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pumpkinmom
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Posted: June 29 2012 at 1:27pm \| IP Logged

For the first time we are going to read a little of shakespeare together. I have very little (if any) knowledge of Shakespeare. I was thinking about getting this study guide from CHC. There are no samples. Do I need this? Otherwise we will just be reading (and maybe that is all I need to do for boy's age). I already have the Lamb book.

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jawgee
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Posted: June 29 2012 at 1:54pm \| IP Logged

We're starting Shakespeare this year, too, so I'm also interested to hear how others introduce Shakespeare to young children. I have the Lamb book and also Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by Nesbit - along Shakespeare's Complete Works.

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dinasiano
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Posted: June 29 2012 at 4:11pm \| IP Logged

Try the picture books by Bruce Coville. They are really great. They contain a lot of Shakespeare's own words while keeping it interesting for young ones. I am embarrassed to admit I finally "got" Shakespeare after reading these with my children

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guitarnan
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Posted: June 29 2012 at 6:02pm \| IP Logged

If you are worried about understanding Shakespeare's language/usage/vocabulary, I highly recommend the No Fear Shakespeare series. One side of each two-page spread has the original play script, while the other features a modernized translation. Very, very helpful!

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mooreboyz
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Posted: July 07 2012 at 8:27am \| IP Logged

I'm watching for advice here as well. I want my 10th grader to read some shakespeare for the first time this year...which plays would be best? What about the sonnets...should he read those?

I like the "no fear" version idea; but, our library only carries one of those. Is there anything else like this?

What about using cliff notes online to help?

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Martha
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Posted: July 07 2012 at 9:32am \| IP Logged

I didn't like the Lamb books. I have the complete works in his words for the older kids. Marianna Mayer has some beautifully done books that mine enjoy.

Here is The Tempest

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0811850544?m=A26J6JNN8TGTL9

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JodieLyn
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Posted: July 07 2012 at 10:27am \| IP Logged

I don't know what to tell you about which *should* be read.. but I will say that The Merchant of Venice is the one that finally grabbed my attention. Shakespeare was always read in class and dissected to death and I missed a day and started reading to catch up on my own and "found the story". Instead of reading just the section I missed I all of a sudden found myself a couple pages from the end because I was enjoying the story. Oh but also this is the play with that lovely soliloquy(right word?) about mercy.

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Martha
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Posted: July 07 2012 at 10:44am \| IP Logged

Oh yes! I agree Merchant of Venice is a great intro to Shakespeare. Especially for boys. I have never liked Romeo and Juliet and the average boy doesn't appreciate it much either. :)

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Martha
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pumpkinmom
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Posted: July 07 2012 at 11:09am \| IP Logged

Martha wrote:

I didn't like the Lamb books. I have the complete works in his words for the older kids. Marianna Mayer has some beautifully done books that mine enjoy.

What didn't you like about the Lamb book? I got it because it had so many recommendations . . . . hope I didn't waste my money.

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Cassie
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Mary K
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Posted: July 07 2012 at 12:18pm \| IP Logged

I also highly recommend the Bruce Coville books (and anything else he has written). In the summer, many towns have outdoor Shakespeare plays for free. Since some will choose to raunchy "humor" you should take children at your discretion or go one night without them, and if the show is ok, take the kids another night.
For those in or near Buffalo, I know that "A Midsummer's Night Dream" will be shown. My eldest daughter is assisting with costumes. I think it's in Delaware park, I'll ask her when she comes home.
God bless,
Mary-NY

Mary K
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Posted: July 09 2012 at 9:44pm \| IP Logged

hi,
my daughter told me it is delaware park, the show opens either this weekend or next weekend.
mary-ny

Mackfam
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Posted: July 10 2012 at 10:35am \| IP Logged

pumpkinmom wrote:

Martha wrote:

I didn't like the Lamb books. I have the complete works in his words for the older kids. Marianna Mayer has some beautifully done books that mine enjoy.

What didn't you like about the Lamb book? I got it because it had so many recommendations . . . . hope I didn't waste my money.

We really enjoy the Lamb book, so it may just be a personal pref thing.

I have three adaptations of Shakespeare that I like for various ages:

Nesbit (Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare for Children)- I like this for younger elementary grades.

Lamb (Tales from Shakespeare)- My kids start reading these independently in late elementary. You wouldn't have to do this (repeat with Charles and Mary Lamb's adaptations after reading Nesbit's), but the different versions have been nice for really getting to know the plays and my children have enjoyed them both.

Marchette Chute (Stories from Shakespeare)- This collection is FABULOUS for introducing a play if you're about to go see one or even read one, or for an older child. Read these short summaries before you would go directly to Shakespeare. They provide rich context for understanding.

mooreboyz wrote:

I'm watching for advice here as well. I want my 10th grader to read some shakespeare for the first time this year...which plays would be best? What about the sonnets...should he read those?

