Lessons (click on lesson name for details)

Characters in Motion

Using Dance as a Tool to Understand Character Traits

Students use a familiar story (Goldilocks and The Three Bears) and the 4 elements of Dance (B.E.S.T., described herein) to identify, portray, and create a mental picture of the character traits in a story/dance performance. Students recognize and support a character's traits with details from the story/performance.

A New Point of View

Understanding Perspective - Improving Comprehension

• Can you identify the main character and point of view of the story or performance?
• How can you retell the same story form a different point of view with a different main character?

After seeing a live performance students rewrite the story of the play from the point of view of a minor character.

And That's the Story!

Bringing History to Life Through Readers' Theatre

Students read or retell a story from history using skills developed in Readers' Theatre exercises.

What Do You Think?

Kid Critics Respond to Drama

Students write a newspaper review, using the prompts provided, to evaluate and critique a live performance or a classroom theatre workshop or residency.

What a Character!

Using Observation & Graphic Organizers to Understand Characters in a Play

Students create and use a chart to document their observations about character traits in a theatre performance. Students compare and read charts to draw conclusions about the characters in the performance. Students use information in their chart to write a detailed description of one or more characters.

Hear and Now

Learning through Active Listening

Students will learn how to listen to music, and how through that 'listening process' they can derive information about the meaning of a piece. Students will learn how to focus on various aspects of music (volume, tone, instrumentation). This will help students center their attention into being an active audience member who is able to obtain meaning and information from live or recorded music.

Singing a Story

Creating Song Lyrics Using Narrative Structure

Students will create their own song lyrics based upon a musical engagement experience or previously read work. Students will use their understanding of narrative elements to incorporate similar fundamentals of character, setting, conflict, point-of-view ... into their lyrical creations. This activity aims to illuminate to students the basic elements & structures of narrative that exist in various art forms.

Bold Brochures

Integrating informational Text and Visual Aids to Create an Original Marketing Piece

Students gather and analyze promotional/informational pieces from one or more arts/cultural organizations. Using visual organizers, students clarify ideas and develop a purpose and audience for writing. Integrating text features, visual art elements and technology (when available), students create a brochure to be published, presented and displayed.

Every Picture Tells a Story

It's All in the Details

Students learn to 'visually process' information/details in order to infer ideas about the work of art in comparison to approaching literature. Students will use their understanding of detail to process information into main ideas that are supported by those details. Students will also begin to see the author-as-artist relationship: how writers use descriptive, imagery-based words to create images and moods for the reader. Students create their own artwork and then use it as a prompt to write a short story with sensory detail found in the artwork. The artwork and the stories can then be displayed in the classroom, the hallway, a class book, etc.