Kindergarten Drama at Beatty
June 22nd, 2020
Hello Families!
This is our last week together online, and while I know that it has been challenging to balance life at home during the closure, and distance learning, I appreciate all of the efforts that have been put forth. Thank you for sharing throughout the closure.
A story that we have in our library, that I share with students is "Hello! Hello!" by Matthew Cordell. The story highlights a family and their dependence on technology, whether it be for school, or work. In the end, the main character of the story disconnects, and says "Hello" to other things around her. My hope is that this summer, you are all well, and are able to disconnect once and a while, and enjoy the outdoors. Below is the trailer to the book. It is published by the author and is short and sweet. When you are done watching it together, disconnect for a while and say Hello! to a few things. Ways to dramatize the "Hello!" is to work on facial expression, tone, and movement. Please share with me what you are saying "Hello!" too, and looking forward to this summer. I am so excited to see you all next school year. Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and restful summer!
Ms. Tirkos
June 15th 2020
Hello Families,
As the year comes to a close, it would be nice to take some of our skills learned throughout the year, and apply them to some games. This last game is one that I like to play at the end of the year, but you can still play at home. It is an opportunity to over dramatize a reaction, and use facial expressions, and tone of voice to convey feelings. Another great game to play is freeze dance. It encourages movement, but also helps to practice self control, and a change in movement and expression. Below are two versions that we have used in class:
June 8th, 2020
Hello Families,
I hope you all enjoyed the weather this weekend. This week I did not receive any submissions. I hope everyone is well. Please continue to feel free to share your activities and performances with me. I am always so happy to hear from families and see the work that is shared, when it is sent to me. I continue to see a decline in submissions. Please feel free to catch up on any activities that perhaps you have not attempted in the previous weeks. All submission links are still active, and I am still checking in on them. I am continuously reaching out to families as they share with me.
Have Fun!
Hello Everyone,
I hope you had a great week. This week I did not receive any submissions. I hope everyone is well. Please continue to feel free to share your activities and performances with me.
For this week, we are going to play a game called Buzzy Bee! This game, like Mirror Mirror highlights focus, although this activity has students make movements quickly.
For this game there are two options:
Option 1: in this option children run around flapping and buzzing until you shout out a letter of the alphabet and count down from five – they have to become something beginning with that letter. Try to guess what they are.
Option 2: is essentially the same thing, but you shout out two letters and the children have to become something beginning with the second letter but now with an adjective in front of it – e.g ET could be an energetic tractor, an empty toaster…”
Have fun and please share!
Week of May 25th
Hello Everyone,
As the weather is getting warmer, and we are beginning to spend more time outdoors, it is great to find new ways to enjoy the sun and spend time together. A great thing about drama, is that activities can be done anywhere (even outside!) . Focus, and attention to detail are all a part of pretending. Over the last couple of weeks when we played charades, your children had to draw on experiences that they have had, or seen in order to "act out" the action cards. This weeks dramatic activity is about centering attention. This game is called Mirror, Mirror.
Mirror, Mirror
In this activity, your child will continue to build confidence in using their body (movement) to create a role and communicate meaning.
Sit together knee to knee.
Decide who will be A, and who will be B.
A begins to move very slowly.
B has to copy the movement exactly as if they are the reflection A sees in a mirror.
Continue for some time, and then swap, having B lead A.
Encourage slow movement, with the aim being that anyone watching the pair wouldn’t be able to tell who is leading the movement and who is following.
Have Fun!
Click on the Mirror to Share with Me!
Week of May 19th
Hello Families,
I hope you all have had a restful weekend. I am so happy to hear from families and see the work that is shared, when it is sent to me. In the last few weeks, I have seen a decline in submissions. Seeing that this is a shortened week, please feel free to catch up on any activities that perhaps you have not attempted in the previous weeks. All submission links are still active, and I am still checking in on them. I am continuously reaching out to families as they share with me. If you have not hear from me yet, you will soon!
Have Fun!
Week of May 11th
Hello Families,
I Hope you are all well. I thought that this week after some retell of stories, it was time to "Play" with some drama and take a brain break and have fun. Understandably, it is complicated balancing work, school work, and day to day tasks. That is why I thought it was important to embed some play into your family time, while still working on some activities. The best Drama activity to play at home is charades! I have 2 sets of cards for the game, one is "Summer Charades" (To help get our minds off the snow), and the other pack is an "Action Verb Charades". Especially in the early years, students may feel a little nervous to perform an action and act it out. While playing charades encourage your child to focus on the "action" part of acting, without relying on sound. As always, if you have some actions to share with me, please pass them along!
Have Fun!
Summer Charades.pdfAction Word Charades.pdf
Week of May 4th
Hello Families,
As an extension to last week, here is another great story to dramatize using found props, our voices, and movement! If there are any issues with the link please email me so I can help you navigate the resource. The story that we will be working on is "The Tiny Seed" by Eric Carle. As mentioned last week, do not worry about trying to dramatize the entire story. Focus on the beginning, middle and end.
