Discover the Art of Playwriting K-2

DISCOVER THE ART OF PLAYWRITING

DISCOVER THE ART OF PLAYWRITING

Learning Description

Students will be introduced to the art and technique of playwriting by brainstorming possible emotions, relationships, and storyline extensions based on a familiar fairy tale.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can contribute ideas to write a short play based on a familiar nursery rhyme.
  • I can take a role in acting out an original script.

Essential Questions

  • How can we write a short play together based on a familiar nursery rhyme? 

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2:

ELACC2W3 Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. 

ELACC2W5 With guidance and support from adults and peers, focus on a topic and strengthen writing as needed by revising and editing.

ELACC2SL4 Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.

Arts Standards

Grade 2:

TA2.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques. a. Explore the dramatic writing process. b. Collaborate to generate story ideas.

  1. Develop dialogue based on stories (e.g. personal, imaginary, real). d. Develop character and setting through action and dialogue. e. Sequence plot events for dramatizations.

TA2.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments. a. Use imagination and vocal elements (e.g. inflection, pitch, volume, articulation) to communicate a character’s thoughts, emotions, and actions. b. Use imagination and physical choices to communicate a character’s thoughts and emotions.  c. Collaborate and perform with an ensemble to share theatre with an audience.  d. Explore character choices and relationships in a variety of dramatic forms (e.g. narrated story, pantomime, puppetry, dramatic play).

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 2: 

2.W.MCC.3.1 Explore multiple texts to write narratives that recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events; include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings; use temporal words to signal event order; and provide a sense of closure.

Arts Standards

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

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

Character – a person, or an animal or object that has human qualities, in a story.

Setting - The time and place of a story (when and where). 

Plot - the series of related events that together form a story.

Arts Vocabulary

Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama.

Playwriting – the process of writing or composing a script to be performed by actors.

Script – a story written in a format to be acted out, indicating what the characters say and do.

Dialogue – the part of the text that the characters speak aloud to one another.

Line – words or sentences spoken by an actor.

Stage Directions – actions or emotions for the actor, usually included in parentheses before or after a line of text.

 

Materials

  • Copies (on paper, or on one or more screens) of a familiar nursery rhyme, such as “Jack and Jill”
  • Flip chart, white board, or digital blank page for developing class script
  • Pencils 
  • Clip boards and lined paper

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

CLAP-AROUND

This warm-up exercise helps students connect to one another through collaboration and eye  contact.

  • Arrange students in a circular formation. 
  • Have students place their hands on their hips and bend their knees to make sure they are in a neutral position. 
  • Begin the process by making eye contact with the first student and then clapping at the same time.  Instruct that student to turn to their other neighbor, make eye contact, and clap simultaneously.  That student continues the process.  Each student, in turn, passes the clap to the next student until the circle is completed.
  • Continue striving to keep the clap moving smoothly around the circle multiple times, with participants establishing eye contact and synchronizing the clap as it passes. 
  • Option:  Once the students have gained mastery of the Clap-Around activity, for an extra challenge try it with two starting points and two claps going around simultaneously.

 

Work Session

NURSERY RHYME 

  • Show students the selected nursery rhyme.  Read/recite it together. 
  • Ask students about the story elements:  “Who are the characters?  What is the setting?  What happens in the plot of the story?” (e.g., Jack and Jill; a hill, during the day; going to get water, then falling down).

PLAYWRITING

  • Tell students that together the class will use a playwriting process to adapt this simple story into a script that the class can act out.
  • Ask students what happened first in the story.  Ask them to imagine what the characters might have said – this can be imagined, as it likely is not included in the nursery rhyme (e.g., perhaps their mother said, “Children, we need water!”; Jill said, “Come on, Jack.  Let’s go! I have the pail,” and Jack said, “But I’m playing with my toys!” etc.).  
  • Select and write their ideas in script format.  Put the character name on the left margin followed by a colon. Then write what the character says.  Skip a line on the page between different characters’ spoken lines  Elicit enough ideas to fill out a simple scene.  Explain that the class is generating dialogue, composed of lines for the individual characters.  Option: Define, solicit, and include stage directions, including feelings or actions to help the actors know how to play the roles. Place those in parentheses within the script.
  • Hand out clipboards with paper and pencils.  Have students copy the developing script, being sure to follow the playwriting format.
  • Repeat the process with other segments of the story (e.g., climbing the hill, then tumbling down).  Write out the students’ ideas in a way that all can see, follow, and copy.  Remind them to use their neat handwriting as they copy the script.
  • As appropriate to the story, ask students to imagine what might have happened afterward, and then develop further dialogue for their idea (e.g., Jack and Jill are taken to the hospital).
  • Invite volunteers to come to the front to read and act out the script that the class generated.  Coach them in using voice and inflection to convey the meaning and emotions of the lines.  Prompt with lines as needed for emerging readers.  Allow several groups to do readings/performances (after several rounds, the students will be familiar with the script).

