How can we use our voices to express meaning and tell stories? This lesson delves into the wonders of poetry, and eases students from individual work to partner work to whole class performance. Designed for grades 3-12, this lesson is a fantastic way to help students practice concentration, collaboration and vocal skills.
Is the Wicked Witch really so wicked? What did the Big Bad Wolf do that was so bad? Is Prince Charming’s life not quite as charmed as we thought? Students in grades 3-8 will love this hilarious retelling of classic fairy tales. With plenty of active roles available, this piece is a great way to integrate drama and language arts by giving students a chance to practice transformation, characterization and storytelling skills.
Are your students ready to create their own scenes? Building upon our One Person Monologue Lesson, this lesson guides students through collaborating with their peers to create their own original dialogues. Students can continue to work on playwriting, directing and performance skills, while learning how to give constructive feedback to their peers.
To maximize student achievement, download this drama journal for students to use as reflection or formative assessment. 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.
Give students the opportunity to write, act and direct, all in one lesson! Ideal for sixth through eighth graders with prior drama experience, this lesson guides students through creating, directing, and performing an original monologue in groups of three. Students can hone their collaboration skills, drama tools and practice giving constructive feedback to their peers.
To maximize student achievement, download this drama journal for students to use as reflection or formative assessment. 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.
Whether or not you are new to Reader’s Theater, this lesson will provide you with innovative ways to bring it into your classroom. Providing a bridge from drama to theatre as well as an excellent opportunity for vocal work, Reader’s Theater is a versatile learning tool and tons of fun for all! Adaptable for all age groups, you can even extend this lesson to introduce public speaking to older students. There is also a rubric available which can be used to teach up to 7 different skills of your choosing. Inflection, tone, pitch, rate, and projection are all skills introduced through this lesson.
To maximize student achievement, download this drama journal for students to use as reflection or formative assessment. 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.
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This story is designed to be played by a group of 4, but it can be told with any number of students. In this story, students learn to identify and imitate emotions such as pride, silliness, anger, fear, frustration, joy, and shock.
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Objective: students combine the primary tools (body, mind, voice) with a support tool (prop) and with the skills of collaboration, concentration, transformation, audience behaviors, to create a drama.
Drama and machines have much in common. Students collaborate to complete a task of building an interactive machine using their moving bodies and vocal sound effects (part of the third grade objectives). Students must then problem solve to introduce a prop of some type that can be integrated into the machine. Teams must collaborate and create together to accomplish the task. This lesson integrates beautifully with the teaching of simple and compound machines. This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Third Grade Curriculum.
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 Third Grade Curriculum.
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Objective: students combine the primary tools of the actor (body, mind, voice) and a simple support tool (prop, fabric, etc.) to create character and setting.
Like the Vision Quest, students enact a story with some members of the team playing characters and some transforming into setting (part of the third grade objectives). The twist: they are introduced to setting and props and must plan how to incorporate one chair into their drama. This lesson is a good formative assessment to check for understanding and observe basic skills needed for planning and presenting drama work. If they lack the knowledge or skills in these areas, be prepared to review. It might also be useful to review our tips for viewing student work before working with the class. This lesson uses the story of the same name, "The Museum": download it to complete the lesson. This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Third Grade Curriculum.
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 Third Grade Curriculum.
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Objective: students speak dialogue, use imitation and observation skills to act out a story from beginning to end.
Students enjoy exploring family relationships. Sydney and Jojo are siblings who have trouble getting along. This lesson asks students to engage the voice and employ observation skills to create a drama (part of the second grade objectives). The students practice adding lines of dialogue to act out the story of Sydney & Jojo (download the story to complete the materials). We also suggest you start with a mirror or concentration activity as a warm-up to this lesson, as one character imitates the other as part of the action of the story. This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Second Grade Curriculum.
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.
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This story was written for students studying drama and the solar system. In science, this can be used when the students are learning the characteristics of the planets.