Puppets Teach Lanesborough Elementary Pupils About Friendship
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Puppets named Melody and Simu gave a lesson on friendship to Lanesborough Elementary School students last week.
Classes were called to the music room throughout the day on Thursday to learn about the trials and tribulations of making friends, how friends work through disagreements, setting healthy boundaries, and more.
While the teachers were inanimate, the topics they covered were very real.
Sponsored by Bedard Brothers Chevrolet, the shows were presented by the Vermont Family Network's Puppets in Education. The school also received five puppets of its own to continue teaching.
Program and Curriculum Manager Karen Sharpwolf said the puppeteers are tackling these subjects from a "pro-social perspective and also the problem-solving perspective."
"This is a brand-new program this year," she said.
"Teachers have been asking for a friendship program all last year because they're noticing that kids are having trouble making friends after coming out of COVID. There's just sort of some social skills that need a tune-up."
For prekindergarten through second grade, the show offers basic information about building friendships and for third and fourth graders, it offers guidance for friendships when they go awry.
This programming affirms themes that are already being discussed in the school.
"It really reaches a wide range of students," school psychologist Christy Viall said. "We can have the preschoolers go and even the older kids love the puppets. They really enjoy it a lot and [Puppets in Education] has really great programming."
She said it is great modeling for the students, as they can use the puppets to act out situations like in the show. The puppets have been coming to the school for a few years and the donated puppets are used regularly — sometimes the older students even put on shows with similar themes for the younger ones.
"They see it in the play and then they can use the puppets to act out the situations," Viall said, explaining that the puppets also help students better absorb the lessons because they are acting them out.
Teachers have seen positive change after the puppet shows, with students reaching out to other kids and working on problem-solving skills more frequently.
"They've said, 'Oh, I remember the puppets did that,'" Viall reported.
Puppets in Education has been performing for more than 40 years and reaches up to 10,000 children annually through small performances.
"A lot of what we do is this conversation," Sharpwolf said. "And the puppets are a great vehicle for conversation because sometimes kids will tell puppets things that they won't tell adults so that's sort of what we call the magic of puppets."
The programs address topics such as bullying, abuse, mental health, and anxiety. Vermont Family Network, headquartered in Williston, is a nonprofit that seeks to empower and support Vermont families, especially children with special needs.
Teachers fill out evaluation forms at every show and they are taken very seriously, Sharpwolf said, pointing out that the friendship program was born out of teacher suggestions.
"We get a lot of kids like 'high five' in the hallway and lots of teachers saying 'Great job,'" she said. "And it just supports what they're already doing but in a different way."
Students are also encouraged to keep the conversation going with family and friends.
The Upstate Chevy group has sponsored Puppets in Education to go to one school per dealership. Lanesborough Elementary was Bedard Brothers' choice.
Viall said the puppeteers reached out to her years ago and she thought "This sounds amazing because it really reaches a wide range of students." Every year has a different theme.
In some of their shows, the puppeteers use a "buddy bench" that children can sit on if they need a playmate and are feeling shy. This is something that Lanesborough Elementary had and is looking to reinstate.
"They're so good with the kids and they're just great," Viall said. "They're commutative, everything is just easy with them from beginning to end planning everything and they follow up."
Tags: LES, puppets,
