St. Mary children branch out with natural production

Lili Ross started out in the first act of "We Need Trees!" as, in fact, a tree.

Later in the St. Mary Help of Christians School classroom play, the second-grader returned, this time as a more fully realized apple tree - complete with an imaginative apple tree outfit.

"I like the costume, how a bird is on my head," Ross said.

Teacher Kerry DalSanto directed the play, taken from a new reading series. In several scenes, the children talked about the need to recycle, how trees bring many gifts and how they're an important resource. The kids zipped through the production in just more than five minutes, and when a mom showed up late, they were delighted to stage it again.

DalSanto said the children not only suggested turning the story into a play, they converted a song into a rap and created their own dance choreography. They also got into a "snowball" fight.

During the rehearsal process, the second-graders had their first science test on plants. As several pointed out, they were portraying leaves and knew what leaves do.

"This has worked well with reading and fluency," DalSanto said. "They're so expressive when they speak about science and social studies and using natural resources."

As Mother Nature, Sophia Frank proved to be a natural.

"It's fun and exciting to get to do this with my friends," she said.

Her mother, Alyce Frank, said her daughter has always shown a lot of spirit and enthusiasm, when she was kicking before she was born.

"I think Sophia is going to be my next Tina Fey," said Frank. "This is a really neat production."

Other cast members included Ansley Brodie, Augustine Donatelli, Tyler Kaminski, Drew Sich, Abigail Taylor, Alainna Brannon, Kathleen Coleman, Taylor Powers, Elisa Barquet, Isabel Cortes, Landon Wray, Gracie Carroll, Austin Carter, Shawn Tan, Dina Carroll, Mary Bren Donaldson, Hailey Young and Colt Ingram.

Contact Rob Novit at rnovit@aikenstandard.com.