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Revolutionary War Through Drama: Life in the Colonies Lesson

Revolutionary War Through Drama: Life in the Colonies Lesson

Immerse your students in colonial life by having them create dramas about day to day living in the pre-Revolutionary War colonies. This lesson is an excellent way to integrate Social Studies learning with drama by discussing the impacts of British control on daily life in the years leading up to the Revolutionary War. Designed for grades 4-8, this lesson also helps students hone their concentration, collaboration, and imitation skills by challenging them to create a silent mini drama.

NOTE: Revolutionary War Through Drama: Life in the Colonies  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.


Tales Retold

Tales Retold Story 

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.

Señor Coyote Acts as a Judge

Señor Coyote Acts as a Judge

What better way to teach action-reaction than a story packed with mischievous animal characters, including a clever coyote, a sneaky snake, and a righteous rabbit? In this lesson, students in grades 3-8 can practice collaboration, imitation, transformation, and action-reaction skills. By presenting their dramas, students can get hands-on experience with defining action-reaction and analyze its importance in creating a good story. You can also integrate Language Arts learning by having students connect action-reaction with cause and effect.

Sixth Grade Journal: Señor Coyote Acts as a Judge

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.

Paper Bag Charades

Paper Bag Charades Lesson

Improv can be intimidating at first, so it’s important to give students support tools and structure as they’re learning it! In this lesson, challenge students to use three mystery props as they work together to create an exciting group drama. This is a wonderful opportunity for students to practice collaboration, utilizing support tools, and crafting a dynamic story. 

 

Plot Boosters

Plot Boosters

Use this list of plot boosters to develop original stories for your drama work! These ideas can support the plot by moving the story along, giving the reader/viewer new information, showing character changes, foreshadowing, providing irony, creating cause and effect, and supporting the message and/or theme of the story. 

Building Vocabulary Through Drama Lesson

Building Vocabulary Through Drama Lesson

Building Vocabulary Through Drama Rubric

This lesson gets participants of all ages loving words and thinking of them as colorful ways to communicate their ideas. So put those worksheets and spelling tests down for time to have students build a relationship with words in a new way! Participants work in teams and practice their ensemble and brainstorming skills. Older participants will experience and come to appreciate the connotative and denotative beauty of words.

And That’s a Blue Day Lesson

And That’s a Blue Day Lesson

Objective: Students analyze how emotions can be portrayed in drama.

How do different colors make you feel? That’s the starting point for this hour-long lesson that explores the ways colors are connected to emotions. From there, students also have the opportunity to create their own story dramas. This lesson challenges students to work together in small teams to collaborate on a final product. Teachers may choose to integrate this lesson with visual arts or language arts. This lesson is a part of our recommended sequence in the Fifth Grade Curriculum.

Fifth Grade Drama Journal: And That's a Blue Day

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 Fifth Grade Curriculum. 

The Story of Rabbit, Elephant, and Whale

The Story of Rabbit, Elephant, and Whale 

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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.

Do Not Open (Part 2) Lesson

Do Not Open Lesson

Do Not Open (Part 2) Lesson: Transformation and Prediction

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Objective: students discuss how transformation reveals the message of a story while applying C.I.T.I to play out the story elements.

Miss Moody has a cat that is afraid of storms--but why isn’t she? What is she afraid of when she finds a mysterious bottle on the beach after a terrible storm at sea? Students love this story, Do Not Open, by Brinton Turkle. We recommend you warm-up the class by practicing concentration and transformation with a Body Objects activity. Students will have the chance to make and demonstrate predictions and apply transformations based on ideas from the book (part of the second grade objectives). This lesson pairs with Do Not Open (Part 1) Lesson, and it is part of our recommended sequence in the Second Grade Curriculum.

Second Grade Drama Journal: Do Not Open (Part 2)

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. 

Do Not Open (Part 1) Lesson

Do Not Open Lesson

Do Not Open (Part 1) Lesson: Putting Action Verbs in Acting

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Objective: students demonstrate character actions, C.I.T.I.(concentration, imagination, transformation, imitation), and identify story elements.

Miss Moody has a cat that is afraid of storms--but why isn’t she? What is she afraid of when she finds a mysterious bottle on the beach after a terrible storm at sea? Students love this story, Do Not Open, by Brinton Turkle. In this lesson, students will identify action verbs and learn how actors use verbs to tell stories. We recommend playing Peanut Butter and Jelly, a silly activity that will get your students to explore verbs with their bodies. This lesson pairs with Do Not Open (Part 2) Lesson, and it is part of our recommended sequence in the Second Grade Curriculum.

Second Grade Drama Journal: Do Not Open (Part 1)

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.