Archives

Body Objects: Acting The Dreamer Story

Body Objects: Acting The Dreamer Story

How do we get students excited about the details and setting in a story? Dive into the vivid world of The Dreamer, adapted from One Thousand and One Nights by Karen L. Erickson. In this lesson, students in grades 4-12 can practice collaboration, cooperation, and transformation skills by using body objects to act out the different settings of this tale.

Body Objects: Acting The Dreamer Story Sixth Grade Journal

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. 

Caps for Sale Lesson

Caps for Sale Lesson

Objective: students will learn how to identify and solve dramatic problems.
Building on the previous lessons, the students will enjoy acting out the included story of Caps for Sale.  They will interactively learn how to solve problems by wit and not by anger (part of the kindergarten objectives).   Begin the lesson with a Freeze Activity as a warm-up exercise (and set a management signal): download one of ours or use your own.  This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Kindergarten Curriculum.

Three Billy Goats Gruff Lesson

Three Billy Goats Gruff Lesson

Objective: students will learn to identify and imitate the four basic emotions: happy, sad, mad, and scared.
Continuing the work from the previous Emotions Lesson in the Kindergarten series, the Three Billy Goats Gruff uses a familiar fairy tale to give the students further practice in expression of the basic emotions happy, sad, mad, and scared (part of the kindergarten objectives).  In this case, the students exercise their empathy in the conflict between the troll and the goats.  This will prepare them for the next lesson in the series: Charlie Lesson.  This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Kindergarten Curriculum.

The Humpty Dumpty Lesson

The Humpty Dumpty Lesson

Objective: students identify the three tools (body, mind, voice) in drama.
Many children know the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty.  We employ it here for students to practice skills with the body, mind and voice – also known as the actor’s tools (part of the kindergarten objectives).    Students use their body to imitate a variety of actions both as a warm-up and as you read the story aloud to them.  This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Kindergarten Curriculum.

Rabbit, Elephant, Whale Lesson

rabbit_whale_elephant

Rabbit, Elephant, Whale Lesson: Observation & Personification

Objective: students will learn how actors use the drama tools to create a character.

$4.00Add to cart

Students have fun personifying animal characters to create a story of their own design. The students then use the actor’s tools (mind, body, voice) to create a drama using observation (part of the fourth grade objectives). This lesson is designed around the story of the same name - download The Story of the Rabbit, Elephant, Whale before you begin. We also suggest you start with an imitation activity as a warm-up to this lesson such as Pass the Imaginary Object. This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Fourth Grade Curriculum.

rabbit_whale_elephant

Fourth Grade Drama Journal: Rabbit, Elephant, Whale

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. 

The Story of Rabbit, Elephant, and Whale

The Story of Rabbit, Elephant, and Whale 

$4.00Add to cart

In this story, the rabbit outsmarts the elephant and the whale, both of which use their physical size against the rabbit.  Students like to act out the different parts in this story as they learn that sometimes being wise can counter physical size.  This story is also designed into a full lesson for the 4th grade to teach students how actors use the drama tools (body, mind, voice) to create a character.

The Fire Lesson

The Fire Lesson 

$4.00Add to cart

Objective: students demonstrate sensory (touch, taste, smell, sight, sound) recall in a drama.  Students identify similarities among art forms.

Students become fire, fight fire, and practice fire prevention all through the safety of drama. This lesson introduces students to sensory (touch, taste, smell, sight, and sound) recall and personification (part of the third grade objectives). The lesson culminates in an enacted story about fire combining fire fighters, fire, and people escaping fire as characters. Students also continue their study of the different styles of narrator voice from the previous lesson (The Three Sillies). We broke this lesson into two parts (over 2 days) to cover all the objectives (both parts included in one PDF document). This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Third Grade Curriculum.

Third Grade Drama Journal: The Fire

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. 

The Three Sillies Lesson

The Three Sillies Lesson: Using Narration 

$4.00Add to cart

Objective: students demonstrate narrative storytelling skills.

Jack is on a quest to find three very silly people. This famous and quite funny folk tale delights students of all ages. The lesson introduces three different styles of narrator voice and how the choice of style affects the dramatic impact (part of the third grade objectives). Students also have the option of writing their own “silly.” The lesson uses the included story "The Three Sillies" as retold by Karen Erickson. This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Third Grade Curriculum.

Third Grade Drama Journal: The Three Sillies

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. 

Lon Po Po Lesson

Lon Po Po Lesson

Lon Po Po Lesson: Conflict

$4.00Add to cart

Objective: students identify conflict, problem and resolution in a story while problem solving.

Lon Po Po by Ed Young is a Little Red Riding Hood story from another culture and is beloved by children who play this as a full class drama. The words Lon and Po Po mean wolf and grandmother, respectively, in Chinese. Students love playing the conflict and burying themselves in the blankets as the wolf knocks on the door. You might want to take a role in this drama yourself! For this lesson you need a basket, Gingko tree leaf (a handmade one is fine), wolf's paw, and a very large blanket or quilt as props. Before starting this lesson, review our anonymous casting tips for choosing students to play different characters. This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Second Grade Curriculum.

Second Grade Drama Journal: Lon Po Po

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. 

Prop Story Lesson

prop story

Prop Story Lesson

Objective: Students will learn how props support drama work.

$4.00Add to cart

This lesson for fourth grade students focuses on using props in a drama. For materials, you will need some simple props (described in the lesson) as well as selected stories from Aesop's fables. This lesson makes use of the Pass the Object activity as a warm up - download it before you begin. The fourth grade objective addressed in this lesson is the analysis of actor skills (C.I.T.I.C) to create a drama. This lesson is part of our recommended sequence in the Fourth Grade Curriculum.

Fourth Grade Drama Journal: Prop Story

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.