Barclay Brook first graders make movie about short vowels.
By: Marisa Maldonado
MONROE Buying a vowel costs too much for the two thieves who have been spotted lurking around Barclay Brook School.
Fortunately a parent with a video camera caught them sneaking out of Room 110 last Monday.
But administrators have no reason to call the police. Those bandits are really first-grade actors and the camerawoman is a parent filming their class as they create "Alphabet Soup," an educational video about short vowels.
The project is being funded by a $1,316 grant from the Monroe Education Foundation that covers the costumes, filming and other costs. First-grade teachers Cassie Shea and Laura Goldstein said they plan to use the video, which tells the story of the circumstances surrounding the theft of short vowels, to teach future classes.
Ms. Shea and Ms. Goldstein applied for the grant after the success of their first video last year. Kelly Laudien, a film editor at CNBC whose son, Jake, was in their class, helped them shoot a music video to the theme song of "For the Love of Money" by The O’Jays. The song also is the theme to the NBC show "The Apprentice."
"Last year, after the money video, some of the parents were saying, ‘We have to watch (the video) every day,’ " Ms. Shea said.
Filming the video this year gives the students hands-on access to a medium that sometimes can seem larger than life, Ms. Laudien said.
"TV’s untouchable," Ms. Laudien said. "(Now) they can see it’s not a fantasy world, yet that’s still exciting."
The students got real hands-on experience last week when they toured CNBC’s Englewood bureau, watching a live newscast in a room Ms. Shea described as "big enough to fit a 747 (jumbo jet)."
Ms. Shea said she hopes the video will be finished at the end of May, in time for a premiere at the first-grade author’s reception.
"We’re going to have a red carpet; we’re going to have flashy sunglasses for them," Ms. Shea said.
But the students showed no diva-like signs of behavior during the fourth day of shooting on Monday, despite their new status as television stars. Katie Prendergast and Kyle Rabe, who play the two bandits, held up cue cards for Jordan Rodriguez, who played a television reporter interviewing Ms. Goldstein about the thefts.
"Letter ‘o’ was nowhere to be found," Jordan said, sporting a black blazer and holding a hot-pink microphone. "Mrs. Goldstein, what is going on?"
Ms. Goldstein, aghast that the theft of the letter "o" has turned her name into "Mrs. G-ldstein," admitted to Jordan that she had no idea. Suddenly, student Vince Cantello flew into the room with a letter "o" taped to his black cape.
"I’m Vince Cantello, and I’m here to save the letter ‘o’!" he said, to the applause of Jordan and Ms. Goldstein.
Upon seeing the superhero, bandits Katie and Kyle sneaked behind the counter.
The rest of the play will be shot over the next few weeks. Fortunately the teachers and students were willing to preview some of the movie’s highlights, such as students performing vowel raps ("You get an apple, grab a Snapple") and Katie and Kyle sneaking into Assistant Principal John Melitsky’s office to steal vowels.
"We were on our tippy-toes," Katie said. "It was so funny."
But there’s one question that the actors couldn’t answer why did Katie and Kyle steal the vowels? According to Ms. Shea, the bandits weren’t acting maliciously.
"They just wanted to make words," Ms. Shea said. "They didn’t know all they had to do was ask a teacher."