 

Closing Reflection

Ask:  “What is playwriting?  What is a script?  What is dialogue?  How did we add ideas to expand and fill out the story?  How did we act out our script for the story?  How is our script different from the original nursery rhyme?”

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Students are able to identify key elements of the story.
  • Students suggest additional ideas that are suitable to the story.

 

Summative

  • The class-generated script contains dramatic elements of character, setting, and plot.
  • The students’ copies of the script follow the prescribed playwriting format.
  • Students read and enact the script with enthusiasm and expression.

 

Differentiation

Acceleration:

Have students work in groups to replicate the process with other familiar nursery rhymes.

Remediation:

In developing the script with students’ ideas, keep the lines short with simple vocabulary and clear emotions.

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm - a site with numerous readers theater scripts available.

*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 and updated by: Susie Spear Purcell and Barry Stewart Mann

Revised and copyright:  June 2023 @ ArtsNOW

Back to Modules

Dramatic Writing with Ansel Adams 4-5

DRAMATIC WRITING WITH ANSEL ADAMS

DRAMATIC WRITING WITH ANSEL ADAMS

Learning Description

Using Ansel Adams photographs for inspiration, students will explore creative writing, directing, and acting.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can use a photograph as inspiration for creative writing and acting based in a particular setting.
  • I can work with a group to bring to life a scene inspired by a photograph.

Essential Questions

  • How can visual art be a catalyst for writing and acting?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Grade 4: 

ELAGSE4W3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. b. Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. c. Use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events. d. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. e. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

 

Grade 5: 

ELAGSE5W3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. a. Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally. b. Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations. c. Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events. d. Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely. e. Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

 

Arts Standards

Grade 4:

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

TA4.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.

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

 

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 4: 

Writing (W) - Meaning, Context, and Craft

Standard 3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

3.1 Gather ideas from texts, multimedia, and personal experience to write narratives that: a. develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences; b. orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; c. organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally; d. use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations; e. develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing building on personal ideas and the ideas of others; f. use a variety of transitional words and phrases to manage the sequence of events; g. use imagery, precise words, and sensory details to develop characters and convey experiences and events precisely; and h. provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

 

Grade 5: 

Writing (W) - Meaning, Context, and Craft

Standard 3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.

3.1 Gather ideas from texts, multimedia, and personal experience to write narratives that: a. develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences; b. orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; c. organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally; d. use dialogue, pacing, and manipulation of time to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations; e. develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing building on personal ideas and the ideas of others; f. use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events; g. use imagery, precise words, and sensory details to develop characters and convey experiences and events precisely; and h. provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

 

Arts Standards

THEATRE

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.

 

VISUAL ARTS

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

 

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Character - Actor or actress in a specified role.
  • Setting - Environment or place of action.
  • Plot - List, timetable, or scheme dealing with any of the various arrangements of a story or play.
  • Imagery - The use of descriptive language that appeals to the reader's senses, helping them to visualize scenes, hear sounds, feel textures, taste flavors, and smell scents
  • Sensory details - Descriptive elements that appeal to the five senses: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. They help create vivid imagery and make the writing more engaging and realistic for the reader by allowing them to experience the scene as if they were there.

 

Arts Vocabulary

  • Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama.
  • Photography - the process of capturing an image – a photograph – with a camera, either on paper or through a digital medium.
  • 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

 

 

Materials

  • Index cards and lined paper
  • Pencils
  • Copies of Ansel Adams photographs (see “Additional Resources”)

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

  • Have students stand by their desks, or in open space.
  • Call out a setting (e.g., desert, baseball stadium, birthday party, or under the ocean), and have students enact a person or thing in the environment.  As appropriate, allow students to use voices and make sounds, or instruct them to be in the setting in silence.
  • Use observational language to comment on student choices (e.g., “I see Sara has her arms to be a cactus” or “Dylan is wiggling his body as a snake on the rug”).
  • Continue to call out a variety of settings.  Alternate between natural settings and human settings.  Allow students to be objects or natural forces in the settings, or people interacting with the settings.

