The Shades of Monster Emotions

THE SHADES OF MONSTER EMOTIONS

THE SHADES OF MONSTER EMOTIONS

Learning Description

Using the book The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions, by Anna Llenas, students will investigate story elements and dive into the world of emotions and colors. They will actively explore emotions using their faces, bodies, and voices.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can make connections between emotions and colors.
  • I can use my body, face, and voice to convey emotions and colors.

Essential Questions

  • How are emotions like colors, and how can colors represent emotions?
  • How does talking about and exploring our emotions help us?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

ELAGSE2RL1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. 

ELAGSE2RL7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.

Arts Standards

Grade 2:

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

  1. Use imagination and vocal elements (e.g. inflection, pitch, volume, articulation) to communicate a character’s thoughts, emotions, and actions. 
  2. Use imagination and physical choices to communicate a character’s thoughts and emotions. 
  3. Collaborate and perform with an ensemble to share theatre with an audience. 
  4. Explore character choices and relationships in a variety of dramatic forms (e.g. narrated story, pantomime, puppetry, dramatic play).

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

2.RL.MC.5.1 Ask and answer literal and inferential questions to demonstrate understanding of a text; use specific details to make inferences and draw conclusions in texts heard or read. 

2.RL.MC.5.2 Make predictions before and during reading; confirm or modify thinking.

Arts Standards

THEATRE

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

VISUAL ARTS

Anchor Standard 5: I can interpret and evaluate the meaning of an artwork.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Emotion – A state of feeling such as: angry; sad; excited; nervous; happy. 

Theme – the lesson of the story

Arts Vocabulary

Color - a component of light which is separated when it is reflected off of an object.

Actor – This is a person who performs a role in a play, work of theatre, or movie. 

Facial Expression – how an actor uses his or her face (eyes, cheeks, mouth, chin, nose) to convey meaning. 

Gestures –any movement of the actor’s head, shoulder, arm, hand, leg, or foot to convey meaning.

 

Materials

  • The Color Monster. A Story About Emotions, by Anna Llenas. 
  • Color list (below, or comparable by teacher choice)
  • Emotion list (below, or comparable by teacher choice)

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Colors

  • Lead a discussion about colors.  What are colors?  Discuss how light reflects off of things in different ways, and that’s how our eyes see colors.  How do colors make you feel? What do they make you think of?  What is your favorite color, and why?  Option: show the list of colors attached below, discuss any that are unfamiliar, and compare different colors that are similar, e.g., silver and gray.  Ask what other colors they can think of that are not on the list.

Emotions

  • Lead a discussion about emotions.  “What are emotions?  How do different experiences make us feel different emotions?  How do our emotions change?  How do we express emotions?” Show the list of emotions attached below, discuss any that are unfamiliar, and compare different emotions that are similar, e.g., sad and lonely.  Ask what other emotions they can think of that are not on the list.

Connecting Colors and Emotions

  • Lead a discussion about the connection between colors and emotions.  “Can you think of any phrases that connect colors with emotions?(e.g., ‘green with envy,’ ‘seeing red,’ or ‘feeling blue,’ or ‘rose-colored glasses.’)”  Do certain emotions make you think of certain colors?  Or do you associate different colors with different emotions?  If so, why?”  Honor whatever connections the students might make, even if they seem unconventional.

 

Work Session

The Color Monster

Explain that the class will read a book that connects colors with emotions.  Discuss this connection as the theme of the book – it is the main idea or concept.  Show The Color Monster.  Explain that the author, Anna Llenas, has thought a lot about this question, and she connects certain colors with certain emotions.

  • Read the book aloud.  During the read aloud, have students add sound and body to express the characters and repeat key lines or phrases after you read them. Encourage them to become the characters with their face, body and voice.
  • After reading aloud, review the colors and emotions in the book (yellow = happy; blue = sad; red = anger; black = fear; green= calm; pink=love).  Discuss if those connections make sense to students.  Ask, “What other colors and emotions would you connect?”
  • Discuss the concept expressed in the book about feeling mixed emotions, and putting emotions into separate containers.  Ask, “What does this mean in real life?  How can we put emotions into different containers?”

Coloring Our Emotions

  • Tell the students that you will call out an emotion and they will use their bodies and faces to convey that emotion.  Start with a simple emotion like happy, sad, or scared.  Tell them they can use facial expression, body position, and gestures to convey the emotion.
  • Ask them to express what color they connect with that emotion.  (e.g., “I’m scared and it feels pink” or “I’m bored and it feels gray.”)
  • Ask them to add sound to their faces and bodies.  Ask, “Does this emotion make you use a loud or soft voice?  High or low?  How would you pronounce your words with this emotion?”  Allow different students to have different interpretations, and acknowledge that sometimes when someone is angry they could be loud or quiet, or that when someone is happy, their voice could get very high or very low.
  • Call out several more emotions from the list, and have the students repeat the process.
  • Give volunteers the opportunity, when conveying an emotion with body, face and voice, to articulate why someone might feel that emotion (e.g., “I’m angry that my sister won’t play with me, and it feels bright red,” or “I’m happy that we’re going to have ice cream, and it feels light green.”)

Finding Emotions from Our Colors (Optional)

  • Explain that now the process will be reversed.  A color will be called out, and students can respond with a connected emotion.  Tell students that they may connect the emotion directly with a color, or they may think of something the color reminds them of and find the emotional connection that way.  E.g., blue might make a student think of a swimming pool, invoking excitement; red may make a student think of a stop sign/caution; or orange may make them think of fire, invoking fear.
  • After calling out a color, allow students to use their bodies and faces to show the emotion; then ask volunteers to use their emotional voice to name the emotion they are thinking of and explain the connection, if any.

Extension

  • Have students draw a picture connecting a color with an emotion.  Have them start from either an emotion or a color.  If they start from an emotion, have them choose the color that they think goes with it.  If they choose a color, have them decide which emotion they connect with it.  Using a single color, have them write the emotion word (with guidance as needed) and draw images, lines, and shapes that convey the emotion (e.g., The drawing could include squiggles, zigzags, curves and solid shapes, as well as representational images such as a football player, two friends arguing, a piece of jewelry, or a butterfly).
  • Then have them write a paragraph describing the emotion in terms of the color and the elements they included in their illustration.  The paragraph can begin, “When I feel ______ (emotion), everything looks ________ (color) because . . .”

 

Closing Reflection

Ask, “What is the connection between emotions and colors?  How can colors help us think about emotions?  How do colors make us feel?  How did we express emotions using our bodies, facial expressions, and voices?“

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Students demonstrate understanding by using their bodies, faces, and voices. 
  • Students use emotion and color words to describe what they are enacting.
  • Students articulate situations or scenarios that make sense for the emotion they are conveying.

 

Summative

Students’ illustrations and paragraphs convey their understanding of the connection between emotions and color.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: 

Explore the concept of mixed emotions implied in the book.  Have students choose two different, seemingly conflicting emotions connected with  two different colors, and have them enact them together.  Have them articulate a scenario that might lead to conflicting emotions (e.g., getting together with a close friend who is moving away).

Remediation: 

Work through the emotions according to how they are portrayed in the book, maintaining a one-to-one correspondence to avoid confusion.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Books with a similar theme:

     My Many-Colored Days, by Dr. Seuss

     What Color Is Your Day?, by Camryn Wells

*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: Susie Purcell and Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright:  June 2023 @ ArtsNOW

All In A Row, Adding In A Row 1

ALL IN A ROW

Addition Tableau

ALL IN A ROW: ADDITION TABLEAU

Learning Description

Students will represent numbers with their bodies. They will work together to form addition sentence tableaux in order to visualize how 1-, 2-, and 3-digit addition works.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: K-1
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can play a role in an addition tableau.

Essential Questions

  • How can the arts help to clarify mathematics concepts?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 1:

MCC1.OA.6 Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10. Use strategies such as counting on; making ten (e.g., 8 + 6 = 8 + 2 + 4 = 10 + 4 = 14); decomposing a number leading to a ten (e.g., 13 – 4 = 13 – 3 – 1 = 10 – 1 = 9); using the relationship between addition and subtraction (e.g., knowing that 8 + 4 = 12, one knows 12 – 8 = 4); and creating equivalent but easier or known sums (e.g., adding 6 + 7 by creating the known equivalent 6 + 6 + 1 = 12 + 1 = 13).

Arts Standards

Grade 1:

TAES1.3 Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and environments.

 

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 should be able to calculate answers to the mathematical problems.
  • Students should accurately represent the numbers with their bodies.

 

Summative

Assign various addition problems to the students at the level reflected in the lesson, and gauge their ability to visualize and complete the problems.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration: Acceleration and remediation are built into the lesson in terms of how far into the sequence of complexity the lesson goes, and how much students are asked to create and calculate the numbers and addition sentences on their own. For acceleration, there should be greater complexity and more independent (unguided, in pairs, trios, quads, and more) work.

Remediation: Acceleration and remediation are built into the lesson in terms of how far into the sequence of complexity the lesson goes, and how much students are asked to create and calculate the numbers and addition sentences on their own. For remediation, there should be less complexity, more modeling, and more full-class, guided work.

*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 and updated by Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright: August 2022 @ ArtsNOW

Cause and Effect Commotion 2-3

CAUSE AND EFFECT COMMOTION

CAUSE AND EFFECT COMMOTION

Learning Description

Instilling a strong understanding of “cause and effect” will increase students’ reading comprehension skills. By acting out “cause and effect” situations, students will deepen the foundation of this important concept.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify the “cause” and “effect” in various scenarios.

  • I can create a sentence to demonstrate my understanding of cause and effect.

  • I can act out a cause and effect relationship.

Essential Questions

  • How can movement be used to demonstrate our knowledge of cause and effect events?

  • How will understanding cause and effect help in reading comprehension?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

ELAGSE2RI3 Describe the connection between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.

 

Grade 3:

ELAGSE3RI3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

 

ELAGSE3RI8 Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).

Arts Standards

Grade 2:

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

TA2.CN.1 Explore how theatre connects to life experience, careers, and other content.

 

Grade 3: 

TA3.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments

TA3.CN.1 Explore how theatre connects to life experience, careers, and other content.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

READING - Informational Text

Language, Craft, and Structure 

Standard 8: Interpret and analyze the author’s use of words, phrases, text features, conventions, and structures, and how their relationships shape meaning and tone in print and multimedia texts. 

8.1 Identify how the author uses words, phrases, illustrations, and photographs to inform, explain, or describe.

 

Grade 3:

READING - Informational Text

Language, Craft, and Structure 

Standard 8: Interpret and analyze the author’s use of words, phrases, text features, conventions, and structures, and how their relationships shape meaning and tone in print and multimedia texts. 

8.1 Explain how the author uses words and phrases to inform, explain, or describe.

Arts Standards

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

Anchor Standard 8: I can relate theatre to other content areas, arts disciplines, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Cause - Why something happens; what happens in a given situation 

 

  • Effect - What happens; the result of what happens in a given situation 

 

  • Cause and effect - A relationship that writers use to show how facts, events, or concepts happen or come into being because of other facts, events or concepts

  • Signal words - Words that are often used in sentences or stories to show cause and effect relationships (because, so and therefore)

Arts Vocabulary

  • Improvisation - The practice of creating and performing scenes, dialogue, and actions spontaneously, without a script

  • Pantomime - A performance where the story is told through expressive physical movements and gestures

 

Materials

  • Trash can 
  • Pencil 
  • Balloon
  • Needle
  • Word visuals (cause, effect, because)
  • Masking tape
  • Sentence card visuals

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tip: This activity works best in an open space with room for students to move. 

 

REAL TIME CAUSE AND EFFECT 

  • Demonstrate the following actions to get students’ attention:
    • Gently kick a trash can. Let it fall to the ground. Ask students, “What just happened? Why did the trash can fall?” (The trash can fell because I kicked it.)
    • Hold a pencil in your hand high in the air. Drop the pencil. Ask students, “What just happened? Why did the pencil fall?” (The pencil fell because I let go of it.)
    • Blow up a balloon. Tie it. Prick it with a needle. Ask students, “What just happened? Why did the balloon blow up?” (The balloon blew up because I breathed air into it.) “What else happened? Why did the balloon pop?” (The balloon popped because I pricked it with a needle.) 
    • Walk around the room and safely trip over a desk and fall to the floor. “What just happened? Why did I fall down?” (I fell down because I tripped over the desk.) 

Say, “When I tripped, it caused me to fall down. When I dropped the pencil, what did it cause? When I puffed air into the balloon, what did it cause? When I kicked the trash can, what did it cause? Each thing I did caused an effect (or something else) to happen. That’s ‘cause and effect’ and it is all around us all day long!”.

 

Work Session

TRAVELING WITH REAL TIME CAUSE AND EFFECT

  • Ask students, “Have any of you ever driven a car? Why can’t you drive a car? (because you don’t have your license) Would you like to?” 
  • Say, “Well, today I am giving each of you a special license to drive your own imaginary car. Sound fun? Okay. Let’s go!”
  • Tell students to imagine a car in front of them. Tell them to open the door to a car. Pause. Ask students, “Why did the door open?” (because we pulled the handle).
  • Say, “Now sit in the driver’s seat of the car and put on your seatbelt. Let me hear you buckle it”.
  • Ask students, “How do we start the car?” Put the key into the ignition, push a button, etc. Tell students, “Turn the key. What happened when we turned the key?” (the car started). “Why did the car start?” (because we turned the key in the ignition).
  • Say, “Okay…let’s drive around for a little bit. Where would you like to go? The movies? Let’s go. Take a right. Oh wow. I just saw that we are low on gas, so we’ll have to stop by the gas station and get some gas first”. 
  • Say, “I see a big red light up there. What does that mean? Stop. Yikes! Let’s all stop. How do we stop? What causes the car to stop?” (putting my foot on the brake). 
  • Say, “Okay, let’s all put our foot on the brake at the same time when I say three. 1, 2, 3”.
  • Say, “Now the light turned green. What does that mean?” (go). All right, let’s put our foot on the gas on the count of 3. 1, 2, 3…Uh oh. Our cars won’t move. Let’s try it again. 1, 2, 3. Now it’s shaking and sputtering and it just stops. Let me see your car shake and sputter. OH NO! What happened? Does anyone know why it won’t move? (because it ran out of gas). Oh well! I guess we better get out and walk to the movie theater.” 
  • Say, “Take your keys, undo your seatbelt, open the door and run to the theater before the movie starts. We need to get some popcorn!”
  • Have students return to their seats.
  • Ask students, “Did we just experience any cause and effect situations? Can you name one? 
  • Tell students that cause and effect is why something happens and the result or effect of what happens. 
    • Ask students to identify a cause in the driving scenario. 
      • Say, “The cause is why something happens. When I can figure out the cause (hold up ‘cause’ visual), then I can figure out the effect (hold up ‘effect’ visual)”. 
      • Tell students, “Always see where you can add the ‘because’ and that will be your clue to what the cause is in the sentence”. 
      • Say, “Let’s think about the car we just drove. Listen to this sentence: ‘I pulled the handle and the door opened’. Now I want you to use the word ‘because’ (hold up ‘because’ visual) to find the cause. You see, every time you insert the word because it leads you to the cause!” 

 

CAUSE AND EFFECT DANCE

  • Say, “Every time we say the word ‘because’, we are going to spin our hands in front of our bodies. (Note: Stress the word ‘cause’.) Remember, the ‘because’ shows us the ‘cause’.”
  • Say, “Every time we say the ‘effect’, or the result of what is happening, let’s put our open hands and arms high in the air above our heads!”.
  • Tape the visuals “Cause” and “Effect” on the wall about three feet apart from each other.
  • Practice the dance by saying an example sentence with students. 

 

WORDS IN MOTION

  • Say, “Now let’s try to break this down with some of the actions (causes and effects) we experienced when driving our cars. I’ve put them into sentences to help us.”
  • Ask students, “What was the first thing that we needed to do to get into the car? Okay, let’s start with this sentence.” 
    • Show visual of sentence: “I pulled the handle and the door opened”. 
    • Ask two students to come to the front of the class. Tell them they are each going to get to act out one part of the sentence or activity, either a cause or an effect. 
    • Give the first student “pulling the handle” (cause). Give the second student “opening the door” (effect). 
    • Ask each student to show you his/her activity using a sound, whole body and the space around them. Encourage them to exaggerate and have fun with it. 
    • Read the sentence one more time and then guide the class through finding the cause and effect by prompting with “because”. 
    • Say, “Let’s try to decide which action is the cause and which is the effect.” 
    • Say, “Now let’s see if ‘because’ (do action) can really help us find the cause.
      • Ask students, “Where could we use the word ‘because’ with these words and make it make sense? If we put it in front of ‘the door opened’, would that be right? Because I opened the door, I pulled the handle? Does that make sense? (no). If we put it in front of ‘I pulled the handle’, would that be right? Because I pulled the handle, the door opened. Does that make sense? (yes). 
      • Say, “It looks like we found our cause by using the word ‘because.’ So we figured out that the ‘because’ comes before which action? (pulling the handle). Can you tell me what the cause part of this sentence is? (because I pulled the handle – pulling the handle). 
      • Ask students, “Where should our ‘pulling the handle’ actor stand while he/she does his/her action? (under the word “cause”). 
      • Ask students, “If that is the cause, which action or part of the sentence is the effect? (the door opened). Where should our ‘effect’ actor stand?” (under the word “effect”).
      • Say, “So, let’s see our actors do their actions when I call ‘action’. When I say ‘freeze’, the actors will freeze. Let’s practice that.” 
      • Say “action” and “freeze” several times while the actors respond. 
      • Say, “Now let’s say our sentence two more times while the actors are acting out their actions when it’s their turn in the sentence. This time, let’s add our hand motions when we say the cause and when we say the effect. 
        • Remind students to spin their hands in front of them when the cause is stated (because I pulled the handle) and to put their open hands and arms high in the air above their heads when the effect is stated (the door opened).
  • Divide students into partners. Assign each partner a different cause and effect sentence from the car scenario. Have the partners repeat the same process that the class used to identify the cause and effect of opening the door. 
    • I turned the key in the ignition and the engine started. 
    • The car moved when I pressed the pedal with my foot. 
    • The car stopped when I hit the brake with my foot. 
    • The car turned off when it ran out of gas.
  • Allow time for students to perform their causes and effects for the class. Students should do the hand motions for cause and effect as the sentence is read and the actors act out the sentence. 

Class Tip: Review audience etiquette and expectations before students perform for their classmates.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Facilitate a discussion to summarize the lesson.
    • Ask, “What’s a cause? What’s an effect? What word can we use to find the cause in a sentence?” (because). 
  • Ask students to write their own cause and effect sentence that uses “because”. Students should label the cause and the effect in the sentence.
  • Finish the lesson by saying, “Let’s do our hand motions. The next time you have a sentence in front of you and have to figure out the ‘cause and effect’, whisper the word ‘because’ to yourself and try to figure out where it would fit in the sentence. This will alert you to the ‘cause’ which will leave the ‘effect’.”

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding by observing students’ responses to class discussion and their participation in the cause and effect scenarios.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST 

  • Students can demonstrate understanding of cause and effect by identifying the “cause” and “effect” in the scenarios and sentences. 
  • Students can create a sentence to demonstrate understanding of cause and effect.
  • Students can act out a cause and effect relationship.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: Show students multiple comic strips that demonstrate obvious examples of cause and effect. Students will create a four or five picture comic strip to illustrate cause and effect. When completed, they will compose a fluid/flowing dance using the hand motions for cause and effect with additional self-created movements. 

Remediation: 

  • Use body language when demonstrating each role play for English Language Learners.
  • Act out simple cause and effect relationships with students prior to this lesson.
  • Provide/add picture cards for each cause and effect scenario. 
  • Provide pictures for students to choose from for the “because” sentences.
  • Provide new pictures with cause and effect. Invite students to complete framed sentences (______ because _____) using pictures and/or words. 
  • Act out sentences beginning with both the cause and effect and have students determine which is correct.

*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: Susie Spear Purcell. Modifications, Extensions, and Adaptations Contributed by: Peggy Barnes, Candy Bennett, Lindsey Elrod, Jennifer Plummer, and Vilma Thomas. 

Revised and copyright:  June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

Creating a Role Drama to Analyze Characters in a Text

CREATING ROLE DRAMA TO ANALYZE CHARACTERS IN A TEXT

CREATING ROLE DRAMA TO ANALYZE CHARACTERS IN A TEXT

Learning Description

Students will use drama to analyze characters in the text A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon. Students will examine the internal and external traits of the main character, and then take on roles of characters in the story and engage in a role drama presenting possible solutions for the central problem of the story. Students will then independently write their own endings to the story, and those will be shared and discussed.  

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 2
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & ELA
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can identify adjectives to describe a character
  • I can become a character and suggest a solution to a problem in a story

Essential Questions

  • How can drama be used to analyze the characters in a text and how their actions contribute to the sequence of events?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:ELAGSE2RL3: Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges. 

ELAGSE2RL5: Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action. 

ELAGSE2RL6: Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.

Arts Standards

Grade 2: TAES2.3: Acting by developing, communicating, and sustaining roles within a variety of situations and environments.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:2.RI.5: Determine meaning and develop logical interpretations by making predictions, inferring, drawing conclusions, analyzing,synthesizing, providing evidence, and investigating multiple interpretations.

2.RL.8: Analyze characters, settings, events, and ideas as they develop and interact within a particular context.

Arts Standards

Anchor Standard 1: I can create scenes and write scripts using story elements and structure.

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Character – A person, or an animal or object that has human qualities, in a story.
  • Problem – The difficult or challenging situation in a story.
  • Solution – A way to fix or solve a problem.

Arts Vocabulary

  • Statue – An actor in a frozen pose.
  • Storytelling - Conveying events in words and images, often by improvisation or embellishment.
  • Character - A personality or role an actor/actress recreates.
  • Facial Expression - Use of the facial muscles to convey emotion and communicate the feelings and thoughts of the characters to the audience.

 

Materials

  • Anchor Chart Paper 
  • Markers 
  • Lined notebook paper 
  • Pencils
  • A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Warm-Up: Character Statues 

  • Have students spread out in the space  
  • Instruct students to freeze when the signal (tap of drum, clap of hands, or ‘Freeze”) is given, and to unfreeze on a corresponding signal (two taps, two claps, or “Unfreeze” or “Relax”) 
  • Give character prompts for students to create a Statues (E.g.,  “A happy clown juggling” “A baseball player catching a fly ball”, “An angry principal”, “A movie star signing autographs”, “Abraham Lincoln making a speech,” “Cinderella trying on the slipper”).

 

Work Session

Main Activity Scaffolding 

  • Explain that the lesson will explore the characters and problem in A Bad Case of Stripes, by David Shannon, through several drama strategies.
  • Read the book to “’No, thank you,’ sighed Camilla.  What she really wanted was a nice plate of lima beans, but she had been laughed at enough for one day.”
  • “Role on the Wall” Strategy”: On anchor chart paper, draw an outline of a human figure. Have students suggest adjectives to describe the main character’s internal feelings and characteristics.  Write, or have student volunteers write, those words and phrases inside the outline.  Have students suggest adjectives used to describe the character’s external appearance.  Write, or have student volunteers write those words and phrases outside the outline.
  • Lead the students in enacting Camilla talking about her internal feelings and external appearance.  Have the students repeat, in a Camilla voice, “When people look at me, they see someone who is ----, -----, and ------; but inside, I’m actually very --------, ---------, and ---------.”
  • Read the book to “’What are we going to do?’ cried Mrs. Cream.  ‘It just keeps getting worse and worse!’  She began to sob.” 
  • Have students choose someone in Camilla’s life.  It can be a character mentioned in the story (e.g., Dr. Bumble, Mr. Harms, Dr. Grop, Dr. Sponge, Dr. Cricket, Dr. Young, Dr. Gourd, Dr. Mellon, psychologist, allergist, herbalist, nutritionist, psychic, medicine man, guru, veterinarian, the environmental therapist), a character depicted in the illustrations (classmate, reporter, police officer, tattoo artist, onlooker), or some other character who would likely be in Camilla’s life (cousin, grandparent, neighbor, teacher, etc.).  It should not be Mr. or Mrs. Cream
  • Ask students to sit at their desk and “quick write” in the role of the character they are developing.  Provide several prompts: name, age, relationship to Camilla, 2-3 character traits (e.g., bossy, smart, shy, grumpy, nervous, fun-loving, etc.) 
  • Have students explore the space walking like their character and interacting with others as their character.
  • Have students sit down at desks or in a circle.  
  • Announce that there is going to be a town meeting to help Camilla.
  • Assume the role of Camilla's mother or father, express despair at Camilla’s condition, and ask for advice and guidance from the various people in Camilla’s life about what to do.  (Be prepared with ideas, in case students do not bring many forth, e.g., send Camilla away, give her a 24-hour bath, set her out in the sun, don’t let anyone talk to her, etc.).  Have students make their suggestions in character.  Discuss what might happen with each idea, and discuss the pros and cons.  Thank everyone for their suggestions and conclude the role play.
  • Have students return to their seats and write their new endings to the story, choosing one of the suggestions from the town meeting, and describing how it would play out.
  • Conclude the reading of the story.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Have students pair share, and have volunteers share out as a class.  Discuss how the new endings compare and contrast with the actual ending of the story.
  • Discuss Camilla’s transformation from the beginning to the end of the story.

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Students use their bodies expressively to convey the character statues.
  • Students provide a wide array of interesting and appropriate adjectives for the “Role on a Wall.”
  • Students assume characters and respond appropriately within the Role Drama.

 

Summative

Students’ story endings reflect the ideas shared in the Role Drama and bring the story to a logical conclusion accordingly.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration:

  • Have students further revise, illustrate and publish their new ending.
  • Have students get in small groups and dramatize one of their new endings.

 

Remediation

  • Model a character from the story suggesting a solution to the problem, and discuss how that might play out in a new ending to the story.
  • Give students a limited list of characters to  enact (perhaps: friend, cousin, teacher, grandparent, police officer).

 *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: Jessica Rosa and updated by Barry Stewart Mann.

Revised and copyright:  August 2022 @ ArtsNOW

Dramatic Living and Non-Living K-1

DRAMATIC LIVING AND NON-LIVING

DRAMATIC LIVING AND NON-LIVING

Learning Description

Students explore the differences between living organisms and nonliving objects through the eyes of the nursery rhyme, “Hey Diddle Diddle”. After bringing these familiar characters to life, the students discuss the concepts of living organisms and nonliving objects. Students then act out pictures of living organisms and nonliving objects for their classmates to classify, infusing fun and movement into the classroom.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can accurately portray characteristics of living organisms and nonliving objects using my body and voice.

  • I can accurately recognize and identify physical attributes of living organisms and nonliving objects.

Essential Questions

  • How can theatre techniques be used to portray living organisms and nonliving objects?

  • What is the difference between living organisms and nonliving objects?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

SKL1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how organisms (alive and not alive) and non-living objects are grouped. a. Construct an explanation based on observations to recognize the differences between organisms and nonliving objects. b. Develop a model to represent how a set of organisms and nonliving objects are sorted into groups based on their attributes.

Arts Standards

Kindergarten:

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

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten:

K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.

Arts Standards

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

Anchor Standard 8: I can relate theatre to other content areas, arts disciplines, and careers.

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Living - Includes those things that are alive or have ever been alive
  • Nonliving - Includes things are not alive, nor have they ever been

Arts Vocabulary

  • Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama

  • Character - A person, an animal or other figure assuming human qualities, in a story

 

  • 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

  • Improvisation - A creation that is spoken or written without prior preparation

 

Materials

  • Photo pages of living organisms and nonliving objects 
  • Frog video and sound clip 
  • Props such as a rock, spoon, etc.
  • Object to use as a “magic wand”
  • Anchor chart paper with columns for living and nonliving objects

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Classroom set-up will be key for this lesson! Set up chairs and tables in a circular format, to maximize students’ engagement and ability to see their peers during the activity and performance. 

 

  • Start with a general physical warm-up to get the students' bodies ready. Use exercises such as:
    • Stretching: Stretch all major muscle groups.
    • Shaking Out Limbs: Shake out arms, legs, and the whole body to release tension.
    • Energy Passes: Stand in a circle and pass a clap or a simple motion around to build group focus and energy.
  • Explain that students will explore different characters by changing their walk and physicality. Use simple prompts to get students thinking about different ways to walk and move. Call out various types of characters and ask students to walk around the space embodying those characters. Examples include:
    • A bird searching for a worm to eat
    • A tree blowing in the wind
    • A hungry lion
    • A happy dog

 

Work Session

“HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE” ALIVE  

  • Recite “Hey Diddle Diddle” nursery rhyme. Ask students to say it with you two times.  
  • Ask seven students to come up to the front of the room to each play one of the characters in the rhyme: Cat, fiddle, cow, moon, dog, dish or spoon.  
  • Ask the actors to give their character a movement, then have them act it out while everyone else recites “Hey Diddle Diddle”. 
  • Ask students if this story is fiction or non-fiction.
    • Remind students that fiction is an entertaining, make-believe story that is not true, while non-fiction is true information that gives you fact to explain something. 
    • “Hey Diddle Diddle” is fiction because it is a make-believe story. 
    • We know that plates and spoons don’t really run, right? 

 

LIVING/NONLIVING REVIEW  

  • Ask students, “What do you need to be healthy and grow?”. Write answers on the board.
    • Make sure that the words air, food, and water are mentioned, and circle those words.  
  • Show students a rock and ask, “What do rocks need in order to grow and be healthy?”.
    • Students should respond that the rock does not need air, food, and water because it does not grow.  
  • Emphasize that living things grow and eat, can move on their own, and need air, food and water (write these on the board).
    • Explain to students that things that need air, food, and water are called living organisms.  
    • Add movements:
      • Air – open fingers and hands wiggling in front of body with a wind sound,  
      • Food – hands holding an imaginary hamburger and mouth eating it with an eating sound
      • Water – pinky up and thumb down with other fingers bent like you are drinking in front of your mouth and make a drinking sound
      • Repeat the movements and explanation with students.  
  • Discuss differences between living organisms and nonliving objects with students: Things that need air, food, and water are called living organisms, while things that do not need air, food, and water are called nonliving objects. 
  • Discuss some examples of each.
    • Is a frog living or nonliving?
      • Show students a frog with a sound and movement. 
      • Have students repeat the sound and movement of the frog. 
      • Ask students if they know what kind of animal a frog is (mammal, fish, reptile or an amphibian)? A frog is an amphibian.  
      • Does a frog grow? (let me see you grow, frogs)  
      • Does a frog need food? What kind? (let me see you eat a fly, frogs)  
      • Does a frog move on its own? (let me see you move, frogs)  
      • Does a frog need air? (let me see you breathe air, frogs)  
      • Does a frog need water? Do they drink water? No. They have special skin that absorbs the water to help hydrate them. So they need water to live but they don’t drink it. (let me see you jump in the water to soak it through your skin, frogs)  
      • Is a frog living or nonliving?
    • Is a rock living or nonliving? Let’s all sit like a rock.
      • Does a rock move? 
      • Does a rock grow? 
      • Does a rock eat? 
      • Can a rock move on its own? 
      • Does a rock need air, food or water?  
      • Is a rock living or nonliving?

