Georgia Standards

South Carolina Standards

Key Vocabulary

Materials

• Class set of fencing props made of paper towel rolls, rolled-up newspaper, or rolled-up craft paper
• Name tags, stickers, or another method of assigning a single digit (1-9) to each student
• Dry erase boards or paper and utensils

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Word Passing

• Have the class stand in a circle. Have one actor turn to their right and say the word “multiply” to the next person.  Have each person then turn and say it to the person to their right in sequence.
• Once the class is comfortable smoothly passing the word, add a gesture – perhaps the forearms crossed to make an "X". Now, have students pass the word with the gesture.
• Repeat the process for the words “fence” and “fencing match” coming up with a gesture for each.
• Option: Try to pass two or all three of the words at once, starting them at equally-distanced points in the circle. Work as a class to try and keep all the words moving.
• Explain to the students that these words are part of the day’s drama-integrated activity.

Work Session

Multiplication review

• Review multiplication in general, and the process for multiplying a one digit number by a multiple of 10 (10-90). Model the process on the board or screen, showing how each digit is used as a factor in a series of products that are added to arrive at the final product.

Medieval Times

• Ask the students what they know about medieval times. Gather prior knowledge, which might come from literature, movies, or even eponymously named dinner theatre experiences.
• Discuss knights, who were warriors that served kings, and squires, who were younger men who served or were in training with knights.
• Knights and squires were called by the honorifics "Sir" and "Master" respectively.
• Tell students that there were female knights who were called dames.
  • Tell students that there is no set word for a younger woman who served or was in training with a dame, so for the purposes of the lesson such a person will be called a lady.
• Explain that the class will be enacting multiplication problems taking on the roles of knights, squires, dames, and ladies through fencing matches.
• Establish the wordplay between multiplication and the word “times” in “medieval times”.
• Explain that in each two-digit number, the digit in the tens place will be the knight or dame, and the digit in the ones place will be the squire or lady.
  • They will be called by the honorific and the digit they bear and the value it represents, E.g., Sir 7, Squire 3, Dame 4, Lady 6. Note that because students are multiplying a whole single digit number by multiple of 10, the person representing the tens place will be the Knight or Dame and the person representing the ones place will be the Master or Lady.
• Invite three volunteers to the front. Assign them each a role with a numerical name tag.  (For the example here, 20 and 4). In each pair, the actors to the left (as viewed by the audience) will be the knight or dame to represent the tens place (2) and a squire or lady to represent the ones place (0), and the actor to the right is the squire or lady representing the single digit whole number (4).
  • The two students representing the multiple of 10 should stand facing the single digit number.
• Have each team state their identities/values, encouraging them to speak in the style of medieval characters. g.: “We are Dame 2 and Lady 0.” “I am Squire 4.”
• Distribute fencing props to the actors, who represent factors.
  • Explain to students that they are props, to be used to enact the scenes. Explain that this activity is a form of stage combat, in which actors work together to simulate a scene of physical conflict.  Remind them about safety rules in the classroom.
• Direct the actors/factors to enact the duels that comprise the "Multiplication with Medieval Times":
  • Two says, “Four, I challenge you.” Four says “Two, I challenge you.”
  • All say, “We shall battle to the bitter end – the product!  Let us multiply with the Medieval Times!”
  • Both say, “En garde!” and bring their fencing props together to form an X.
  • Then they alternate sword taps to count out the groupings represented in their multiplication: Two groups of four feints, equaling eight! Write eight on a dry erase board in the tens place.
  • Then, zero says, “Four, I challenge you.” Four says, “Zero, I challenge you.” Ask students how many groups of feints they will perform. Students should say “Zero”. Write zero in the ones place on the board.
• Model with several groups with different numbers.
• Variations: Depending on class behavior and teacher comfort, restrict the lesson to a series of iterations until every student has had a chance to participate; or, after ample modeling, distribute name tags and fencing props and have student work in groups of four.  If the groups are uneven, assign a fifth student to record the products and help guide the duels.

Closing Reflection

• Ask students:
  • What did you like or learn in this lesson? What was interesting or fun?
  • How did the medieval-style stage combat help to reinforce the process for multiplying?
  • How did you use your voices and bodies to become medieval characters?