 

 

Work Session

Creating a Setting through Art

  • Pass out photos by the artist, Ansel Adams, to the students. Explain that Ansel Adams was a famous American photographer known for his photos of American outdoor landscapes including Yosemite, Big Sur, the Sierras and more.
  • Ask the students to study their photo and examine the visual details: “What is the first thing your eye is drawn to? What lines and shapes do you see in the photo? Did Adams take it from near or far? How do the light and dark areas work together? Where is the light source in the image, and which areas are in shadow? Why do you think Adams chose to take this photograph?”
  • Have students imagine/visualize details about the setting in the photo, saying:  “Where is this place? You can make it up. It can be anywhere in the world. What season is it--winter, early spring, etc.? What time of day is it - early morning, high noon, sunset? What sounds and smells are there? Is the wind blowing? Are birds chirping or other animals making sounds even though you can’t see them? Can you smell pine trees, flowers, or the ocean? If you could place yourself in this picture, where would you be?”
  • Tell the students:  “Place the picture in front of you and stand or sit as you imagine you would be in the picture. Now, close your eyes and take a deep breath of the clean air in this place. Listen to the sounds in your environment. Take another deep breath and smell the beautiful aromas.”
  • One at a time, ask each student to make a sound that they hear in their environment.
  • Ask students to think of three descriptive phrases about their environment. Students should use imagery and sensory details. For example, instead of saying, “the wind,” describe “the loud, rushing wind”, “the fierce cry of an eagle,” or the “steep, snowy mountainside.”
    • Even though the pictures are black and white, encourage students to feel free to use color in their descriptive phrases.  Have the students write down their phrases on a note card or piece of paper.  Ask them how they can expand or add to their phrases to make them more descriptive – suggest including texture, color, size, shape, temperature, or other qualities or details.
  • Have students practice using their descriptive phrases in sentences to describe their settings.  Instruct them to speak as if they are in the setting (e.g., “I am standing with my feet on the edge of the babbling stream.  The water is as cold as ice and shiny like a mirror.  I see silvery fish swimming by with lightning speed.”)  Coach and assist students as needed.
  • Ask student volunteers to come up and present, imagining themselves in the setting in the photograph.  They should use their voices and bodies to express the feelings and elements in their writing.

 

Bringing the Photograph to Life 

  • Select a student and guide them to cast three classmates as elements in their setting. The student should announce the element and then choose a classmate to portray it. (E.g., “Someone will be the grass blowing in the wind.”)  Once chosen, the classmate should come to the front and view the photograph.
  • Guide the student to direct the elements, telling each classmate where they will be in the live picture, how they will stand or move, and what sounds they will make.
  • Once the setting is established, have the student walk/hike/swim into their environment, take their place, use their body and voice to inhabit the setting (e.g., shivering for a cold setting, speaking loud for a distant setting, walking carefully over sharp stones, using a hand to block out the bright sun) and then describe their setting using their descriptive phrases.
  • Show the photograph around the room, and solicit comments from the class on how the students brought the setting to life.
  • Have additional students volunteer to cast, enter, and describe.

 

Narrative writing

  • Using the setting students created as a starting point, students will write a fictional narrative.
  • Ask them to go back to the place where they are imagining that they are in the setting. Ask them to think about how they got there, why they are there, where they are going, and what obstacles they might face.
  • In their writing they should use transitional language, imagery, precise words, and sensory details to bring their narrative to life for the reader.
  • Students can engage in a peer review process to revise and edit their work.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Reflect on the process with students using the following questions:
    • How did we get ideas of what to act from the photos?
    • How did we use our voices and bodies to become elements of the different settings in the photos?
    • How did the setting become a starting point for your narrative?

 

 

Assessments

Formative

  • Students created and used three descriptive phrases.
  • Students effectively communicated their ideas.
  • Students responded appropriately to the Adams images.

 

Summative

  • Students can cast and direct their scenes effectively.
  • Students can enact their roles in the scenes effectively.
  • Students’ written phrases use imagery and sensory details.
  • Students’ narratives meet criteria of grade level standards.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration:

  • Have students write out their ideas in full paragraph format.
  • Allow students who are playing elements of the setting to speak from the viewpoints of those elements:  “How does the tree feel?  What is the lake thinking?”

Remediation: Use a single photograph with the entire class, and model the process all together.  Cast a small group as elements in the setting, and then model being the person entering and inhabiting the setting. Repeat the process with a second photo, drafting a student to be the person entering the setting. You may want to use a photo and have the entire class become elements in the photo, allowing multiple students to be the same thing: mountains, rocks, trees, clouds.

