They’re referred to as the building blocks of all life, though their inner workings are a mystery to most. But this week, cells took on new life, and personalities, in a one-act play written by fifth graders at Washington Montessori Public Charter School.

After their teacher, Amy Smigel, taught the class an introduction to parts of the plant cells in the animal kingdom, Charlotte Herron, Kelly Adams, Jocelyn Hilliard and Ireland Haltigan staged a play introducing those many parts of the cell, and their relationships within the cell walls, as an extension of their classroom work.

“They took those things and turned it into a play,” said Montessori Head of School Jen Hales.

The play was the girls’ way of showing they had mastered the class lesson.

“We try to make it entertainment that you can memorize it in,” Ireland explained.

The project was an option they came up with on their own. Many Montessori extensions involve a certain amount of creativity, like artwork and models, but the girls decided the relationship between cell parts was complex enough to turn into a play.

“I think we’re the first to make science work into a puppet show,” said Charlotte, who had a starring role as both the narrator and George, the Golgi apparatus.

The four girls wrote the play, staged the play, decided who would play characters like Mike and Marty (warring mitochondria played by Ireland and Jocelyn), created the puppets and a homemade TV from a pretzel box, then embarked on a playacting lesson for their viewers’ education.

“We presented it to our class and then to the other two classes in the building,” Ireland said.

“That’s one of the steps of mastery, is that when you’ve truly mastered a concept, you can teach it to somebody else,” Hales said.

For Montessori students, it’s about the process of first learning, then sharing their knowledge with other students, and having the flexibility to use a bit of creativity along the way.