Collaborative Kandinsky

COLLABORATIVE KANDINSKY

Collaborative Kandinsky

Learning Description

Students will review some of Kandinsky’s works to find shapes. Students will create a collaborative piece of art using shapes and lines that is inspired by the artwork of Wassily Kandinsky.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: K-1
CONTENT FOCUS: Math
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify different types of shapes and lines.
  • I can use different types of shapes and lines to create an original artwork.

Essential Questions

  • How can you utilize visual images to learn math concepts?
  • How can you create an original work of art using a variety of shapes and lines?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten: 

K.GSR.8 Identify, describe, and compare basic shapes encountered in the environment, and form two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures.

Grade 1: 

1.GSR.4 Compose shapes, analyze the attributes of shapes, and relate their parts to the whole.

1.GSR.4.1 Identify common two dimensional shapes and three dimensional figures, sort and classify them by their attributes and build and draw shapes that possess defining attributes.

1.GSR.4.2 Compose two-dimensional shapes (rectangles, squares, triangles, half-circles, and quarter-circles) and three dimensional figures (cubes, rectangular prisms, cones, and cylinders) to create a shape formed of two or more common shapes and compose new shapes from the composite shape.

Arts Standards

Kindergarten: 

VAKMC.3 Selects and uses subject matter, symbols, and/or ideas to communicate meaning. 

VAKPR.1 Creates artworks based on personal experience and selected themes.

VAKPR.2 Understands and applies media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional works of art (e.g., drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media) using tools and materials in a safe and appropriate manner to develop skills. 

VAKAR.1 Discusses his or her own artwork and the artwork of others. 

Grade 1:

VA1MC.3 Selects and uses subject matter, symbols, and ideas to communicate meaning. 

VA1PR.1 Creates artworks based on personal experience and selected themes. 

VA1PR.2 Understands and applies media, techniques, and processes of two-dimensional works of art (drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media) using tools and materials in a safe and appropriate manner to develop skills. 

VA1AR.1: Discusses his or her artwork and the artwork of others.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 1:

1.NSBT.1.c. Read, write and represent numbers to 100 using concrete models, standard form, and equations in expanded form1.NSBT.4 Add through 99 using concrete models, drawings, and strategies based on place value to: a. add a two-digit number and a one-digit number, understanding that sometimes it is necessary to compose a ten (regroup)

Arts Standards

Grade 1:

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Place Value - The value of where the digit is in the number, such as units, tens, hundreds, etc.

Arts Vocabulary

Statue (Statues) - An actor frozen in a pose.

Tableau (Tableaux) - A group of actors frozen to create a picture.

 

Materials

Plus (+) and equal (=) sign placards that can stand on the floor (one possibility – written with marker on an inverted file folder - or part thereof – and capable of standing like a tent).

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Letter Statues
Introduce or review what a statue is – an actor in a frozen pose. Explain that the students will make letter statues with their bodies. Call out one letter at a time and have them make the letters. Use a drum, another percussion instrument, or clapping to cue the statues. Encourage students to be creative, using full body, limbs, fingers, etc., and exploring the possibilities of standing, kneeling, sitting, lying down, etc., as appropriate for the classroom space. Use observational language to comment on the different ways in which students use their bodies to create the statues.

 

Work Session

Number Statues

  • Repeat the process with numbers (single digits). After exploring multiple possibilities, inform students that they will focus on making number statues that use their whole bodies, and for which they will remain standing. Practice standing number statues.
  • Ask students how they would make a statue of a number up to 100. Elicit from them, or guide them to, the idea of working in pairs or trios.
  • Introduce or review what a tableau is – a group of actors frozen in a picture. Explain that tableaux often create pictures with characters and settings, but the tableaux today will be of numbers and number sentences.
  • Invite two, and then three, volunteers to model creating a tableaux up to 100. Ask students what each digit in a multiple-digit number represents. Introduce or review the concept of place value. Ensure that students understand that the digit to the left represents a higher place value than the digit to the right, and identify the units: ones, tens, and hundreds places.
  • Have students work in pairs to create a 2-digit number tableau (full-body, standing). Have them work together to say the name of the number together out loud. After creating a number, have them switch positions and say the name of the number with the digits switched. Move among the pairs to confirm that they are expressing each number correctly.
  • If students have grasped the 2-digit numbers and are ready for 3-digit numbers, have them repeat the process in trios. Each trio can explore all the possibilities with their three digits (if the digits are all different, e.g., 1, 2, and 3, there will be six permutations: 123, 132, 213, 231, 312, 321.)
  • Introduce the idea of moving from number tableaux to addition sentence tableaux.
  • Invite three students to model a simple addition sentence tableau, e.g., 3 + 4 = 7. Have the students assume their positions, and then have them speak the sentence together. (Note: this is an opportunity, if relevant, to introduce or reinforce the Commutative Property of addition by having the addends switch places.)
  • Provide plus and equal sign tent cards and have students work in trios to create addition sentence tableaux.
  • Use the same process, first modeling and then having the students work in small groups, to move into more complex addition sentences: adding two 1-digit numbers that result in a 2-digit sum (e.g., 5 + 7 = 12), adding a 1- and a 2- digit number together, without and then with sums that require making a new ten (e.g., 31 + 7 = 38, and then 29 + 3 = 32), and then adding two 2-digit numbers, without and then with sums that require carrying to the tens and hundreds places (e.g., 45 + 12 = 57, then 24 + 19 = 43, then 74 + 38 = 112).

Teaching Tips:

  • As appropriate to the class, use established addition strategies (counting on, making ten, etc.) to calculate sums, and advance only as far in the sequence of complexity as the class can manage.
  • This may be a lesson that is done over time. The first step may best be suited for when single digit addition is taught, then adding 2-digit addition as the concept is taught, and so on.

 

Closing Reflection

Ask students: How did you use your bodies to create letter and number statues and addition sentence tableaux? Which were more challenging, letter statues or number statues? How do we determine the name and value of a 2- or 3-digit number? How did you determine your place or role in the number sentence?

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Students will identify shapes and describe where they are in Kandinsky’s artwork through group discussion.
  • Students will be able to explain the difference between two-and three-dimensional shapes.

 

Summative

  • Student collaborative artwork with required shapes and lines
  • Student scavenger hunt/checklist for closing/reflection

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: After the assessment, have the students practice combining two or more simple shapes to create a different shape.  Example:  You can combine two triangles to make a rectangle.

Remediation: Provide students with a printed copy of the types of shapes as a visual guide. Provide a visual guide for the types of shapes and lines that the student is required to include in their part of the artwork.

 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: Carolynn Stoddard.  Updated by Katy Betts

 Revised and copyright:  August 2022 @ ArtsNOW

Back to Modules

Moving Motion

MOVING MOTION

MOVING MOTION

Learning Description

Move to learn! Students will create movement sequences to represent and better understand the impact of force on different types of motion.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: K
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use dance to communicate ideas about science.
  • I can identify patterns and pathways that a dancer makes when performing movements.
  • I can copy the movements of a dancer to make patterns using my own body.

Essential Questions

  • How can dance/movement demonstrate science concepts?
  • What are different ways we can represent call and response in choreography?
  • What are the different ways we use patterns in locomotor movements?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

SKP2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to compare and describe differenttypes of motion.a. Plan and carry out an investigation to determine the relationship between an object’s physical attributes and its resulting motion (straight, circular, back and forth, fast and slow, and motionless) when a force is applied. (Examples could include toss, drop, push, and pull.)

Arts Standards

Kindergarten:

ESDK.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.a. Explore working independently and collaboratively with others.b. Create and perform a dance sequence.c. Explore dance elements through structured improvisation and play (e.g. body, space,time, energy).d. Respond to a variety of stimuli through movement (e.g. scarves, songs, sounds, images).

ESDK.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology indance.a. Identify and demonstrate basic creative and locomotor movements and body isolations.b. Demonstrate the difference between personal and general space.c. Demonstrate the ability to perform simple movements in response to oral instruction.

ESDK.PR.2 Understand and model dance etiquette as a classroom participant, performer,and observer.a. Demonstrate attentiveness, full participation, and awareness of others in the dancelearning and performance environments.b. Understand and demonstrate appropriate behaviors as a dance performer, and as anaudience member.