 

 ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

*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 and updated by: Susie Spear Purcell, Barry Stewart Mann and Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: June 2023 @ ArtsNOW

Back to Modules

Ecosystems in Action 4-5

ECOSYSTEMS IN ACTION

ECOSYSTEMS IN ACTION

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will explore animals and plants that inhabit ecosystems by using movement to deepen the retention of vocabulary. After reviewing the ecosystem players, students will play a call and response game by responding with their bodies, sound and movement to become the elements. This will be taken a step deeper when students bring their visuals to life and explain which role they play in the flow of energy of an ecosystem. The lesson culminates with Food Chain/Web Action where groups of students bring their own food chain/web to life for their classmates.

 

Learning Targets

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

Download PDF of this Lesson

"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can accurately identify producers, consumers, and decomposers.
  • I can properly order producers, consumers, and decomposers in the food chain/web.
  • I can use my voice and body to enact a producer, consumer, or decomposer when performing.

Essential Questions

  • How can theatre techniques help us gain a deeper understanding of ecosystems?
  • How does interdependence play a role 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.CR.2 Develop scripts through theatrical techniques.

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

 

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-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

  • Bacteria - Microorganisms that can make you sick, but also can help you digest food; this is found everywhere in nature.
  • Carnivore - An animal that eats only other animals
  • Community - All the organisms is an ecosystem
  • Consumer - An animal that gets its energy by eating plants or other animals
  • Decay - To break down into simpler materials
  • Decomposers - A living thing that breaks down the remains of dead organisms
  • Ecology - The study of how living and nonliving factors interact
  • Food chain/web - The path of energy in an ecosystem from plants to animals (from producers to consumers)
  • Habitat - The place where an animal or plant lives
  • Herbivore - An animal that eats on plants
  • Interdependence - Living things in an ecosystem need each other to meet their needs
  • Microorganisms - Very small living things
  • Niche - The role of an organism in an environment
  • Omnivore - An animal that eats both plants and animals
  • Organism - A living thing
  • Photosynthesis - Process through which plants make food
  • Plankton - Small organisms in water that are producers and give off oxygen

Arts Vocabulary

  • Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama
  • Character - A person, an animal or other figure assuming human qualities, in a story
  • Voice – An actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character speaks or sounds
  • Body – An actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character looks, walks, or moves
  • Ensemble - All the parts of a thing taken together, so that each part is considered

 

Materials

  • Handout words: (one word per page) bear, mushroom, cactus, wolf, sea turtle, shark, plankton, bacteria, fish, fungi, giraffe, tree, bush, worm, grasshopper, caterpillar, mouse, crow, panther, snake, pigeon, dog, squirrel, cat, rose bush, grass
  • Visuals – GROUP #1 (one image per page) sun, plant, grasshopper, lizard, eagle, mushroom
  • Visuals – GROUP #2 (one image per page) sun, plankton, fish, jellyfish, sea turtle, shark, bacteria

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

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

 

  • Start with a general physical warm-up to get the students' bodies ready. Use exercises such as:
    • Stretching: Stretch all major muscle groups.
    • Shaking Out Limbs: Shake out arms, legs, and the whole body to release tension.
    • Energy Passes: Stand in a circle and pass a clap or a simple motion around to build group focus and energy.
  • Explain that students will explore different characters by changing their walk and physicality. 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

