Guess What 2-3

GUESS WHAT

GUESS WHAT

Learning Description

Students will explore the life cycle of plants and animals by assuming the roles of various plants and animals in the cycle. Students will use tableau to dramatize their place in the life cycle. After the students share their tableaus, they will write a monologue from the point of view of their plant/animal.

 

Learning Targets

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

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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use tableau to explore the life cycle of an animal or plant.

  • I can demonstrate the life cycle of animals or plants through tableau.

Essential Questions

  • How can tableau be used to explore the life cycle of an animal or plant?

  • How can I demonstrate the life cycle of animals or plants through tableau?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

S2L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the life cycles of different living organisms

 

Arts Standards

Grade 2

TA2.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work. a. Use imagination to create characters. b. Contribute and collaborate in planning a theatre experience.

TA2.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.

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

 

 

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 3

3-LS1-1. Develop and use models to describe how organisms change in predictable patterns during their unique and diverse life cycles.

 

Arts Standards

T.CR NL.1 I can identify basic story elements in simple stories, plays and scripts (e.g. plot, character, setting, theme, etc.).

T.CR NL.1.2 I can identify basic character qualities from a prompt.

T.P NL.3 I can use body and voice to communicate character traits and emotions in a guided drama experience.

T.P NL.3.3 I can participate collaboratively in guided drama experiences.

 

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Life cycle - The sequential stages of the development and growth that an organism undergoes throughout its existence 
  • Sequence - A series of steps or events that follows a specific order
  • Mammal -  An animal that is warm-blooded, has hair or fur, and gives birth to live offspring 
  • Amphibian - A cold-blooded animal that can live both in and out of water. It usually starts as an egg in the water, hatches into a tadpole with a tail, and transforms into an adult with legs.
  • Insect - A class of invertebrate animals characterized by having a segmented body divided into three distinct regions: head, thorax, and abdomen 
  • Organisms - A living thing, such as a plant or animal
  • Plant - An organism that makes its own food using sunlight, a process called photosynthesis. It usually has roots, stems, and leaves.

Arts Vocabulary

  • Tableau - A form of visual representation and artistic expression where individuals or objects are carefully arranged and posed to convey a specific scene, narrative, or concept
  • Character - A fictional person or creature in a story that has their own personality, feelings, and actions
  • Monologue - An uninterrupted speech delivered by a single character. It is a dramatic form of expression where the character expresses their thoughts, emotions, or experiences to the audience.

 

Materials

    • Sticky notes
    • The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle or a similar book that identifies the stages of the life cycle of a plant or animal

     

     

    Instructional Design

    Opening/Activating Strategy

    • Read the book The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle or a similar book that demonstrates the stages of the life cycle of a plant or animal.
    • Ask students to identify the stages of the life cycle as you read the book. 
    • Ask students to think about what body positions and facial expressions they would use to represent different stages. Model what this would look like for the beginning of the life cycle. Ask students to take turns sharing their ideas throughout the reading of the book.

     

    Work Session

      • Show students an example of a tableau. Tell students that they will be creating a tableau in small groups that demonstrates the life cycle of a plant or animal.
      • Place students in small groups. Assign each group a life cycle of a plant or animal.
      • Working in their groups, students should create a tableau that represents the different stages of the life cycle of their assigned animal or plant.
      • Each member of the group should represent one stage so that all stages of the life cycle are represented. 
        • Explain that in the tableau, each student should create a character out of his or her assigned stage.
        • Encourage students to focus on the positioning of their body and their facial expression to demonstrate their stages.
      • Students will take turns presenting their tableaus without identifying their plant or animal to the audience. 
        • While each group is presenting, ask the students in the audience: 
          • Which animal or plant do they think their classmates are portraying?
          • How do the expressions and body language of the tableau support their conclusion? 
          • How did the animal or plant change from the beginning of the sequence to the end?
          • What happened between each stage?
          • What happens when the cycle gets to the end?

       

      Closing Reflection

      • Students should create a monologue taking on the point of view of their animal or plant in the stage of the cycle assigned to them. Allow students who wish to share, time to share.

