``Hamlet`` and ``Romeo and Juliet`` might seem like heavy material for 9- and 10-year-olds, but the plays are on the lesson plan for some 4th and 5th graders in several Libertyville schools.
Advanced reading classes at Rockland, Copeland and Butterfield Schools in Libertyville Elementary School District 70 have been analyzing ``Hamlet`` and rehearsing ``Romeo and Juliet`` as part of a program called Selected Opportunities in the Academic Realm, known as SOAR.
Placement in SOAR`s progressive reading program is based on teacher references, classwork, intelligence tests and mastery of reading skills such as using words in context and distinguishing fiction from nonfiction, says Cindy Arndt, assistant superintendent.
Children with borderline eligibility are given a test to help them raise their point count. ``We have so many bright children in the district we have to limit the number in the SOAR classes,`` Arndt says.
``My SOAR kids have been good readers for a long time,`` says Marlene Bailey, 28, instructional resource teacher at Rockland. ``They need higher-level thinking, and stimulation and activities beyond the mundane.``
Bailey, a former 8th-grade science teacher, was one of four teachers who helped bring SOAR from Highland Junior High School to the elementary schools in 1983.
Bright as their students are, neither Bailey nor instructional resource teachers Robin Hoberd, Pat Larson and Cindy Sartain expect their students to work directly from Shakespearean plays, a task college students can find difficult. Instead, the children are introduced to the Bard on Avon through adaptations.
In ``Favorite Tales from Shakespeare,`` author Bernard Miles simplifies the vocabulary while attempting to retain the plots` complexity and the depth of Shakespeare`s concepts. Even in narrative form, ``Hamlet`` generates lively discussions.
A typical round-table interchange between Bailey and 17 4th and 5th graders in Rockland`s resource room, who meet from 10 to 11:30 a.m. each weekday, goes like this:
``How did Hamlet`s father die?`` Bailey asks.
Hands shoot up, and Greg Kidder gets the nod. ``Claudius poured poison in the king`s ears while he was sleeping,`` he answers. ``Probably nuclear waste,`` adds classmate Jon Babb.
Without ceremony, Nate Koch points out a ``hole`` in the plot involving Hamlet`s father, who was murdered and comes back as a ghost asking Hamlet to avenge him. ``How could the king know how he was killed if he was asleep when it happened?`` he asks.
``Instant replay,`` suggests classmate Colleen Fahrner.
Bailey, who avoids judging answers to keep students from being self-conscious, comments with a smile, ``Interesting thoughts.``
Her goal is to develop independent thinkers who someday will take responsibility for their own educations, she says. ``If I say, `Good answer`
to one child, the others will try to frame their answers to please me rather than say what they feel.``
In addition to the SOAR program, students needing other forms of enrichment may come to the instructional resource center by appointment. For example, Bailey sits at the round table with Megan Hoffberg, 6, and works on basic reading skills.
``What sound does `boy` start with?`` Bailey asks.
``Bbbbb,`` Megan says through pursed lips.
Megan finds a paper tab marked ``b`` among tabs scattered on the table and pastes it next to an appropriate picture on a worksheet. ``This isn`t really hard, just kind of hard,`` the perky 1st-grader says.
Next Megan sounds the short vowel ``a.`` ``I`m perfect at this,`` she says with pride.
At the opposite end of the resource room, teacher`s aide Kathy Avellone, 36, has been reviewing consonants with Mike Cibhalsky. ``Helping kids who need extra attention is hard to do with a full class,`` says the Libertyville resident.
When class is done and Cibhalsky, 6, beams and says, ``I finished everything right,`` Avellone says, ``If nothing else we certainly build up a child`s confidence in this room.``
Afternoon classes take a similar turn. Part of that time, Bailey teaches a SOAR math class in which each student works individually, according to ability.
The rest of the time is devoted to filling such educational needs as helping a child improve penmanship, write a paper on trolls, or catch up to classmates after being transferred from another school. Occasionally, the better part of a day may be used for a workshop on writing in which young authors create their own books, performing all steps from coming up with an idea to getting a copyright.
``Our resource program isn`t just for remedial or gifted education,``
says Alana Marz, principal at Rockland. ``It provides enrichment at all levels. Every child passes through the resource without stigma or fuss.``
The nurturing of talent is what the instructional resource program is all about. ``That`s what we`re here for-to meet the needs of any and every
`gifted` kid-and the truth is that each kid is gifted. We just have to find out what the gift is and build on it,`` Bailey says.