Lesson of the Week: Drama and Reading

Narrative Elements

Choose a poem that has clear narrative elements in it. I used The Creature in the Classroom by Jack Prelutsky.

Read the poem, act it out, then name the elements. This is a simple way to integrate drama.

• Drama focus is on gestures and voice.

Teach the students how gestures are used with their bodies to help express feelings and events. Model some examples like shrugging shoulders, pointing fingers, etc. Then explain how the rise and fall in your voice sends a message to the listener. Practice reading one sentence using different kinds of voices (angry, happy, bored, etc.)

• Reading focus is on identifying narrative elements.

 

Narrative Elements with a Poem from Marly Parker on Vimeo.

Extended Activities:

Have the students write what could happen next then act it out.

Have the students write their own poem to be acted out.

 

Lesson of the Week: Visual Art

Exploring Color Combinations

 Procedures

1. Read the students a story about color, see list below for suggestions.

2. Introduce the objective of lesson:
• Today we are going to create our own color wheels by mixing the primary colors to create secondary colors.
• Can anybody tell me what the colors of the rainbow are?
• Does anybody know what the primary colors are? (Red, yellow, blue)
• Does anybody know what the secondary colors are? (Orange, green, violet)

3. Look at images of artwork and have the students identify the primary and secondary colors in the artwork.

4. Hand out the poster board, with the drawn blank color wheel, and art materials.

5. Have students put the primary colors on their wheels in alternating sections.

6. Then, using the primary colors, students will mix them together to create the secondary colors (red and yellow; yellow and blue; blue and red.)

7. Discuss the secondary colors created (red + yellow = orange; yellow + blue = green; blue + red = violet.)

8. The students will then describe how to create secondary colors in a written math equation (red + yellow = orange; yellow + blue = green; blue + red = violet) and complete a journal entry describing their experiences with mixing colors.

Extensions
Visual Arts: Students can create a piece of artwork, based on a theme in class, using primary and secondary color

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Suggested Books

Baxter, Nicola. Amazing Colors. Chicago, IL: Children’s Press, 1996.

Ehlert, Lois. Color Zoo. New York: HarperFestival, 1997.

Ehlert, Lois. Planting a Rainbow. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, Inc., 2003.

Richardson, Joy. Using Color in Art. Milwaukee: Gareth Stevens, 2000.

Westray, Kathleen. A Color Sampler. New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1993.

 

This lesson was taken from the website: www.carearts.org

Lesson of the Week: Dance and Reading

Story Summary

This lesson integrates dance with reading. First the students listen to a book read aloud to them. The teacher has parts of the story written on sticky notes before it is read. After the book is read, the sticky notes are placed in order onto a chart. The students then pick a part of the story to use to come up with three 8 counts of a short dance that depicts the part of the story that is on their sticky note. After that, the students perform this in front of each other having the audience guess what part of the story they are performing. You can add to the game by having the audience also have to say where that part happened: beginning, middle or end. Finally, (this was not done in the below video) you can put all of the movements together to create one big dance that shows the entire summary of the story.

This can be used for the Arts Fair. For the art form, the students learned how to use their bodies to create movement that explains a part of a story. For the subject, the students learned parts of a story, sequence of events, and creating a summary.

 

DANCE MSA from Marly Parker on Vimeo.

Lesson of the Week: Integrating Drama and Reading

Interpretation

1. Put students into small groups.

2. Before reading a picture book, pass out copies of some of the illustrations to the groups. Give a different illustration to each group.

3. The students take turns sharing their interpretation of the illustration. Remind them to “read” the illustration closely to decide character, setting, possible problem, etc.

4. They then act out the story they think the illustration is showing.

5. Have each group share their interpretative skit.

6. Discuss the narrative elements depicted in their skit.

7. Then you read the book.

After steps 1 – 7, you have them get back into their groups and act out the illustration again now showing it’s real meaning.

The final scene can be used as an entry into the Arts Fair. For the art form, they learned how to interpret an illustration to develop a prediction for a story. For the subject of reading they learned recognizing how illustrations impact the telling of a story and helps show narrative elements.

IllustrationInterpretation from Marly Parker on Vimeo.

 

See me if you have any questions. Feel free to leave a comment!

Lesson of the Week: Integrating Dance and Reading

Character Traits

After reading a book, have the students discuss the main character. Record on a chart the character traits of the character from the beginning to the end of the book. In the video below, you will see that the traits at the beginning, middle, end, and very end were listed. You will also see the students coming up with an 8 count dance movement that represents those character traits from each part.

1st 8 count shows the beginning character trait

2nd 8 count shows the middle character trait

3rd 8 count shows the end character trait

4th 8 count shows the very end character trait

 Then they put those four 8 counts together and make a dance. The final product is a dance that shows the changing character traits of the main character. Please see Mrs. Dane or Mrs. Parker for help with this lesson.

The final dance can be used as an entry into the Arts Fair. For the art form, they learned how to use 8 counts to choreograph a dance that represents a character’s changing traits. For the subject of reading they learned recognizing character traits of a main character and how the character traits change throughout a story.

Character Traits and Dance from Marly Parker on Vimeo.