Missouri Department of Elementary
How Do I Act Like a Friend?
Familiar puppets set the stage for a thoughtful discussion about friendship. To show what they know, scholars role-play scenarios. Peers offer a thumbs up when they view positive character traits exhibit good friend behavior.
Curated OER
Character Attributes in Writing
Third graders analyze the importance of characters in fiction writing and performances. In this theatre lesson, 3rd graders identify the important characteristics of a fictional character and how to portray a character through many...
Curated OER
Random Acts of Kindness
Students make a bookmark. In this community lesson, students review the meaning of caring. They discuss how doing small acts of kindness can affect a community, and they make a bookmark to remind them to do kind things for others.
Curated OER
One Small Act
Students perform acts of kindness. In this caring lesson, students brainstorm ideas for acts of kindness. Students select their favorite idea and work in groups to make a plan for how to carry out their act of kindness.
Curated OER
Creating and Using a Checklist of Performance Techniques to Critique and Find the "Message" in Mass Media Performances
Students analyze and critique theater events by evaluating and constructing meanings from improvised and scripted scenes and from theater, film, television, and electronic media productions.
Curated OER
Shakespeare's Macbeth, Act 2, Scene 2: Fun Trivia Quiz
This short, online quiz tests readers' basic understanding of the plot in Act 2, Scene 2 of Macbeth. It may be useful for providing your class with immediate feedback on their reading comprehension, but is perhaps best used as a...
Curated OER
Alexander And The Wind-Up Mouse
Use drama techniques to recreate the story, Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni. They engage in problem-solving as they identify the roles they will fufill in their groups for the performance. This is a motivating way to...
Curated OER
African Folktales
Young scholars study the elements of folktales. They write, perform and produce their own African folktales using camcorders and movie software.
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Helping Verbs: Grammar for ESL/ELL
English language learners act out verbs, discuss their importance in constructing grammatically correct sentences, and then learn about helping verbs. They use helping verbs in a sentence then discuss how they are different from action...
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Aristotle's Six Elements Of A Play
Fifth graders view the play, The Ant and the Grasshopper. They define Aristotle's six elements of a play. At the end of the lesson, 5th graders be asked to participate in the play by acting like busy ants. This lesson would tie in nicely...
VH1
Lesson 2: Moulin Rouge
The pop movie Moulin Rouge was based on the opera La Boheme. Learners watch the last 30 minutes of each musical to compare and contrast social opposites. They'll first discuss the social differences of the main characters and how those...
Curated OER
Israel
The class creates and performs a movement performance of the creation story found in the Jewish tradition. This lesson begins with the research of Israeli culture and culminates in a performance of the narrated creation story....
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Lesson Plan for The Little Red Hen
Cultivate young performers while teaching them about helping one another with this interactive storytelling lesson. Elementary schoolers read or listen to the story The Little Red Hen by Mike Lockett and then act out the story while...
David Elementary
Structural Elements of Drama
The world may indeed be a stage, and players certainly need to know drama vocabulary. This list of 16 terms (and their definitions) often found in scripts will prompt actors to perform their role.
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Save the Lofty Trees
Save the Lofty Trees, by Leslie Mills, provides the text for a study of the roles of animals and humans in the forest. Richly detailed, the plan offers two approaches to the play: as a scenario for children to imagine what actions would...
Curated OER
Literary Terms: Take Me to the Theater!
Take your class to the theater! First graders will examine characters that actors play such a villians and heroes. Then participate in creating plays and performing in them. They will also research what it takes to create scenery, props...
Curated OER
The Ancient Art of Shadow Puppet Plays
Shadow puppetry has an ancient past, it is also a great way to build oral expression and reading fluency. Young thespians research folk tales, compare and contrast reality and fantasy, then create and perform a shadow puppet play based...
Science 4 Inquiry
Musical Vibes with Palm Pipes
Ancient people used musical pipes as early as the third millennium BCE. Young scientists explore the workings of musical pipes to better understand the relationship with frequency, length of pipe, and sound waves. They determine the...
Shakespeare Uncovered
“Speak, I Charge You”: Macbeth On Your Feet, Not In Your Seat
“Is this a dagger which I see before me . . .” As part of a study of Macbeth, class members engage in a series of activities that get them up and moving. Individuals practice, then deliver, a line from the Scottish play. The entire class...
Curated OER
Writing/Performing One Act Plays (all, Reading/Writing
Students, after reading one-act plays or scenes from plays, compose a short, one-act play which involves two characters.
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Final Performance of a Play
Second graders study theatre by designing a play, studying actors, and work in partners to create a story to perform. In this theatre study lesson, 2nd graders discuss theatre as live theatre, television, film, and radio. Students act...
Curated OER
Random Acts of Kindness Day: February 17th
In this writing prompt worksheet, students learn the date February 17th as "Random Acts of Kindness Day." Students then make a list of 5-10 acts of kindness they can perform over the next week or month for other people.
Curated OER
Bad Bard/Good Bard: Coming to Character through Preconceptions of Shakespearean Acting
Students practice their own acting skills. In this Shakespeare lesson, students participate in choral readings and reenact scenes from The Taming of the Shrew. Students then discuss the difficulties of Shakespearean acting.
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Americans with Disabilities Act
Pupils identify the major points of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They discuss are the types of barriers that might need to be overcome in the first three Titles, the accommodations that might help overcome the barriers, and how...