The Shades of Monster Emotions 2

THE SHADES OF MONSTER EMOTIONS

THE SHADES OF MONSTER EMOTIONS

Learning Description

Using the book The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions, by Anna Llenas, students will investigate story elements and dive into the world of emotions and colors. They will actively explore emotions using their faces, bodies, and voices.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can make connections between emotions and colors.
  • I can use my body, face, and voice to convey emotions and colors.

Essential Questions

  • How are emotions like colors, and how can colors represent emotions?
  • How does talking about and exploring our emotions help us?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

ELAGSE2RL1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. 

ELAGSE2RL7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Arts Standards

Grade 2:

TA2.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments. 

  1. Use imagination and vocal elements (e.g. inflection, pitch, volume, articulation) to communicate a character’s thoughts, emotions, and actions. 
  2. Use imagination and physical choices to communicate a character’s thoughts and emotions. 
  3. Collaborate and perform with an ensemble to share theatre with an audience. 
  4. Explore character choices and relationships in a variety of dramatic forms (e.g. narrated story, pantomime, puppetry, dramatic play).

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

2.RL.MC.5.1 Ask and answer literal and inferential questions to demonstrate understanding of a text; use specific details to make inferences and draw conclusions in texts heard or read. 

2.RL.MC.5.2 Make predictions before and during reading; confirm or modify thinking.

Arts Standards

THEATRE

Anchor Standard 3: I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.

VISUAL ARTS

Anchor Standard 5: I can interpret and evaluate the meaning of an artwork.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Emotion – A state of feeling such as: angry; sad; excited; nervous; happy. 

Theme – the lesson of the story

Arts Vocabulary

Color - a component of light which is separated when it is reflected off of an object.

Actor – This is a person who performs a role in a play, work of theatre, or movie. 

Facial Expression – how an actor uses his or her face (eyes, cheeks, mouth, chin, nose) to convey meaning. 

Gestures –any movement of the actor’s head, shoulder, arm, hand, leg, or foot to convey meaning.

 

Materials

  • The Color Monster. A Story About Emotions, by Anna Llenas. 
  • Color list (below, or comparable by teacher choice)
  • Emotion list (below, or comparable by teacher choice)

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Colors

  • Lead a discussion about colors.  What are colors?  Discuss how light reflects off of things in different ways, and that’s how our eyes see colors.  How do colors make you feel? What do they make you think of?  What is your favorite color, and why?  Option: show the list of colors attached below, discuss any that are unfamiliar, and compare different colors that are similar, e.g., silver and gray.  Ask what other colors they can think of that are not on the list.

Emotions

  • Lead a discussion about emotions.  “What are emotions?  How do different experiences make us feel different emotions?  How do our emotions change?  How do we express emotions?” Show the list of emotions attached below, discuss any that are unfamiliar, and compare different emotions that are similar, e.g., sad and lonely.  Ask what other emotions they can think of that are not on the list.

Connecting Colors and Emotions

  • Lead a discussion about the connection between colors and emotions.  “Can you think of any phrases that connect colors with emotions?(e.g., ‘green with envy,’ ‘seeing red,’ or ‘feeling blue,’ or ‘rose-colored glasses.’)”  Do certain emotions make you think of certain colors?  Or do you associate different colors with different emotions?  If so, why?”  Honor whatever connections the students might make, even if they seem unconventional.

 

Work Session

The Color Monster

Explain that the class will read a book that connects colors with emotions.  Discuss this connection as the theme of the book – it is the main idea or concept.  Show The Color Monster.  Explain that the author, Anna Llenas, has thought a lot about this question, and she connects certain colors with certain emotions.

  • Read the book aloud.  During the read aloud, have students add sound and body to express the characters and repeat key lines or phrases after you read them. Encourage them to become the characters with their face, body and voice.
  • After reading aloud, review the colors and emotions in the book (yellow = happy; blue = sad; red = anger; black = fear; green= calm; pink=love).  Discuss if those connections make sense to students.  Ask, “What other colors and emotions would you connect?”
  • Discuss the concept expressed in the book about feeling mixed emotions, and putting emotions into separate containers.  Ask, “What does this mean in real life?  How can we put emotions into different containers?”

Coloring Our Emotions

  • Tell the students that you will call out an emotion and they will use their bodies and faces to convey that emotion.  Start with a simple emotion like happy, sad, or scared.  Tell them they can use facial expression, body position, and gestures to convey the emotion.
  • Ask them to express what color they connect with that emotion.  (e.g., “I’m scared and it feels pink” or “I’m bored and it feels gray.”)
  • Ask them to add sound to their faces and bodies.  Ask, “Does this emotion make you use a loud or soft voice?  High or low?  How would you pronounce your words with this emotion?”  Allow different students to have different interpretations, and acknowledge that sometimes when someone is angry they could be loud or quiet, or that when someone is happy, their voice could get very high or very low.
  • Call out several more emotions from the list, and have the students repeat the process.
  • Give volunteers the opportunity, when conveying an emotion with body, face and voice, to articulate why someone might feel that emotion (e.g., “I’m angry that my sister won’t play with me, and it feels bright red,” or “I’m happy that we’re going to have ice cream, and it feels light green.”)

Finding Emotions from Our Colors (Optional)

  • Explain that now the process will be reversed.  A color will be called out, and students can respond with a connected emotion.  Tell students that they may connect the emotion directly with a color, or they may think of something the color reminds them of and find the emotional connection that way.  E.g., blue might make a student think of a swimming pool, invoking excitement; red may make a student think of a stop sign/caution; or orange may make them think of fire, invoking fear.
  • After calling out a color, allow students to use their bodies and faces to show the emotion; then ask volunteers to use their emotional voice to name the emotion they are thinking of and explain the connection, if any.

Extension

  • Have students draw a picture connecting a color with an emotion.  Have them start from either an emotion or a color.  If they start from an emotion, have them choose the color that they think goes with it.  If they choose a color, have them decide which emotion they connect with it.  Using a single color, have them write the emotion word (with guidance as needed) and draw images, lines, and shapes that convey the emotion (e.g., The drawing could include squiggles, zigzags, curves and solid shapes, as well as representational images such as a football player, two friends arguing, a piece of jewelry, or a butterfly).
  • Then have them write a paragraph describing the emotion in terms of the color and the elements they included in their illustration.  The paragraph can begin, “When I feel ______ (emotion), everything looks ________ (color) because . . .”

 

Closing Reflection

Ask, “What is the connection between emotions and colors?  How can colors help us think about emotions?  How do colors make us feel?  How did we express emotions using our bodies, facial expressions, and voices?“

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Students demonstrate understanding by using their bodies, faces, and voices. 
  • Students use emotion and color words to describe what they are enacting.
  • Students articulate situations or scenarios that make sense for the emotion they are conveying.

 

Summative

Students’ illustrations and paragraphs convey their understanding of the connection between emotions and color.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: 

Explore the concept of mixed emotions implied in the book.  Have students choose two different, seemingly conflicting emotions connected with  two different colors, and have them enact them together.  Have them articulate a scenario that might lead to conflicting emotions (e.g., getting together with a close friend who is moving away).

Remediation: 

Work through the emotions according to how they are portrayed in the book, maintaining a one-to-one correspondence to avoid confusion.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Books with a similar theme:

     My Many-Colored Days, by Dr. Seuss

     What Color Is Your Day?, by Camryn Wells

*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: Susie Purcell and Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright:  June 2023 @ ArtsNOW

Back to Modules

A Day With Dali 2-3

A DAY WITH DALI

A DAY WITH DALI

Learning Description

Students will look at the print, “Persistence of Memory” by Salvador Dali and talk about what they see. Students will discuss the importance of foreground, middle ground and background in a painting. Students will then visually draw a creative clock ticking throughout the day, utilizing the sky to tell morning, afternoon and evening as the hands on the clocks move!

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2-3
CONTENT FOCUS: VISUAL ARTS & MATH
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can tell and write time using an analog clock.
  • I can create landscape artwork that communicates different times of day using color.

Essential Questions

  • How can landscape art help us understand time?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

2.MDR.6.1 Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes, and estimate and measure elapsed time using a timeline, to the hour or half hour on the hour or half hour.

 

Grade 3: 

3.MDR.5.2 Tell and write time to the nearest minute and estimate time to the nearest fifteen minutes (quarter hour) from the analysis of an analog clock.

Arts Standards

Grade 2: 

VA2.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VA2.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.

VA2.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art.

VA2.CN.2 Integrate information from other disciplines to enhance the understanding and production of works of art.

 

Grade 3: 

VA3.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

VA3.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.

VA3.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art.

VA3.CN.2 Integrate information from other disciplines to enhance the understanding and production of works of art.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

2.MDA.6 Use analog and digital clocks to tell and record time to the nearest five-minute interval using a.m. and p.m.

 

Grade 3: 

3.MDA.1 Use analog and digital clocks to determine and record time to the nearest minute, using a.m. and p.m.; measure time intervals in minutes; and solve problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals within 60 minutes.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork. 

Anchor Standard 2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art. 

Anchor Standard 5: I can interpret and evaluate the meaning of an artwork.

Anchor Standard 7: I can relate visual arts ideas to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Analog clock - A timekeeping device that displays the time through a traditional face with a numbered dial and moving hands

Arts Vocabulary

  • Landscape -
  • Foreground - In a 2-D composition, the visual plane that appears closest to the viewer
  • Middle ground - In a 2-D composition, the visual plane located between both the foreground and background
  • Background - In a 2-D composition, the plane in a composition perceived furthest from the viewer
  • Scale - A succession of sizes in proportional steps; visually, as objects move forward in space, they appear larger

 

Materials

    • Mixed media paper
    • Pencils
    • Colored pencils, markers, or crayons
    • Glue sticks
  • Optional - Oil pastels
  • Optional - Brads and scissors to create moving clock hands

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Project an image of Salvador Dali’s painting, “The Persistence of Memory”.
  • Ask students to work collaboratively to engage in the See, Think, Wonder Artful Thinking Routine.
    • First, students will identify what they see in the image. Emphasize that they should make objective observations about the image (i.e. physical features, colors, textures, etc.). Discuss objects in the painting, specifically the melting clock.
    • Next, ask students to identify what they think about the image. Emphasize that students should be creating inferences using visual evidence from the image. Ask what inferences students can make about the melting clock (time).
    • Finally, ask students what they wonder about the image.
  • Facilitate a class-wide discussion around students’ observations, inferences, and questions.

 

Work Session

    • Tell students that this painting is an example of a landscape painting. A landscape painting is an artistic depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests. It shows a wide expanse of space, rather than an up-close look at a natural image, such as a flower.
      • Landscapes have a foreground, middle ground, and background to create the illusion of space on a two-dimensional surface. Show students the landscape diagram.
      • Artists use scale, size, and proportion to further the illusion. They do this by making things that are supposed to be farthest from the viewer the smallest and things that are supposed to be the closest to the viewer largest.
      • Look at the painting again. Ask students to identify the background, middle ground, and foreground.
      • Ask them to find examples of how Dali used size, scale, and proportion to create the illusion of depth.
    • Tell students that they are going to create their own landscape art showing time.
    • Pass out drawing paper. Have students fold it in half, hotdog style and then fold it in half again hotdog style, so that there are four equal sections.
      • Tell students that the bottom fourth will be the foreground, the second to bottom fourth will be the middle ground, the next fourth will be the background, and the sky will be the top fourth.
      • Have students lightly sketch out a landscape that has a background, middle ground, and foreground.
    • Next, tell students that in their artwork they will show three times of day using color–morning, day, and night.
      • Have students divide their landscape into thirds by lightly sketching two vertical lines from the top to the bottom of their paper to create three sections–the left section will be for morning, the middle section for day, and the right section for night.
      • Show students photos of morning, day, and night, and ask students to make observations about the colors that they see.
      • Have students add color using colored pencils, markers, and/or crayons.
  • Optional: Have students outline their work with Sharpie pen or marker for emphasis.
      • Optional: Have students embellish their art by adding light touches of oil pastel to blend and create a “glow”.

Next, students will draw three circles on a separate sheet of paper, one for each section of the landscape. Each circle will be a clock that shows the time of day represented in each section. Have students represent the time of day on each of their clocks, cut them out, and glue them into the appropriate section on their artwork.
(Alternatively, have students create a clock that is not attached to their artwork. The hands of the clock can be created with brads. Students can move the clock into different sections of their artwork and correspondingly change the time represented on the clock.)

 

Closing Reflection

  • Have students conduct a gallery walk to observe each other’s artwork.
  • Have students select a couple artworks to look at and record the time shown on the clocks in each section of their classmates’ artwork.
  • Facilitate a group discussion and debrief the process. Encourage students to identify a “grow” and a “glow” for themselves.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of landscape artwork, work on landscape art, and ability to identify different times of day using an analog clock.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can tell and write time using an analog clock.
  • Students can create landscape artwork that communicates different times of day using color.
  • Students can create landscape artwork that creates the illusion of depth on a 2D surface using a background, middle ground and foreground.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: Have students write a narrative to accompany their landscape. The narrative should start at the time of day represented in the morning section and end at the time of day represented in the night section.