My recommendation would be to introduce the play with Marchette Chute's book, Stories from Shakespeare, and then go to Shakespeare himself.

** Note on preferred Shakespeare play editions with notes ** -- For reading Shakespeare my preference are the Folger Shakespeare Library versions. The Folger research library has been in existence since 1932, dedicated to collecting and educating on Shakespeare. I prefer these hands down over other versions (like Signet) because of the format and layout of the actual play. The book itself gives a good summary of the play and description of characters, but it is the play layout itself that my kids and I really like! One page (usually the right facing page) has the text of the play....and the opposite page contains context notes, vocabulary defined, some pictures, further explanations (especially if Shakespeare has taken a reference from Greek history - love it when we see these!!!). I find it is easier to see the vocabulary/context explanations on the facing page and not have it squished in footnotes, but that could also be a personal pref thing. I collect the older Folger editions so I don't have any of the newer ones, but looking inside them through Amazon, they look similar/the same...just updated.

As far as which Shakespeare play to start with, this is my own list:

Ages 7 - 12 (and this doesn't mean high schoolers/older kids SHOULDN'T read these, just that these are good if you are starting Shakespeare with a younger student)

** The Comedy of Errors (comedy)
** A Midsummer Nights Dream (comedy)
** Julius Caesar (tragic comedy)
** Much Ado About Nothing (comedy)
** The Tempest (romance)
** Twelfth Night (comedy)

High School

** MacBeth (tragedy)
** King Lear (tragedy)
** Romeo and Juliet (tragedy)
** The Taming of the Shrew (comedy)
** Hamlet (tragedy)
** The Merchant of Venice (Tragicomedy)
** Henry V, parts I, II, III (history)

There are a total of 37 plays and these do not count his Sonnets. I study the Sonnets on their own one year as part of our poetry studies.

I've been working on a Shakespeare compilation for myself...just a reference, really. I like combining well done movies with our reading since we don't often have opportunities to see the plays on stage.

So I've tried to list as many movies that correspond to the play as possible, and I've also added some brief notes about each play. I like knowing the classification of the play as well as the historical setting, so I've addd that as well. As I mentioned, this is ENTIRELY INCOMPLETE!!! But, I'll share it if it gives someone a start in considering Shakespeare. (Keep in mind these are my notes, and as such many of them are subjective, particularly my thoughts about age appropriateness....take it all with a grain of salt and exercise prudence as Shakespeare does introduce mature ideas/words.)

2012-07-10_102628_Shakespeare_37_Plays--Reference.pdf

Maria Rioux's fantastic notes on studying Shakespeare plays can be a huge help!

Hope this can be a help!

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Jen Mackintosh
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knowloveserve
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Posted: July 10 2012 at 11:23am \| IP Logged

Both the Lamb book and Nesbit book are free on Kindle (and therefore free for my iPad with its free Kindle app)!

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Ellie
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Betsy
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Posted: July 10 2012 at 11:33am \| IP Logged

I agree with what has been included here already, and I wanted to add one more thing.

We started using Arkangel Recodings last year, while we read along and it greatly improved our understanding and enjoyment of the plays. (I linked to the full set, but you can buy each play individually)

I have really enjoyed listening to the play, because they are plays that are meant to be seen and heard.

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Angel
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Posted: July 10 2012 at 12:53pm \| IP Logged

I have to put in a little personal experience for boys:

I recommend starting with Macbeth (in various versions) for all ages of boys, because there is A LOT of swordwork in the play. If you can, take them to *see* the play first as an actual, live performance. We did this last year and even my hyperactive, newly minted6 year old twins sat, spellbound, through 2 *hours* of play in freezing weather. My 15 year old ds, who had not been keen on Shakespeare in the beginning, decided after *seeing* the play that Shakespeare was really quite exciting.

So now all my kids have fond memories of Shakespeare. No-Fear also publishes a series of graphic novel versions of some of the plays. My 10th grade ds is reading the graphic Macbeth right now, and enjoying it. Last year we also watched the Kenneth Branaugh version of Henry V with my older kids and read a bit of the play. Because we had listened to at least one of the children's retellings, the kids also used the No Fear edition of Henry V to put on a bit of the play in our living room. My twins enjoyed being the French and English in battle.

Right now my 13 yo dd (who read the Lamb book last year and liked it; my 14 yo ds, however, did not enjoy it)is reading Much Ado About Nothing (No Fear) because she liked the story in Lamb's Shakespeare. She is also a devotee of the Shakespeare Stealer series, which I would definitely recommend to an 11 yo boy as an independent read. (They would also probably make a good read aloud.)

My 13 yo dd

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Erin
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Posted: July 10 2012 at 3:32pm \| IP Logged

I really recommend beginning with his comedies, also check out Jimmie's Squidoo pages. And our absolute favorite audios are by Jim Wiess, Shakespeare for Children
Our favourite collection of stories are Stories from Shakespeare by Geraldine McCaughrean and The Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley is worthwhile reading.

