Hold Fast to Dreams: Bringing Poetry to Life and the Stage! is an interactive poetry and theater residency presented by The Grumbling Gryphons that features a magical blend of music, merriment, poetry, storytelling, and song. Through engaging live performances, students experience classic and contemporary poems brought to life with dramatic storytelling, costumes, puppets, movement, and audience participation.
Rather than encountering poetry solely as words on a page, students become active participants in the creative process, exploring the ideas, characters, imagery, and emotions within each work. By combining theater arts with literacy, the residency inspires imagination, builds vocabulary and comprehension, and fosters a lasting appreciation for poetry as a vibrant and living art form.
See below for grade- and module-specific alignment. Each workshop uses carefully selected literary works to engage students in active exploration of poetry, encouraging them to interpret themes, embody characters, expand vocabulary, and make meaningful connections across literature, history, science, and culture.
Grade K-Module 1: The Five Senses
In our workshop/ performance we will focus on several famous children’s poems that explore the five senses. We will read to the children from the book and then have them share what they envision when they hear the poem in the book!
After showing them illustrations from the book, we will act out some of the poems with the children, highlighting our five senses. We will read Rap a Tap Tap, by Leo and Diane Dillon as well as examine the paintings of Flower Day by Diego Rivera and Le Gourmet by Pablo Picasso. We’ll act out what they see in the paintings and add sounds and words to bring the illustrations to life! We’ll dance together to "Rap a Tap Tap" and celebrate the poetry of rhythm and song!
Grade 1 - Module 1: A World of Books
Using famous children's poems found in illustrated books, students discover how books communicate ideas and bring stories to life. Through reading, discussion, and dramatization, students explore the relationship between text and illustrations while building vocabulary and comprehension skills through poetry performance.
Featured Works: E.E. Cummings Maggie and Milly and Molly and May (1956).
Grade 2 - Module 1: A Season of Change
Students examine weather, seasonal cycles, and adaptation through poetry, song, and performance. The workshop connects literature, science, and mythology as students explore how seasons change and how people and nature respond to those changes.
Featured Works:
Weather by Eve Merriam
The Song of the Seasons from The Myth of Persephone
To Everything There Is a Season by Pete Seeger (adapted from Ecclesiastes)
Grade 3 - Module 1: The Sea
Students journey into the world of oceans, marine life, and seafaring adventures through poetry, puppetry, costumes and dramatic participation. The module encourages appreciation for marine ecosystems while exploring the wonder and power of the sea through verse.
Featured Works:
Poems about the ocean by E.E. Cummings
Ocean-themed poetry by Ofelia Zepeda
The Owl and The Pussycat by Edward Lear
Grade 4 - Module 1: A Great Heart
Students explore themes of kindness, perseverance, compassion, responsibility, and character through classic poetry. Through performance and discussion, students discover how poetry can illuminate important life lessons and strengthen empathy and understanding.
Featured works:
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
If Love Were Mine by Annette Wynne
Grade 5- Module1: Word Play
Students examine how poets use rhyme, repetition, figurative language, puns, and other forms of wordplay to create meaning and enjoyment. Through theater games and collaborative writing activities, students create and perform their own original poetry inspired by the techniques used in the feature works!
