CHAMPS Students Find Why Kids Love Musicals
Kids Love Musicals teacher Molly Andrews-Hinders leads students in Horace Mann's CHAMPS program through a song about the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz.
For 40 minutes on a recent Tuesday, students in Horace Mann's CHAMPS special education program were transported to the magical world of Oz. Musical educators Jodi Kirk and Molly Andrews-Hinders of The Musical Theater Project were on hand as part of the project's Kids Love Musicals workshop program that brings musical plays to life for students in K-3 across Northeast Ohio.
Horace Mann’s CHAMPS program is the first special education group for whom Kids Love Musicals has offered an extended and adapted program, and from the looks of the students’ faces during a recent session, it’s been a big success. The kids explored the sights and sounds of Dorothy’s trip down the Yellow Brick Road and engaged with the songs and characters through movement, sound and costumes.
“It’s been great to make sensory and kinetic connections with them,” said Kirk, and to help the students, “find language through music."
The rest of Horace Mann’s kindergarten through 3rd graders also are participating in the workshop, which is two sessions for the general education students. It’s been a fun and engaging way for students to exercise their imaginations and creativity and learn a little about a classic American art form.