ESDK.PR.3 Recognize the relationship between human anatomy and movement.a. Identify basic body parts and how they move.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K.PS.2.1. Plan and conduct an investigation to compare the effects of different strengths or different directions of pushes and pulls on the motion of an object.

Arts Standards

Kindergarten:

Anchor Standard 1: I can use movement exploration to discover and create artistic ideas and works.

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance.

Anchor Standard 3: I can perform movements using the dance elements.

Anchor Standard 5: I can describe, analyze, and evaluate a dance.

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Move - To change place or position.

Motionless - Without movement.

Push - To press something away from you.

Pull - To tug something closer to you.

Arts Vocabulary

Locomotor skills - Movements that make the body travel in one direction, or a combination of directions, from one point to another, i.e., walking, skipping, jumping.

Axial skills - Stationary movements that happen in place, without a body traveling from one point to another.

Pathway - The pattern that a body or body part takes during a movement, i.e., straight, zigzag, round and round, back and forth, up and down.

Choreographer - A person who creates dances.

 

Materials

  • Music recordings
  • Method of playing the recordings including speaker, Bluetooth, HDMI, mp3 
  • Printed images
  • Projector (to show images of shapes if they are not printed)

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Project a selection of photos that show objects in motion, and ask students to name objects, motions, and/or pathways that they see in the photos.
  • Warm-up with students for approximately three minutes.
  • During dance warm-up, use movements that convey movements and pathways that can be identified using science vocabulary, i.e., rolling, zig-zag, motionless, push, and pull.
  • Use a handle question to prompt students to look for motions and pathways as they dance and then name them when the warm up is completed.

 

Work Session

Process

  • Compare and contrast locomotor and stationary movements, pathways, and motionless objects.
  • Identify movements that can be made with the body that represent the ways objects travel when in motion, including patterns, pathways, and speed.
  • Divide students into groups to create a choreography based on call and response.
  • Ask group members to select one kind of motion and one pathway (i.e., roll, zig zag, slide, etc.).
  • Ask one member of each group to be the “Force Director,” who will initiate the call(s) in the choreography, which would be either a pull or a push. The force director will use a push or pull movement with one or more body parts to elicit a response from one or more team member.
  • Upon receiving the call from the Force Director, team members put their bodies in motion as per movement/elements selected in #1 above.
  • Ask the Force Director to use a fast and sharp push/pull and ask team members to imagine how that adjustment would modify their responses. Repeat with a slow and soft push/pull. Repeat with a small push/pull. Repeat with a very large push/pull.
  • Ask group members to consider rhythm, distance traveled, and number of repetitions in a phrase (i.e., skip along a curved path) with each of the modifications in #4 above.
  • Ask groups to select three movements to perform in a sequence; this results in an ABAB pattern of call, response, call, response, call, response.
  • Ask the audience to explain the actions of the Force Director and the resulting responses of the group members in the choreography, with a rationale to substantiate their answers.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Ask students to name the body parts they used for movements.
  • Ask students why they chose their selected elements in the call and response activity.
  • Ask students to describe the connection between science and dance that they experienced in this lesson.
  • Ask students to describe what a choreographer does.
  • Ask students to explain how they worked as choreographers during this lesson.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Students should correctly perform the type of motion with the correct body part.  
  • Students in the audience should be able to correctly identify the type of motion and body part used in the performance.  
  • Call and response dances should include appropriate relationships between force of push/pull and the resulting “response” or motions made by group members.

 

Summative

  • Students identify movements, patterns, and pathways that dancers, including their peers, make when moving their bodies.
  • Students create pathways and locomotor movements using their own movements.
  • Students create and remember a short choreography.
  • Students perform choreography clearly showing shapes in movement.
  • Students move to the beat of a musical rhythm.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: Ask students to dance to a different song with a different or faster/slower beat. Ask students to consider including stationary/axial movements in their dances as a layer of contrast. Ask students to include both push and pull “calls” in their dances.

Remediation: Ask students to name, describe, and demonstrate their movements and their relationships to the push/pull forces that initiate them.

Additional Resources

Classroom Tips:  Set up chairs and tables in a circular format to maximize students’ engagement and ability to see their peers during the activity and performance. Remind students about rules of movement; they are in control of their bodies and you want to see that movement does not require our mouths. Also establish parameters for acceptable movement choices and discuss audience behavior/etiquette with students.

*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 and updated by:  Melissa Dittmar-Joy and Julie Galle Baggenstoss

Revised and copyright: August 2022 @ ArtsNOW

Back to Modules

Moving Shapes K-1

MOVING SHAPES

MOVING SHAPES

Learning Description

These activities will allow students to discover the concepts of geometry through shape exploration and the creation of choreographic sequences.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: K-1
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE & MATH
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify shapes that a dancer makes when performing movements. 
  • I can copy the movements of a dancer to make shapes using my own body. 
  • I can perform movements so that other people can see shapes in my body when I dance.

Essential Questions

  • How can I create shapes by moving my body?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

MGSEK.G.2 Correctly name shapes regardless of their orientations or overall size.

MGSEK.G.3 Identify shapes as two-dimensional (lying in a plane, “flat”) or three-dimensional (“solid”).

MGSEK.G.4 Analyze and compare two- and three-dimensional shapes, in different sizes and orientations, using informal language to describe their similarities, differences, parts (e.g., number of sides and vertices/“corners”) and other attributes (e.g., having sides of equal length).

MGSEK.G.5 Model shapes in the world by building shapes from components (e.g., sticks and clay balls) and drawing shapes.

Grade 1:

MGSE1.G.1 Distinguish between defining attributes (e.g., triangles are closed and three-sided) versus non-defining attributes (e.g., color, orientation, overall size); build and draw shapes to possess defining attributes.

MGSE1.G.2 Compose two-dimensional shapes (rectangles, squares, trapezoids, triangles, half-circles, and quarter-circles) or three-dimensional shapes (cubes, right rectangular prisms, right circular cones, and right circular cylinders) to create a composite shape, and compose new shapes from the composite shape. This is important for the future development of spatial relations which later connects to developing understanding of area, volume, and fractions.

Arts Standards

Kindergarten: 

ESDK.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

ESDK.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in

dance.

ESDK.PR.2 Understand and model dance etiquette as a classroom participant, performer,

and observer.

ESDK.PR.3 Recognize the relationship between human anatomy and movement.

  1. Identify basic body parts and how they move.

Dance Georgia Standards of Excellence

ESDK.PR.4 Understand and apply music concepts to dance.

ESDK.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

Grade 1:

ESD1.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

ESD1.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

ESD1.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

ESD1.PR.4 Understand and apply music concepts to dance.

ESD1.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K.G.2 Identify and describe a given shape and shapes of objects in everyday situations to include two-dimensional shapes (i.e., triangle, square, rectangle, hexagon, and circle) and three-dimensional shapes (i.e., cone, cube, cylinder, and sphere).

K.G.3 Classify shapes as two-dimensional/flat or three-dimensional/solid and explain the reasoning used.

K.G.4 Analyze and compare two- and three-dimensional shapes of different sizes and orientations using informal language.

Grade 1:

1.G.1 Distinguish between a two-dimensional shape’s defining (e.g., number of sides) and non-defining attributes (e.g., color).

1.G.2 Combine two-dimensional shapes (i.e., square, rectangle, triangle, hexagon, rhombus, and trapezoid) or three-dimensional shapes (i.e., cube, rectangular prism, cone, and cylinder) in more than one way to form a composite shape.

1.G.3 Partition two-dimensional shapes (i.e., square, rectangle, circle) into two or four equal parts.

1.G.4 Identify and name two-dimensional shapes (i.e., square, rectangle, triangle,

hexagon, rhombus, trapezoid, and circle).

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can use movement exploration to discover and create artistic ideas and works.

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance

Anchor Standard 3: I can perform movements using the dance elements. 

Anchor Standard 5: I can describe, analyze, and evaluate a dance.

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Curved Shape - Shape with no angles or vertices. 

Angular Shape - Shape with one or more angles.

Two-dimensional - A flat figure or shape that does not have any thickness.

Three-dimensional - A figure or shape that has length, width, and depth.

Position - The place where something or someone is located.

Arts Vocabulary

Choreographer - A person who creates dances.

Beat - Basic unit of musical time; can be heard as a regular pulse underlying music.

Pathway - Patterns created in the air or on the floor by the body or body parts, as a dancer moves in and through space. 

Locomotor - Movements that travel through space. 

Non-locomotor - A movement that does not travel through space.

 

Materials

  • Music recordings
  • Method of playing the recordings including speaker, Bluetooth, HDMI, mp3 
  • Printed images of shapes 
  • Projector (to show images of shapes if they are not printed)

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Project a selection of dance photos, and ask students to name shapes that they see in the photos.
  • Warm-up with students for approximately three minutes.
  • During dance warm-up, use movements that convey shapes that can be identified using mathematical vocabulary, i.e., circle, square, curved, angular.
  • Use a handle question to prompt students to look for shapes as they dance and then name them when the warm up is completed.

 

Work Session

PROCESS

  • Discuss and explore the concepts of curved and angular shapes, as well as pathways. 
  • Identify shapes like circle, square, oval, or triangle as curved or angular. 
  • Divide students into groups and have them create “shape dances” in which the pathways traveled and shapes created correspond to an assigned shape. Students will then perform their “shape dances” for the class. 
  • During the performances, the audience will identify shapes presented with a rationale to substantiate their answers.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Ask students to name the body parts they used to create shapes.
  • Ask students why they chose the shapes that they selected to show with movement.
  • Ask students to describe the connection between math and dance that they experienced in this lesson.
  • Ask students to describe what a choreographer does.
  • Ask students to explain how they worked as choreographers during this lesson.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Students perform/move to a steady beat. 
  • Students’ dances match shape criteria appropriately. 
  • Students identify the shapes being performed.

 

Summative

  • Students identify shapes that dancers, including their peers, make when moving their bodies.
  • Students create shapes using their own movements, including pathways.
  • Students create and remember a short choreography.
  • Students perform choreography clearly showing shapes in movement.
  • Students move to the beat of a musical rhythm.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: 

  • Ask students to dance to a different song with a different or faster/slower beat. 
  • Ask students to turn 2D shapes into 3D shapes or visa-versa. 
  • Ask students to create shapes in pairs of students, by using pathways, levels, and partner relationships. 
  • Ask students to partition two-dimensional shapes into two or four equal parts and then modify their dances accordingly to reflect the partitions. 

Remediation: Ask students to name, describe, and demonstrate their shapes.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Classroom Tips:  Clear desks to have an open space and be tolerant of noise and excitement- it is “working noise!” 

*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 and updated by: Melissa Dittmar-Joy and Julie Galle Baggenstoss

 Revised and copyright:  August 2022 @ ArtsNOW

Back to Modules

Gravity and Pantomime

GRAVITY AND PANTOMIME

GRAVITY AND PANTOMIME

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will use pantomime to explore the concepts of gravity and weight by  pretending to lift, hold and drop imaginary objects, and becoming objects that leave the ground, go into the air, and then go back down. Students will observe and reflect on the effects of gravity and use their bodies to show how that works. 

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: Kindergarten
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use pantomime to show objects of different weight and the force of gravity on them.

Essential Questions

  • How can we demonstrate the effects of gravity using theatrical techniques? 

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

SKP3 Students will observe and communicate the effects of gravity on objects. 

  1. Recognize that some things, such as airplanes and birds, are in the sky, but return to earth.  
  2. Recognize that the sun, moon, and stars are in the sky, but don’t come down.  
  3. Explain why a book does not fall down if it is placed on a table but will fall down if it is dropped.

Arts Standards

Kindergarten:

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

TAESK.7 Integrating various art forms, other content areas, and life experiences, to create theatre.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K.P.4A. Conceptual Understanding: Objects can be described and classified by their observable properties, by their uses, and by whether they occur naturally or are manufactured (human-made). Different properties of objects are suited for different purposes.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 3:

I can act in improvised scenes and written scripts.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Gravity - An invisible force that pulls objects toward each other, and pulls people and things toward the earth.

Weight - The measurement of the force of gravity on an object.

Heavy - Having more weight; being pulled harder toward the earth.

Light - Having less weight; being pulled with less force toward the earth.

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

  • Objects that can be dropped easily and safely to demonstrate gravity (marker, book, feather, tissue, ball, etc.) 
  • Tambour, drum or percussion instrument (optional)

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Warm-Up

  • Have students stand up.  Have them jump in the air.  Ask them to observe what happens  (they come back down); ask them why.  Have students jump again and try to stay in the air (they can’t).  Ask why they can’t stay in the air (encourage them to go beyond “We fall back down” to observations like “We are heavy” and “There’s nothing to hold us up.”)
  • Now have students stand on one foot near a table or desk.  Ask them to observe what happens (they have to hold onto a table to keep from falling, or work hard to maintain balance).
  • Ask students what pulls them out of the air when jumping, or toward the ground when standing on one foot.  Introduce the concept of gravity.
  • Model for students pretending to blow air into a thumb, and inflating the body with air.  Have students follow suit.  As the body inflates, pretend to float (arms up to the sides, cheeks full, chest out, on tip toes).  Then pretend to let the air out (arms down, cheeks empty, body sagging, knees bent, feet flat).  Model and practice inflating and deflating.
  • Ask how it feels to be full of air, and then to be empty of air.  Ask why it feels this way.  Elicit and/or lead a discussion of feeling light and heavy, and the differences in weight.
  • Introduce “The Gravity Song” (to the tune of “London Bridge Is Falling Down”)

Gravity is pulling down, 

Pulling down, pulling down 

Gravity is pulling down 

All around you!  

 

Take a ball and toss it high;

Will it stay in the sky? 

Gravity will pull it down 

All around you! 

 

Jump up high and down you’ll go 

There’s a force way down below

Gravity is pulling down

All around you!  

Work Session

PROCESS 

Objects and Gravity

  • Explain that gravity is all around, but it pulls on different things in different ways, depending on their mass.  It pulls denser things with more force.  It pulls less dense things with less force.
  • Show a variety of objects: a marker, a rubber ball, a tissue, a pencil, a heather, a block, a stuffed animal, a bag of marbles, a baseball (try to find some objects that are relatively more dense but still safe for the classroom). Ask students to predict what will happen when each is dropped.  Which will go faster or slower, and why?  Which will move in a straight line and which will move from side to side, and why?
  • Model dropping objects safely to the floor.  Elicit student observations about speed, direction, sound, etc.
  • Have student volunteers drop some of the objects to the floor, and make observations.
  • Possibly, give students time to find objects in the classroom for individual experiments in dropping and observing.

Pantomiming Objects

  • Introduce or review the drama strategy of pantomime.  Explain that the students will pantomime lifting objects of different weights, showing the effects of gravity with their bodies and faces.
  • Model for students pantomiming different familiar objects:  a feather, a baseball, a bowling ball, a carton full of blocks, etc.  Take suggestions from students for objects to pantomime.  Throughout, remind students to use their hands, arms, and whole bodies to show the effort necessary to lift an object.  Explain that because gravity is pulling things down, we have to use energy to pull them up.  Pantomime holding things up; also, as appropriate, pantomime dropping things to the ground.

Objects on Objects

  • Place an object on another object, e.g., a book on a table.  Ask students why the book doesn’t fall to the ground, i.e., why gravity doesn’t pull it down.  Discuss how gravity holds the table on the ground, but the table is solid and holds the book up off the ground.
  • Model pantomiming placing an object on another.  This can be creative and playful, e.g., placing a crown on a queen’s head, placing a block on a tower of blocks, placing a huge dinosaur egg on a giant rock, placing (balancing) a tricycle on your fingertip.  Have students follow these actions.
  • Have students make up their own pantomime actions placing one object on another.  Remind them that the support object is pushing against the force of gravity that is pulling the supported object down.
  • Possibly, explain that if the force pushing down is too great, the support object might give way, e.g., if an adult tries to sit on a child’s chair, or if someone sits on a cardboard box.

Objects in the Sky

  • Explain that now we will look at things that we see in the sky.  Have students give some ideas e.g., the moon, clouds, airplanes, birds, the sun, drones, stars, helicopters, etc. 
  • Tell students, “When I say go, you move as the object I name. When I say stop, you stop.”  Give the prompts for students to move like the various objects named. Let’s try! Go…Stop Bird, Go….Stop Moon, Go….Stop Sun, Go…Stop airplane, etc.”  (Possibly: use a tambour, drum, percussion instrument, or clapping to signal starting and stopping.)
  • Ask students whether all of those things stay in the sky all of the time.  Divide the objects into those that do (sun, moon, stars, clouds) and those that don’t (birds, airplanes, helicopters, drones.)  Explain/remind students that the first group are very far away.  Ask students to guess how the second group stay up.  Explain that, though we can’t see it, the air is not empty, and it helps to hold things up.
  • Have students enact several objects (bird, airplane, helicopter) starting on the ground, going into the air, and coming back down.  As they move, ask them to feel the air around them.


Extension:  Explore clouds and rain.  Have students move and float like clouds.  Explain that clouds are made of droplets of water, which are very light and are held up by the air.  But when the droplets crowd together, they form drops of water that are heavier, so they fall to the ground as rain.  Have students enact becoming heavier and using fingers and arms to portray the rain.

Closing Reflection

Review:  What is gravity?  Why are some things heavy and some things light?  Why don’t things always fall to the ground? (Other things hold them up, or the air holds them up.)

How did we use our bodies to show gravity?

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Students effectively use pantomime to convey the weight of different objects.
  • Students express the concepts surrounding gravity and weight clearly.  

 

Summative

Have students draw a picture that shows the effects of gravity in whatever way they want.  They can use one of the examples that were explored in the lesson.  Ask them to label (or dictate labels for) the things in their drawings.  (Look for evidence of spatial relationships, of an awareness of weight, and of connections with the earth and sky.)

 

Differentiation

Acceleration:

  • Have students narrate their pantomime actions, e.g., “I am holding up the bowling ball so that the earth’s gravity doesn’t pull it down.” “I am a bird and the air and my wings are pressing down on the air and lifting me into the sky.”
  • Have students include arrows in their illustrations to show the direction of the force of gravity.

     

    Remediation:

    • Model more fully with a wider variety of objects, and give students the chance to experiment with placing objects on other objects.
    • Focus on the pantomime of objects of different weight and placing objects on other objects; save the discussion of objects in the sky for a later lesson.

     ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

    The Day Gravity Goes Loco, by Patrick Maloney (rhyming picture book)

    Baby Loves Gravity, by Ruth Spiro 

    *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.  Updated by Barry Stewart Mann.

     Revised and copyright:  August 2022 @ ArtsNOW

    Back to Modules

    Positional Word Tableaux

    POSITIONAL WORD TABLEAUX

    POSITIONAL WORD TABLEAUX

    Learning Description

    Students explore the drama strategies of Statues and Tableau, and then bring positional words to life through the use of partnered tableaux.

     

    Learning Targets

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

    Download PDF of this Lesson

    "I Can" Statements

    “I Can…”

    • I can use my body to create simple tableaux showing positional relationships.

    Essential Questions

    • How can utilizing theatre help students explore language arts concepts?

     

    Georgia Standards

    Curriculum Standards

    Kindergarten:

    ELACCKRF2  Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). 

    ELACCKL4  Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content. 

    Arts Standards

    Kindergarten:

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

     

    South Carolina Standards

    Curriculum Standards

    Kindergarten:

    K.WL.4.6 With guidance and support, use prepositional phrases.

    Arts Standards

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

     

    Key Vocabulary

    Content Vocabulary

    Aboveor Over - On top of or higher than something else.

    Below or Under - Beneath or lower than something else. 

    Inside - The interior part of something, the place or part within. 

    Outside - The exterior part of something, the place or part not within.

    Beside - Next to something. 

    Position - The location of somebody or something in relation to other things.

    Positional words - Words that indicate the position of somebody or something.

    In Front of - Coming first in a sequence, or located closer to the viewer or another external point.

    Behind - Coming later in a sequence, or located farther from the viewer or another external point.

    On - Connected to or located atop.Off - Not connected to.

