Kids as "bugz." On April 26 and 27, Paul Banks Elementary School second-grade students in Rebecca Boone's class performed "Bugz" to the delight of classmates and their families.

The musical is about a group of bugs that want to go to a picnic. The problem comes when the stinkbug wants to go, too. Because he is so stinky, the other bugs consider not going.

"They have to work through how to solve the problem," Boone said of the plot in which the 22 young actors were immersed.

"The reason I think it's really important for me to do musicals each year is that it promotes literacy through the arts," Boone said.

"There's so many kids that we can reach through the different avenues. For me, that's the foremost reason I do this."

Boone recalled the first time the youngsters got a look at the script, a thick book.

"They looked at me like, 'We don't want to disappoint you, but this is not us,'" she said of the students' reaction. "They're just second-graders. It's a challenge to be able to read the script independently with rhythm pay attention to punctuation."

Breaking it into doable parts, Boone had the youngsters follow along as the script was read. The next step was for the second-graders to read the script independently, with rhythm.

The students had to read the script comfortably, speaking clearly with a suitable voice and phrasing the audience can understand. They had to develop public speaking skills, slowing their pace, using expression.

Boone hopes her young charges will develop some life-long skills.

"It sows seeds with them that there are healthy ways to recreate," she said. "If you go to any town, you can always join a performance group."

Boone, who has taught in Homer since 1976, got her first taste of acting when a high school senior. She played Kim Mac-Afee, the female lead in the musical "Bye Bye Birdie."

From that experience, she knows the value of behind-the-scenes work. "I couldn't have done this without parent involvement," she said, with a nod of appreciation to parents, teachers and school staff.