Majestic Memories: Classroom lessons lead to royal moments for Humann, Rousseau students

January 28, 2025

Lincoln Public Schools students enjoyed a crowning end to a special classroom unit about kings, queens and royal subjects this winter.
 
Dozens of Rousseau and Humann kindergarteners held starring roles in knightly news stories at their elementary schools. Students and teachers at both buildings dressed up as kings with scepters, princesses in flowing dresses and heroic knights with helmets. Rousseau students took part in a royal ball during the morning, while Humann students walked in a morning parade and ate a royal feast in the afternoon.
 
Rousseau kindergartener Dax said he enjoyed dancing in front of everyone at the royal ball. He and other classmates learned steps from Rousseau music teacher Justin Brookens before the big day. How was he supposed to dance with other members of the Rousseau royal family?
 
“In, in, in, out, out, out, one hand around, back to your side, other hand around, back to your side, look them in the eyes,” Dax said.
 
Rousseau classmate Ava wore a purple dress and socks that had rainbow unicorns on them. Why did being at the royal ball make her happy?
 
“Because it was really fun,” Ava said.
 
Humann kindergarteners Lyanna and Andrew both enjoyed their grand adventures during the day. Andrew said he liked walking in the schoolwide parade. Majestic-themed music played over the intercom system as kindergarteners walked in front of other classrooms. Older children curtsied and bowed as the regal procession moved past them, which Andrew said made him feel special.
 
“Because I liked seeing all of the kids waving at me,” Andrew said.
 
Lyanna dressed up as Belle from “Beauty and the Beast.” She said she liked learning about “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” in class and had fun dancing after the royal feast. What would she tell her family about her day at school?
 
“That I had a royal ball,” Lyanna said.

LPS teachers use the Amplify CKLA curriculum in their classes to focus on reading comprehension, phonics and vocabularies. For the kings and queens unit, students learned new words such as treasure, kingdom, dainty, fairest, advantages, disadvantages, palace and rules. Teachers created bulletin boards that had pictures of Cinderella’s glass slipper, treasure chests and large castles next to some of those words.
 
The lessons also touched on stories and poems such as “The Princess and the Pea,” “Cinderella” and “Old King Cole.” In “King Midas and the Golden Touch,” students read how King Midas discovered the importance of family in his life. Other tales talked about the value of having good manners, which students practiced by saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ at their events.

Humann kindergarten teacher Kelsey Kreiling and Rousseau kindergarten teacher Katherine Anderson said their classes had been looking forward to experiencing the lives of emperors and empresses. The celebrations capped a curriculum unit that taught students a wide range of lessons. They learned about kingdoms, the daily lives of royal families, the job responsibilities of kings and queens and what types of clothes they would wear.
 
“They’ve asked every day, multiple times a day, ‘When is the royal celebration?’” Kreiling said.
 
“Just saying kings and queens, you could see all of their eyes glowing with excitement and just them planning, ‘What am I going to wear to the royal ball?’” Anderson said. “A lot of the girls in their dress-up clothes and then some of those boys went all-out with their outfits, so I was very impressed.”
 
At Rousseau’s royal ball, students walked into the gym on a red carpet before lining up across from each other in their costumes. Brookens dressed up as a court jester and led students in their dances and activities. Kindergarten teachers wore burgundy, blue, olive and white gowns as they helped the kingdom’s young residents.
 
“This group of kindergarten teachers, we go all out with our costumes,” Anderson said. “We just really get excited, because when we’re excited, the kids get excited, so just bringing joy.”
 
Anderson said Rousseau staff soaked up knowledge from last winter’s inaugural royal ball. They used that information to create a smooth dancing environment in year number two.
 
“We really thought way in advance so that we would be able to execute this,” Anderson said.
 
At Humann’s royal feast, students paraded into the cafeteria and sat down at lunch tables to enjoy their meal. They snacked on veggie straws and sipped water while wearing paper crowns. They then moved to a wide-open spot to perform waltzes to classical music.
 
Humann staff received five-star reviews when they held their first royal parade and feast last year. Kreiling said they wanted to have extra educational fun this winter.
 
“Last year we didn’t have the dancing, so we taught the kids how to waltz and added it this year,” Kreiling said.
 
Kreiling said kindergarten teachers wanted to create a memorable day for students based on the CKLA curriculum. The excited conversations at the lunch tables meant they had achieved their regal goal.
 
“I think they had a blast,” Kreiling said. “It was really good.”
 
Visit home.lps.org/reading to learn more about how LPS helps students acquire reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.
 
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