Remediation: Have students create landscape artwork for one time of day. Then, have students arrange their artwork from the earliest time of day represented to the latest time of day represented.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

*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: Debi West. Updated by: Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Acting Hot and Cold 2-3

ACTING HOT AND COLD

ACTING HOT AND COLD

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will explore heating and cooling through pantomime and improvisation. By enacting the effect of sunlight on a snowman and growing seed, students will learn scientific information kinesthetically.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2-3
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can demonstrate my understanding of the effects of the sun through improvisation and pantomime.

Essential Questions

  • What are the effects of the sun on the earth?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 3: 

S3P1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the ways heat energy is transferred and measured.

Arts Standards

Grade 3: 

TAES3.3: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and environments.

 

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

2-PS1-4. Construct an argument with evidence that some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 3: I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.

Anchor Standard 8: I can relate theatre to other content areas, arts disciplines, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Heat energy - The form of energy that is transferred between systems or objects with different temperatures

  • Physical change - A change in the form or physical properties of a substance without any change in its chemical composition; the molecules themselves are not changed, only the arrangement or state of the molecules

Arts Vocabulary

  • Pantomime - Conveying a story by body movements or facial expressions only

  • Improvisation - A creation that is spoken or written without prior preparation

 

Materials

Optional background music to set the tone 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Play “Stop, Go”.
  • Tell students to stand up at their tables or desks. 
  • When the teacher says, “Go” and another word or phrase, students should act like that word or phrase.
    • Say, “Go – cold. Go – hot. Go – in a desert. Go – in Alaska. Go – in the snow. Go – in the rain”.
    • Have students return to their seats. 
    • Ask students to share how they moved in different ways to represent feeling cold or hot. Ask them why.
    • Ask them what made things go from cold to hot (location, precipitation, etc.) What makes things hot? 
    • Ask students: 
      • What makes the air hot? Why does the air get cold? If you place an ice cube on concrete in the sun on a summer day, why does it melt?

 

Work Session

  • Tell students that they will be acting out scenarios that demonstrate the effects that the sun has on the earth. 
    • Discuss heat energy with students and why some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
    • Discuss improvisation and pantomime with students. 
  • Play “The Snowman”.
    • Ask how many students have ever seen a snowman melt when the weather suddenly turns warmer. Show students an image.
    • Ask students to describe what happens to the snowman.
      • Does it change its shape? How? Is this a change that can be reversed by heating or cooling?
    • Ask the students to imagine themselves as snowmen with a hat on their heads, sticks for arms, and a cane in their hand. Ask students to pose as the snowman and freeze in that position. 
    • Tell students that you will narrate a scenario to them and that they should act out the scenario. Say to students:  
      • “The sun begins to shine, and for the first time, your body feels warm. You grow warmer and warmer, and your hat slips, slides and falls off. Now you feel the sun shining on your shoulders. Your arms are melting. Your cane slips from your hand and falls to the ground. Your body no longer holds you up, and you, too, begin to slump. Finally, you are completely melted and become a puddle.”
      • Question the players:  
        • What did it feel like when the sun began to shine on your head? Your shoulders? 
        • Your legs and body?  
        • How did your body feel when you became a puddle?  
        • What happens to the water after a snowstorm, when all the snow melts?
        • Is this a change that can be reversed by heating or cooling?

 

  • Play “Apple Seed” Pantomime. (Teacher note: Be sure to narrate this story slowly enough, and with appropriate pauses, so that the students are able to fully experience each phase as they enact the story.) 
    • Tell students to find their own personal space on the floor and make themselves as small as possible. Again, you will narrate a scenario to them. They should enact the scenario as you narrate. 
    • Tell students, 
      • “You are an apple seed, crammed tightly into your hard seed pod and buried under the cold ground. It is winter and you are barely awake. Above you, snow covers the ground. It is totally dark under the ground. 

 

Now it is spring. The earth around you is growing a little warmer, and you start to feel more awake. The snow above you melts and the water soaks into the earth around you. The earth feels warmer, and you seem to be able to pull energy out of the soil. It is time to come out of your seed pod. You feel strong and energetic. Using all your strength, you push up against your seed pod and break through, like a bird breaks out of the egg. You reach upwards into the warm earth with your tendrils. The earth around you is moist, and you soak in the life-giving moisture. You don't know why, but you know you want to push upwards. Finally, with one great push, you emerge from the soil and see, for the first time, the SUN! The sun's energy flows into you and you feel stronger and stronger. You stretch upwards and outwards until you are a healthy seedling. The gentle spring rains nourish and refresh you. Just take a moment to enjoy it.

 

Now let's move ahead a few years. You have grown into a strong young sapling–a tree about the size of a young person. You have beautiful green leaves that soak up the sun and make you strong. But you want to grow taller. You want to be a tree. So you summon all your energy and you push out and up. As the years go by you become a strong, tall apple tree. You stand proud in the sun and enjoy your own strength and beauty.

 

Now it is fall. You have grown healthy, nourishing apples all over your strong branches. The apples contain seeds which might someday become new apple trees. The apples are heavy. Your branches are strong, but there are so many apples. You feel weighed down. You feel as if your branches might break.  Here come some children. You can't talk to them, but you know they are coming for the apples. They have baskets. They are laughing and singing. The children pick your apples, and your branches feel light. You know they will take them away and eat them. You know they will throw away the seeds, and that some of those seeds might grow to be new apple trees.  Almost all of your apples are gone. But you know you will grow more next year. You feel grateful to those children. You hope they will enjoy the apples. 

 

Now it is winter. All of your leaves have fallen. But you know you will grow more next spring. Now it is time to rest. You rest. The End. 

 

  • Discuss how the sun made the apple grow. Ask students: 
    • What happens in winter? 
    • Why does the tree lose its leaves?  
    • What if the seed had been dropped in a shady spot where there was very little sun? Ask students to show you what this would look like. 
    • What if the seed had been dropped in Alaska? Ask students to show you what this would look like. 
    • What if the seed had been dropped in the ocean? Ask students to show you what this would look like. Emphasis that the seeds need the sun in order to grow.
    • What if no seeds ever grew? What would happen? Ask students to imagine a world where there is nothing growing.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Ask students to reflect on the role that heat energy played in each scenario. 
  • Reflect on how the sun provides all heat and energy for the world.

 

Assessments

Formative

The teacher will assess students’ learning by observing students’ responses to class discussion and observing participation in acting out the scenarios. Teachers will observe which students seem to understand the concepts versus which students are simply following the actions of other students.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can demonstrate their understanding of the effects of the sun through pantomime and improvisation. 
  • Students can explain the effects that the sun has on various scenarios.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Have students illustrate one of the scenarios and explain the effects of heat energy in the scenario.
  • Have students create their own scenario that demonstrates the effects of heat energy.

Remediation: 

  • Chunk the scenarios. Pause and comment on how students are demonstrating each phase of the scenario to help students who are struggling.

*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: Mary Gagliardi 

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

Back to Modules

Acting Out the Adverb, But What About the Adjective? 2

ACTING OUT ADVERBS . . . BUT WHAT ABOUT ADJECTIVES?

ACTING OUT ADVERBS . . . BUT WHAT ABOUT ADJECTIVES?

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will compare and contrast adjectives and adverbs. We will explore how acting out an adverb is easier than an adjective. While we can reach for the adjective, they are often difficult to physically demonstrate. As a trick for identifying the difference, we teach students to try to imagine acting them out.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can differentiate between adjectives and adverbs by trying to act them out.

Essential Questions

  • How can the arts help to clarify language arts concepts?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

ELACC2L1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

  1. Use adjectives and adverbs and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.

Arts Standards

Grade 2:

TA2.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

2WL.4:

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing and speaking. 

     4.5 Use adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 3: I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Adjective - A word that modifies a noun.  Adjectives often describe color, shape, size, smell, feel, emotion, or other intrinsic or temporary quality.

Adverb - A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs often tell when, where, why, or under what conditions something happens or happened.

Arts Vocabulary

Pantomime - pretending to hold, touch or use something you are not really holding, touching or using; in the theatrical tradition, acting without words

 

Materials

Possibly, a whiteboard for brainstorming ideas

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Explain that students will be acting out different things in today’s lesson.  Remind them that when acting things out, it is important to stay safe.  Have students each make a ‘space ball’ around themselves. Model and have students follow blowing up a bubble to become the space ball.  Spread it out to the sides, to the front and back, and up above.  Remind them to be careful – not to break or burst the space ball.  Explain that this is the student’s acting space, and that they must not crash their bubbles into one another. They have to keep safe in order to participate.
  • Give students a series of prompts alternating between nouns modified by adjectives and verbs modified by adverbs, such as:
    • become a tall pine tree
    • act out running fast
    • be a cold ice cream cone
    • toss a ball in the air wildly
    • be an interesting book
    • play an instrument gracefully
    • be a lonely dog
    • eat ice cream joyfully
    • be a dirty baseball
    • sway gently in the wind
    • be a loud tuba
    • read a book excitedly

Ask students to recall which prompts were easier to do and which were more challenging.  If necessary, review the list.  Ask them to explain what made the actions easier or harder to do.  Elicit, and/or guide them to the notion that words that told how to do something might have made it easier to act out the idea.

 

Work Session

  • Define or review adjectives and adverbs.  Review the list of prompts to identify adjectives and adverbs.  Use them as examples to reinforce the definitions of adjectives and adverbs.
  • Define or review pantomime – pretending to hold, touch or use something you are not really holding, touching or using; in the theatrical tradition, acting without words.
  • Lead students in simple pantomime activities, such as eating an apple or swinging a baseball bat.  Model for them and instruct them in using careful precise movements, slightly exaggerated, and including their faces and eye focus.
  • Then adapt those activities by adding adjectives and adverbs.  E.g., eat a red (soft, sour) apple and swing a wooden (long, heavy) baseball bat, and then eat an apple quickly (furiously, disgustedly) and swing a baseball bat powerfully (awkwardly, carelessly).  Reflect on the ease or difficulty of showing the adjectives and the adverbs.  Ask: why is it easier to act out actions that involve adverbs?  (Because adverbs often tell us how to do things, while adjectives often only tell us what a thing is like.)  Remind students that this reflects the difference between nouns and verbs – nouns are things, but verbs often imply action, and by definition action is easier to act out.
  • Have students pair up.  Have pairs decide on an action that can be pantomimed, involving an object of some sort.  (They can choose actions involving food, sports, school, music, art, the outdoors, chores, etc.).  Have them develop a pantomime for their activity.  Remind them that pantomime should involve precise and detailed movements, be slightly exaggerated, and engage the face and eyes as well as the body.
  • Have each pair show another pair what they developed.
  • Have them next add adjectives.  Remind them that adjectives modify nouns – describing the person, place or thing they are enacting.  If appropriate, brainstorm categories of adjectives (size, shape, color, taste, etc.) or even specific adjectives (gigantic, slow, loud, pink, striped, round, etc.).
  • Have them rework their pantomimes trying to reflect the added adjective.
  • Have each pair show another pair what their pantomime looks like, and discuss the changes they made.
  • Have them next add adverbs.  Remind them that adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.  Instruct them to use an adverb to modify the verb of their pantomime – describing the way the action is to be enacted.  Remind them that adverbs usually (but not always) end in ‘-ly.’  If appropriate, brainstorm categories of adverbs (speed, emotion, effort, etc.) or even specific adverbs (sadly, rapidly, angrily, recklessly, carefully, grumpily, etc.)
  • Have each pair show another pair what their pantomime looks like, and discuss the changes they made.
  • Possibly, have pairs volunteer to share their pantomimes with the class.

    Extension:  Have students fold a piece of paper in half, and on one side draw a picture of their phrase with an adjective, and on the other a picture of their pantomime phrase with an adverb.  Reflect on how, when drawing, the adjective is likelier easier to convey than the adverb.

    Classroom Tip:  This lesson will have to be carefully delivered so as not to further confuse students. Using adjectives and adverbs can help us to better act out a phrase.  But adverbs, because they focus on the action word. are easier to act out than the adjectives.  Therefore, ‘actability’ might be one test we use to determine if a word is an adjective or an adverb.

    Closing Reflection

    Ask students to restate the definitions of adjectives and adverbs.

    Ask students which were easier to act out – adjectives or adverbs – and why.

    Ask students to reflect on how they used their bodies (hands, arms, legs, full bodies, faces, eyes) through pantomime to act out their chosen phrases.

     

    Assessments

    Formative

    • Students should be able to correctly differentiate between adjectives and adverbs.
    • Students should be able to correctly provide examples of adjectives and adverbs.
    • Students should participate in the pantomime exercise while maintaining control of their bodies and personal space.

     

    Summative

    Assign various addition problems to the students at the level reflected in the lesson, and gauge their ability to visualize and complete the problems.

     

    DIFFERENTIATION

    Acceleration:

    • Have pairs develop pantomimes of several adjectives and several adverbs
    • Ask students to describe which types of adjectives and adverbs are easier or harder to convey through pantomime (e.g., color and texture might be hard; speed and emotion might be easy).

    Remediation: 

    • Model several sequences together
    • Do more brainstorming and record the brainstormed ideas on the whiteboard
    • Rather than having students work in pairs, take student ideas but have the class develop the pantomimes all together

     ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

    Hairy, Scary, Ordinary:  What is an Adjective?, by Brian P. Cleary

    Quirky, Jerky, Extra Perky:  More About Adjectives, by Brian P. Cleary

    Many Luscious Lollipops, A Book About Adjectives, by Ruth Heller

    If You Were an Adjective, by Michael Dahl

    Dearly, Nearly, Insincerely: What Is an Adverb?, by Brian P. Cleary

    Lazily, Crazily, Just a Bit Nasally:  A Book About Adverbs, by Brian P. Cleary

    Up, Up and Away:  A Book About Adverbs, by Ruth Heller

    Suddenly Alligator:  An Adverbial Tale, by Rick Walton

    *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: Mary Gagliardi and updated by Barry Stewart Mann

    Revised and copyright:  August 2022 @ ArtsNOW

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    Adventure Island 2-3

    ADVENTURE ISLAND

    ADVENTURE ISLAND

    Learning Description

    Discover the possibilities of creative writing by making visual imagery that will inspire your students in new and exciting ways! The idea of a treasure map has long been a topic of excitement for young people. Allow your students to generate their own treasure map that will inspire a creative writing session!

     

    Learning Targets

    GRADE BAND: 2-3
    CONTENT FOCUS: VISUAL ARTS & ELA
    LESSON DOWNLOADS:

    Download PDF of this Lesson

    "I Can" Statements

    “I Can…”

    • I can use line and shape to symbolize features on a map.
    • I can write a fictional narrative that has a setting, characters, and all parts of a plot that is inspired by my treasure map.
    • I can use descriptive language to help my audience visualize my narrative.

    Essential Questions

    • How can the creation of visual imagery be the catalyst for creative writing?

     

    Georgia Standards

    Curriculum Standards

    Grade 2: 

    ELAGSE2W3 Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

     

    Grade 3: 

    ELAGSE3W3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. a. Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. b. Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations. c. Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order. d. Provide a sense of closure.

    Arts Standards

    Grade 2: 

    VA2.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

    VA2.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.

    VA2.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art.

    VA2.CN.2 Integrate information from other disciplines to enhance the understanding and production of works of art.

     

    Grade 3: 

    VA3.CR.1 Engage in the creative process to generate and visualize ideas by using subject matter and symbols to communicate meaning.

    VA3.CR.2 Create works of art based on selected themes.

    VA3.CR.3 Understand and apply media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional art.

    VA3.CN.2 Integrate information from other disciplines to enhance the understanding and production of works of art.

     

    South Carolina Standards

    Curriculum Standards

    Grade 2: 

    ELA.2.C.3.1 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences. When writing: a. establish and describe character(s) and setting; b. sequence events and use temporal words to signal event order (e.g., before, after); and c. provide a sense of ending.

     

    Grade 3: 

    ELA.3.C.3.1 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences. When writing: a. establish a setting and introduce a narrator or characters; b. use temporal words and phrases to sequence a plot structure; c. use descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop characters; and d. provide an ending.

    Arts Standards

    Anchor Standard 1: I can use the elements and principles of art to create artwork.

    Anchor Standard 2: I can use different materials, techniques, and processes to make art.

    Anchor Standard 5: I can interpret and evaluate the meaning of an artwork.

    Anchor Standard 7: I can relate visual arts ideas to other arts disciplines, content areas, and careers.

     

    Key Vocabulary

    Content Vocabulary

    • Narrative - A story or sequence of events and experiences
    • Setting - Where a story takes place
    • Characters - Individuals, animals, or entities that take part in the action of a story, play, novel, movie, or any other narrative form
    • Mood - The emotional atmosphere or feeling that a literary work
    • Map - A plan or outline of a given geographic area
    • Compass rose - A figure on a map, chart, or compass that displays the orientation of the cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—and their intermediate points
    • Legend - A guide that explains the symbols, colors, and lines used on a map

    Arts Vocabulary

    • Line - The path of a moving point
    • Texture - The way something feels or looks like it feels
    • Shape - A two-dimensional figure; a closed line
    • Negative space - The background of an artwork; “empty” space
    • Positive space - The subject of an artwork

     

    Materials

    • 9” x 12” watercolor paper or other thick paper
    • Fine point sharpies
    • Markers or colored pencils
    • Baking sheets
    • Unsweet tea for staining paper

     

    Instructional Design

    Opening/Activating Strategy

    • Begin by playing a musical excerpt from “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark” or other adventure movie soundtrack. While the music is playing, ask students to write down adjectives to describe what they are hearing.
    • Allow time for students to share their adjectives. Ask students what the mood of the music is.
    • Tell students that they will be using their imaginations to tell an adventure story based on a treasure map that they will create.

     

    Work Session

    Session 1: Creating Treasure Maps

    • Pre-work: This can be done as a station for students in preparation for the artwork. Fill a rectangular baking pan with luke-warm/room temperature tea. Have students soak their paper in the tea for at least three minutes. Then remove, and let dry. 
    • Look at some examples of treasure maps. Ask students to notice the features and symbols on the maps.
      • Ask students to observe the lines, shapes, and textures that they see on the maps. Ask students how these are used to symbolize a feature, such as a river.
      • Ask students how the space is used. Is there much negative space (empty space)? How are features connected together? With a line?
    • Have students work with a partner or small group to generate a list of possible features to use on their maps to describe their adventures. Features could include a winding river, shadowy forest, creepy castle, scary rocks, soft sand, shiny treasure, etc.
      • Ask groups to share their ideas; create one large collaborative list for the class.
      • Ask groups to choose eight features to include on their map. They should then create a symbol for each feature.
    • After they have generated a list of at least eight symbols, pass out their pre-treated map paper.
    • Next, allow students to draw the features they wish to include onto their final pre-stained papers. This can be done with pencils and extra fine point Sharpie markers before being colored in.
      • Ask students to think about the placement and scale of the items as they sketch their own map.
      • Students can add color with markers or colored pencils.
      • Students should then draw a legend on their maps.
      • Next, have students draw a compass rose on their maps to guide adventurers to the island.
    • Finally, students can crumple their maps and tear the edges to create an aged effect.

     

    Session 2: Narrative Writing

    • Tell students that they will be writing narratives using their treasure maps as inspiration. The narrative should follow the adventures of a character or characters who follow the map in search of treasure.
    • Ask students for examples of stories that involve characters following a map to treasure or going on an adventure.
    • Remind students of the mood of the music students heard at the beginning of the lesson. Optional: Play music from the activator while students plan their narratives.
    • Students will collaborate with their groups to create a character or characters and plot for their narrative. Students will then individually write their narratives.
    • Remind students to use descriptive language to help their reader visualize the adventure.
    • Students will engage in the peer review process and edit and revise their work.

     

    Closing Reflection

    • Provide time for students to share their maps and narratives.
    • Discuss how students used lines and shapes to symbolize features on their map.
    • Finish by having students complete a reflection using a “grow” and a “glow” about their work.

     

    Assessments

    Formative

    Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of maps and features, map creation, collaboration with groups to create a narrative, and conferencing with students during the writing process.

     

    Summative

    CHECKLIST

    • Students can use line and shape to symbolize features on a map.
    • Students can write a fictional narrative that has a setting, characters, and all parts of a plot that is inspired by their treasure maps.
    • Students can use descriptive language to help their audience visualize their narrative.

     

    DIFFERENTIATION 

    Acceleration: During the writing process, students will brainstorm a variety of descriptive language that can be turned into similes and metaphors to explain the features on their maps. They will incorporate these into their final writing.

    Remediation: Provide the students with a list of adjectives to choose from while listening to the music from the activator and a sample pool of map symbols and features to choose from to create their maps. The students will then be shown an example of a written narrative of an adventure map before they begin writing their own descriptive narratives.

    ESOL Modifications and Adaptations: Preview vocabulary: Narrative, illustration, and map. Have students work with a partner. The length of the written narrative can be modified according to the student’s language level.

     

    *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: Joy Patty. Modifications, Extensions, and Adaptations Contributed by: Candy Bennett, Patty Bickell, Vilma Thomas, and Lori Young. Updated by: Katy Betts.

    Revised and copyright: August 2024 @ ArtsNOW

     

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