This Land is My Land, This Land is Your Land 2-3

THIS LAND IS MY LAND, THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

THIS LAND IS MY LAND, THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will assume characters in a class drama centered around preserving the environment. Students will step into roles as different living things that inhabit a forest habitat. Students will then participate in a role drama where they improvise dialogue and analyze environmental concepts. In the class drama, the teacher steps into the role as a developer and announces that he/she intends to take down the forest and build a factory. Students in turn defend their habitat and attempt to persuade the developer to leave their home as it is. Through persuasive writing and role-playing students explore their own understanding of the environment.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can explain how deforestation will negatively impact the forest habitat.

  • I can use tableau to demonstrate a forest habitat and the effects that deforestation would have on it.

Essential Questions

  • How can drama be used to promote awareness and understanding of the environment?

  • How do humans cause change to their environment?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

S2E3. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about how weather, plants, animals, and humans cause changes to the environment.

 

Grade 3: 

S3L2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the effects of pollution (air, land, and water) and humans on the environment.

Arts Standards

Grade 2:

TA2.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.

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

 

Grade 3:

TA3.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.

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

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 3: 

3-LS4-4. Make a claim about the effectiveness of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and affects organisms living there.

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

  • Conserve - To protect

  • Endangered species - A species of organisms facing a very high risk of extinction
  • Environment - The things, both living and nonliving, that surround a living thing
  • Natural resources - Materials that occur in nature and can be used for economic gain such as minerals, forests, water, and fertile land
  • Pollution - Anything in the environment that can harm living things or damage natural resources
  • Preservation - To keep alive or in existence
  • Recycle - To reuse a resource to make something new

Arts Vocabulary

  • Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama

  • Ensemble - All the parts of a thing taken together, so that each part is considered
  • Tableau -  A “living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph

  • Actor’s neutral - A neutral position which includes a good center of balance, aligned posture, and no unconscious areas of tension in your neck, shoulders, or spine.

  • Teacher-in-role - Technique in which the teacher assumes a role in relation to the students to help develop the lesson 

 

  • 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

 

  • Dialogue – Conversation between characters

 

  • Scene – The dialogue and action between characters in one place for one continuous period of time

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

 

Materials

  • Anchor chart paper 
  • Markers 
  • Paper 
  • Pencils

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Use cueing methods when directing tableaux in your classroom, such as “3-2-1- Freeze” and “3-2-1- Action”. Make your expectations for when students step into their role drama explicit. Go over the guidelines before the drama begins. If necessary, post them somewhere visible so that students can refer back to them. 

 

  • 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 tableau to students.
    • Arrange students in small groups.
    • Explain to students that tableau is a “living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph.
    • Tell students that you will say a word or phrase and the group must form a tableau of that word or phrase.
    • Say various objects, like “triangle”, or scenarios, like “eating dinner at a restaurant”. Groups should then form the various scenarios within their groups silently. 
  • Debrief the activity and tell students that they just engaged in a theatre technique called tableau. It is a“living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph.
  • Have students return to their seats.

 

Work Session

  • Review the following concepts with students: Pollution, conservation, reduce, reuse, recycle, litter, preservation of the environment, natural resources, etc. 
  • Tell students that they will be using tableau to learn about these concepts. They will be transforming the classroom into a forest habitat.
  • Students should brainstorm what they may find in a forest–discuss the animals, plants, and other things that they might see in this habitat. Show pictures of forests and forest animals for students who might not have been to a forest before. Create a list on a smart board for students to see.
  • Tell students that they will be using tableau to bring their forest to life.
    • List out the items students named. As you read them, ask students to become the object.
    • Continue the process until everyone in the class has become a part of the tableau  
    • Now ask students to create sounds for the setting they have created (birds chirping, leaves rustling, etc.).
  • Exploring their characters:
    • Tell students that now they will step into the role as the character they dramatized in the class tableau.  
    • Prompt students to silently walk around the room (or move like their object–e.g., a tree swaying in the breeze) in character exploring their character’s movements.
    • Prompt students to imagine their character can speak; students should explore their character’s voice by introducing themselves to one another in-role.  
  • Tell students that the teacher is going to step into role as a character. Your character will be a developer who is looking to take down the forest and build a factory that makes plastic lawn chairs.
  • Enter the scene and tell the forest what you are going to do as the developer.
  • Students remain in role as forest characters and speak to the developer explaining how taking down the forest will impact their environment. 
  • The developer exits and the role drama pauses. 
  • Discuss the effects that deforestation would have on the forest habitat.
  • Resume the tableau–this time imagine that the forest has been taken down. Students should now create a tableau that shows their character after the forest has been removed.
  • Discuss how students are showing the effects of deforestation in their tableau.

