Curated OER
Teaching the Life Cycle of a Butterfly Using the Kinesthetic Approach to Learning
The power of movement and silence is learned as small groups create a drama showcasing the life cycle of a butterfly.
Curated OER
Creating an Original Opera
Students research the lyrical and dramatic structure of opera through Internet sources and audio examples, cooperatively discuss elements of opera stories vs. their own lives and create one-act opera based on their own life experiences.
Shakespeare Globe Trust
The Taming of the Shrew
What does it take to build a stage production from the ground up? Scholars read a weekly blog detailing the behind-the-scenes action of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. They also listen to interviews with the cast, meet the...
Curated OER
Interpreting Dramatic Works
Action! Delve into character development in the play Fences by August Wilson, setting the stage for learners to analyze character nuances. Thespians choose a scene from the script, responding with a written account of the character's...
Curated OER
The Body Talks
Young historians examine the gestures of human subjects represented in Mannerist, Baroque and Renaissance paintings. After they play charades and attempt to match dialogue with body language, learners create a drawing that includes...
John F. Kennedy Center
Folktale Theatre
Introduce your middle schoolers to a performance and movement activity that uses their favorite stories from fairytales and folklore. They practice basic acting skills, create dialogues with a partner, and then as guided practice,...
Curated OER
Theater: Create a Script
Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and improvisation....
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Characters from a Box
Character analysis is a skill we use when we read literary works or want to write a good story. Learners will use drama to practice character analysis while focusing on the details that make characters act the way they do. They'll each...
Curated OER
The Play's the Thing
Students describe to a partner theater experiences they have had in their lives that were memorable, and analyze why. They study about one director's original artistic choices for staging Shakespeare by reading and discussing "Nature's a...
Random Acts of Kindness Foundation
Responding with Kindness Role-plays
Thank you. Excuse me. I'm sorry! Pupils watch a video about encouraging things people should say more often. Next, they work in small groups to develop a role-play based on a difficult situation. They perform their role-plays for the...
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Creating Narrative
Plot, setting, characters, and conflict are common to both drama and narrative stories. Kids create narrated tableaus that show their understanding of the plot, setting, and conflict of a story they've recently read. The lesson...
California Academy of Science
Carbon Cycle Role Play
Anytime you make concepts clear with role playing or hands-on experience, it's a win for the whole class. Ping-Pong balls are used to represent carbon in a carbon cycle role-play activity. In small groups, children first discuss what...
Curated OER
Lesson 1: Theatre Arts
Learners create and perform based on cuttings from various plays and literature to demonstrate the learning of the process of improvisation. Students connect improvisation with theatre and real life. Learners participate in a class...
Curated OER
Walden the Ballad of Thoreau
Students role play to become familiar with the life of Thoreau. For this Thoreau lesson, students view a video of the Walden play about Thoreau. Students perform and promote the play as a school event.
Curated OER
Mirror Image
Second graders create and act out mirror images of their partners and the movements they make. They focus on spatial awareness skills associated with this activity, including exercising in large and small movements. Students observe...
Curated OER
Puppet Frogs
Students identify the elements of line, shape, and color and expressive qualities of pictorial representation. Students create their own puppet frog using emotion and perform in a reader's theater. Students listen to various pieces of...
Curated OER
The Little Red Hen
First graders act out the story The Little Red Hen while developing vocabulary through dialogue, using pantomime and verbal interaction.
Curated OER
Understanding Stage Design: Using Visual Elements to Provide Information to an Audience
Learners study about theatrical design by developing environments for improvised and scripted scenes. They develop focused ideas for an environment using visual elements.
Curated OER
Dramatizing Your Story
Students write a script, planning and recording improvisations based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature and history.
Curated OER
Union vs. Confederate (Drama)
Fourth graders experience a creative lesson in history. They investigate the events of the Civil War. Then students use the information to reenact different scenes that portray historical events. They conduct the simulation and have a...
Curated OER
The Teacher Directs: The Experience of Movement in Literature
Experience movement in literature. High schoolers are introduced to new vocabulary related to drama and theatre. In groups, they use a piece of literature and develop their own skit to act out in front of the class. As a class, they are...
Curated OER
Fair Trade: Raising the Profile
Seventh graders participate in different activities as they plan for a fair trade display or event. They design wordsearches and act out scenerios dealing with fair trade practices. They also brainstorm a list of items hat are fairly...
Curated OER
In Search of Caesar's Ghost
High schoolers collaborate in small groups to choose a scene that they write in place of a scene in Shakespeare's play "Julius Caesar". In this dramatic expression lesson, their scripts include roles, lines and stage directions. Students...
Curated OER
Goldilocks and the Three Bears Pantomime
Students investigate acting and performing arts by portraying a story in class. In this pantomiming lesson, students read the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and discuss the characters amongst themselves. Students portray the 4...