Assessments

Formative

• Teacher will observe whether:
  • Students are able to work their way through the sequence of four multiplication "duels" to arrive at a product.
  • Students enact their roles with energy and clarity.
  • Students work together with their partners and teams safely and efficiently.

Summative

• Students arrive at accurate products for their assigned numbers.
• Students explain the process for multiplying a single digit number by a multiple of ten.
• Students use their voices to embody medieval characters

Differentiation 

Additional Resources

• Basics of fencing from the US Olympic Team
• Lebanon High School fencing team demonstration video
• Basics of sword-fighting instructional video, from Shakespeare in Detroit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L4bvsNywjQ

Credits

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning

Ideas contributed by: Barry Stewart Mann, MFA. Revised by: Katy Betts

*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.

Revised and copyright:  June 2025 @ ArtsNOW

Georgia Standards

South Carolina Standards

Key Vocabulary

Materials

• Class set of Reader’s Theatre Script, “The Round-Up Hoedown”

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

• Have students stand straight, with feet flat on the ground, and arms by their sides.
• Lead students in repetitions of a series of syllables, such as “La-la-la-la-la” and “Bo-bo-bo-bo-bo”.
• Practice a familiar phrase, such as “Twinkle twinkle little star” or “Mary had a little lamb” varying the pitch, volume, and tempo: High and low, loud and soft, fast and slow.
• Lead students in several tongue twisters, such as:
  “She sells seashells by the seashore”
  “Unique New York, Unique New York”
  “If a woodchuck could chuck wood, how much wood would a woodchuck chuck?”
  Others by teacher choice or student suggestion.
• Discuss which aspects of voice (pitch, volume, and tempo) help with clear communication.

Work Session

• Introduce Readers Theatre to students.
  • Explain that the class will be reading a script aloud; all students will participate; and they will have a chance to practice their parts individually and together.
  • Explain that it will be like a performance, except there won’t be any audience (unless the teacher chooses to prepare it for performance).
• Explain that the Readers Theatre script is about place value and rounding numbers up and down. Discuss what it means to round up or round down. Give examples of situations where people might round up or down (e.g., someone might owe someone else $19, so they round it up to $20 for simplicity; someone asks what the temperature is, and instead of saying 72 degrees, the other person answers that it is about 70; etc.).
• Explain that the script is about numbers although it is set in a cowboy town where the ranchers are sorting their livestock.
  • As appropriate, discuss that the script uses a metaphor in which the cows are like numbers (or discuss after reading the script).
• After distributing the script, do an initial read-through.
  • Read through the script with students in sequence reading the next speech when their turn comes; i.e., establish an order (Jesse, then Ariel, then Kayden, then Valerie, etc.), and have each student read a single speech before moving on to the next reader. Assist students with reading as needed.
• Discuss the script and how place value, rounding up, and rounding down are conveyed.
• Assign roles. Depending on class size, assign multiple students to a role, have a single student play multiple roles, and/or combine roles, as needed.
• Using lines from the script, model standing tall, holding the script out in front of the chest (not in front of the face, and not down at the waist), and reading aloud with expression. Ask students how your voice helps to convey the meaning of the lines.
• Give students a chance to practice their lines out loud, all simultaneously. Assist individual students as needed.  Encourage students to find the meaning of their lines, and to have fun with how they say them.
• Line the students up in a sensible sequence according to the script. Read through the script at performance level, with strong poise, and loud, clear expressive voices.

Closing Reflection

• Reflect on how classmates helped make the meaning come through clearly; and on how the script presents the concepts of rounding up and rounding down.
• Ask students how the script communicated the concept of rounding.

Assessments

Formative

• The teacher will observe how:
  • Students practice and deliver their lines in the Readers Theatre piece.
  • Students demonstrate understanding of the mathematical concepts in the lesson.

Summative

• Students stand with poise and speak with expression.
• Students can articulate the meaning of place value, rounding up, and rounding down.

Differentiation 

Additional Resources

Instructional video on Readers Theatre (for teachers)

Credits

U.S. Department of Education- STEM + the Art of Integrated Learning
Ideas contributed by: Barry Stewart Mann, MFA

*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.

Revised and copyright:  June 2025 @ ArtsNOW