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

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    Weather Moves K-1

    WEATHER MOVES

    WEATHER MOVES

    Learning Description

    In this lesson, students will explore how movement can represent different types of weather. Students will then choreograph a brief movement phrase that uses energy qualities to demonstrate one of the types of weather.

     

    Learning Targets

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

    Download PDF of this Lesson

    "I Can" Statements

    “I Can…”

    • I can identify the characteristics that make each type of weather unique.
    • I can represent the characteristics of each type of weather through appropriate movement qualities.

    Essential Questions

    • What are the characteristics of different types of weather?
    • How can you use movement and tempo to represent the characteristics of different types of weather?

     

    Georgia Standards

    Curriculum Standards

    Grade 1:

    S1E1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate weather data to identify weather patterns.

    1. Ask questions to identify forms of precipitation such as rain, snow, sleet, and hailstones as either solid (ice) or liquid (water).

    Arts Standards

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

     

    South Carolina Standards

    Curriculum Standards

    Kindergarten: 

    K-ESS2-1. Use and share observations of local weather conditions to describe patterns over time.

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

     

    Key Vocabulary

    Content Vocabulary

    • Weather - The atmospheric conditions at a specific place and time, including factors such as temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind speed, and visibility. It can change rapidly and is influenced by various factors such as geographic location, time of year, and local topography; often described in terms of conditions like sunny, rainy, cloudy, stormy, or snowy

    Arts Vocabulary

    • Movement phrase - A series of movements linked together to make a distinctive pattern
    • Choreography - The art of composing dances and planning and arranging the movements, steps, and patterns of dancers
    • Choreographer - A person who creates dances
    • Non-locomotor - This refers to a movement that does not travel through space
    • Locomotor - This refers to a movement that travels through space
    • Level - One of the aspects of the movement element space; in dance, there are three basic levels: high, middle, and low
    • Tempo - The pace or speed of movement

     

    Energy qualities:

    • Swinging - Established by a fall of gravity, a gain in momentum, a loss of momentum, and the repeated cycle of fall and recovery, like that of a pendulum
    • Sustained - Smooth and unaccented; there is not apparent start or stop, only a continuity of energy
    • Percussive - The quality of movement characterized by sharp starts and stops; staccato jabs of energy
    • Vibratory - Quality of movement characterized by rapidly repeated bursts of percussive movements like “a jitter”
    • Suspended - Occurs in a moment of resistance to gravity, such as the instant in which a dancer hangs in space at the top of a leap
    • Collapsing - A quality of movement showing a release of tension, which can be performed at a fast or slow tempo. A slow collapse can be described as a melting or oozing motion.

     

    Materials

    • Pictures that show different types of weather including sunny, rainy, thunderstorm, tornado, snowy, windy, foggy, etc.
    • Music to portray the feeling of different weather types
    • Weather riddles (one per group/pair)

     

    Instructional Design

    Opening/Activating Strategy

    • Begin by engaging students in movement that introduces students to the Elements of Dance: Body, action, space, time and energy.
      • Have students arrange themselves in the classroom with enough personal space to move freely without touching a neighbor.
      • Turn on instrumental music with a steady beat.
      • Element of Body - First, have students bring awareness to their bodies by leading them through gentle stretches starting from the head and moving to the toes (e.g., head circles, shoulder shrugs, toe touches, etc.).
      • Element of Energy - Now, direct students to explore energy variations with different movement qualities such as sharp movements–quick, precise actions like punches or snaps, and smooth movements–slow, flowing actions like waves or circles with arms.
      • Element of Space - Levels: Bring students’ attention to levels (high, middle, low) with movements such as stretching up high and moving on tiptoes, crouching in a small ball close to the floor, and bouncing in place at a middle level.
      • Element of Action - Locomotor/non-locomotor: Tell students that these movements they just performed were non-locomotor, meaning that they didn’t move to a new location. Direct students to perform a movement that requires moving from one place to another, such as step-together, step-together moving side to side.
      • Have students practice what they just learned by saying words such as “locomotor” and have students create a spontaneous locomotor movement.
      • Have students return to their seats or the carpet.

     

    Work Session

    • Display a picture that depicts sunny weather.
    • Discuss with the students the type of weather shown and how they are able to determine the weather even though they aren’t physically there.
      • For example, what type of clothes are people wearing? What can we see in the sky?
    • Introduce students to different types of energy or movement qualities, such as sustained, percussive, suspended, swinging, collapsing and vibratory.
      • Model different movements and have students copy them. Say an energy word, such as collapsing, and have students create spontaneous movements that demonstrate this energy quality.
    • Next, introduce students to different tempos: Fast, moderate, slow.
      • Ask a student to demonstrate a movement.
      • As a class, practice the movement with a fast, moderate, and slow tempo.
    • Turn on upbeat music. Brainstorm ways to demonstrate sunny weather with movement. For example, upbeat, sustained energy, gestures that reflect rays of sunshine.
      • Ask students to volunteer to show examples of what sunny weather might look like to them. Facilitate an informal discussion about how the student’s movement demonstrated sunny weather after they perform their movement.
    • Repeat the process with other weather words:
      • Rain - Fast tempo, vibratory/percussive
      • Thunder/lightning - Moderate tempo, sustained movements interrupted by huge explosive jumps, angular shapes to show lightning
      • Tornado - Fast tempo, sustained energy utilizing the transverse plane (lots of turns at different levels, maybe stationary but low spins on bottom building up to high level turns-try turning in the air)
      • Snow - Sustained and/or vibratory energy, fluffy snow (graceful and slow) versus ice (angular and fast)
      • Wind - Sustained and moderate with occasional fast tempo to transport from one point to the next
      • Fog - Slow, sustained "blanketing the space" in long horizontal tableaux
    • Divide students into groups or partners. Each partner will receive a weather riddle.
      • Students will determine what type of weather is being described and create a three movement phrase to demonstrate that type of weather.
        • Students should use what they learned in the lesson about movement and dance to effectively communicate their type of weather through movement.

     

    Closing Reflection

    • Students will perform their dances for their classmates. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
    • After each performance, the audience will determine what type of weather the performers are representing based on their movement phrase.

     

    Assessments

    Formative

    Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of the types of weather and energy qualities that would be associated with that type of weather, ability to decipher their riddles, and ability to collaborate with their partner/group to create a movement phrase representing their type of weather.

     

    Summative

    CHECKLIST

    • Students can identify the characteristics that make each type of weather unique.
    • Students can represent the characteristics of each type of weather through appropriate movement qualities.

     

    DIFFERENTIATION 

    Acceleration: Challenge students to create a logical weather sequence, such as sunny weather that turns cloudy and then rainy. Students should choreograph a dance that demonstrates this sequence using what they learned about dance.

    Remediation: 

    • Reduce the number of movements students are required to include in their choreography from three to one.
    • Read riddles as a whole class; the whole class will respond to each riddle with a movement that they think matches the type of weather described.

    *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: Whitney Jones. Updated by Katy Betts.

    Revised and copyright:  June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

     

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