    Arts Vocabulary

    Statue (Statues) - An actor frozen in a pose.

    Tableau (Tableaux) - A group of actors frozen to create a picture.

     

    Materials

    • Drum (optional for Expressive Statues)
    • Positional words on cards, or real or virtual whiteboard

     

    Instructional Design

    Opening/Activating Strategy

    Expressive Statues

    • Explain that when the teacher says, “Start!”, claps hands once, or hits the drum, the students will freeze in a pose.  This is called a ‘statue.’  Add that when the teacher says, “Stop!”, claps or hits the drum twice, they must freeze.  Model several statues for the students, showing varied use of the body and facial expression.  
    • Give the first prompt:  “Show me with your body a statue of how you look when you feel happy. 1…2… 3… Start!”  Use observational language to point out students’ creative choices, e.g., “I see Chase has his hands open and up in the air; Marisol has a big smile and her eyes are closed,” etc.
    • Remind students that a statue should be expressive, showing action or excitement or emotion.  An effective statue involves the entire body, face, and eyes as well. 
    • Give additional emotion prompts: happy, sad, mad, bored, embarrassed, scared, tired, confused, etc. 
    • Give prompts that convey opposites: tall/short, wide/thin, heavy/light (i.e., lightweight), prickly/smooth, etc.

     

    Work Session

    Tableau

    • Introduce tableau:  a frozen picture made by two or more actors.  It is like a statue, but a statue is one person, and a tableau has more than one.  In a tableau, the actors are working together to create a single picture.  (If the actors are frozen but not forming a picture together, it is not a tableau, but rather simply a group of statues.)
    • Invite several volunteers up and guide them to create an animal tableau, e.g., birds perched on the branch of a tree (in varied poses), several puppies playing, or horses in a field.  Remind them that, like a statue, a tableau is still.  Encourage them to find poses that suggest movement.
    • Have students work in trios.  Give them prompts for animal tableaux.  Use the examples above, or some of your own, or things like “dolphins leaping out of the sea,” “chickens pecking in a pen,” or “giraffes and zebras in the savanna.”  Describe the students’ tableaux using position words, e.g., “the dolphin is leaping above the waves” or “the zebra is under the giraffes’ heads.”  Model describing the tableau with opposing positional words, e.g., “giraffes’ heads are over the zebra.”

    Positional Word Tableaux 

    • Introduce the positional words in the list below – show word cards or write them on a real or virtual whiteboard.  Review them to ensure that the students know what they mean.
    • Still in pairs, have the students work together to make tableaux that show positional relationships.  The tableaux can involve animals and also inanimate objects, e.g., a dog under a table, or a cheetah on a branch.  (Possibly, tell them they can make the tableaux about anything, so long as they convey the named positional relationships.)  With paired positional words, have them state the relationship in the tableau using both terms.  
      • Above / Below 
      • Beside 
      • In Front of / Behind
      • On / Off
      • Inside / Outside
      • Over / Under 
    • Possibly, have each pair come to the front and show one of their favorite tableaux.

     

    Closing Reflection

    • Ask students to recall what statues and tableaux are.
    • Ask students to describe how they used their bodies to create their tableaux.

     

    Assessments

    Formative

    • Students should accurately represent assigned or chosen positional words with their bodies. 
    • Students should effectively articulate the relationships in their tableaux

     

    Summative

    Have students draw a picture of one of the tableaux they created with their partner.  Have them write or, as appropriate, dictate the sentence or sentences that describe the positional relationship in the tableau drawing.

     

    Differentiation

    Acceleration:

    • Expand the list of positional words, to include synonyms and variations, such as ‘beneath,’ ‘within,’ ‘through,’ etc.
    • Have students create a sequence of three tableaux that tell a simple story.  E.g., Horse standing beside a fence, horse jumping over the creek, horse walking inside the barn.

    Remediation:

    • Provide more modeling of paired tableaux, i.e., with several pairs.
    • Lead the class in doing the same tableau ideas, honoring the different choices that pairs make in executing the tableaux.

    *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.  Updated by Barry Stewart Mann.

     Revised and copyright:  August 2022 @ ArtsNOW

    Back to Modules