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Rooster’s Off to Save the World Lesson

Rooster's Off to Save the World Lesson

At first glance, math and drama skills may seem like an unlikely pairing. However, in this playful lesson for grades K-2, students can practice addition and subtraction while honing their movement and animal transformation skills. Based on the beloved book by Eric Carle, this integrated lesson helps students more deeply understand the concepts of addition and subtraction while encouraging their sense of imagination and play.

NOTE: Rooster's Off to Save the World is part of our unique library of integrated lessons. These specialized lessons simultaneously teach concepts and skills related to drama and the other subject(s) targeted in the lesson. In addition, these lessons are designed to meet National Standards for Drama and for the integrated subject(s), so you can reach learning goals across multiple disciplines.

Habitats, Needs of Living Things, and Body Details Lesson

Habitats, Needs of Living Things, and Body Details Lesson

How can we keep students fully engaged through complex subject matter? Ask them to engage their bodies as well as their minds! This exciting lesson integrates Drama with Language Arts and Science by asking students to create habitats and settings using only their bodies. It also includes a full story about a mischievous young bear to give students an opportunity to act it out and apply their knowledge. Ideal for grades 1-3, this lesson helps students work on concentration, transformation, and collaboration skills in drama.

NOTE: Habitats, Needs of Living Things, and Body Details is part of our unique library of integrated lessons. These specialized lessons simultaneously teach concepts and skills related to drama and the other subject(s) targeted in the lesson. In addition, these lessons are designed to meet National Standards for Drama and for the integrated subject(s), so you can reach learning goals across multiple disciplines.

Donkey Tale 1: Movement & Imitative Action Lesson

Donkey Tale 1: Movement & Imitative Action lesson

There’s no better way to get students moving and imitating than with stories, particularly stories about animals. This lively tale about a thirsty traveler and a stubborn donkey provides a great opportunity for students to practice collaboration and negotiation skills through partner work. Designed for grades 4-5, this lesson challenges students to apply their imitation and transformation skills to embodying a specific character through movement.

The Chase Lesson

the chase lesson

The Chase Lesson: Using Space

Objective: Students will learn how space affects drama.

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This lesson for fourth grade students focuses on the actor's skills to transform space using locomotor and non locomotor movements. You can use this lesson to integrate with dance or visual art elements. The lesson makes use of the Freeze activity - download it before you begin. The fourth grade objective addressed in this lesson is the analysis of actors' skills (C.I.T.I.C). This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Fourth Grade Curriculum.

Fourth Grade Drama Journal: The Chase

To maximize student achievement, download this drama journal for students to use as reflection or formative assessment. For each lesson in the curriculum, we have created a corresponding journal page for your students. A drama journal allows participants to reflect on their learning and artistic growth (metacognition). It also allows you, the teacher, to see how students are using the drama vocabulary, thinking about big ideas, and perceiving their own strengths and weaknesses. If you use the journal for assessment and would like more assessment tools, visit our Fourth Grade Curriculum. 

Hare & the Tortoise Lesson

Hare & the Tortoise Lesson

Hare & the Tortoise Lesson: Animal Characters & Movement Choices

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Objective: students use movement to create characters and the illusion of traveling through space while standing in one spot.

This lesson demonstrates the difference between locomotor and nonlocomotor movement and how they are used in drama (part of the second grade objectives). Drama relies on controlled actor movement as well as actors using the whole body to play characters, including animal characters. In this lesson, students practice standing up rather than crawling to play animals as they imitate the actions of those characters. The lesson uses our version of the classic Hare and the Tortoise story, which we edited for use in drama. Alternately, you can easily find many versions to adapt online. Before starting this lesson, review our techniques for viewing and sharing student work. This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Second Grade Curriculum.

Second Grade Drama Journal: Hare and the Tortoise

To maximize student achievement, download this drama journal for students to use as reflection or formative assessment. For each lesson in the curriculum, we have created a corresponding journal page for your students. A drama journal allows participants to reflect on their learning and artistic growth (metacognition). It also allows you, the teacher, to see how students are using the drama vocabulary, thinking about big ideas, and perceiving their own strengths and weaknesses. If you use the journal for assessment and would like more assessment tools, visit our Second Grade Curriculum. 

Mom Figures It Out Lesson

mom figures it out lesson

Mom Figures It Out Lesson: Communicating with Movement

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Objective: students demonstrate locomotor and non-locomotor movement, and discuss how the five senses assist in making inferences.
With a new red ball, Jules can’t wait to go out and play.  How does mom figure out that it rained and Jules got caught in the downpour?  Students have an opportunity to speak dialogue with you as the mom and discuss how mom used her five senses to infer what happened.   The actors use different types of movement to communicate character actions and play out the story as you tell it (part of the first grade objectives).  This lesson is written for the original story Mom Figures It Out by Karen Erickson: download for use with this lesson.  This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the First Grade Curriculum.

Character and Movement – Runaway Bunny

Runaway Bunny lesson, Davenport, IA school.

Character and Movement - Runaway Bunny lesson

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Overview: students learn what story elements (character or setting) or words give us clues in a drama.
In this lesson plan, we address determining story elements, identifying text clues,  and demonstrating different types of movement.  In the book Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, a bunny asks his mother what she would do if he transformed into different objects.  In this lesson students explore locomotor and nonlocomotor movement as the bunny transforms into different characters.  

The Hare and Tortoise Lesson: Playing Animal Characters

The Hare and Tortoise Lesson: Playing Animal Characters

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Overview: the students will learn how to play non-human characters. Objectives:  students define and practice collaborative strategies; define the drama tools; define story elements.
Fables are a great way to combine all the drama skills into the first story they will play on their own.  The Tortoise and the Hare is familiar, short, and includes animal characters that even teens will play, adding their own sense of humor.  Student are introduced to locomotor and non-locomotor movement which will allow you to choose from a wider selection of stories in the future. For older students there are some alternative stories you might consider:  How the Earth was Formed on Turtle's Back or The Legend of Big Skunk.  Both are challenging to upper grade students. This is part of our Introductory Lessons that serve to prepare students or groups for integrated drama work.  When your class has completed our introductory lessons, move to the appropriate grade level drama curriculum.