ORGANISMS/ECOLOGY/ECOSYSTEMS INTRODUCTION 

  • Ask students, “When I say the word ‘organism’ what comes to your mind?”.
    • Tell students that an organism is a living thing.
    • Ask students for examples of organisms.
    • Tell students that all organisms need energy and matter to live and grow.
    • Ecology is the study of how living and nonliving factors interact. Ecologists study these factors by investigating ecosystems.
  • Ask students,”When I say the word ‘Ecosystem’ what comes to your mind?”
    • Tell students that an ecosystem is made up of living and nonliving things in the environment (animals, plants, soil and water).
    • Things living in an ecosystem depend on one another for basic needs such as food, shelter and protection.
  • INTERDEPENDENCE: The living things found in an ecosystem are interdependent because living things depend on each other to meet their needs.
    • Many animals depend on plants for food, but organisms also depend on each other for other things, too. For example, plants can be a source of shelter for animals. In turn, animals can provide protection for plants.
  • NICHE - RELATIONSHIPS IN AN ECOSYSTEM: Ask students, “Does everyone at your school do the same thing? Do they have the same duties or jobs? What do the students do? What does the principal do? What do the cafeteria staff, custodians, teachers, etc. do?”
    • Tell students that just like in a school or office or community, an ecosystem is filled with things that each have specific jobs to do.
    • All of the organisms within an ecosystem have different roles. These roles are called niches.
    • Organisms can have more than one niche and knowing the niches of an organism can help to explain why they act and interact the way they do.
    • To determine an organism's niche, you need to identify: What it eats, where it lives, and how it interacts with the other organisms in the same ecosystem.
    • Niches include:
      • Producers produce food energy for themselves and others. They get energy from the sun and make food through photosynthesis. Most producers are plants (trees, grasses, shrubs). Some producers are non-plants (algae, some bacteria).
      • Consumers consume the food made by the producers. They get energy from eating other organisms. Some examples include insects, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.
      • Herbivores eat producers (plant eating niche).
        • Forest – deer, rabbits
        • Savannah – zebras, elephants
      • Carnivores eat other consumers (meat eating niche).
        • Marine – sharks, walruses
      • Omnivores eat both producers and consumers.
        • Forest – bear, raccoon
      • Decomposers are living things that break down the remains of dead organisms. They eat dead things and turn them back into dirt or soil.  Decomposers turn dead material into good fertilized soil.
        • Examples: Mushrooms, bugs, worms

 

USING MOVEMENT IN VOCABULARY

  • Give each term a movement when you say the word while you review details about each.
  • Vocabulary Movements:
    • Producers:
      • “Pro” – hands cupped together/left over right
      • “du” - hands cupped together/right over left
      • “cers” – twirls fists in front of body and then point fingers away from body
    • Consumers:
      • “Con” – right hand – thumb and fingers like eating food to mouth
      • “sum” – left hand – thumb and fingers like eating food to mouth
      • “ers” – point both thumbs to chest
    • Herbivores:
      • “Herb” – right hand pull “leaf off of a tree”
      • “i” – left hand pull “leaf off a tree”
      • “vores” – bring hands to mouth to “eat”
    • Carnivores:
      • “Carn” – right hand claw towards air
      • “i” – left hand grab right wrist
      • “vores” – right hand comes to mouth like eating a big turkey wing
    • Omnivores:
      • “Om” – right hand pull “leaf off of a tree”
      • “ni” - left hand claws out
      • “vores” – left and right hand–thumb and fingers like eating food to mouth
    • Decomposers:
      • “De”-- right fist hits top of left fist
      • “com” – left first hits top of right fist
      • “posers” – fingers wiggle like an insect

 

ECOSYSTEM CALL & RESPONSE

  • Call out the name of an animal or plant and ask the students to respond with the name and movement that applies to it (i.e., producer, consumer or decomposer).
  • If it’s a consumer then take the answer a step further and ask them to respond with the name and movement that applies to their type (herbivore, carnivore, predator, omnivore).
    • Cherry tree (producer)
    • Mushroom (decomposer)
    • Bear (consumer/omnivore)
    • Shark (consumer/carnivore)
    • Bush/shrub (producer)
    • Rabbit (consumer/herbivore)
    • Human (consumer/omnivore)
    • Tulip (producer)
    • Panther (consumer/carnivore)
    • Giraffe (consumer/herbivore)
    • Worm (decomposer)
    • Mushroom (decomposer)

 

WHAT’S THE ROLE?

  • Hand each student a visual that lists a name of a producer, consumer or decomposer on it.
    • Ask them to sit like their visual and make a sound that it would make (imagine what that sound would be if it doesn’t actually make a sound–such as a plant).
    • Have students act out their visuals and ask the others to guess if it’s a consumer, producer or decomposer.
    • Handout words: bear, mushroom, cactus, wolf, sea turtle, shark, plankton, bacteria, fish, fungi, giraffe, tree, bush, worm, grasshopper, caterpillar, mouse, crow, panther, snake, pigeon, dog, squirrel, cat, rose bush, grass.

 

FOOD CHAIN/WEB REVIEW 

  • Ask students to think about all the things their bodies do every day–-read, think, and talk. Your heart beats inside you. You play with your friends.
  • Tell students that it takes energy to make these things happen. Energy powers everything that living things do. Every living thing needs energy in order to live.
  • Every time animals do something (run, jump) they use energy to do so. Animals get energy from the food they eat, and all living things get energy from food. Plants use sunlight, water and nutrients to get energy (in a process called photosynthesis).
  • Energy is necessary for living beings to grow. A food chain/web shows how each living thing gets food, and how nutrients and energy are passed from creature to creature.
    • Food chains/webs begin with plant-life and end with animal-life.
    • Some animals eat plants, some animals eat other animals. Energy is passed from one organism to another when organisms eat plants or other living things. We call this flow of energy a food chain/web.
    • A food chain/web is a way of organizing living things by what they eat.
    • Show students a food chain/web example – grass/grasshopper/mouse/snake.
      • The grass is at the bottom of the food chain because it is the producer.
      • The grasshopper is the first-level consumer because it eats the grass.
      • The mouse is the second-level consumer because it eats the grasshopper.
      • Finally, the snake is the top-level consumer, because it is at the top of the food chain.
    • The food chain/web shows who's eating whom. The arrows in a food chain/web show the flow of energy. The arrows are drawn from the food source to the consumer. Arrows can be always replaced with the words, “is eaten by”. For example, in our food chain/web example, you could say, “The grass is eaten by the grasshopper.”

 

BIGGER FOOD CHAINS

  • Here's another food chain, with a few more animals.
    • It starts with acorns, which are eaten by mice. The mice are eaten by snakes, and then finally the snakes are eaten by hawks.
    • At each link in the chain, energy is being transferred from one animal to another. There can be even more links to any food chain.
      • If you add another animal, it may go: Grass to grasshopper to mouse to snake to hawk.
      • There is actually even more to this chain. After a hawk dies, fungi (like mushrooms) and other decomposers break down the dead hawk, and turn the remains of the hawk into nutrients, which are released into the soil.
      • The nutrients (plus sun and water) then cause the grass to grow. It's a full circle of life and energy!

 

FULL CIRCLE OF LIFE AND ENERGY 

  • Food chains/webs make a full circle, and energy is passed from plant to animal to animal to decomposer and back to plant!
  • There can be many links in food chains but not TOO many.
    • If there are too many links, then the animal at the end would not get enough energy.

 

FOOD CHAINS IN ACTION

  • Group students and hand out visuals (ideally–group #1 – 6 students, group #2 – 7 students).
  • Give each group their visuals. Each student should have one visual.
    • Ask students to look at their picture and use their bodies to become what is represented in their visual. Ask them to add a sound.
    • Ask students: “Using a voice different from your own, tell me what you are in your food chain (producer, consumer or decomposer)”.
    • Then have them show their pictures to the others in their group.
    • Ask them to write down the following on their visuals or on a scratch paper: What is your ecosystem? (ocean, forest, etc.). What sounds do you hear in your ecosystem? What things do you see in your ecosystem?
      • What other animals?
      • What other plants?
    • Students should share their responses with their group mates.
    • Next, ask students to put themselves in the proper order of their food chain/web.
    • Students should use their bodies and voices to portray their plant/animal and introduce themselves in the order of the food chain/web.
    • Allow time for students to practice before presenting to the class.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Students will present their living food chain/web for the class. Discuss appropriate audience participation and etiquette prior to performances.
  • Debrief after each group to determine whether the group arranged themselves correctly.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of ecosystems and food chains/webs, participation in using movement to demonstrate the parts of a food chain/web, and collaboration with their groups to show food chains/webs in action.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can accurately identify producers, consumers, and decomposers.
  • Students can properly order producers, consumers, and decomposers in the food chain/web.
  • Students can use their voices and bodies to enact a producer, consumer, or decomposer when performing.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: Have students write a script that uses dialogue between their animal/plant in the ecosystem and another one in the same ecosystem.

Remediation: 

  • Provide a food chain/web template for students to complete for their ecosystem prior to organizing themselves in the correct order for their performances.
  • Scaffold the lesson by modeling with students how to complete the Food Chain in Action activity with an example ecosystem.

*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

 

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Explore the Solar System with Theater 3-5

Description

This lesson helps build upon prior knowledge of the nine planets in the solar system by allowing students to become aliens living on the planets. By creating an imaginary alien who lives on a planet, students embody the planet and its characteristics, thereby increasing their understanding of the planets. Sharing their work with each other allows students to develop presentation skills and comfort when speaking their own thoughts and ideas.

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Explore Time with Theater K-1

EXPLORE TIME WITH THEATRE

EXPLORE TIME WITH THEATRE

Learning Description

In this lesson, students will explore the concepts of time and sequence by acting out various activities performed at different times of the day. They will then become "Story Detectives," investigating the beginning, middle, and end of different nursery rhymes. By using theatre techniques, students will immerse themselves in the concept of sequence and time, experiencing a deeper level of learning.

 

Learning Targets

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

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"I Can" Statements

“I Can…”

  • I can correctly identify and sequence the activities of the day based on the time that they occur.
  • I can correctly identify and sequence the beginning, middle and end of simple stories.
  • I can use my voice and body to act out events and characters.

Essential Questions

  • How can theatre techniques be used to understand time and sequence?

 

Georgia Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten: 

Math

K.PAR.6: Explain, extend, and create repeating patterns with a repetition, not exceeding 4 and describe patterns involving the passage of time.

K.PAR.6.2 Describe patterns involving the passage of time using words and phrases related to actual events.

 

ELA

ELAGSEKRL3 With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

Arts Standards

Kindergarten:

TAK.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical works.

 

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

 

TAK.PR.2 Execute artistic and technical elements of theatre.

 

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

 

South Carolina Standards

Curriculum Standards

Kindergarten: 

Math

K.MDA.3 Sort and classify data into 2 or 3 categories with data not to exceed 20 items in each category. K.MDA.4 Represent data using object and picture graphs and draw conclusions from the graphs.

 

ELA

READING - Literary Text

Meaning and Context

Standard 7: Analyze the relationship among ideas, themes, or topics in multiple media and formats, and in visual, auditory, and kinesthetic modalities.

7.1 With guidance and support, retell a familiar text; identify beginning, middle, and end in a text heard or read.

Arts Standards

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

Anchor Standard 4: I can direct and organize work for a performance to reflect specific content, ideas, skills, and media.

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

 

Key Vocabulary

Content Vocabulary

  • Morning - Early/first part of the day
  • Afternoon - Daytime, between midday and evening
  • Night - Dark time between bedtime and waking
  • Beginning - The start or first part
  • Middle - Halfway between the beginning and end, center part
  • End - Final part or stop
  • Story - An account or report that tells you what is happening to someone or something with a beginning, middle and an end

Arts Vocabulary

  • Theater - Dramatic literature or its performance; drama
  • Character - A person, an animal or other figure assuming human qualities, in a story
  • Voice – An actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character speaks or sounds
  • Body – An actor’s tool, which we shape and change to portray the way a character looks, walks, or moves
  • Improvisation - A creation that is spoken or written without prior preparation

 

Materials

 

Instructional Design

Opening/Activating Strategy

Classroom Tips: This activity works best in an open space with room for students to move. Review audience etiquette and expectations before students perform for their classmates.

 

  • 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 using movement and sound Use simple prompts to get students thinking about different ways to 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
  • Next, ask students to add sound to their characters. Allow time for students to move around the room as the characters, using their bodies and voices.
  • Have students return to the carpet; ask them to share what it was like to use their voices and bodies to become someone else.

 

Work Session

My Day Play

  • Ask students what comes to their minds when you say the following words: morning, afternoon and night.
  • Ask students what the beginning, middle and end of the day is called (morning, afternoon and night).
  • Display visuals with morning/afternoon/night written on them while discussing that particular time of day.
  • When finished, tape the visuals on the wall to designate that area for that time of day in the following exercise.
  • Ask students to tell you what activities are done at different times of the day.
    • Show visuals of some activities performed at different times of the day. [Note: Have visuals stacked in groups by the three times of the day.]
      • Morning (ex: brushing teeth, sun rising, rooster crowing, eating breakfast, getting on the school bus)
      • Afternoon (ex: eating lunch in the cafeteria at school, playing outside with friends, getting off the school bus at home)
      • Night (ex: eating dinner, putting on pajamas, going to bed, looking at the stars)
  • Say to students, “Now we are going to bring these activities to life using sound and movement. When I call out an activity, you will start acting like you are doing it. When I say freeze, you will stop all sound and movement. Ready. Set. Go!”.
    • Call out “eating breakfast” and let the students perform. Follow up with asking what time of day that activity happens.
    • Repeat the process calling out at least three different activities, one from each of the three times of day.
    • Ask three students to come to the front of the room. Have each student pick one activity from one of the times of day. All three times of the day should be represented.
    • Ask each student, one at a time, to show you his/her activity using sound and movement.
    • Now ask another student to come up and play the director. Ask the director to put the three students in order from beginning, middle and end of the day when the students bring their activity to life.
    • Continue until every student gets to perform or direct.

 

Story Detectives 

  • Tell the students, ”We just talked about our days having a beginning, middle and an end.”
  • Say, “What else in our lives has a beginning, middle and end?”.
    • Trains (front car, middle cars and caboose)
    • Games (we set them up, play them and then put them away)
    • School (arrive/bell rings, class/lunch/recess, bell rings/go home)
  • Ask the class, “Do stories that we read and tell have a beginning, middle and end?”.
  • Ask the class, “What is a story?” A story usually tells about what happens to someone or something with a beginning, middle and an end.
  • Place the three cards (beginning, middle and end) on the wall.
  • Say, “We can always figure out what happens at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of a story. Are nursery rhymes stories?”.
  • Read “Humpty Dumpty” aloud while holding up a visual: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.
    • Read Humpty Dumpty one more time and tell the students to become Humpty by using their bodies and arms.
  • Tell students, “I need some help today. Do you think you could be detectives? What does a detective do? He/she investigates something. I need to find the beginning, middle and end of some nursery rhymes that you might know. We are going to be Beginning, Middle and End Detectives.”
  • Have the students pretend to take out their magnifying glasses and put on their detective hats.
  • Read “Humpty Dumpty” aloud again while holding up the visual of the story.
    • Ask, “What happened at the beginning of the story? Humpty sat on a wall.”
    • “What happened in the middle of the story? Humpty fell off the wall.”
    • “What happened at the end of the story? Humpty was broken and could be fixed by his horsemen.”
  • Repeat this process with “Itsy Bitsy Spider” and “Jack and Jill”.
    • Read “Itsy Bitsy Spider” aloud while holding up the visual and follow-up with questions. The Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the waterspout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out. Out came the sun and dried up all the rain, And the Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the spout again.
    • Read “Jack and Jill” aloud while holding up the visual and follow-up with questions. Jack and Jill went up the hill To fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown And Jill came tumbling after.
  • Ask three students to come to the front of the room. Have each student pick one activity from one of the three parts of the nursery rhyme. All three parts of the story should be represented.
  • Ask each student, one at a time, to show you their activity using sound and movement.
  • Now ask for another student to come up and play the director. Ask the director to put the three students in the order from beginning, middle and end of the nursery rhyme when the students performing the activities come to life.
  • Continue until every student gets to perform or direct.

 

Closing Reflection

  • Close the lesson with reflection questions. Ask students to connect the concept of beginning, middle and end to the different parts of the day–morning, afternoon and night. Ask students how our days are like stories.
  • Pass out paper with three sections–morning/beginning, afternoon/middle and night/end. Have students draw and label a picture showing one activity that occurs at each time of day. Have students write a “story” at the bottom of the paper saying what happens at the beginning of the day, what happens at the middle, and what happens at the end of the day.

 

Assessments

Formative

Teachers will assess students’ understanding of the content throughout the lesson by observing students’ participation in the activator, discussion of time of day and parts of a story, participation and contributions in My Day Play and Story Detectives, and conferencing during the writing process.

 

Summative

CHECKLIST

  • Students can correctly identify and sequence the activities of the day based on the time that they occur.
  • Students can correctly identify and sequence the beginning, middle and end of simple stories.
  • Students can use their voices and bodies to act out events and characters.

 

DIFFERENTIATION 

Acceleration: Provide students with a story that is out of order. Students will determine the appropriate order and rearrange the story to make logical sense. The student will pick one activity from each section of the story (beginning, middle, and end) to represent and perform through movement.

Remediation: Begin with one nursery rhyme. Provide a sound and movement and encourage students to match it with the correct beginning, middle or end illustration of the nursery rhyme. Discuss student choices. Repeat with each section of the rhyme. Assess students by determining if they can accurately identify the beginning, middle and end of a nursery rhyme by providing the correct movement as the section is read.

ESOL Modifications and Adaptations: Introduce vocabulary and discuss what activities happen for each of the following words: morning, afternoon, night, beginning, middle and end. Have picture cards of different activities that happen during different times of the day. Students can perform the activity as the cards/pictures are shown. For the nursery rhymes, make should they have cards/pictures that illustrate the nursery rhyme for students to put in sequence order.

WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards 

Standard 1: English language learners communicate for Social and Instructional purposes within the school setting.

Standard 3: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Mathematics.

Standard 4: English language learners communicate information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Science.

*This integrated lesson provides differentiated ideas and activities for educators that are aligned to a sampling of standards. Standards referenced at the time of publishing may differ based on each state’s adoption of new standards.

Ideas contributed by: Susie Spear Purcell Modifications, Extensions, and Adaptations Contributed by: Peggy Barnes, Candy Bennett, Lindsey Elrod, Jennifer ​​Plummer, and Vilma Thomas. Updated by: Katy Betts.

Revised and copyright: July 2024 @ ArtsNOW

 

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