      Assessments

      Formative

      Teacher will assess understanding through class discussion, group discussion, reflection questions, observation, class reflections/discussions, and tableaus.

       

       

      Summative

      CHECKLIST

      • Students can explain and identify a tableau.
      • Students can use their bodies and facial expressions to create a character that accurately represents the stage of their life cycle.
      • Students can correctly order themselves in the sequence of their life cycle.
      • Students can write a monologue from the point of view of their stage of the life cycle.

       

       

       

      Differentiation

       

      Acceleration:

      • Each student in the group will write the stage of their life cycle on a sticky note. They will then write a list of clues about their life cycle that when examined correctly should inform the reader about what life cycle is on the sticky note. 
      • The sticky note should be placed on the backs of students in a new group.
      • Students can ask the original group questions about their life cycle.
      • Once the students have an idea of which animal or plant and which stage in the life cycle, students should get in line where they think they will go in the life cycle.

      For example, the students with the life cycle of a butterfly should be in this order: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly. 

      Remediation: Pair students who represent the same stage of the same type of life cycle together to create a character that represents their stage of the life cycle.

       

       ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

      Resources/Other Sources

      *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: Author unknown. Updated by Ashley Bailey Katy Betts.

      Revised and copyright:  August 2024 @ ArtsNOW

       
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      Magic Rocks & Habitats 1-2

      MAGIC ROCKS & HABITATS

      MAGIC ROCKS & HABITATS

      Learning Description

      Students will explore using their voices and bodies to become animals from three distinct habitats, and then work in groups to enact interactions among the animals in their assigned habitat. They will become Magic Rocks, emerging from stillness to act their roles, and then returning to stillness. Group will share their simple habitat scenes with the class.

       

      Learning Targets

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

      Download PDF of this Lesson

      "I Can" Statements

      “I Can…”

      • I can use my voice and body to enact an animal from a particular habitat.
      • I can work with a group to portray relationships among animals in a habitat.

      Essential Questions

      • How do we use our voices and bodies to enact diverse animals?
      • How do animals interact in a desert, rainforest, and tundra?

       

      Georgia Standards

      Curriculum Standards

      Grade 1:

      S1L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the basic needs of plants and animals.

      Arts Standards

      Grade 1:

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

       

      South Carolina Standards

      Curriculum Standards

      Grade 2:

      2.L.5B. Animals (including humans) require air, water, food, and shelter to survive in environments where these needs can be met. There are distinct environments in the world that support different types of animals. Environments can change slowly or quickly. Animals respond to these changes in different ways.

      Arts Standards

      Grade 1:

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

       

      Key Vocabulary

      Content Vocabulary

      Habitat - the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.

      Animal - a living organism that feeds on plants or other animals, has organs that sense what is going on around it, and is able to move and respond to its surroundings.

      Desert - an arid landscape with little vegetation.

      Tundra - a large, barren region with no trees found between the permanent ice of the far north and the northern forests of North America, Europe, and Asia.

      Rainforest - a lush, warm, wet habitats with tall trees and several layers of plant and animal life.

      Predator - an animal that hunts or preys on other animals for food.

      Prey - an animal hunted or killed by another animal for food.

      Parent - an animal that has had or given birth to offspring.

      Offspring - the child of an animal.

      Arts Vocabulary

      Act - to pretend to be or do something imaginaryCharacter - a person, or an animal or object that has human qualities, in a dramatic work.

      Voice - an actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character speaks or sounds

      Body - an actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character looks, walks, or moves.

      Scene - a unit of drama, composed of dialogue and action that occurs in one place over a continuous period of time.

       

      Materials

      Note cards of animals that can be found in the rainforest, desert and tundra (number of notecards is dependent on the number of students in the class). Each card should have a picture of the animal, the animal’s name, and the environment in which the animal lives.

       

      Instructional Design

      Opening/Activating Strategy

      Ask students, what are animals? What are plants? What is the difference? What makes an animal an animal, and what makes a plant a plant?

       

      Work Session

      Grouping Habitats and Animal Characters

      • Divide students into three groups. Assign each group one of three habitats: rainforest, desert, and tundra. Hand out note cards with the pictures, names, and habitats of various animals - e.g., the rainforest notecards might include a toucan, a black panther adult, a black panther cub, a tree frog and a monkey. Have students work in their groups to discuss their habitat, e.g., weather, plant life, land forms, other animals not featured, etc.
      • Students will explore using their voices and bodies to become their animal. Remind them that they are constrained by the limitations of the human body, but can use their imaginations. For safety, it is recommended that all animals be portrayed standing up on the floor, rather than crawling or slithering on the ground, or standing on chairs or desks.
      • Instruct the students to move through the space meeting other animals in character. The animals introduce themselves by showing their cards and saying their names and habitats. Remind them to use their character voices.

      Small Group Drama

      • Put the students in their habitat groups, and assign each group a separate area of the classroom. Then tell the students to lie on the ground curled up tight to become “magic rocks”. When given a cue (“Magic rocks, come to life!”), they should wake up and gradually become their animals using their voices and bodies. They can talk to the other animals in their habitat group from their character viewpoint, using details about their needs, their physical and behavioral characteristics, and the environment in which they live. A predator might talk about wanting to hunt its prey; an herbivore might talk about the plants it eats; a young animal might talk about its life cycle; two animals might discuss the aspects of their environment that are important to them (temperature, land surface, plant life, etc.). Note: Instruct students not to act out predator/prey relationship, i.e., no chasing or pretend-eating of classmates. These may be discussed, but not enacted.
      • Give students the cue to return to Magic Rocks (“Animals, return to Magic Rocks!”). Once they have become Magic Rocks, instruct them to become themselves again.
      • Give groups a chance to discuss their Drama and their interactions. Instruct them to shape a simple scene with some planned dialogue and actions. Give them a chance to practice their scene several times.
      • One at a time, each group presents their habitat scene to the class. Have them begin as Magic Rocks, come to life, become their animals, enact their dialogue and actions, and then settle back down into Magic Rocks. If necessary, Teacher may need to give a cue for the animals to become Magic Rocks again.

      Extension Activity: Have each student draw a picture of their habitat, showing all the animal characters they had in their group, and showing the relationships between them and their relationships to their environments. Remind them they can include aspects of the landscape, plants, water features, and elements of the weather.

      Closing Reflection

      Ask students: How did we use our voices and bodies to create animal characters? How did we make choices to act out the animals and their relationships?
      What did you learn about the three habitats? How are they alike and different?

       

      Assessments

      Formative

      • Students use both voice and bodily to become their animal character.
      • Students work together collaboratively in their groups.
      • Students use and apply knowledge in creating their animal characters and group knowledge.

       

      Summative

      • Student group dramas convey accurate interrelationships in their habitats.
      • Student drawings show accurate details about the animals, plants, and landscape of their assigned habitat.

       

      Differentiation

      Acceleration: Have groups write out the dialogue and actions of their group drama in scene format.

      Remediation: Choose one of the three habitats, and work through the sequence with the entire class together. Allow multiple students to portray the same animal character; they can work together to create their characterization.

       

      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 updated by:  Barry Stewart Mann

      Revised and copyright: January 2023 @ ArtsNOW

      Back to Modules

      Sounds of Storms 3

      Description

      Sounds of Storms is an exercise used to teach students about weather, the sounds certain types of weather can make, different musical pitches, how to use a legend, and how to identify the beginning, middle, and end of a story. In this exercise, the students will create their own instrument (rainmaker, wind maker, or a thunder maker) to demonstrate the sounds that storms make. Once completed, the teacher will guide the students through the provided interactive story of Gracie the Goose. Using the legend in the story, the students will use their newly made noise makers at the appropriate times to make Gracie the Goose’s journey come to life! After completing the story, students will be given a booklet with questions according to their learning level to ensure that they understand the lesson.

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