Art Form: Theatre

Supplies Needed

-All Are Welcome book
-Paper and Pencil

Vocabulary

Character - a person in a story or play, or an animal or object that has human qualities

Detail - an individual feature, fact, or item; a small part of something much larger

Line - a sentence that a character says in a play

Illustration - a picture in a book

Instructions

1. Read the book and choose a character that interests you. Choose a letter of the alphabet – perhaps start with A, B, C.

2. Look at the character and decide on three details about your character that start with that letter: their name, the place they are from, and something that they like. (They can start with the same letter and/or the same sound. For example: Gigi/Jackson, County/Jelly beans, and Philip/Fort Valley/flowers.) You can use clues from the illustrations, including how they look, what they are wearing, and what they are doing. Note these choices on a sheet of paper or on a device.

3. Stand or sit like the character, and imagine how the character would talk. What would their voice sound like?

4. Bring it all together: as your character, speak a line sharing the details. For example, “I am Abigail, I am from Athens, and I like asparagus, ” or “I am Bodhi, I am from Bangladesh, and I like baseball”.

5. Repeat this process for different characters in the book with letters of the alphabet.You can go in order – A-B-C – or skip around. You can also skip around the book looking for interesting characters.

Extensions

Add other details about a character, using the same letter of the alphabet. These could include favorite food, favorite toy, best friend’s name, pet’s name, and more.

Choose two characters near each other on a page. Have them introduce themselves to each other, and then have a conversation. Continue using the letter of the alphabet, and possibly
brainstorm other words beginning with that letter that you can bring into the conversation.

Art Form: Theatre

Supplies Needed

-Math Curse book
-Paper and pencil

Vocabulary

Humor - the quality of being amusing or comical, inspiring delight and laughter, usually resulting from a surprise, a shift of meaning or the flipping of expectations

Irony - a situation which brings the exact opposite of what one would expect, often resulting in humor or amusement

Non-sequitur - (from the Latin for "not following") - an idea or comment that seems to have no reasonable connection to what came before it

Word Play - the clever and witty use of words, often involving double meanings, puns, or other devices that go beyond literal meanings to create humor

Instructions

1. Read the book. Who is the main character? What is happening when he begins to see everything as a math problem? Find several of your favorite pages of Math Curse.

2. Look for the ways Jon Scieszka (pronounced "SHESS-kah") and Lane Smith use to create humor. Note that each change in the setting usually starts out as a straightforward problem. Then the character sees other problems. Look for surprises, shifts in meaning, irony, non-sequiturs, and word play. How does the character react to each situation? What emotions is the character feeling when faced with a new problem or question?

3. Actors use their bodies, face, and voice to create characters. What voice would the character have? Would it have a high pitch or low pitch? Would it be fast or slow? How would it change as the character encounters the events of the day?

4. Now create facial expressions to go along with the events of the story. What would your face look like if you were surprised, angry, frustrated or happy? Try your different facial expressions to reflect the character in the book.

5. Reread some of the story, using the voice and facial expressions your used to create the character in the book. Reread the book out loud with rising emotion. Like the character in the book, start simple and calm, then become more frustrated, hysterical, or silly as you go.

Extensions

Draw a picture of a problem and solution in your life. Try to reflect the visual style
of the book in your illustration.

As you encounter humor, in talking with friends or in watching TV or films, look for
the humor techniques that the authors demonstrate in Math Curse.

Art Form: Theatre

Supplies Needed

-A Chair for My Mother book
-Scissors
-Paper and pencil
-A prop to use as a microphone

Vocabulary

Improvisation - A moment in a play that is not
rehearsed or “scripted” , or acting without a script. For example: if an actor forgets a line, he/ she may improvise the line in the scene.

Detail - an individual feature, fact, or item; a small part of a larger whole

Inference - an educated guess based on given information

Flashback - a scene in a story set in an earlier time than the main part of the story

Character - a person in a story or play, or an animal or object that has human qualities

Instructions

1. Read the story. The most dramatic part of A Chair For My Mother is the fire, which is related in a flashback. Reread the pages that comprise the flashback from “My mother and I were coming home . . . “ to “We went to stay with my mother’s sister Aunt Ida and Uncle Sandy”.

2. Look for the details that are stated in the text (for example, “everything was turned to charcoal and ashes”) and think about details that are not stated in the text but that you have to guess or infer (for example, where Grandma was when the fire started and how she made it out on her own or was rescued).

3. With a family member or friend, improvise a news report. One person is the reporter and the other is a character from the story. The reporter should interview the character to hear about what happened. The interviewer should be very interested and ask specific questions. The replies should be spoken through the emotion of the character and should include details.

4. Because you are improvising, you can add details that are not stated or shown in the book, but that you guess or infer.

Extensions

Draw a picture to go with your interview that shows an aspect of the story not shown in the book.

Conduct a follow-up interview where the reporter comes back months later to interview the same character and hear how things have changed or developed since the fire.

Art Form: Theatre

Supplies Needed

-All Are Welcome book
-Paper and pencil

Vocabulary

Character - a person in a story or play, or
an animal or object that has human qualities

Monologue - a long speech by a single character

First-Person - a narrative ‘voice’ in which
the person or character telling the story is talking about their own experience

Dialogue - a conversation between two or more persons

Instructions

1. Choose one of the students that you see on the cover or the first page of the story. You can choose one that you identify with, or one that is different from you. Imagine a name for that character.

2. Read the story. As you read through the book track your character. Most of the students appear on most of the pages.

3. Make notes about at least five activities, emotions, or situations that your character is shown doing, expressing, or being involved in (for example, “sharing a pretzel with a friend” or “swinging on a swing”).

4. Write a short monologue for your character about their day. Use first-person writing – don’t write about the character, but write as the character. For example, the character could say, “I was so excited to show everyone what we learned about bugs!”. Describe what the character has done and also how they feel about it.

5. Practice and then perform your monologue for a friend or family member. You could perform without telling them which character you chose, and then see if they can find the character in the book based on your monologue.

Extensions

Choose one of the activities from your monologue where your character is talking to another child or adult. Write a short dialogue of what they might say each other.

Talk with a family member or friend about what makes you feel welcome in your school or community. How could you help others feel welcome?

Art Form: Theatre

Supplies Needed

-Thank You, Omu book

Vocabulary

Character - a person in a story or play, or an
animal or object that has human qualities

Vocal Expression - the way an actor uses their
voice to portray a character or to convey feelings, often involving choices about pitch or volume

Pitch - how high or low/deep an actor’s voice is
to portray a character

Volume - how loud or soft/quiet an actor’s voice
is to portray a character

Posture - how an actor stands or positions their
body to portray a character

Instructions

1. Read the book, Thank You, Omu. Look at Omu and the three characters that first come to Omu’s door – the boy with the red car, the police officer, and the hot dog vendor.

2. With a family member or friend, decide who will be Omu and who will be the boy with the red car. Each actor should think about how to change their voice and what posture to adopt to become their character.

3. Reread the page where the boy comes to Omu’s door. Reread what they say to each other. The actor playing the boy can go to a doorway and knock. Then, act out the scene, using your vocal expression and posture choices to be the characters.

4. Repeat the process for the pages with the police officer and the hot dog vendor. You can switch roles so that each actor gets to play both Omu and a visitor.

5. Find simple costume pieces or props (a shawl for Omu, a toy car for the boy, a cap for the police officer, an apron for the hot dog vendor) to use to add to the scene.

Extensions

Choose three more characters from the page with all the other people that came and enact scenes when they came to Omu’s door. Try to make each character’s voice and posture different. Do they talk fast or slow? Do they have an accent or a particular way of talking?

Choose a character and think about how they know Omu. Act out when they met. What would they say to each other? What would they say to each other if they met somewhere else?