Curated OER
It's All Part of the Story
Students explore storytelling through pantomime, improvisation, and dramatization. They watch an online video, discuss Native American earth stories, role-play various situations, explore websites, and present an oral story to the class.
Curated OER
Creating Opera
Learners study the how music enhances drama in opera. They work in small groups to develop a short story that would be enhanced with music, costumes and props. They perform their operas for classmates and others.
Curated OER
Acting Out or "as the School Turns"
Learners learn the idea of drama in their own lives; and then transfer that idea to the works of others in this series of lessons. They discuss the question of identity.
Curated OER
Red Ribbon Week
Students perform monologues about bullying and cyber-bullying. In this bullying and drama lesson, students write scenes while improvising before word processing the scenes. They put their work in order to present a show about bullying...
Curated OER
Theatre: Persuasive Explorers
Students act like a famous explorer. In this explorer lesson, students research an explorer and act out persuasive arguments in which that explorer might be involved.
Curated OER
Street People
Students research homelessness including how people end up living on the streets and other related issues such as government response and charity. Using their research, students engage in improvisation, role-plays and monologues on the...
Curated OER
Creating Plays from Children's Stories
Students explain how individual elements (e.g., plot, theme, character, conflict, etc.) comprise the structure of a play. They write an original one-act play with developed characters, specific setting, conflict, and resolution.
Curated OER
Create An Ending
Students create a new ending for a familiar story that stand alone with a clear beginning, middle and end. As a class, students review a familiar text focusing on plot and character development. In small groups, students work...
Curated OER
A Light in the Storm
Examine the genre of historical fiction while reading A Light in the Storm. They extract events in chronological order to make a timeline. Then, they use information in the book important to the characters to create a presentation of an...
Curated OER
Puppet Show
Students create a puppet show for a play. They choose the puppet characters they wish to enact the play and develop scenarios.
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,...
Mississippi Whole School Initiative
Dream Big...With Your Eyes Wide Open
For many people, Barack Obama's presidency was the next step in Martin Luther King, Jr's dream of America's future. Explore the dreams of Americans past and present, as well as the young Americans in your class, with a set of activities...
Curated OER
Scenarios: Beginning, Middle (incidents), End
Students investigate writing scenarios that can be performed. They examine the parts and levels of scenarios that can actually be performed.
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Romeo and Juliet-Balcony Scence
Students create and carry out a "modern day" version of the famous scene from Romeo and Juliet to help them build understanding of the plot and the two characters.
Curated OER
Hats Off to Color
Students investigate primary and secondary colors. In this art lesson plan, students mix primary paint colors to develop secondary colors. Students identify each color they created.
Curated OER
Tableau
Second graders view a video from United Streaming and design still frames of important parts of a story. In this story-telling from different cultures lesson, 2nd graders understand general vocabulary about performing. Students pose to...
Curated OER
Theatre Lesson Plan- Tableau (part 2)
Students explore tableaux. In this social studies and fine arts cross curriculum lesson, students work in groups of four to create "frozen" stage pictures (tableaux) representing vocabulary and concepts from a "From Farm to You" social...
Curated OER
Movement Adventure
Students discover movement and pantomime techniques in this adventurous story telling experience for kindergarten. Assessment is done through a short question and answer session and students drawing the "adventure".
Curated OER
Storymaking Through Pantomime
Young scholars explore performing arts by participating in a role-play activity. In this storytelling lesson, students utilize their physical expressions to particpate in a pantomime performance. Young scholars evaluate performances in...
Curated OER
Chicago On Stage
Students view a film about the genres and disciplines of performing arts. They examine the theatre community in Chicago and the origins of theatre companies. They answer questions and discuss them to end the lesson.
Curated OER
Sherlock Shell and the Case of the Missing Chicken
Middle schoolers read and discuss literature in class. They produce a script based upon the model shared during reading and discussion. Students shoot scenes for a final video project.
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...
Curated OER
Incorporating Japanese Music into the Music Classroom
Fourth graders experience the music and arts of Japan as they explore the language and culture of the country in this instructional activity. A variety of musical elements from the culture are demonstrated.
Curated OER
Creating Clinflict Through Gibberish
Students explore ways to communicate and solve conflict. At the beginning of class, students must communicate emotions without using words. They brainstorm important relationships in their lives. Next, groups of students create a...