Session title: Creative Chaos: Using Elementary Theatre Skills with Children's Literature

Session style: Workshop style presentation that provides hands on learning for participants to reinforce the concepts being presented. 

Presentation description: This is the second workshop in the Creative Chaos series. This series is designed to not only train arts educators and general education teachers in methods to integrate the arts into core curriculum, but also to provide ways for students to become creative problem solvers using elementary theatre techniques. In the workshop Using Elementary Theatre Skills with Children’s Literature, teachers will participate in a series of hands on activities involving imaginative theatre games, acting scenarios, and other drama based activities that bring to life popular books in children’s literature.  

Presentation Summary: 

Chaos. The very word can send a shiver down the back of even the most seasoned educator. But what if you could combine creativity and chaos together? What if you could provide your elementary students with learning experiences that were fun, educational, and had a dash of theatre, too? Then you’ve got all the elements of Creative Chaos! In this session, theatre and children’s literature collide. Participants will learn costume design and SEL with the story Amazing Grace and Potato Pants. Story sequencing is a snap with King Bidgood’s in the Bathtub. Explore emotions and creating tableaus with How Are You Peeling: Foods with Moods. Find out how to use props with the Mustache Baby series. Students love acting out their favorite stories, but it’s a great way to reinforce ELA concepts, as well as, differentiate learning. Come learn how to harness the creative chaos in your classroom through theatre and children’s literature.

Presentation Level: Intermediate to Advanced

This workshop will appeal to elementary arts educators and elementary general education teachers who are interested in integrating theatre concepts into their lessons and who are ready to enrich the curriculum they already have in place. The lessons are geared for K-5 students.