The Life of Thomas Jefferson
Description
To help students begin to personalize the life of Thomas Jefferson, we need to allow them the opportunity to actively imagine some of the events of his life.
Using Drama to Explore Story Elements K-1
USING DRAMA TO EXPLORE STORY ELEMENTS
Learning Description
Students will use drama to explore the story elements of the text, “The Tortoise and the Hare”. This will be achieved through tableau, pantomime and story-telling during a read-aloud of the text. This role-playing exercise will aid in students’ articulation of the story’s problem and solution.
Learning Targets
"I Can" Statements
“I Can…”
- I can identify the beginning, middle, and end of “The Tortoise and the Hare”.
- I can identify and use theatre techniques such as tableau and pantomime to demonstrate the emotions of the Tortoise throughout the story.
- I can use tableau to retell the story.
Essential Questions
- How can theatre techniques help us understand the elements of a story and gain insight into the experiences of the characters in the story?
Georgia Standards
Curriculum Standards
Kindergarten:
ELAGSEKRL3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
Grade 1:
ELAGSE1RL2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. ELAGSE1RL3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
Arts Standards
Kindergarten:
TAK.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.
TAK.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.
TAK.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.
Grade 1:
TA1.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.
TA1.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.
TA1.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.
South Carolina Standards
Curriculum Standards
Kindergarten:
ELA.K.AOR.1.1 Identify and describe the main character(s), setting, and events that move the plot forward.
ELA.K.AOR.6.1 Retell a text orally to enhance comprehension: a. include main character(s), setting, and important events for a story.
Grade 1:
ELA.1.AOR.1.1 Identify and describe the main story elements, such as character(s), setting, and events that move the plot forward.
ELA.1.AOR.2.1 Retell a story using main story elements and identify a lesson in a literary text.
ELA.1.AOR.6.1 Retell a text orally and in writing to enhance comprehension: a. include main story elements at the beginning, middle, and end for a literary text.
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.
Anchor Standard 8: I can relate theatre to other content areas, arts disciplines, and careers.
Key Vocabulary
Content Vocabulary
- Narration - The act of telling a story
- Character - A person, an animal or other figure assuming human qualities, in a story
- Setting - The time and place in which a story takes place
- Plot - The events that happen in a story
- Cause - The reason something happened
- Effect - What happens because of the cause
Arts Vocabulary
- Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama
- Storytelling - Conveying events in words and images, often by improvisation or embellishment
- Character - A personality or role an actor/actress recreates
- Pantomime - Acting without words through facial expression, gesture, and movement
- Tableau - A “living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph
- “Rainbow of Desire” Tableau - A technique developed by Augusto Boal as part of his Theatre of the Oppressed methodology. It is used to explore the internal desires and conflicts of a protagonist through a series of theatrical exercises and visual representations. A "Rainbow of Desire" tableau is a visual and physical representation of these internal states, where participants create a series of frozen images (tableaux) to illustrate the various emotions, desires, and conflicts within a character.
Materials
-
- “The Tortoise and the Hare” by Aesop
- Markers/crayons
- Pencils
- Story Map with characters, setting, and the parts of a plot
- Smart board/white board
- Optional - Sock puppet
- Optional extension - iPad with Sock Puppets app
Instructional Design
Opening/Activating Strategy
Classroom Tips: Use cueing methods when directing tableau in your classroom: “3-2-1- Freeze”.
- 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
-
- Begin the lesson by reading the text “The Tortoise and the Hare” by Aesop as a whole class.
- Option: Use a sock to make a simple “sock puppet”. Tell students that the sock puppet will ask some questions throughout the story.
-
- Stop the story right before the race. using your sock puppet, say, “The Hare was not very nice to the Tortoise. He kept teasing the Tortoise and calling him mean names like ‘slow poke’. How do you think this made the Tortoise feel?”. Allow time for students to share.
- Demonstrate how to role-play by stepping into character as the Tortoise. Express in the first person that he/you feels sad and discouraged because of the Hare’s teasing. Ask students to pantomime how the Tortoise feels.
- Ask students to give the Tortoise/you advice on whether or not he should still complete the race.
- Finish reading the story.
- Stop periodically as the Tortoise experiences new emotions. Ask students to pantomime how the Tortoise feels at each pause in the story.
- After the story, discuss how the Tortoise changed from the beginning to the end with a “Rainbow of Desire” tableau.
- Explain the concept of the "Rainbow of Desire" and its purpose in exploring internal conflicts and desires.
- Identify the Tortoise as the protagonist.
- As the Tortoise, the teacher should express his main desire or conflict. Ask students to help you determine what this is.
- Ask students to help you identify what emotions the Tortoise had throughout the story while trying to achieve his/your main desire. Record them on the board in sequential order.
- Divide students into small groups. Assign each group an emotion that the Tortoise experienced. Students should form a frozen image (tableau) that represents that emotion. Remind students to show the emotion through their bodies and faces using pantomime.
- Have students arrange themselves sequentially to represent the emotions that the Tortoise experiences throughout the story. Tell them that on the count of three, they should freeze in their tableaux: ”3-2-1-Freeze”.
- The teacher will move around the tableaux in-role as the Tortoise, observing and interacting with each representation to gain insight into their own internal state.
- After the tableau is created and explored, facilitate a discussion about what was revealed through the images.
- Have students return to their seats and create story maps for the story about the Tortoise.
- Students should include the main characters, the Tortoise and the Hare, the setting, and the parts of the plot. Depending on student levels, have students illustrate and describe in sentence-form the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
Closing Reflection
- Select a few students to share their story maps with the class.
- Select a few students from the class to stand and create tableaux for each major event as they are read aloud.
- Ask students if the Tortoise changed from the beginning of our story to the end. How?
- Ask students how tableau helped them understand the Tortoise’s feelings.
- Ask students whether drama helped them retell the story’s beginning, middle and end.
Assessments
Formative
Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of “The Tortoise and the Hare”, participation in Rainbow of Desire tableaux, and conferencing with students during their creation of story maps.
Summative
CHECKLIST
- Students can identify the beginning, middle, and end of “The Tortoise and the Hare”.
- Students can identify and use theatre techniques such as tableau and pantomime to demonstrate the emotions of the Tortoise throughout the story.
- Students can use tableau to retell the story.
DIFFERENTIATION
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Acceleration:
Remediation:
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*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 Espinoza. Updated by: Katy Betts.
Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW
Using Drama to Explore the Beginning, Middle, and End of a Story K-1
USING DRAMA TO EXPLORE BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END OF A STORY
Learning Description
In this lesson, students will use drama techniques to explore the story elements of Swimmy by Leo Lionni. Students will use tableau and pantomime to act out the story as it is read aloud and will then create their own scenes to retell the story after it has been read.
Learning Targets
"I Can" Statements
“I Can…”
- I can use pantomime and tableau to communicate or retell parts of a story.
- I can act out a portion of a story and determine where it fits in the sequence–beginning, middle or end.
- I can accurately retell the parts of a story using writing and illustrating.
Essential Questions
- How can theatrical techniques help us understand stories better?
Georgia Standards
Curriculum Standards
Kindergarten:
ELAGSEKRL3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.
Grade 1:
ELAGSE1RL2 Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson. ELAGSE1RL3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details.
Arts Standards
Kindergarten:
TAK.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.
TAK.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.
TAK.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.
Grade 1:
TA1.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.
TA1.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.
TA1.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.
South Carolina Standards
Curriculum Standards
Kindergarten:
ELA.K.AOR.1.1 Identify and describe the main character(s), setting, and events that move the plot forward.
ELA.K.AOR.6.1 Retell a text orally to enhance comprehension: a. include main character(s), setting, and important events for a story.
Grade 1:
ELA.1.AOR.1.1 Identify and describe the main story elements, such as character(s), setting, and events that move the plot forward.
ELA.1.AOR.2.1 Retell a story using main story elements and identify a lesson in a literary text.
ELA.1.AOR.6.1 Retell a text orally and in writing to enhance comprehension: a. include main story elements at the beginning, middle, and end for a literary text.
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.
Anchor Standard 8: I can relate theatre to other content areas, arts disciplines, and careers.
Key Vocabulary
Content Vocabulary
- Narration - The act of telling a story
- Character - A person, an animal or other figure assuming human qualities, in a story
- Setting - The time and place in which a story takes place
- Plot - The events that happen in a story
- Cause - The reason something happened
- Effect - What happens because of the cause
Arts Vocabulary
- Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama
- Tableau - A “living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph
- Pantomime - Acting without words through facial expression, gesture, and movement
- Ensemble - All the parts of a thing taken together, so that each part is considered
- Body - An actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character looks, walks, or moves
Materials
- Smart board/white board
- Markers/crayons
- Story Map with characters, setting, and the parts of a plot
- Pencils
- Swimmy by Leo Lionni
- Optional: Sock puppet or stuffed animal
Instructional Design
Opening/Activating Strategy
Classroom Tips: Use cueing methods when directing tableau in your classroom: “3–2–1–Freeze”.
