Johnson Park Elementary School fourth graders are set to present From the Page to the Stage: Poetry and Performance on June 11.
The performance is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the school, 285 Rosedale Road, Princeton.
Each year, Johnson Park Elementary School’s Parent Teacher Organization funds residencies in the arts, history and sciences for students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade. Students work directly with specialists to enrich their classroom experiences.
This year, professional poets Anndee Hochman and Lamont Dixon worked with fourth graders and their teachers Shannon Martin, Melanie Miller and Tiffany Worden in a new residency based on the Poetry Out Loud program.
During this residency, Hochman guided students in writing several types of poetry and Dixon, who is also a professional performance artist, taught students techniques to perform their original works of poetry for an audience.
Hochman and Dixon worked with The New Jersey Poetry Out Loud program partners –New Jersey State Council on the Arts and Playwrights Theatre of New Jersey– to adapt the program and residency model for fourth graders.
Poetry Out Loud, which is designed for ninth through 12 graders, is a partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation and the state arts agencies of the United States.