 

WRITING IN-ROLE: 

  • Students will then write a persuasive letter to the developer attempting to stop him/her from taking down the forest. 
  • Students will share their letters with a partner. 

 

PRESS CONFERENCE:

  • Select four or five students to step onstage in-role as their forest character to persuade the developer to not take the forest down.
  • The remaining students step into roles as reporters. Reporters ask the onstage characters “Why?” questions (ex: Why are the trees so important? Why should we stop the developer? Why will this hurt the environment?).

 

Closing Reflection

  • Close the lesson with a 3-2-1 ticket out the door. Students should write down three things that they found interesting about the lesson, two things they learned, and one question that they have.
  • Provide time for students to share with a partner.

 

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, review of content vocabulary, participation in forest habitat tableau, writing in-role, and questions/answers in the “press conference”.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can explain how deforestation will negatively impact the forest habitat.
  • Students can use tableau to demonstrate a forest habitat and the effects that deforestation would have on it.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: Have students conduct the same process exploring other ways that humans can impact their environments (such as water pollution).

Remediation: 

  • Provide character cards with pictures for students. The character cards would have items that could be found in a forest, such as a pine tree. Using the picture, help students think about how they could use their body to become a pine tree.
  • Allow students to orally explain how deforestation would impact their character rather than writing a letter.

 

 

*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

 

Back to Modules

Using Dance to Explore Electricity 4-5

USING DANCE TO EXPLORE ELECTRICITY

USING DANCE TO EXPLORE ELECTRICITY

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will analyze various examples of conductors and insulators. They will work in small groups to craft a group dance that depicts an electrical current and how it is affected by the conductor or insulator they are analyzing. Students will present their dances to the class and their classmates will determine whether the movement conveyed an insulator or conductor. Students will reflect on the process and a class discussion will develop around how conductors and insulators affect electrical currents.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: DANCE & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can explain the different effects that a conductor and an insulator have on an electrical current.
  • I can demonstrate the different effects that a conductor and an insulator have on an electrical current through movement and choreography.
  • I can use the elements of dance to communicate meaning to an audience.

Essential Questions

  • How can dance be used to explore the effect that conductors and insulators have on electrical currents?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 5:

S5P2. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to investigate electricity.

  1. Obtain and combine information from multiple sources to explain the difference between naturally occurring electricity (static) and human-harnessed electricity.
  2. Design a complete, simple electric circuit, and explain all necessary components. c. Plan and carry out investigations on common materials to determine if they are insulators or conductors of electricity.

Arts Standards

Grade 5:

ESD5.CR.1 Demonstrate an understanding of the choreographic process.

 

ESD5.CR.2 Demonstrate an understanding of dance as a form of communication.

 

ESD5.PR.1 Identify and demonstrate movement elements, skills, and terminology in dance

 

ESD5.RE.1 Demonstrate critical and creative thinking in dance.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

4-PS3-4. Apply scientific ideas to design, test, and refine a device that converts energy from one form to another.

Arts Standards

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

Anchor Standard 2: I can choreograph a dance.

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

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Electrical current - A flow of electric charges Insulators A material that prevents or blocks the flow of electricity
  • Circuit - A path that is made from an electrical current
  • Conductor - A material that electricity can flow through easily
  • Insultator - A material that resists the flow of electric charge

Arts Vocabulary

  • Movement phrase - A series of movements linked together to make a distinctive pattern
  • Non-locomotor - This refers to a movement that does not travel through space
  • Locomotor - This refers to a movement that travels through space
  • Steady beat - An unchanging, continuous pulse
  • Pathway - The designs traced on the floor as a dancer travels across space; the designs traced in the air as a dancer moves various body parts
  • Space - An element of movement involving direction, level, size, focus, and pathway
  • Level - One of the aspects of the movement element space; in dance, there are three basic levels: high, middle, and low
  • Choreography - The art of composing dances and planning and arranging the movements, steps, and patterns of dancers
  • Choreographer - A person who creates dances
  • Shape - This refers to an interesting and interrelated arrangement of body parts of one dance; the visual makeup or molding of the body parts of a single dancer; the overall visible appearance of a group of dancersTypes of shapes: Curved/Angular

 

Materials

  • Sound source and music with a steady beat
  • Anchor chart paper/poster paper (one per group)
  • Markers
  • Index cards with scenarios written on them

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Make your expectations for when students work together in groups to craft their dances explicit. Go over the guidelines before the group work begins. Write and post them so that students can refer back to them if they need to during their group working time. 

  • Begin the lesson by engaging students in movement that introduces students to the Elements of Dance: Body, action, space, time and energy.
      • Have students arrange themselves throughout the room with enough personal space to move freely without touching a neighbor.
      • Turn on instrumental music with a steady beat.
      • First, have students bring awareness to their bodies by leading them through gentle stretches starting from the head and moving to the toes (e.g., head circles, shoulder shrugs, toe touches, etc.).
  • Prompt students to create shapes with their body to music. Encourage students to think about making curved and angular shapes.
    • Next, bring students’ awareness to the space in the room by having them march in place to the beat of the music swinging their arms side to side. Select a “leader” who will guide students in a movement as students walk in a circle around the room. This will allow students to explore traveling movements and pathways (straight, zigzag, circular).
      • Tell students that when a dancer moves from one place to another, this is called locomotor movement; when a dancer performs a movement in one place, this is called non-locomotor.
    • Now, direct students to go back to their place; they will explore energy variations with different movement qualities such as sharp movements–quick, precise actions like punches or snaps, and smooth movements–slow, flowing actions like waves or circles with arms.
  • Have students return to their seats.

 

Work Session

  • Review electrical currents, circuits, conductors, and insulators. Use visuals to support student understanding.
    • Ask students how pathways in dance and electrical circuits are similar. Ask a student volunteer to demonstrate. This will help students see how movement can be used to communicate a concept.
    • Brainstorm with students examples of conductors and insulators.
  • Divide students in small groups.
  • Have students divide a piece of chart paper/poster paper into four sections.
    • Students should title each section the following: Electrical current, circuit, conductor and insulator.
    • In each section students should write adjectives that would describe what each would look like. Students should also brainstorm what types of movements would express each term. Ask students to consider things like movement quality, locomotor/non-locomotor, pathways, etc.
    • Allow time for some groups to share. Students can then revise their charts as needed.
  • Give each group a scenario written on an index card that demonstrates either a conductor or an insulator that would affect an electrical current.
    • Direct students to first determine whether the example is a conductor or insulator.
    • Next, ask students to collaborate to create a movement phrase (three movements) that depicts the scenario and how the conductor or insulator provoked or stopped the electrical current.
    • Remind students to refer back to their charts to help them choreograph their movement phrases.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Students will perform their movement phrases for the class. Before students perform their dances, discuss audience participation and etiquette.
  • After each performance, the audience should determine whether the piece had a conductor or an insulator in the scenario.
  • Facilitate a discussion around how they arrived at their conclusion by asking the following questions:
    • Based on the movement of the group, how did we know there was a conductor/insulator?
    • What did you notice about the electrical current in this dance piece?
    • Who in the group was the conductor or insulator? How did they convey this?
    • How did dance help us understand electrical currents?
  • If students use a STEAM journal, have them write a reflection using these questions as a prompt.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator; discussion of electrical currents, circuits, conductors and insulators as a whole class and in small groups; contributions to group choreography, and explanations to class debrief of each performance.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can explain the different effects that a conductor and an insulator have on an electrical current.
  • Students can demonstrate the different effects that a conductor and an insulator have on an electrical current by creating a movement phrase that uses the elements of dance.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Challenge students to create an eight movement choreography to demonstrate their concept.
  • Have students create their own scenarios and choreograph movement phrases to demonstrate them.

Remediation: 

  • Reduce the number of movements students are required to include in their choreography.
  • Choreograph a movement phrase to represent either a conductor or an insulator together as a whole class. Then, have students work in small groups to choreograph a movement phrase to demonstrate whichever concept was not choreographed as a class.

*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:  June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Using Tableau and Role Drama to Examine the Ecosystem 4-5

USING TABLEAU & ROLE DRAMA TO EXPLORE THE ECOSYSTEM

USING TABLEAU & ROLE DRAMA TO EXPLORE THE ECOSYSTEM

Learning Description

Students will analyze the ecosystem by assuming roles of various plants and animals in the food chain. Students will use tableaux to dramatize their place in the food chain. After students share their tableaux, they will write monologues as their plant/animal explaining why they are important to the ecosystem. Students will take their writing and step into a Role Drama where students in each group are placed on a Character Panel in role as their organisms. This will result in a class discussion that explores the interdependence of each plant and animal in the ecosystem.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use theatre techniques to demonstrate the role of organisms in the ecosystem.
  • I can demonstrate that I understand the role that organisms play in an ecosystem through monologue.

Essential Questions

  • How can theatre techniques be used to explore interdependence in an ecosystem?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4:

S4L1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information about the roles of organisms and the flow of energy within an ecosystem.

Arts Standards

Grade 4:

TA4.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.

 

TA4.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 5:

5-LS2-1. Develop a model to describe the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers, and the environment.

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

  • Ecosystem - All the living and nonliving things that interact with each other in an environment
  • Food web/chain - The path of energy in an ecosystem from plants to animals (from producers to consumers)
  • Camouflage - Process of animals changing their colors, patterns, and shapes to disguise them from predators or prey
  • Carnivore - An animal that eats only other animals
  • Consumer - An animal that gets its energy by eating plants or other animals
  • Decomposer - A living thing that breaks down the remains of dead organisms
  • Extinct - A species that is gone forever because all of its kind have died
  • Herbivore - An animal that eats only plants
  • Hibernate - When animals go into a deep sleep
  • Producer - A living thing that makes its own food
  • Organism - A living thing

Arts Vocabulary

  • Theatre - 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
  • Dialogue – Conversation between characters
  • Scene – The dialogue and action between characters in one place for one continuous period of time
  • Improvisation - A creation that is spoken or written without prior preparation
  • Monologue - A speech by a single character in a play, film, or other dramatic work; often used to give the audience deeper insight into the character's motivations and feelings
  • Ensemble - All the parts of a thing taken together, so that each part is considered
  • Tableau -  A “living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph

 

Materials

  • Index cards with different types of ecosystems written on them
  • Paper
  • Pencils

 

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Use cueing methods when directing tableau in your classroom: “3-2-1- Freeze” and also the term “3-2-1- Action”. “Actors’ Neutral” can also be used to focus students and direct students to stop what they are doing and listen to instructions. Make your expectations for when students work together in groups to craft their tableaux explicit. Go over the guidelines before the group work begins. Write them up so that students can refer back to them if they need to during their group working time.

  • Have students spread out throughout the room so that they have their own personal space.
  • Start with a physical warm-up to get everyone relaxed and ready to use their bodies expressively. This could include simple stretches, shaking out limbs, and doing some light movement exercises.
  • Decide on a simple story, theme, or scene to depict. For example, "A Day at the Market," "A Family Celebration," or "Overcoming a Challenge".
  • Divide students into small groups (3-5 people per group works well).
  • Each group will create an image (tableau) that represents a moment of the chosen theme or story.
  • Encourage participants to think about their body language, facial expressions, and spatial relationships to convey the story or emotion clearly.
  • Have each group present their tableau to the rest of the participants. As they hold the pose, encourage the audience to observe and interpret the story or theme being presented.
  • End the exercise with a reflection session where participants can share their experiences, challenges, and what they learned about using their bodies to tell a story or convey an emotion without words.

 

Work Session

  • Review what students have learned about the ecosystem including key terminology and concepts that are critical to understanding the food web/chain (producers, consumers, herbivores, carnivores).
  • Tell students that they will be using tableau to demonstrate the role of organisms in an ecosystem.
  • Students should go back to their small groups from the activator.
  • Give each group an index card with a type of ecosystem.
    • Students should identify producers and consumers that participate in the food chain/web in their ecosystem. Each person will need to take on the role of one of the organisms.
    • Direct the group to create a tableau that dramatizes the food chain/web with each student taking on the role of one of the organisms they identified.
    • Each small group will share their tableau with the class. Discuss audience participation and etiquette prior to student performances.
    • After each presentation, ask students: Which animal or plant was a producer? Consumer? Decomposer? How did you know this?
  • Students will return to their seats and write a monologue as their organism. They will write about why they are essential to the ecosystem and why the ecosystem would not thrive without them.
    • Tell students that a monologue is a speech by a single character in a play, film, or other dramatic work; it is often used to give the audience deeper insight into the character's motivations and feelings.
    • Show students a clip of a monologue or have students read a monologue from a play or other work.
      • Example: The Lion King (1994) - Simba’s Monologue
        • Context: Simba has grown up away from his kingdom but is reminded of his responsibility and legacy by Rafiki and Mufasa’s spirit.
        • Monologue: "I know what I have to do. But going back means I’ll have to face my past. I’ve been running from it for so long. It’s just, my father’s death is so hard to talk about. I thought I couldn’t live up to his expectations. But now I understand. The past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either run from it or learn from it. I’m ready to take my place in the circle of life."
  • After writing their monologues, students will come back together in their groups.
  • Explain that students will be playing the roles of their organisms on a panel and the role of a reporter in the next activity.
    • As panel members, students will need to be able to answer questions in first person as the role they play in the ecosystem.
    • As reporters, students will need to ask questions that lead the panelists to explain their role in the ecosystem.
    • Each group should generate a list of questions that they will ask another group when it is their turn to be the reporters.
    • Each group will take a turn as the panelists while one group will be the reporters asking questions.
    • The objective is to spark a class discussion that analyzes organisms’ interdependence on one another in an ecosystem.

 

Closing Reflection

Students will reflect on the process of becoming the character of their organism through tableau and role drama and how it helped them understand the role that their organism plays in the ecosystem. Students can do this as a written reflection, as a whole class, or in small groups.

 

Finally, students will revise their monologues adding any additional details that came to mind during the role drama portion of the lesson.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, review of ecosystems, contributions in small group work to create tableaux and role drama, and conferencing with students during the writing process.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can use tableau to demonstrate the role of their organism in the ecosystem.
  • Students can demonstrate that they understand their organism’s role in the ecosystem through monologues.
  • Students can demonstrate that they understand the role that their organism plays in the ecosystem through role drama.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Students can create a character profile of their organism including what they would look like, personality characteristics, hopes and fears. Students should include how they protect themselves from predators. This will allow students to embody their organism more fully.
  • Students can write a scene using dialogue between the organisms in their ecosystem. They should include a conflict and resolution.
  • Students can write a scene using dialogue introducing two different organisms from different ecosystems.

Remediation: Instead of giving each group different ecosystems, use one ecosystem for the class and identify the producers and consumers in that ecosystem. Individual groups can then decide which producers and consumers they want to use in their tableau and role drama.

*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 and Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: June 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

Back to Modules

Using Tableaux to Explore Physical & Chemical Changes 4-5

USING TABLEAU TO EXPLORE PHYSICAL & CHEMICAL CHANGE

USING TABLEAU TO EXPLORE PHYSICAL & CHEMICAL CHANGE

Learning Description

Students will explore and use the art form of tableau to dramatize both physical and chemical changes. Students will begin with a warm-up of drama exercises that will explore small group tableaux. Students will then work as a class to discuss and review the science terminology and characteristics that classify a physical change versus a chemical change. Small groups will each be given a task on an index card of a specific type of change (ie. melting chocolate). In small groups, students will determine whether the change is physical or chemical and then they will create a two-part tableau dramatizing the change. Next, they will be asked to add dialogue to their tableau that supports their argument of whether the change is physical or chemical. Small groups will share their tableaux with the class and a class reflection/discussion will take place on whether the change was physical or chemical.

 

Learning Targets

GRADE BAND: 4-5
CONTENT FOCUS: THEATRE & SCIENCE
LESSON DOWNLOADS:

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can explain the difference between a physical and chemical change.
  • I can demonstrate a physical or chemical change through tableau and dialogue.
  • I can identify a physical or a chemical change.

Essential Questions

  • What is the difference between a physical and a chemical change?
  • How can theatrical techniques help us understand and express scientific concepts?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 5: 

S5P1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate information to explain the differences between a physical change and a chemical change.

Arts Standards

Grade 5

TA5.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical work.

TA5.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.

TA5.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 5: 

5-PS1-4. Conduct an investigation to determine whether the mixing of two or more substances results in new substances.

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

  • Physical change - A change from one state of matter to another without a change in chemical composition
  • Chemical change - A change that produces one or more new substances and may release energy
  • States of matter - The distinct forms that different phases of matter take on: solid, liquid, gas, and plasma
  • Reversible change - A change that can be undone; often called a physical or temporary change
  • Irreversible change - A process that is not reversible

Arts Vocabulary

  • Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama
  • Thought-tracking - Drama technique in which individuals participating in a tableau, or members of the class observing a tableau, are invited to speak the thoughts or feelings of a portrayed character aloud
  • Dialogue – Conversation between characters
  • Scene – The dialogue and action between characters in one place for one continuous period of time
  • Ensemble - All the parts of a thing taken together, so that each part is considered
  • Tableau -  A “living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph
  • 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
  • Monologue - A speech by a single character in a play, film, or other dramatic work; often used to give the audience deeper insight into the character's motivations and feelings

 

Materials

  • Anchor chart paper (two sheets)
  • Markers
  • Index cards with physical and chemical changes written on them
  • Pencils
  • Stick nots

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: Use cueing methods when directing tableau in your classroom: “3-2-1- Freeze” and “Actor’s Neutral”. Make your expectations for the tableau science task explicit and go over these before the group work begins. Post them so that students can refer back to them if they need to during their group working time.

 

  • 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 tableau with “Silent Tableau”.
    • Arrange students in small groups.
    • Explain to students that tableau is a “living picture” in which actors pose and freeze in the manner of a picture or photograph.
    • Tell students that you will say a word or phrase and the group must form a tableau of that word or phrase. The twist is that the group must use non-verbal communication.
    • Say various words, like “triangle”, or scenarios, like “eating dinner at a restaurant”. Groups should then form the various scenarios within their groups silently.
    • Tell students that they will now add dialogue through thought-tracking. Thought-tracking is a drama technique in which individuals participating in a tableau, or members of the class observing a tableau, are invited to speak the thoughts or feelings of a portrayed character aloud.
    • Next, introduce a two-part scenario, such as a group on a picnic and it begins to rain. Students will create two tableaux, one to represent each part of the scenario.
    • Prompt students to add in thought-tracking.
  • Have students return to their seats.

 

Work Session

  • Review the concept of physical and chemical changes.
    • Model a physical change by tearing up a piece of paper and asking class if this was a physical or a chemical change. Discuss why.
    • Pass out sticky notes.
    • In their groups, students should write down the characteristics and examples of physical and chemical changes on the sticky notes (one characteristic/example per sticky note).
    • Place two large sheets of anchor chart paper on the wall. Label one “chemical change” and the other “physical change”. Have students place their sticky notes on the appropriate chart.
    • Review the responses as a class and move any characteristics that need to be switched to the other chart.
      • Physical change: The change that occurs does not result in new substance forming; the change is usually reversible.
      • Chemical change: Results in the formation of a new substance; new materials that form are irreversible.
  • Tell students that each group will be given an index card that includes a change on it. The group will be responsible for discussing the change and determining whether it is a physical or a chemical change.
    • Examples of changes:
      • Melting chocolate
      • Water freezing into ice
      • Mixing paint to make a new paint color
      • Lighting a match
      • Frying an egg
      • Light bulb getting hot
  • Tell students that now the groups will form two tableaux that will dramatize the change that occurred.
    • In each change, students will create dialogue that helps support the type of change that occurred.
    • Allow time for students to form tableaux and practice. Circulate the room to work with students and assess understanding.
  • Groups will perform their tableaux in a non-formal class performance (this could involve groups staying where they have been working in the classroom and performing from that spot instead of coming to the front of the class). Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to student performances. 
  • Project all physical and chemical changes on the smart board for students to refer to as groups perform.
  • The audience should be able to determine the materials that changed and whether it was a physical or chemical change based on the performance.
  • Reflect on each performance with the following discussion questions:
    • What did you like or notice about this group’s performance?
    • Can you tell which type of change they were dramatizing?
    • How did they include characteristics of the change in their performance?
    • How did the tableau and dialogue support this?

 

Closing Reflection

  • Reflect after all performances on the following questions: What have we learned today about physical and chemical changes?  How did using tableau help us explore this topic?
  • Have students complete a 3-2-1 ticket out the door–three things that they learned, two things that they want to know more about, and one question that they still have.
  • Allow time for students to share with a partner.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of characteristics of physical and chemical changes, collaboration with groups to demonstrate physical or chemical changes through tableaux, and 3-2-1 ticket out the door.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can explain the difference between physical and chemical changes.
  • Students can demonstrate a physical or chemical change through tableau and dialogue.
  • Students can identify a physical or a chemical change.

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: 

  • Have students write a monologue (a speech by a single character in a play, film, or other dramatic work; often used to give the audience deeper insight into the character's motivations and feelings) as the material that is being changed, such as chocolate being melted.
  • Technology extension: During the student performances of the tableau, digital pictures or video should be taken for integration on a final group presentation of a Thinglink (https://www.thinglink.com/). The class will work in groups to create a Thinglink example of their physical or chemical change. They may link their digital pictures or videos to a place in the artwork. Other content to include on the Thinglink should be the definition of the physical or chemical change, other examples of the physical or chemical change, why the change is important, and a definition of a tableau.

Remediation: Provide specific groups with a list of characteristics of physical and chemical changes. Students should determine from the list which are physical and which are chemical. They will then write those on sticky notes and place them on the appropriate chart. (Students who have processing difficulties may benefit from cutting out the characteristics–or having pre-cut characteristics–and taping them to the chart paper rather than rewriting the characteristics on sticky notes).

 

 

*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. Updated by Katy Betts. Technology by Ramsey Ray.

Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

 

Back to Modules

Water Cycles Activate 4

Description

Students will examine the parts of the water cycle. After a group of three students demo the water cycle with sounds and movements, the class will break up into groups to enact each part of the cycle as well as attach vocabulary inherent to each section. The room will buzz with the water cycle coming to life as the students learn facts in a kinesthetic fashion.

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