- 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.
- Introduce the art form of tableau with a warm-up: Statues in the Garden.
- Tell students that the teacher is the guard of the garden and all of the other players are statues in the garden.
- The guard counts to ten and says “Freeze”.
- During the count, all of the other players move around the room and become a frozen statue by the count of 10.
- Tell students that when the guard is wandering through the garden and is not looking at them, they should change their statue position. However, if the guard sees a statue move or in the process of moving, that player will be “out”.
- As the teacher wanders through the garden, prompt students to create statues in different environments (ie. statues we may see in a city, statues of animals we may see in a forest, etc,).
- Debrief the activity sharing that when actors make “frozen pictures” with their bodies, this is called tableau in theatre. Tell students that they will be using tableau in the lesson today.
Work Session
- Read the book, Swimmy, by Leo Lionni, aloud to the class.
- Pause throughout the reading and ask students to use tableau and pantomime to analyze the characters, setting, and major events.
- Example: “I wonder what the tuna fish’s face looked like at this point in the story? Can I see everyone make the face of the tuna fish? 3–2–1–FREEZE!”.
- In this way, students will explore the characters using tableau, movement and pantomime at various points in the text. Select different students to demonstrate the story using tableau, movement, and/or pantomime for the rest of the class.
- Example: “When Swimmy was exploring the underwater creatures he saw some pretty amazing things! Can anyone remember one creature he saw?” Ask several students to show the class a statue of that creature.
- When the class gets to the end of the story, discuss the lesson that the school of fish learned. Facilitate a class discussion relating personal experiences to the story’s lesson.
- Introduce the parts of the story–beginning, middle, and end–with a class visitor such as a puppet or stuffed animal.
- The class puppet/stuffed animal/etc. should arrive and visit the class right after you finish the story. Tell the puppet that you just finished reading a story.
- The puppet tells the class that they love retelling stories and shares “Retell a Story Dance” with the class.
- Students learn the dance: Hand up for the beginning, out for the middle and down for the end.
- The puppet wants to know what the story is about.
- As a class, retell the story with the beginning, middle, and end. At each point in retelling the story, students should put their hand in the appropriate position to indicate which part of the story it is–beginning, middle, or end.
- Divide students into small groups. Assign each group a part of the story–beginning, middle, or end. Each group should create a short scene acting out their part of the story.
- Circulate the room to work with students and check for understanding as they create their scenes.
- Put three groups together–one with the beginning, one with the middle, and one with the end of the story. Have students put their scenes together in the correct sequence.
- Provide time for students to practice. Circulate the room to work with students and check for understanding.
Closing Reflection
- Students will perform the story for the class. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
- After each performance, students should discuss how the groups showed the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
- Ask students how drama techniques like pantomime and tableau helped them understand the story.
- As a class, or in small groups, create a story map of the beginning, middle and end of the story using illustrations and descriptions.
Assessments
Formative
Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, use of pantomime and tableau to act out parts of the story as it is read aloud, discussion of the story’s lesson and relating it to their own personal experiences, retelling of the story, and conferencing with students as they act out their assigned part of the story.
Summative
CHECKLIST
- Students can use pantomime and tableau to communicate or retell parts of the story.
- Students can act out an assigned portion of a story and determine where it fits in the sequence.
Students can accurately retell the parts of a story using a Story Map.
DIFFERENTIATION
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Acceleration:
Remediation:
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*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 Espinoza. Updated by: Katy Betts.
Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW
You Can’t Take Me K-1
YOU CAN’T TAKE ME
Learning Description
In this lesson, students will use their bodies to represent numbers in the game, “You Can’t Take Me”, and will be able to articulate the relationship between numbers in a fact family.
Learning Targets
"I Can" Statements
“I Can…”
-
I can use my body to create mathematical addition and subtraction equations using fact families.
-
I can recognize the inverse relationship between subtraction and addition and use this inverse relationship to solve problems.
-
I can explain the relationship between numbers in a fact family using addition and subtraction.
Essential Questions
- How can we use theatrical techniques to help us understand fact families?
Georgia Standards
Curriculum Standards
Grade 1:
1.NR.2.1 Use a variety of strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems within 20.
1.NR.2.3 Recognize the inverse relationship between subtraction and addition within 20 and use this inverse relationship to solve authentic problems.
1.NR.2.5 Use the meaning of the equal sign to determine whether equations involving addition and subtraction are true or false.
Arts Standards
Grade 1:TA1.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.
South Carolina Standards
Curriculum Standards
Grade 1:
1.ATO.1 Solve real-world/story problems using addition (as a joining action and as a part-part-whole action) and subtraction (as a separation action, finding parts of the whole, and as a comparison) through 20 with unknowns in all positions.
1.ATO.2 Solve real-world/story problems that include three whole number addends whose sum is less than or equal to 20.
1.ATO.4 Understand subtraction as an unknown addend problem.
1.ATO.7 Understand the meaning of the equal sign as a relationship between two quantities (sameness) and determine if equations involving addition and subtraction are true.
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
- Fact family - A group of related mathematical facts or equations involving the same set of numbers. In addition and subtraction fact families, the numbers can be arranged to show how they are interconnected through these operations.
- Addition - A basic mathematical operation that involves combining two or more numbers to get a total or sum
- Subtraction - A basic mathematical operation that involves taking one number away from another
Arts Vocabulary
- Body – An actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character looks, walks, or moves
- Tableau - A “living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph
Materials
- Sets of fact family numbers (enough numbers for each student)
- Addition, Subtraction, and Equals signs for each group of three students
Instructional Design
Opening/Activating Strategy
- 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.
- Begin the lesson with a tableau warm-up. Tell students that when you say a word, they should try to make that word using their bodies; then, they should freeze in that pose.
- Ask students to make a frozen picture of the following:
- Tree
- Bird
- Butterfly
- Chair
- Table
- Ask students to make a frozen picture of the following:
- Tell students that in this lesson, they will be using their bodies just like in the activator.
Work Session
You Can’t Take Me Game Warm Up
- Tell students to imagine that the classroom has become a house.
- Ask students to brainstorm the types of rooms there are in a house–bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bathroom, etc.
- Divide students into groups of three.
- Assign each group a room in the house. Ask students to think of different things they would see in their assigned room. Ask a few students to share.
- Next, tell students to make themselves into something in their assigned room.
- Once all students have created something for their room, the teacher should approach a student and say, “I am going to get rid of this”. The student will respond with, “You can’t take me.” Teacher should reply, “Why not?”. The student should reply “Because _________________” (giving some reason that the object is important).
- Move around the room until all students have participated.
You Can’t Take Me Game
- Tell students that they will now play the same game, but with fact families.
- Review what “+, –, and =” mean mathematically.
- Give each group a “+” and “=” sign, and give each student in the group a number that is part of the same fact family.
- In their groups, ask the students to line themselves up to make an addition equation.
- Remind students to put the addition and equals sign in the correct place for their equation.
- Example: If a group had the numbers 3, 5 and 8, they should create the equation 3 + 5 = 8.
- Now, tell students to change the numbers to make the equation look different, but still be true: 5 + 3 = 8.
- Tell students that when you come around the room to get rid of their number, they should tell you why they are important. For example, “You can’t take me because without me, 5 can’t make 8” (if you are a three and the other people in the group are a 5 and a 3).
- Next, give each group a “–” sign.
- Ask students to make a subtraction equation with the same numbers that they used in their addition equation.
- Tell students that when you come around the room to get rid of their number, they should tell you why they are important.
- Let everyone have a turn. Make sure that each student is given the chance to calculate a solution and explain their reasoning.
Closing Reflection
- Write three numbers on the board that are all part of the same fact family.
- Ask students to arrange the numbers so that they make an addition equation and a subtraction equation. Then ask students to rearrange the numbers in both equations so that they look different but are still true.
- Students will submit this for assessment.
- Students can work individually or in their groups.
Assessments
Formative
Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, collaboration and participation in the “You Can’t Take Me” warm-up and game, and written equations in the closing activity.
Summative
CHECKLIST
- Students can use their bodies to create mathematical addition and subtraction equations using fact families.
- Students can recognize the inverse relationship between subtraction and addition and use this inverse relationship to solve problems.
- Students can explain the relationship between numbers in a fact family using addition and subtraction.
DIFFERENTIATION
|
Acceleration:
Remediation:
|
*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 Katy Betts.
Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW