USING DRAMA TO EXPLORE BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END OF A STORY

Georgia Standards

South Carolina Standards

Key Vocabulary

Materials

• Smart board/white board
• Markers/crayons
• Story Map with characters, setting, and the parts of a plot
• Pencils
• Swimmy by Leo Lionni
• Optional: Sock puppet or stuffed animal

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Use cueing methods when directing tableau in your classroom: “3–2–1–Freeze”.

• Start with a general physical warm-up to get the students' bodies ready. Use exercises such as:
  • Stretching: Stretch all major muscle groups.
  • Shaking Out Limbs: Shake out arms, legs, and the whole body to release tension.
  • Energy Passes: Stand in a circle and pass a clap or a simple motion around to build group focus and energy.
• Introduce the art form of tableau with a warm-up: Statues in the Garden.
  • Tell students that the teacher is the guard of the garden and all of the other players are statues in the garden.
  • The guard counts to ten and says “Freeze”.
  • During the count, all of the other players move around the room and become a frozen statue by the count of 10.
  • Tell students that when the guard is wandering through the garden and is not looking at them, they should change their statue position. However, if the guard sees a statue move or in the process of moving, that player will be “out”.
  • As the teacher wanders through the garden, prompt students to create statues in different environments (ie. statues we may see in a city, statues of animals we may see in a forest, etc,).
  • Debrief the activity sharing that when actors make “frozen pictures” with their bodies, this is called tableau in theatre. Tell students that they will be using tableau in the lesson today.

Work Session

• Read the book, Swimmy, by Leo Lionni, aloud to the class.
• Pause throughout the reading and ask students to use tableau and pantomime to analyze the characters, setting, and major events.
  • Example: “I wonder what the tuna fish’s face looked like at this point in the story? Can I see everyone make the face of the tuna fish? 3–2–1–FREEZE!”.
  • In this way, students will explore the characters using tableau, movement and pantomime at various points in the text. Select different students to demonstrate the story using tableau, movement, and/or pantomime for the rest of the class.
    • Example: “When Swimmy was exploring the underwater creatures he saw some pretty amazing things! Can anyone remember one creature he saw?” Ask several students to show the class a statue of that creature.
  • When the class gets to the end of the story, discuss the lesson that the school of fish learned. Facilitate a class discussion relating personal experiences to the story’s lesson.
• Introduce the parts of the story–beginning, middle, and end–with a class visitor such as a puppet or stuffed animal.
  • The class puppet/stuffed animal/etc. should arrive and visit the class right after you finish the story. Tell the puppet that you just finished reading a story.
  • The puppet tells the class that they love retelling stories and shares “Retell a Story Dance” with the class.
  • Students learn the dance: Hand up for the beginning, out for the middle and down for the end.
  • The puppet wants to know what the story is about.
  • As a class, retell the story with the beginning, middle, and end. At each point in retelling the story, students should put their hand in the appropriate position to indicate which part of the story it is–beginning, middle, or end.
• Divide students into small groups. Assign each group a part of the story–beginning, middle, or end. Each group should create a short scene acting out their part of the story.
  • Circulate the room to work with students and check for understanding as they create their scenes.
• Put three groups together–one with the beginning, one with the middle, and one with the end of the story. Have students put their scenes together in the correct sequence.
  • Provide time for students to practice. Circulate the room to work with students and check for understanding.

Closing Reflection

• Students will perform the story for the class. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
• After each performance, students should discuss how the groups showed the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
• Ask students how drama techniques like pantomime and tableau helped them understand the story.
• As a class, or in small groups, create a story map of the beginning, middle and end of the story using illustrations and descriptions.

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, use of pantomime and tableau to act out parts of the story as it is read aloud, discussion of the story’s lesson and relating it to their own personal experiences, retelling of the story, and conferencing with students as they act out their assigned part of the story.

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can use pantomime and tableau to communicate or retell parts of the story.
• Students can act out an assigned portion of a story and determine where it fits in the sequence.

Students can accurately retell the parts of a story using a Story Map.

DIFFERENTIATION 

 *This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Jessica Rosa Espinoza. Updated by: Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW