Georgia Standards

South Carolina Standards

Key Vocabulary

Materials

Optional background music to set the tone 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

• Play “Stop, Go”.
• Tell students to stand up at their tables or desks. 
• When the teacher says, “Go” and another word or phrase, students should act like that word or phrase.
• Say, “Go – cold. Go – hot. Go – in a desert. Go – in Alaska. Go – in the snow. Go – in the rain”.
• Have students return to their seats. 
• Ask students to share how they moved in different ways to represent feeling cold or hot. Ask them why.
• Ask them what made things go from cold to hot (location, precipitation, etc.) What makes things hot? 
• Ask students: 
• What makes the air hot? Why does the air get cold? If you place an ice cube on concrete in the sun on a summer day, why does it melt?

Work Session

• Tell students that they will be acting out scenarios that demonstrate the effects that the sun has on the earth. 
• Discuss heat energy with students and why some changes caused by heating or cooling can be reversed and some cannot.
• Discuss improvisation and pantomime with students. 
• Play “The Snowman”.
• Ask how many students have ever seen a snowman melt when the weather suddenly turns warmer. Show students an image.
• Ask students to describe what happens to the snowman.
• Does it change its shape? How? Is this a change that can be reversed by heating or cooling?
• Ask the students to imagine themselves as snowmen with a hat on their heads, sticks for arms, and a cane in their hand. Ask students to pose as the snowman and freeze in that position. 
• Tell students that you will narrate a scenario to them and that they should act out the scenario. Say to students:  
• “The sun begins to shine, and for the first time, your body feels warm. You grow warmer and warmer, and your hat slips, slides and falls off. Now you feel the sun shining on your shoulders. Your arms are melting. Your cane slips from your hand and falls to the ground. Your body no longer holds you up, and you, too, begin to slump. Finally, you are completely melted and become a puddle.”
• Question the players:  
• What did it feel like when the sun began to shine on your head? Your shoulders? 
• Your legs and body?  
• How did your body feel when you became a puddle?  
• What happens to the water after a snowstorm, when all the snow melts?
• Is this a change that can be reversed by heating or cooling?

• Play “Apple Seed” Pantomime. (Teacher note: Be sure to narrate this story slowly enough, and with appropriate pauses, so that the students are able to fully experience each phase as they enact the story.) 
• Tell students to find their own personal space on the floor and make themselves as small as possible. Again, you will narrate a scenario to them. They should enact the scenario as you narrate. 
• Tell students, 
• “You are an apple seed, crammed tightly into your hard seed pod and buried under the cold ground. It is winter and you are barely awake. Above you, snow covers the ground. It is totally dark under the ground. 

Now it is spring. The earth around you is growing a little warmer, and you start to feel more awake. The snow above you melts and the water soaks into the earth around you. The earth feels warmer, and you seem to be able to pull energy out of the soil. It is time to come out of your seed pod. You feel strong and energetic. Using all your strength, you push up against your seed pod and break through, like a bird breaks out of the egg. You reach upwards into the warm earth with your tendrils. The earth around you is moist, and you soak in the life-giving moisture. You don't know why, but you know you want to push upwards. Finally, with one great push, you emerge from the soil and see, for the first time, the SUN! The sun's energy flows into you and you feel stronger and stronger. You stretch upwards and outwards until you are a healthy seedling. The gentle spring rains nourish and refresh you. Just take a moment to enjoy it.

Now let's move ahead a few years. You have grown into a strong young sapling–a tree about the size of a young person. You have beautiful green leaves that soak up the sun and make you strong. But you want to grow taller. You want to be a tree. So you summon all your energy and you push out and up. As the years go by you become a strong, tall apple tree. You stand proud in the sun and enjoy your own strength and beauty.

Now it is fall. You have grown healthy, nourishing apples all over your strong branches. The apples contain seeds which might someday become new apple trees. The apples are heavy. Your branches are strong, but there are so many apples. You feel weighed down. You feel as if your branches might break.  Here come some children. You can't talk to them, but you know they are coming for the apples. They have baskets. They are laughing and singing. The children pick your apples, and your branches feel light. You know they will take them away and eat them. You know they will throw away the seeds, and that some of those seeds might grow to be new apple trees.  Almost all of your apples are gone. But you know you will grow more next year. You feel grateful to those children. You hope they will enjoy the apples. 

Now it is winter. All of your leaves have fallen. But you know you will grow more next spring. Now it is time to rest. You rest. The End. 

• Discuss how the sun made the apple grow. Ask students: 
• What happens in winter? 
• Why does the tree lose its leaves?  
• What if the seed had been dropped in a shady spot where there was very little sun? Ask students to show you what this would look like. 
• What if the seed had been dropped in Alaska? Ask students to show you what this would look like. 
• What if the seed had been dropped in the ocean? Ask students to show you what this would look like. Emphasis that the seeds need the sun in order to grow.
• What if no seeds ever grew? What would happen? Ask students to imagine a world where there is nothing growing.

Closing Reflection

• Ask students to reflect on the role that heat energy played in each scenario. 
• Reflect on how the sun provides all heat and energy for the world.

Assessments

Formative

The teacher will assess students’ learning by observing students’ responses to class discussion and observing participation in acting out the scenarios. Teachers will observe which students seem to understand the concepts versus which students are simply following the actions of other students.

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can demonstrate their understanding of the effects of the sun through pantomime and improvisation. 
• Students can explain the effects that the sun has on various scenarios.

DIFFERENTIATION 

*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 

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

Description

Students will explore states of matter and the water cycle by bringing water to life with their bodies. By enacting the changes that water molecules experience, students will learn scientific information kinesthetically.

Georgia Standards

Grade 7

S7L2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to describe how cell structures, cells, tissues, organs, and organ systems interact to maintain the basic needs of organisms.

South Carolina Standards

Key Vocabulary

Materials

• A copy of a cell diagram for each student
• Pencils
• Large chart paper (5 pieces)
• Markers

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

• Divide students into five groups.  
• Tell students that they will be making a tableau, a frozen picture, with their bodies. Every member of the group must be a part of the tableau.
• Students will be making a tableau of an item, so students must consider what the individual parts of the item are and how they are connected. Some ideas include:
• Car
• Washing machine
• House
• Mountain range
• Once students are frozen in their tableau, tell them that they will be bringing their item to life using movement and dialogue. 
• Discuss some things that the parts of the item might say. 
• Tires might say “I go round and round, and help us move”.
• The engine might say, “Hit the gas, let’s go!”. 
• The headlights might say, “Wow, it’s dark! Glad I can see where we’re going”.

Work Session

• Tell students that they will be using tableau and dialogue to demonstrate their understanding of a cell.
• Assign each group (groups from activator) a part of a cell. It is their job to label their part of the cell on their diagram and explain its role. 
• Pass out a diagram of a cell to each student. Students will label their part of the cell on their diagram. Then, on a piece of large chart paper, they will explain the role of their part of the cell. 
• Once students are done, they should post their chart paper in the room.
• Next, form new groups of five students out of the original five groups. Each group should have one person who can teach the other students about their part of the cell so that all parts of a cell are represented in each group.
• Students will now take turns teaching their group members about their part of the cell; group members will label that part on their diagram.
• Tell students that now they will create a tableau to demonstrate how the parts of a cell are connected.
• Provide time for students to discuss and arrange themselves.
• Circulate the room to check for student understanding.
• Once groups are done, have each group take turns performing their tableau. 
• Ask the audience if they can identify the different parts of the cell.
• Debrief after each group presents how the group portrayed each part of the cell with their bodies.
• Next, students will create a scene with dialogue between the different parts of the cell.
• Students will use their voice to embody the part of the cell. Students should consider the following questions. (Teachers will need to help students think abstractly about how to translate the role of the cell into a voice. For example, since the nucleus is the “boss” of the cell, it might have a big, booming voice.)
• Pitch: Is the part of the cell's voice high or low?
• Pace: Does the part of the cell speak quickly or slowly?
• Volume: Does the part of the cell speak loudly or softly?
• Tone: What is the emotional quality of the part of the cell’s voice (e.g., cheerful, gruff, calm)?
• Allow time for students to write a short scene between the parts of the cell. Each part should have at least one line.

Closing Reflection

• Students will perform their scenes for the class. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
• Ask the audience to identify each of the parts of the cell and how they were able to identify them. Ask them what voice qualities the performers used and how they reflect the role of the part of the cell.

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, group discussion of the parts and roles of a cell, ability to form a tableau and write a scene demonstrating the roles of the parts of a cell.

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can identify the parts of a cell and explain their roles.
• Students can use tableau to identify and demonstrate the parts of a cell.
• Students can write and perform scenes to explain the roles of the parts of a cell.

DIFFERENTIATION 

*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 Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

Description

Students will become a part of a cell by examining cell diagrams. Each student will use their body, voice and movement to become a particular part of the cell. After they own the character or cell, they are paired up to create dialogue between the different parts of the cell. Short, two part scenes explore the cell parts as well as their purpose and attributes as Cell Talk bring the cell to life before the students very eyes. Through embodying the parts of animal and plant cells, students get a more in depth understanding of their functions. They explore the cell world from the point of view of its parts.

Georgia Standards

South Carolina Standards

Key Vocabulary

Materials

• Photos of animals representing a variety of animals (one per student)
• Game cards with host questions

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.
• Explain that students will explore different characters by changing their walk and physicality. Encourage them to think about how their character’s age, status, mood, and personality influence their movement.
  • Begin with simple prompts to get students thinking about different ways to walk. Call out various types of characters and ask students to walk around the space embodying those characters. Examples include:
    • An elderly person with a cane
    • A proud soldier
    • A sneaky thief
    • A graceful dancer
• Have students return to their seats.

Work Session

• Review classification with students:
  • What is classification and why do we classify things? Ask students for examples of things that we classify, such as types of foods or sports.
  • Review the Animal Classification Order - Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.
    • Kingdoms are large groups, encompassing millions of kinds of organisms each. All animals are in one kingdom (called Kingdom Animalia); all plants are in another (Kingdom Plantae).
    • Species are the smallest groups. A species consists of animals of the same type who are able to breed and produce young of the same kind.
  • Some of the ways we classify living things include:
    • Is it single celled?
    • Is the nucleus in the cell?
    • Does it make its own food?
    • Does it eat food?
    • Does it reproduce sexually?
  • Cold blooded vs. warm blooded:
    • Cold blooded animals include fish, amphibians, reptiles, and all invertebrates.
    • Warm blooded animals include birds and animals not in the above list.
  • Vertebrate vs. Invertebrates:
    • Vertebrates are animals with backbones, including humans, dolphins, flamingos, alligators, fish, and frogs. Our vertebrate movement will be:
      • “ver” - clap elbows to hands flat together
      • “te” - thumbs swing out to the side
      • “brate” - both palms touch shoulders/back
• There are six Vertebrate Groups: Birds, Mammals, Fish, Reptiles, Amphibians, Arthropods (Insects and Arachnids).
  • BIRDS: Animals that have two wings, two feet and are the only animals that have feathers. Some birds fly, some run and some swim. This group includes blue birds, flamingos, macaws, ostriches, chickens, etc.
    • Movement:
      • ”bird” - flap arms like bird wings and stop feet one at a time
  • MAMMALS: An animal that feeds milk to its young and has hair or fur on its body.  Some examples are whitetail deer, squirrel, pig, dog, cat, bears, chimpanzees, dolphin, and whale.
    • Movement:
      • “mam” - hug your body for warmth and rub arm like fur
      • “mal” - pretend to suck thumb
  • FISH: Animals that live in water, breathe with gills, and are covered with scales.
    • Movement:
      • “fish” - hands on cheeks, top of hand to cheek with fingers splayed out for gills; purse lips together and open like fish lips
  • REPTILES: Animals with rough, dry skin that may have scales or hard plates.  Some examples are alligators, turtles, and giant tortoises.
    • Movement:
      • “rep” - cross arms and scratch skin on upper arms
      • “tiles” - knock on top shoulders
  • AMPHIBIANS: Animals with smooth, wet skin that typically begin life in the water, breathing with gills. They metamorphosize into an adult that lives on land, and give birth by laying eggs. Some examples are frogs, toads and salamanders.
    • Movement:
      • “am” - stroke cheeks with both hands
      • “phi” - hands in front and squat like a frog
      • “bian” - come up and stick tongue out to catch a fly then say “ribbit”
• INVERTEBRATES: Cold blooded animals without backbones. Some examples are butterflies, clams, octopus, worms, starfish, and ants.
  • Movement:
    • “inver” - forearms cross and sway in front of body
    • “te” - arms out like butterfly wings
    • “brate” - fingers at hips like octopus arms
• Some invertebrate groups:
  • MOLLUSKS: Cold-blooded animals with soft bodies; most have a hard shell.  Some examples include octopus, slugs, snails, squids and clams.
    • Movement:
      • “mol” - arms crossed in front of body like cold
      • “lus” - soft pat on upper arms
      • “ks” - fist knock on back of shoulders
  • ECHINODERM: Cold-blooded animals with bodies with rough skin and sharp spines. Some examples are sea stars, sea urchins and sand dollars.
    • Movement:
      • “echi” - arms crossed in front of body like cold
      • “no” - scratch upper arms
      • “derm” - put fingers out like claws
  • ANNELIDS: Cold-blooded animals with soft bodies with sections. Some examples are worms, leeches and clamworms.
    • Movement:
      • “an” - arms crossed in front of body like cold
      • “ne” - soft pat on upper arms
      • “lid” - palms out front a foot apart and move from right to left (2 times)
  • CNIDARIANS: Cold-blooded animals with symmetrical, sac-like bodies and true mouths; they are able to eat/digest food. Some examples are hydras, polyps, jellyfishes, sea anemones, and corals.
    • Movement:
      • “cni” - forearms together in front of body and hands swing out (symmetry)
      • “dar” - arms bowed out around stomach
      • “ians” - mouth moving like eating
  • ARTHROPODS (means “jointed leg”): Cold blooded animals with exoskeletons and jointed legs. Some examples include spiders, crabs, lobsters, ladybugs, centipedes, and millipedes.
    • Movement:
      • “arth” - knock on stomach
      • “ro” - pointer fingers half up
      • “pod” - pointer finger all the way up and shiver
  • ARACHNIDS: Arthropods with exoskeletons, two different body regions (head and abdomen), and eight legs; includes spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, harvestmen, and crabs.
    • Movement:
      • “ar” - two fist on top of each other
      • “rach” - eight fingers open
      • “nid” - all fingers wiggling
  • INSECTS: Arthropods with three different body regions (head, thorax, abdomen), six legs attached to thorax (middle), and sometimes wings; includes grasshoppers, bees, butterflies, flies, beetles, and ladybugs.
    • Movement:
      • “in” - three fingers open
      • “sect” - six fingers coming off both sides of chest, then hands become wings
• Animal Classification: Who am I?
  • Hand out pictures of different types of animals (one per student).
  • Discuss how a scientist or zoologist examines animals.
  • Ask students to observe their animals as if they are zoologists.
  • Students should look at all of the animal’s features so that they can properly classify this animal in the group that it belongs to.
  • Using movement: Now, tell students to sit like their animal sits or stands.  Move like their animal moves. Pretend to eat like their animal eats.
  • Tell students to give their animal a name.
  • Using voice: On the count of three, at the same time and aloud, tell students to say what their animal ate for breakfast using their animal’s voice, which should be different from their own voice (high or low or fast or slow; fast or slow, etc.).
  • Now tell students to sit as their animal would sit and classify their animal.
• Ask students to write down the answers to these questions on the paper with their animal picture:
  • What animal are you?
  • Is it a vertebrate or invertebrate? Backbone or no backbone?
  • If a vertebrate, go through the types of vertebrates and decide:
    • Are you cold blooded or warm blooded?
    • Describe your skin (hairy, scaly, furry, rough, wet, dry, feathers, etc.).
    • Do you have scales or a hard plate?
    • Do you have wings and two feet?
    • What do you eat?
    • Do you live on land or in the water?
  • If an invertebrate, go through questions that correspond to invertebrates.
  • Now ask students to write down two or three elements that make their animal a part of their classifying group.
  • Sitting like their animal would sit to show the pattern and shape, students should introduce themselves to their neighbor using the name they selected and the voice they created for their animal.
• “The Animal Kingdom Classification Connection Game”
  • Set up four chairs in the front of the classroom in a line facing the audience/students.
  • Tell students that they are going to participate in a live television game show called “The Animal Kingdom Classification Connection Game” where lost animals are connected back with their loved ones.
  • Ask four students to be the starring animals and walk up and sit in the four seats as their animal would move.
  • The teacher will act as the game show host and will have two assistants Zoologists/students come up to help classify the animals.
  • Ask two students to be the assistant Zoologists.
  • Have them make up names and introduce themselves to the audience using a different voice.
  • Have each animal and each expert say hello to the audience using their animal voice.
  • Say, “Today we are going to classify each animal on our show and get them back home! We will start by talking to one animal at a time. We will ask each animal some questions one at a time to help us identify its group of origin.”
  • Hand the assistant zoologists two sets of questions (one for vertebrates, one for invertebrates):
    • Questions: Are you a vertebrate or an invertebrate?
    • VERTEBRATE LIST:
      • Are you cold blooded or warm blooded?
      • Describe your skin? (hairy, scaly, furry, rough, wet, dry, feathers, etc.)
      • Do you have scales or a hard plate?
      • Do you have wings and two feet?
      • What do you eat?
      • Do you live on land or in the water?
    • INVERTEBRATE LIST:
      • Do you have an exoskeleton?
      • Do you have sharp spines?
      • Do you have joined legs?
      • Do you have a segmented body? If so, how many segments?
      • Do you have wings?
      • Do you have legs? If so, how many legs?
    • After the questions are asked, the experts can state their answer and the audience will make a ding sound if they are correct and make a buzz sound if they are incorrect.
    • If correct, the animal gets to do a dance moving as their animal would move back to his/her seat.

Closing Reflection

• Close the lesson with Animal Families Unite.
• Have students find the other animals in their classification and go to different areas in the room.
• Once all groups are together go around the room and have each group chant their classification and then become their animals with sounds.
• Have the students tell the features that apply to their classification.

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of animal classification, ability to classify animals, and use of body and voice to personify their animal.

Summative

CHECKLIST

• Students can accurately classify assigned animals and identify characteristics used in identification.
• Students can accurately use their voices and bodies like their assigned animal when performing.

DIFFERENTIATION 

*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: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW