Curated OER
Theatre Vocabulary ad Elements
Fifth graders examine basic theatre vocabulary and use it to discuss a play. In this theater lesson, 5th graders identify the elements of a play. Students perform their play and use theatre vocabulary to explain their experience.
Curated OER
Imagining the Environment: Introduction
Students examine the importance of the environment including the setting, lights, sound, costumes, and props for a play or story. They visualize the appropriate environments and practice applying the techniques.
Curated OER
Getting to Know You
Students explore the concept of communication. In this communication activity, students create collages featuring their likes and dislikes. Students present the collages to their classmates.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Vengeful Verbs in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”
It's time for pupils to read, examine, and contemplate literature to explore the difference between vivid and generic verbs. Pupils distinguish between the two types of verbs as they read the ghost scene from Shakespeare's Hamlet. They...
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
Introduction to the Script Department
Students study drama and plays. They study the job of a playwright and discuss plot and conflict in a play script. Together, as a class, they access an online resource site to find information about playwrights and then decide upon and...
Curated OER
Precise Vocabulary
Students complete acting exercises as a part of a precise language activity to help them build vocabulary and improve their descriptive writing skills. In this theatre and writing lesson, students create and act out a sentence with two...
Curated OER
How Characters Get What They Want
Sixth graders analyze the primary force that drives a character's actions in a character analysis lesson. In this character analysis lesson, 6th graders analyze how characters present their actions and participate in a group activity...
Curated OER
Greek Theatre Styles
Seventh graders are introduced to the different styles of Greek theatres. As a class they discuss the level of sophistication in different areas and the purpose of the theater. To end the lesson, they practice the techniques of the...
Curated OER
Lesson: Ayman Ramadan: Koshary min Zamman
Examine the avant-garde movement and artists who explore the ideas of the Situationist. The class view imaged of Ayman Ramadan's installation pieces, learn about modern-day Egypt, and research other artist who use art to express social...
Curated OER
Reading the Play
Do figures of speech enhance a play or story? In small groups, learners locate and describe figures of speech they find while reading a reader's theater play. After making predictions, they describe how the figures of speech make the...
Curated OER
Storytelling Model
Students examine how to model story telling for their classes. They investigate how to learn, rehearse and share stories.
Curated OER
Theatre Lesson Plan: Finding Your Way
Second graders identify story elements in familiar stories from their lives. In this story elements instructional activity, 2nd graders act out familiar activities by following directions. Students read a story and discuss the story...
National First Ladies' Library
Language Arts: The Rise of the Operetta
Pupils develop an appreciation for the musical theater form, the operetta. In addition, they present parodies of songs from The Mikado. Working in small groups and accessing provided Websites, they compose their parodies. Once completed,...
Orlando Shakes
West Side Story: Study Guide
Hey, enough frabbajabba about that stool pigeon, Daddy-O! Using the West Side Story study guide, scholars explore the language of the play and read about its historical associations and themes. Pupils also engage in a Spectrum of...
Curated OER
Sing a Song of Indiana
After hearing John Mellencamp's song "Small Town," 4th graders are introduced to a brief biography/history of John Mellencamp. They will perform the entire song at the annual 4th grade program at the school.
Curated OER
Sophocles' Antigone: Ancient Greek Theatre, Live from Antiquity
Students analyze Antigone and its universal issues as well as explore ancient Greece. In this Antigone and Ancient Greece lesson, students read and complete activities for Sophocles' Antigone. Students reconstruct the experience of a...
Ford's Theatre
How Perspective Shapes Understanding of History
The Boston Massacre may be an iconic event in American history, but perhaps the British soldiers had another point of view. Using primary sources, including reports from Boston newspapers and secondary sources from the British...
Curated OER
Water Water Water - Costume Designing
Young scholars create costumes using recycled materials determined beforehand by the teacher in this High School Drama/Art lesson on costume designing. The example lesson is based around the title of "Water, Water, Water" but can be...
National First Ladies' Library
Movies for a Nickel! The Nickelodeon
Students identify and participate in this activity to identify and learn about the early history of the film industry, and consider the impact of movies on society ever since. Then they use the websites listed to study various aspects of...
National First Ladies' Library
The Play's the Thing...or Two
Students explore melodram as a form of theatre. They write about lucid and factual news accounts and about sensationalism. Students gain experience in relating one time period with another and with doing historical research.
Curated OER
Our Side of the Story: African Americans Share Their Experiences of Slavery
Seventh graders listen to a variety of folktales sharing experiences of slavery. As a class, they compare and contrast reading a story and telling a story. They participate in a role play activity to discover the journey of a slave and...
Curated OER
A Step Back in Time
Fifth graders study the Civil War, discuss the life and policy decisions of Abraham Lincoln and the concepts/issues that developed to create North vs. South. This lesson is meant to be used before visiting Ford's Theatre.
Curated OER
Theatre Lesson Plan, Performing a Story
Second graders read the story, The Bundle of Sticks, and discuss the story elements within the story; setting, plot, conflict resolution. In this readers theater lesson, 2nd graders reenact the story in small groups, then reflect on...