Some Tips:
As students dramatize the seed blowing in the wind, they can gently move around, and make sounds to mimic a gentle wind. As they grow, they can start in a tuck position, and slowly rise. Brainstorming some actions before the retell can be very helpful.
As always, please do not forget to share with me!
Bookflix login : The username is tdsb, and the password is trillium
Week of April 27 - May 1
Hello Families! Thank you for sharing your work with me last week! It was great to see some of you sharing your Not- a -Stick props with me! Part of the Kindergarten Curriculum has students working towards :
dramatizing rhymes, stories, legends, and folk tales from various cultures and communities.
In the last couple of weeks, we have been discussing using our voices and movements to create a dramatic effect, as well as using imagined props.
We are going to start with a small story, that students can manage as a retell, before we get to folktales. The story we will be working with is "And Then It's Spring" . Students can use their bodies and sounds to show rain, a box can be a pot, and a stick can be a plant growing out of the earth. The point of the dramatic exercise is not to have a complete and in depth retell, but to have a beginning middle and end of the story to dramatize. The recommendation is to watch the story several times throughout the week to help reinforce the story, and then try a dramatization at the end of the week.
The story link is :
https://bookflix.digital.scholastic.com/pair/detail/bk0111pr/story?authCtx=U.624837528
The username is tdsb, and the password is trillium
Take the opportunity to discuss elements of the story while outside enjoying your yard, or observing nature as you go for a walk. As always, I love to see your work, so please share with me when you can!
Week of April 20-24th
Hello Families!
Welcome back this week. This week's activity will be an extension from last week. Thank you for your submissions. I will be checking in with you and giving you feedback shortly!
Last week, we read, "Not a Box" by Antoinette Portis. This week, we will continue with "Not a Stick". The premise is the same as the first picture book. The character uses their imagination to make a stick....."Not a Stick".
In this link, I have chosen a video of the book with no audio. Please note, that this is a youtube link. (Please be cautious of advertisements that may pop up).
After reading the story together, have a discussion linking back to the previous week's story. Discuss what was the same, what was different...."
Next week we will be tying it all together to dramatize a folktale. Until then, try to find a stick. Have your child use the stick as a prop (like last week). No modification needed. Have your child try to come up with 5 different things that the stick can be, and try to dramatize them. Also, try to encourage ideas that differ from the story. Please click the button below and share with me any pictures or videos of the prop in action. Before every explanation, your child should state:
"This is not a stick." "It is......."
For security reasons, you must be logged in to a Google account in order to make a submission below.
Week of April 14-17th
Hello Kindergarten Families! Thank you to those of you who shared your performances with me! They were great to see and I was so very proud! If you are having difficulty sharing any files with me, please let me know.
This week we will be looking at how to enhance our performances using props. This is another VISUAL element that a performer can use to help an audience feel as if what they are seeing is real. In February we read a book together by Antoinette Portis called "Not a Box". We briefly discussed how we can make props using household items as a discussion after the story. Due to the limitations of our scheduling, we had a quick discussion and had some students use their imaginations to share with their class. While at home, students will be able to create and share without limitation!
After viewing the video, try to find a box in the house (Any box will do, kleenex, shoe box, cereal box.....). Have your child use the box as a prop. No modification needed (holding up a kleenex box to their ear as a phone is all it takes!). Have your child try to come up with 5 different things that the box can be. Also, try to encourage ideas that differ from the story. Please click the button and share with me any pictures or videos of the props in action. Before every explanation your child should state:
"This is not a box." "It is......."
Have Fun!
Have a look at the story below with your child (they loved the story, so this will be a nice memory and connection to school!)
Please note, that this is a youtube link. (Please be cautious of advertisements that may pop up)
For security reasons, you must be logged in to a Google account in order to make a submission below.
Week of April 6, 2020
Hello Kindergarten Families! Before the break, we were working on a performance of " We are Going on a Bear Hunt!" written by Michael Rosen. In our classroom discussions, we focused on the responsibilities of a performer. We identified that an audience can only "see" our performance and "hear it". A performer then must focus heavily on making sure their audience is captivated by our movements and sounds. We watched the animated version of the book first, to help with our imagination.
Then we watched Michael Rosen perform the story himself! We discussed how he used his body to create a visual experience for his audience. He also uses animated expressions when performing. Finally, he uses his voice to create sounds.
We practiced the movements, so students should be able to pick it up fairly quickly. We were just about to video tape our performance before the break. I would love to have students share their performances with me. Below, students can share their performance, it can be a picture, an audio recording, or even a video! (The file will only be shared with me on my private Gdrive TDSB account). If you would like to share a performance, please indicate this with your submission, and I will share it with our kindergarten community.
For security reasons, you must be logged in to a Google account in order to make a submission below.