Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• Anchor paper
• Markers
• Photo Image of the respiratory system showing the diaphragm
• Copies (or projection) of text that demonstrates characterization
• Paper and pencils

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

• Introduce Neutral Position to students. 
  • Discuss the meaning of “neutrality” as ready and not committed to movement or action in one direction or another.
  • Have students stand in a large circle (alternative: have students stand at desks or tables). 
  • Tell students to put their hands on their hips and look down to place their feet directly under their hips and shoulders. Tell students, “Your feet shouldn’t be too far apart or too close together; directly under the hips; hip distance apart”.
  • Tell students that this is called Neutral Position. Have students repeat the term.  
  • Have students drop their hands by their sides and lead them through some shoulder movements, such as forward and back, up and down, then circles to the front and the back. 
  • Give the students a signal (such as a clap) to move their bodies freely, and then suddenly to return to Neutral Position. Practice several times. 
  • Explain that Neutral Position is a good starting point for speaking with a clear voice.

 

Work Session

• Introduce “Breathe” to students.
  • Have them imagine there is a tire around their belly/waist area. Encourage them to fill up the entire tire, the front, the back and the sides.
  • Ask students what “breathing” means. Take in answers and discuss the definition in scientific terms.
  • Instruct students, “Breathe in through your nose all the way to your toes”. 
  • Tell students that this is using our diaphragm. Show an image of the diaphragm to explain its role in supporting breath and the production of sound.

 

• Introduce vocal exercises to students.
  • Model saying the “Ha!” to the next person in the circle, and having them pass it on.  The “Ha!” is then passed around the circle at full volume.
  • Use fingers to count out how long it takes to completely exhale the breath. 
  • Repeat several times, trying to extend the hiss each time.
  • “Pass the ‘Ha!’”:  Lead students in practicing expelling all the air out of the lungs in one exhalation saying “Ha!”.
  • “Hiss it Out”:  Direct students to breathe in using their diaphragm muscle, and then exhale slowly and evenly using a hiss.  
  • “Ahhhh”:  Shift from the hiss to a voiced “Ahhhh,” continuing to elongate by evenly drawing out the breath longer with each “Ahhhh”.

 

• Introduce articulation to students.
  • Explain that “articulators” are the body parts that help us to shape sound:  Lips, teeth, tongue, cheeks, jaws, the roof of the mouth, the nasal cavities, etc.
  • Ask, “Does anyone know what the word “Articulation” means?  Discuss the definition of “articulation”, as well as the related words “enunciation” and “diction”.
  • Ask, “What do you think ‘articulators’ are?”  
  • Instruct students, “Let’s warm up our articulators by scrunching and stretching our mouths saying, ‘ee’ and ‘ooo’.”
  • Have students chew on an imaginary wad of bubble gum that keeps getting bigger and bigger, thus requiring greater stretching of the articulators.
  • Discuss how articulation can be very important in communicating with an audience.

 

• Introduce tongue twisters to students.
  • Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat
  • Unique New York, Unique New Yorl
  • She sells seashells by the seashore.
  • Use other tongue-twisters by preference. 
  • Ask the students to repeat each line of the tongue twisters that you say. Lead the following “call and response” phrases one line at a time.

 

• Introduce the elements of vocal expression to students. 
  • Volume:  Louder/quieter
  • Pace:  Faster/slower
  • Articulation:  Clearer/mumblier
  • Pitch:  Higher/lower
  • Describe and define the four main elements of vocal expression: Volume, pace, articulation and pitch.
  • Direct the students to change the volume, pace, articulation and pitch with which they speak the tongue twisters.

Teacher note (South Carolina): Tell students that these elements are sometimes referred to as Craft Techniques – aspects of the craft or techniques of speaking.

• Make an anchor chart of volume, pace, articulation, and pitch.

 

• Apply concepts to a class text.
  • Tell students that slating is when you state your name and introduce what you will be reciting in a strong clear voice. 
  • For example, say, “My name is ______ and I’m going to say the first part of the Itsy Bitsy Spider”. Speak the chosen text using the concepts that students have learned.
    • Ask students what techniques they recognized.
  • Apply the voice work to a particular text.  It can be a general text (familiar nursery rhyme, poem, part of a story), or something drawn specifically from a current curriculum topic (e.g., a paragraph about weather, a dialogue between two characters, roles of community helpers, etc.).  
  • Model walking to the front of the room and “slating”. 
  • Have individual students come to the front, slate and speak the selected text.

 

• Incorporate the concept of characterization. 
  • Practice one or two together as a class.
  • Remind students to try articulating how the character would and to speak from their diaphragm.
  • Refer to the different vocal qualities on the anchor chart as needed.
  • Facilitate a class discussion of how the students embodied the character using their voices.
  • Discuss vocal expression and vocal qualities that characters take on.  
  • Make an anchor chart of different characters or types of characters (e.g., monster, cowboy, kitten) and next to each write some of the vocal qualities they would have. 
  • Arrange students in pairs. Assign (or allow pairs to choose) a character from the list. Students should use what they learned about vocal qualities to speak as that character.
  • Allow students to perform their character for the class. 

 

Closing Reflection

• Ask students to point to their diaphragm.  
  • What is diaphragmatic breathing? 
  • Can you point to your articulators?  Who can demonstrate moving one of your articulators?  
  • How can we make different types of sounds?
  • How does an actor’s voice help to convey a character in a play or story?
  • Ask students the following questions: 
• Have students draw pictures to show people speaking loudly and quietly, fast and slow, clearly and mumbly, and high and low to show what they learned.

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding throughout the lesson by observing how students use their voices as each technique is taught and how students use the techniques to embody a character.

 

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can use the elements of voice to express emotions, ideas and to embody a character.
• Students can identify different types of vocal qualities.
• Students can show what they learned about vocal qualities through drawings.

 

 

 

Differentiation

Acceleration:  Have students create their own tongue twisters. Have students practice changing volume, pace, articulation and pitch on a scale of 0-10, exploring more subtle gradations. Have students create their own characters and dialogue instead of using one from the class chart.   Remediation: Allow students to work and vocalize at their own level of comfort throughout the lesson. Introduce the tongue twisters slowly and chunk them into sections. Provide pictures for students to sort and glue onto a chart in the closing activity rather than drawing.

 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

An exploration of tongue twisters and vocal expression with ArtsNOW Theatre Consultant Susie Spear Purcell

 

*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 and Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright:  June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

 

 

 

Georgia Standards

 

South Carolina Standards

 

Key Vocabulary

 

Materials

• Come On, Rain! By Karen Hesse
• Drum or percussion instrument (optional)
• Board or chart paper and marker (optional)
• Rain-like instrumental music (optional)
• Spray bottle with water (optional)
• Pencils and paper

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

• Lead students in a walking warm-up with figurative language; use a drum or clapping protocol for stopping and starting.  
• Signal students to start walking. 
• Give them a prompt, then have them walk to that prompt. 
• Prompts should include examples of figurative language such as “Walk as slowly as a snail”, “Walk like an angry bull”, “Walk as if you are carrying three tons of bricks”, “Walk on ground as slimy as a slug”, “Walk with a heavy heart”, “Walk on twinkly toes”, “Walk as smoothly as a gently flowing river”, etc.

 

Work Session

Introduce or review figurative language devices including simile, metaphor, hyperbole, personification.  

• • • Connect the types with the warm-up.  
    • Discuss how students made choices with their bodies to bring the figurative language to life.
  • Introduce the book, Come On, Rain!, to students. Explain that students will use their voices and bodies to enact the figurative language in the book.
  • Do a slow read aloud of the book. Ask students to listen for examples of figurative language. Help direct their attention to examples as needed.  
    • When an example is located, have students determine what kind of figurative language it is, and articulate why (what is being compared to what, what is being exaggerated, or what is being given human qualities or abilities). 
    • For each page or several pages, select a phrase or two for students to enact.  Suggestions include:
      • “endless heat” (hyperbole)
      • “listless vine” (personification)
      • “sagging over her parched plants” (metaphor)
      • “I am sizzling like a hot potato” (simile)
      • “not a peep from my pal Jackie-Joyce” (metaphor)
      • “grey clouds, bunched and bulging” (metaphor)
      • “a creeper of hope circles ‘round my bones” (metaphor)
      • “the dim stuffy cave of her room” (metaphor)
      • “the smell of hot tar and garbage bullies the air” (personification)
      • “her long legs, like two string beans, sprout” (simile)
      • “sweeps off her hat” (metaphor)     
      • “peeling out of my clothes” (metaphor)
      • “swollen sky” (metaphor)
      • “making dust dance all around us” (personification)
    • When an example is located, have students determine what kind of figurative language it is.

• Optional: Create a chart on a board or chart paper, with columns for the four types of figurative language. Write the first example of figurative language in the appropriate column.

• Model for students using voice and body to convey the meaning of the phrase.  
• For example, bend at the knees and allow the head, shoulders, arms, and back to droop or sag, and let out a long sigh for, “sagging over her parched plants”.
• Have students replicate the movements.  
• Then, read the phrase again and allow students to interpret the phrase in their own ways. 
• Use observational language to uplift the different choices that the students make, such as, “I see Carlos’s fingers dangling close to the floor.  Kierra’s eyes look really tired and droopy”.
• After ample modeling, group students with a partner or in groups of three. 
• Assign each group a phrase; have the students determine the vocal and physical expression for the figurative language.  
• Allow for variety in students’ interpretations and expressions.  
• After practicing, allow each group or pair to perform their phase.
• Engage the class in a discussion after each performance of how the students used their voices and bodies to enact the phrase. 
• Identify which type of figurative language was portrayed. If using the optional chart, have a student come and write the word or phrase in the appropriate column after each performance.

• Optional:  

• At the climax of the story, play instrumental music that is suggestive of rain (see Additional Resources for recommendations), and allow students to move/dance like falling rain.  

• Use a spray bottle full of water to reinforce the sensation of rainfall by spraying a gentle mist or spray over any students who would like the experience.

Closing Reflection

• Facilitate a class discussion asking:
• What types of figurative language did we explore?  
• What were some examples of each, either from Come On, Rain! or in general?
• How did you use your bodies and voices to enact the figurative language?
• Have students create a chart with five rows and three columns.  
• Across the top row, have them write “Figurative Language”, “Definition” and “Example”. 
• Solicit from the class the types of figurative language explored in the lesson, and have the students write them in the four cells of the left column.
• Instruct students to write definitions and provide examples.  Examples can be general, or specifically from Come On, Rain! Students can work independently or with a partner.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess student learning by observing students’ use of voice and body to enact figurative language; by assessing students’ responses to questions about figurative language; and by their ability to locate examples and identify figurative language by type.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can identify, classify, and define similes, metaphors, hyperbole, and personification in a story.
• Students can change their voices and bodies to convey the meaning of examples of figurative language.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: 

• After several examples enacted all together, assign pages to groups/partners to locate for examples of figurative language. Students will enact the example they located in the text.
• Add in additional figurative language, such as idioms and onomatopoeia, to seek and enact.

 

Remediation:

• Focus on the contrast between the literal and figurative meanings of each example found in the text (e.g., “endless heat” suggests that it is hot in all directions, everywhere, and until the end of time, but in reality it is not hot everywhere and for all time, it just feels that way).
• Reduce the number of examples of figurative language explored.
• Instead of having students write in the chart in the closing, provide printed examples from the text that students will glue in the appropriate column.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Suggested music for the optional rain movement:  “Stars”, by Bobby McFerrin and Yo Yo Ma “Paul’s Dance” or “From the Colonies”, by the Penguin Café Orchestra “Clouds Below Your Knees” or “Celestial Soda Pop”, by Ray Lynch Search “playful children's instrumental music” for options in online videos

 

*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: Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW