participated in the mentoring residency program

OTHER SERVICES

Interested in Puppets and Puppeteering? Drama in the Early Childhood Classroom? Supporting Your Child’s Language Skills? Click here for MORE Early Learning Professional Development opportunities for teachers and parents!

IN THE BEGINNING: IN-CLASS DRAMAS

An ongoing collaboration with classroom teachers has been a vital part of the Early Learning: NYC Wolf Trap program’s growth and evolution. Created in 1993 to take CAT’s issue-based drama work into the early childhood classroom, the program initially worked with a few NYC DOE schools and then partnered with New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) to offer five-day residencies with citywide Head Start programs. Click here to read about the history of the Early Learning Program and below for story synopses of our two-person, interactive dramas:

Alphabet Keepers – a drama about a group of elves in the Land of Letters

Magic Drum – Set in Nigeria, this drama explores the issue of inclusion and exclusion

The Tale of the Tancho – A ground-breaking drama that examines the responsibility of a community in the face of a bully

Who Stopped the Rain? – A story that explores the impact of litter on a family of rabbits’ farm

REPORTS & PUBLICATIONS

Based on increased interest in CAT’s successful model, the Early Learning Program has provided both direct services and professional development to teachers and students in national and international schools. CAT’s Early Learning Program has been invited to lead workshops and residencies across and outside the country and inspired a number of articles and educational research projects. Click here to find Articles, Blogs and Reports about the Early Learning Program.

Click here to see how our work supports the Common Core Standards: Approaching the Common Core Standards through Interactive Storytelling

CAT maintains a dynamic partnership with the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning in the Arts and is the Institute’s designated NYC site.

Also available: NYC Student Shakespeare Festival (grades 2 and up), Professional Development

The goal of CAT's Early Learning Program is to support children’s development of important life skills and to give educators creative ways to support those skills:

For students: CAT workshops are designed to support the Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts the New York State Common Core Learning Standards, including these specific Standards addressed by CAT's Early Learning workshops.

For Educators: CAT professional development workshops are designed to encourage teachers to incorporate drama-based activities into the classroom, to promote children’s English acquisition and early literacy, social development, critical thinking skills, and emotional growth.

FY2012 Final Report: Professional Development and Mentoring Project: Interactive Storytelling and Emergent Literacy in the Early Childhood Classroom

CAT’s interactive, student-centered approach has proven successful across ages and abilities. Our teachers say it best:

Children who hadn’t spoken all year were, all of a sudden, speaking. Children who were unable to express themselves, whether it was through voice or through actions, were able to participate, to be part of a group—to contribute in a positive way without being pointed out in a negative way. It was an awesome experience for them.

The children became storytellers. A lot of them could retell the stories they heard using facial gestures, movements, and voice changes. They are very attentive during the storytelling; it captures their attention. They feel like they are part of the story, and they really enjoy it.

So many teachers have one way of thinking and teaching. Storytelling takes you outside the box. It is not only where teachers need to go, but where administrators need to go. That’s where we want our kids to go – to think outside the box, so we have to model it.

As the special education teacher, I feel the play movements enhance the children’s “focus” on the story. I also feel storytelling, with its physical movements, silly questions, or actions actually create a more cohesive atmosphere in the classroom. It’s as if the “playing field” has been altered and my kids are having the same opportunities as everybody else to compete and follow along with the story. I really do enjoy using storytelling to enhance and further interactive experiences for all children.

FY2012 Final Report: Professional Development and Mentoring Project: Interactive Storytelling and Emergent Literacy in the Early Childhood Classroom

Through CAT’S interactive drama and storytelling, students and teachers explore many themes, including: