First Shakespeare?

[ThreeBlessings]

My dd will be going into fifth grade. I've read that Shakespeare can be introduced this year. Anyone have a recommendation as to were to start? Which Shakespeare would you recommend a fifth grader read? I have a book I found at the thrift store which has ten Shakespeare stories- The Tempest, A Midsummer's Night Dream, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, Macbeth, The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Othello. I'm only familiar with a couple of these myself. Is there one that would be most appropriate for a fifth grader?

[Chris in VA]

We liked Lamb's, but we also enjoyed picture books by Bruce Colville.

[Caitilin]

Is the book you found a set of retellings, or the plays themselves? If they are retellings, you should probably be fine with any of them. If it's the actual plays, here's what I think, FWIW. (I have been doing Shakespeare with teens in our co-op for several years now.)

 

I think The Taming of the Shrew is fun; Othello is dark and has a lot of sexual/infidelity thematic elements; Macbeth is kinda gruesome, so that would depend on your dc; King Lear is more difficult; Midsummer is also fun; Merchant of Venice I find confusing, so I don't recommend it for a young student; Romeo and Juliet is good in that the characters are close to the age of the student, but bad in that you just keep on wanting to shake some sense into them ;); Hamlet is also pretty accessible even for younger readers. The Tempest is the one I was exposed to first, and I remember really liking the story. :)

 

The plays will all have aspects that will probably go over a 5th grader's head without a fair amount of discussion; Shakespeare assumed a depth of familiarity with classical and his own current culture that we no longer possess, generally; this means that while his plays are still enjoyable to us, we need to work harder to get all the jokes and references. You and your dc will have fun figuring them out. :)

[SilverMoon]

We liked Lamb's, but we also enjoyed picture books by Bruce Colville.

:iagree:Shakespeare for Children by Charles and Mary Lamb is on my rising fifth grader's list this year. We've already been through the Coville books. My first grader even enjoyed listening to those being read aloud.

[Socalmom]

My DD got very interested in Shakespeare after reading a series of fiction books by Gary Blackwood.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Shakespeare-Stealer-Gary-Blackwood/dp/0525473203/ref=pd_cp_b_1

 

She wanted to start with Hamlet (because it is mentioned in the Blackwood books) but also enjoyed The Tempest and A Midsummer's Night Dream. :)

 

Margie

[Hathersage]

nice little animated Midsummer's Night Dream

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/misc/stories/midsummernightsdream/

 

Here's some good ideas/ links for studying shakespeare

http://www.squidoo.com/shakespeareforchildren

 

And on here is a list of the animated shakespeare tales and list of those available on youtube

http://www.squidoo.com/shakespeare-animated-tales

[rwjx2khsmj]

We are studying Shakespeare in a casual way this summer. We've seen The Tempest and Twelfth Night because our local theater group is presenting them. We'll see Much Ado About Nothing in a few weeks. I'm still debating about seeing Richard III.

 

I've found that when my dc are familiar with the story they enjoy the language and even find the humor and word play. Admittedly, dd5 likes the costumes and action best but even she is able to enjoy the performance.

 

We've read about the Globe Theater and have done some activities from Shakespeare for Kids. All our resources have come from our local library.

[kittysmom]

My dd11 is a huge Shakespeare nut. She got started a couple of years ago reading the Lamb retellings, and has since read all the retellings she can get a hold of. She also likes the No Fear Shakespeare versions of the real plays (Shakespeare's original language on one side of the page, and modern language on the other side). But, really, Shakespeare is meant to be seen, not just read. My advice would be to find a production to go to and read a retelling first, so she knows what's going on in the play.

[CathyT]

Have you seen the plays in a box based on some of Shakespeare's plays? We bought one about a month ago on Amazon.com and plan to do it this fall.

http://shakespeare-in-a-box.com/

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

 

Shakespeare Classic Worktexts I am doing these along with the classic worktexts with my 3rd grader! They are an AWESOME introduction!

[nd293]

I'd agree that if they are retellings, you can start anywhere. Dd9 had been listening to retellings for some years, with no adverse effects on her development ;-)

 

At school we started with comedies - that was aged 13yrs, I think. Taming of the Shrew and Midsummer Night's Dream both have lovely film versions, so I would choose one of those. At school we read Othello, Macbeth and Merchant of Venice in later years.