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Mackfam
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Posted: July 20 2012 at 9:17pm \| IP Logged

Wanted to drop in a resource for Shakespeare here - an ipad/iphone app from DodgePoint Software. I reviewed the app in the ipad resources thread.

Mackfam wrote:

Wanted to add another ipad app that is fabulous!

DodgePoint Software offers 12 of Shakespeare's plays (in full) in "radio theatre" audio production. Each play is read aloud, with different voices for different characters, along with accompanying period music and some sound effects. The text is written out, line by line, with helpful in-line definitions of words. You can read along with the actors reading aloud.

In the "margin" there are explanations of the setting of the play. Each play is divided into acts and scenes for the recordings, so it's easy to see how it could divide up easily in your term. For example, Romeo and Juliet has 26 distinct scenes recorded. In addition to the text of the play and the reading aloud of it, there is a good overview of the play with themes, character profiles and scene index, a character listing, and a really neat summary timeline of the play. The app is pretty intuitive and easy to navigate.

This app costs .99 per play, really a bargain considering you get the entire play, read aloud, with context information, definitions, explanations. The reading is VERY well done and enjoyable. The app works on ipad and iphone.

Benefits of this app:

** Shakespeare is best when it is *experienced*. If you can't get to a performance of a play, this is a really great second-best! The play is read with great expression and clear enunciation, familiarizing the student with Shakespeare's vocabulary. They simultaneously hear the play being read, while reading along on their e-device.

** This could be a really great app for a slow-to-read student, or a dyslexic student that benefits from audio versions of good literature.

** Great for auditory learners, but also wonderful for visual learners - they stretch their auditory attention skills while also having the text in front of them to read along with.

I highly recommend this app!

This could be a very helpful app for getting started with Shakespeare. It's something that the whole family could listen to together. We are really enjoying Romeo and Juliet.

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keac
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Posted: July 20 2012 at 10:47pm \| IP Logged

Just wanted to add something to consider when you are using a side-by-side original/modern edition, such as the No-Fear Shakespeare or Barron's Shakespeare Made Easy. (This advice was given by a presenter at the given at the ChildLightUSA conference this year and was worth considering, in my mind.

Shakespeare does employ bawdy humor/references as well as situations that may not be suitable for younger children. Whereas, these references are often lost (go over the child's head) when you read from the original language, a side-by-side version spells it all out! There is nothing left to the imagination.

Just something to bear in mind when considering resources.

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knowloveserve
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Posted: July 21 2012 at 12:38am \| IP Logged

I found 4 FREE Shakespeare in the Park performances near my area this summer. While I planned on getting into Shakespeare this upcoming school year, I'd hate to pass up the opportunity to see live acts... even if we have no prep whatsoever. Plus none of the shows are any of the plays I had planned on introducing this year anyway...

(I had wanted to start with Merchant of Venice and Macbeth and Midsummer's Night Dream)

What do you think of taking the kids to a show that is a) totally unrelated to what we will be studying... and b) prior to any Shakespeare exposure whatsoever...

Show options are:

Twelfth Night
A Winter's Tale
Henry VIII
Taming of the Shrew

I'm leaning toward one of the bottom two choices... (they're closer anyway...)

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Posted: July 21 2012 at 7:47am \| IP Logged

knowloveserve wrote:

I would definitely shoot for Taming of the Shrew!! And no problem that they've had no Shakespeare exposure! There are easy ways to prepare them for the play and a Shakespeare in the park is (usually) not to be missed! I would check your library for Marchette Chute's book, Stories From Shakespeare, and read the short description of Taming of the Shrew. As I read, my kids really like it when I draw the characters out on the board using lines and symbols to represent the plot (hearts, lines going from one person to the other, a dagger, etc). So, for example, as I read Midsummer Night's Dream synopsis from Chute's book before we saw the play I drew a stick figure of Hermia and Helena and Lysander and Demetrius (as well as the other characters) with lines going from one to the other - it's nothing crazy fancy AT ALL...in fact, it's a little humorous as I sketch Puck the-stick-man fairy floating about, but the simple drawing outlines some of the crazy Shakespeare plots for them. They see that Helena loves Demetrius but Demetrius loves Helena. If you saw that in the play it would be confusing, so having the stick figure outline on the board before you go really helps the littles!

** DO NOTE ** Some/many modern live performances of Shakespeare build on and emphasize raunchiness and off-color remarks or gestures. Shakespeare's plays are not sanitary or void of s*xual references or violence, however, as Karen said, this is usually above the heads of my younger children AS LONG AS the actors do not over-emphasize it!!! And each company is different....so I just wanted you to be aware of it.

Enjoy Shakespeare in the park!

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