 

LIVING AND NONLIVING CHART  

    • Say to students, “Let’s investigate and make a chart to list our findings. We will have a column for living organisms and a column for nonliving objects”.
    • Ask students if there are things in “Hey Diddle Diddle” that do not need air, food, and water. Students should respond with a plate, spoon, moon and fiddle. Therefore, these things are nonliving. 
    • Ask students if there are things in the rhyme that need air, food and water. Students should respond with a cat, cow and dog. Therefore, these are living organisms. 
  • Note: Be aware that some students may want to identify the dish, spoon, moon, and fiddle as alive because in nursery rhymes they do take on human characteristics. Real objects such as a dish and a spoon may help to clarify this misconception.  
  • Write the appropriate objects under the correct columns of the chart.  
  • Now, ask students to look around the classroom and raise their hands to identify objects that they see. Decide as a class if the objects are living or nonliving. Ask students how they know if it’s living or nonliving. 
  • Write the objects that students list in the correct column on the chart. 

 

MAGIC WAND  

  • Hold up your magic wand. Ask students if anyone knows what the object is. Tell students that it’s a magic wand! 
  • Ask students to play a game called “Magic Wand''. Tell students that in this game, they will see if the wand can change something that’s living into a nonliving thing.
    • Find one object in this room that’s living (a person). See if the wand can change it into a nonliving thing. Nope! It won’t work. 
    • Now tell students that you will see if the wand will change something that is nonliving into a living thing. Ask if someone will show you a nonliving thing in the room (trashcan). Let’s see if this magic wand will change it to living. Nope! Won’t work. It’s impossible to do! 
    • Ask students why we can’t change the objects that were living to nonliving and the nonliving thing to living.

 

LIVING AND NONLIVING ACTION  

  • Tell students that in this next game, you will call out an animal or object and they should use their bodies and voices to make a sound to become the animal or object.  
  • Call out “Spider”. Ask students to become spiders, and then ask students whether a spider is living or nonliving. Ask students how they know.
  • Call out the following and repeat the process:  Frog, rock, butterfly, moon, dog, computer.  
  • Now, pass out pictures of organisms and objects to students, such as a snail, tree, spider, fish, human, flower, bird, cat, plant, seed, dead plant, snake, alligator, brown bear, deer, dog, frog, tortoise, turtle and rock, hat, cup, pencil, lego, computer, book, car, bike, clock, backpack, book, ring, house.
    • On the count of three, ask students to use their bodies and voices to become what is in their picture.  
    • Ask students to move to the right side of the room if they are a living organism.
    • If the student is a nonliving object, ask them to move to the left side of the room.  
    • Have students showing living organisms each demo their organism and ask the others to guess their identity.  
    • Have students showing nonliving objects each demo their object and ask the others to guess their identity.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Close the lesson by saying the rhyme again as a class and acting out the characters. 
  • Ask students to tell you which things are living and which are not living and why.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of living versus nonliving things, and use of bodies and voices to demonstrate living versus nonliving things.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can accurately portray characteristics of living organisms and nonliving objects using their bodies and voices.  
  • Students can accurately recognize and identify physical attributes of living organisms and nonliving objects.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Have students write about their living organism or nonliving object in sentence form saying which it is and why. 
  • Challenge students to come up with their own example of a living organism and nonliving object to act out.

Remediation: Provide students with cut out images of living organisms and nonliving objects. Have students sort and glue each item into two categories on chart paper–living and nonliving. This can be done as a whole class or students can work with a partner.

 

 

*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: Susie Spear Purcell. Updated by Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW