Embedded Files
January 28-February 8
Students are continuing to transform the children's picture book into a play.
We are also focusing on our monologues and then the students will audition for a part in the final play using their monologue. The students will audition for Mrs. Whiddon's class who will then assign the parts for the final play.
January 7-25
While we have many activities listed below for the month of January, we are mostly focused on performing our monologues and choosing a picture book to turn into a play.
Acting Activity: p. 14 Detective game
Turn your narrative into a drama. Check on Stage 2 or 3 of playwriting
Choose a monologue to perform/memorize. Work on memorization techniques.
What are some ways we can memorize a monologue?
https://www.wikihow.com/Memorize-a-Monologue
Week 6
Vocal Warm Ups: look at other tongue twisters on p. 32
Acting Warm Ups: Where/Environment p. 16
Environment Exploration (close your eyes and pretend you are really cold etc.)
Birthday Party Environment, Three Objects -give TS a slip of paper with a WHERE environment on it. The student has to enter the stage and interact with 3 objects that would be in that environment.
Still working on turning our narrative into a drama. Discuss the most important elements that need to be added to the narrative: ACTING and DIALOGUE.
CASTAWAY CLIPS-Show clips of Castaway and discuss how they had to add WILSON in order for Tom Hanks’ character to have dialogue.
SHOW THESE CLIPS IN THE ORDER HERE:
- Coconut Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdHAJ5Ypw6A
Ask: What is happening in this scene? What did you notice most about this scene?
2) Creation of Wilson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH1AgbhmUpc
What is the significance of Wilson?
3) Fire Creating Scene with Wilson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zXWLbr1LyY
4) Conversation with Wilson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f9BS0poSBs
STOP THIS VIDEO AT 1:39
Discuss how Wilson has now become a character. He is not so much of a WHAT as he is a WHO now.
5) Before showing Super Bowl commercial, explain how Hanks used the boxes that rolled up on the shore but there was one box he didn’t use. This box served as a symbol of something more. His motivation and desire to get off the island and deliver the package. He never opens it.
Castaway FedEx commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alSQpinagp0
Perform your monologue- cold reading from script
Discuss culminating project:
Choose whether we will write a play from a picture book or turn a scene from your novel into a play or simply perform monologues (depending on age).
If a group chooses to perform monologues one of their tasks will still be to take a story and turn it into a play. Perhaps they can use the novel they are reading and turn one scene into a play.
Lit Circle time
Begin researching picture books or monologues
December 17-20
Acting Activity: p. 14 Detective game
Turn your narrative into a drama. Stage 2 & 3 of Peanut Character should be finished. Step 4 is publishing the final draft on SeeSaw.
Choose a monologue to perform/memorize. Work on memorization techniques.
What are some ways we can memorize a monologue?
https://www.wikihow.com/Memorize-a-Monologue
Bellringers + DGP (or Zentangle)
Acting Activity: Pantomime. The goal of any pantomime is to make the audience believe something exists that isn’t really there.
Try to open a window to a fire escape.
• Attempt to open a stuck door.
• Opening a birthday present that they've always wanted.
• Eating a bowl full of something really disgusting.
• A monkey eating a banana.
• Become a swan swimming gracefully on a still peaceful lake--next become a frog jumping in a pond.
• Imitate the actions involved in everyday activities: mowing the lawn, making a bed, moving the trash can, sweeping the floor, digging the garden, etc.
• Buying shoes, hats, food or a car.
• Putting on a pair of shoes: ballerina-fireman, then acting out the character.
Now we are going to get into the 4 stages of playwriting (from arenastage.org). A template has been created for Google Classroom.
Stage 2 of the 4 Stages of Playwriting. Writing the narrative from the character profile.
Week 3 December 3-7
Bellringers + Sudoku
Why an Ensemble Matters
Warm Up Activities:
- One Word Story- in a circle, one person says a single word to begin the story. The person to his left says another word and so on. The goal is to tell a coherent story one word at a time.
- Trust Exercise: get in a close circle and have one volunteer go to the middle arms crossed over her chest and fall forward or backward being propped up by students and gently passed. Ask: What did it feel like to rely on someone else? To be responsible for someone else?
- Give & Take (p. 10/11). Was it difficult to wait your turn? How can this be useful when rehearsing a scene from a play?
Begin the Four Stages of Playwriting by 1) read the myth of Coyote and Thought Woman.
2) Read the story again and have students act out the story with no words while I narrate.
3) Then students will act out the story with no narration. They can use dialogue.
Discuss the differences between narrative writing and playwriting.
Then work on Stage 1 of playwriting and create a character profile for a peanut.
Every lesson should stem from the central goal of “connecting with an audience to tell a story”
Week 2- November 26-30
Bellringers+ Perplexors
Reflect on previous lesson “What is Theater” “What makes a good actor” “Why is the audience important” Our goal was observation and its importance.
Write at least 3 sentences in your journal describing the person you observed. Read paragraphs aloud to class.
Vocal Warm Ups
Acting Warm Ups- Act like the person you observed.
This week’s goal is working as an ensemble.
Every lesson should stem from the central goal of “connecting with an audience to tell a story”
Acting Warm Ups:
- Do Toe to Toe activity on p. 7 to learn more about each other
- Group Shape game p. 8 The goal is to create a shape of an object with their bodies.
- The Machine activity. The goal of this game is for each actor to become part of a working machine. P. 8
Reflection Questions: Why is it important to work as an ensemble? What other activities are you involved in that requires work as an ensemble? Make a list of 3 of them in your journal OR draw pictures.
Take The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe prose and turn it into play. Practice with this.
If time, can log into the online book club for SHORT and do some of the activities.
WEEK 1: THIS WEEK STARTS OUR NEW ROTATION
WEEK 1: THIS WEEK STARTS OUR NEW ROTATION
November 12-20
We will discuss class procedures and worked on bellringers.
We had a great class discussion answering the following questions:
- Can you describe what theater is?
- How is it different than reading a book?
- How is it different that watching a movie?
- What makes a good actor? How is acting for theater different from a movie?
- Have you ever seen a play? What made it good?
Every lesson should stem from the central goal of "connecting with an audience to tell a story."
Introduce Vocal Warm Ups: Betty Botter, Unique New York, Red Leather Yellow Leather etc.
Acting Warm Ups: We then played charades displaying emotions. 3 students went up at a time to portray an emotion picked from a basket and the audience had to guess which emotion was being portrayed. Then students swapped roles.
Students also played a mirror activity game where they had to use observation skills and mimic the person standing toe to toe with them. As the audience, we shouldn't have been able to tell who was the leader and who was the follower.
Take a pretest on some Drama Terms: jeopardylabs.com/play/intro-to-drama-review-5
We discussed the importance of asking yourself "what is my OBJECTIVE?" with each line.
Students participated in a cold reading of a play (called "The Play") to work through the dialogue. Then we added a bit of expression to our lines during the second reading of the same play.
HOMEWORK: Observe the people around you and choose ONE interesting person. When you come back you will write in your journal describing the person you observed.
November 5-9 OUR LAST WEEK
November 5-9 OUR LAST WEEK
Students are performing their monologues and play for parents and students in the media center this week.
October 22- November 2
Students auditioned for their parts in the final play by performing their monologues in front of Mrs. Whiddon's students. Mrs. Whiddon's students cast the parts for the final play. Students are still working on their monologues as well as rehearsing their final play.
We created Zentangles this week.
Through the Zentangle Method of drawing, you can
- Relax
- Focus
- Expand your imagination
- Trust your creativity
- Increase your awareness
- Respond confidently to the unexpected
- Discover the fun and healing in creative expression
- Enter a vibrant and supportive world-wide community
- Feel gratitude and appreciation for this beautiful world and all that you can do
- And perhaps most importantly . . . Have fun!
This is an example of a Zentangle that I created.
October 6-19
I have reserved the media center for my 2 Language Arts classes for their monologue and play performances for Thursday, November 8. The show will start at 1:30 p.m. Please come watch your child perform if you are able! They'll be so excited!
Warm-up acting exercises- environments. We are focusing on changing our body movement and facial expressions depending on the environment.
Students are also practicing performing their monologues. I am so impressed with how far they've come!
Stage Directions p. 38
- Always be open
- Never a straight line
- Create depth and height whenever possible
Continue working on final project
Reflection: Why is staging important to telling the story? What are the 3 principles of blocking?
CASTAWAY CLIPS-Show clips of Castaway and discuss how they had to add WILSON in order for Tom Hanks’ character to have dialogue.
SHOW THESE CLIPS IN THE ORDER HERE:
- Coconut Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdHAJ5Ypw6A
Ask: What is happening in this scene? What did you notice most about this scene?
2) Creation of Wilson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lH1AgbhmUpc
What is the significance of Wilson?
Discuss how Wilson has now become a character. He is not so much of a WHAT as he is a WHO now.
October 1-5
Vocal Warm Ups: look at other tongue twisters on p. 32
Acting Warm Ups: Where/Environment p. 16 Environment Exploration (close your eyes and pretend you are really cold etc.) Birthday Party Environment, Three Objects -give TS a slip of paper with a WHERE environment on it. The student has to enter the stage and interact with 3 objects that would be in that environment.
Students voted on which book to turn into a play. LA 1 chose "Wolf" and LA 2 chose "The Day the Crayons Quit."
Perform your monologue- cold reading from script
September 24-28
Students are working on memorizing their monologue.
Students will go to the library and choose books that could potentially be turned into a play. Each student will select 2 books and then the class will read ALL of the selections before voting.
Students will record an audio file of their monologue in SeeSaw.
September 17-21
Then students will choose a monologue to memorize. This monologue will be used as an audition piece for our final play. Students will record their monologue through SeeSaw.
What are some ways we can memorize a monologue?
https://www.wikihow.com/Memorize-a-Monologue
Students will finish turning their peanut myth into a play.
September 10-14
Students are still working on Movement & Space. We will continue practicing pantomiming.
Students have completed writing their peanut myths. We will begin Stage 4 where students will turning their narrative writing (the peanut myth) into a drama (play).
September 3-7
Lesson this Week: Why an Ensemble Matters
Warm Up Activities:
- Trust Exercise: get in a close circle and have one volunteer go to the middle arms crossed over her chest and fall forward or backward being propped up by students and gently passed. Ask: What did it feel like to rely on someone else? To be responsible for someone else?
- Give & Take (p. 10/11). Was it difficult to wait your turn? How can this be useful when rehearsing a scene from a play?
Begin the Four Stages of Playwriting by reading the myth of Coyote and Thought Woman. Read the story again and have students act out the story with no words. Then act out the story with no narration. Discuss the differences between narrative writing and playwriting.
Then work on Stage 1 of playwriting and create a character profile for a peanut.
August 27-31- Week 2
We will reflect on our last class meeting dealing with "what is theater" and "what makes a good actor," and this week we will focus on working as an ensemble.
Students will write in their journal about the one interesting person they observed and describe them in detail. They will also get a chance to act like this person for 30 seconds.
We will do some acting warm ups as an ensemble.
August 20-24 Week 1
This week begins our 1st week in our GRC rotation.
We discussed class procedures and worked on bellringers.
We had a great class discussion answering the following questions:
- Can you describe what theater is?
- How is it different than reading a book?
- How is it different that watching a movie?
- What makes a good actor? How is acting for theater different from a movie?
- Have you ever seen a play? What made it good?
We then played charades displaying emotions. 3 students went up at a time to portray an emotion picked from a basket and the audience had to guess which emotion was being portrayed. Then students swapped roles.
Students also played a mirror activity game where they had to use observation skills and mimic the person standing toe to toe with them. As the audience, we shouldn't have been able to tell who was the leader and who was the follower.
We discussed the importance of asking yourself "what is my OBJECTIVE?" with each line.
Students participated in a cold reading of a play to work through the dialogue. Then we added a bit of expression to our lines during the second reading of the same play.
HOMEWORK: Observe the people around you and choose ONE interesting person. When you come back you will write in your journal describing the person you observed.
April 23- May 4
UPDATE: as of May 4: All parts have been CAST for the plays. LA 2 & LA 3 auditioned in front of Mrs. Whiddon's GRC LA class. Mrs. Whiddon's class casted the parts. It was great practice for these young actors.
Students are working on their monologues. I have recorded most of the monologues on video and will be sending them to each student via Google Drive.
We practiced a Focus/Concentration acting technique called "Sausage." The kids loved it! We also worked on improvisation techniques with the Bus Stop and Hitchhiker acting activities.
Scriptwriters are busy writing the play for our final production. We will start rehearsals the second the scripts are written.
Dates of PERFORMANCES will be coming home soon!
May 7-18
We are in our final rehearsals and will be presenting our plays the week of May 14-18. Check out the dropdown PLAY VIDEOS from the Language Arts page to see Interrupting Chicken by Mrs. Denton's class OR watch it here.
InterruptingChicken.m4vApril 16-20
THIS IS A SHORT WEEK BECAUSE OF TESTING WHICH MEANS I MIGHT ONLY BE ABLE TO MEET WITH THEM FOR 1/2 OF THEIR REGULARLY SCHEDULED TIME.
This week, we will choose a PICTURE BOOK to transform into a play.
We will also practice our monologues.
Check Google Classroom for Online Book Club (SHORT novel) activities.
April 9-13
Check on monologue memorization. What are some ways we can memorize a monologue?
https://www.wikihow.com/Memorize-a-Monologue
Check Stage 4 of playwriting. Review student created plays to make sure the students know how to transform a narrative to a drama.
Choose a picture book for the final production.
Acting lessons on p. 18 Where/Environment & Where/Conversation. Exaggeration Circle, Hitchhiker, Bus Stop.
Check LESSONS for online book club. Share business cards and scrapbooks.
April 2-6
Students are still working on Movement & Space. We will continue practicing pantomiming.
Most classes should be finished with Stage 2 & 3 of playwriting. We will begin Stage 4 where students are actually turning their narrative into a drama (play). Stage 4 will not be completed this week.
Students will begin practicing monologues.
Students will work in the online book club in Google Classroom and complete activities such as creating a business card.
March 19-23
Acting Activity: Pantomime. The goal of any pantomime is to make the audience believe something exists that isn’t really there.
Try to open a window to a fire escape.
• Attempt to open a stuck door.
• Opening a birthday present that they've always wanted.
• Eating a bowl full of something really disgusting.
• A monkey eating a banana.
• Become a swan swimming gracefully on a still peaceful lake--next become a frog jumping in a pond.
• Imitate the actions involved in everyday activities: mowing the lawn, making a bed, moving the trash can, sweeping the floor, digging the garden, etc.
• Buying shoes, hats, food or a car.
• Putting on a pair of shoes: ballerina-fireman, then acting out the character.
Begin Stage 2 of the 4 Stages of Playwriting. Writing the narrative from the "peanut" character profile.
Students are reading the novel Short by Holly Goldberg Sloan and participating in an online book club through Google Classroom.
March 12-16
Why an Ensemble Matters
Warm Up Activities:
- One Word Story- in a circle, one person says a single word to begin the story. The person to his left says another word and so on. The goal is to tell a coherent story one word at a time.
- Trust Exercise: get in a close circle and have one volunteer go to the middle arms crossed over her chest and fall forward or backward being propped up by students and gently passed. Ask: What did it feel like to rely on someone else? To be responsible for someone else?
- Give & Take (p. 10/11). Was it difficult to wait your turn? How can this be useful when rehearsing a scene from a play?
Begin the Four Stages of Playwriting by reading the myth of Coyote and Thought Woman. Read the story again and have students act out the story with no words. Then act out the story with no narration. Discuss the differences between narrative writing and playwriting.
Then work on Stage 1 of playwriting and create a character profile for a peanut.
March 5-9
We will reflect on our last class meeting dealing with "what is theater" and "what makes a good actor," and this week we will focus on working as an ensemble.
Students will write in their journal about an one interesting person they observed and describe them in detail. They will also get a chance to act like this person for 30 seconds.
We will do some acting warm ups as an ensemble and then do a cold reading of a play called "The Team."
February 26-March 2
This week begins our 1st week in our GRC rotation.
We discussed class procedures and worked on bellringers.
We had a great class discussion answering the following questions:
- Can you describe what theater is?
- How is it different than reading a book?
- How is it different that watching a movie?
- What makes a good actor? How is acting for theater different from a movie?
- Have you ever seen a play? What made it good?
We then played charades displaying emotions. 3 students went up at a time to portray an emotion picked from a basket and the audience had to guess which emotion was being portrayed. Then students swapped roles.
Students also played a mirror activity game where they had to use observation skills and mimic the person standing toe to toe with them. As the audience, we shouldn't have been able to tell who was the leader and who was the follower.
We discussed the importance of asking yourself "what is my OBJECTIVE?" with each line.
Students participated in a cold reading of a play to work through the dialogue. Then we added a bit of expression to our lines during the second reading of the same play.
HOMEWORK: Observe the people around you and choose ONE interesting person. When you come back you will write in your journal describing the person you observed.
February 19-23
We will have a full Dress Rehearsal during class times and then both classes will perform on Friday, February 23 at 1:30 in the media center. Parents are welcome to attend!
February 12-16
Woking on Focus/Concentration
Acting Warm-Ups: Group Count p.28, Sausage p. 29
Also Work on Utilizing Voice- Projection, Articulation, and Exaggeration
Acting Warm-Ups p. 30
We filmed out monologues and put them in Google Drive for the students to watch at home.
February 5-9
Stage Directions p. 38
- Always be open
- Never a straight line
- Create depth and height whenever possible
Continue working on final project
Reflection: Why is staging important to telling the story? What are the 3 principles of blocking?
Students will be rehearsing their final production this week. Students are allowed to bring in necessary props.
Monologues will be fine tuned this week. Students MUST be off book before class this week.
January 29-February 2
This week we focused on OBJECTIVE. Students needed to ask themselves What is my objective with this line? with this monologue? with this scene? with this character?
We did our usual vocal warm-ups and then performed a task where one person's objective was to get the other kids to smile. The kids' objective was NOT to smile! Then students were each given a 2 person scenario with unknown opposite objectives and had to perform an improvisational scene.
Both classes have chosen their final play production and BOTH classes chose to modernize the children's picture book Who is Melvin Bubble? Students have written their play and should be memorizing it this week.
Monologues will also be performed.
January 22-26
Students will continue to collaboratively transform the Peanut narrative into a play.
Monologues should be memorized so students can work on emotions and blocking.
For Walk Two Moons, students will choose to research one state park mentioned in the book and create some sort of artistic representation of that state park. This will not be due until the last week of class (in late February). Students can bring in supplies to start working on it this week (canvas, paint, clay etc.)
For Peter & the Starcatchers, students will identify figurative language and take a Kahoot.it quiz on the novel.
January 15-19
LA 3: Students will practice monologues in front of the class. Must be memorized by next week.
We will discuss the novel and create a character web for Phoebe and Sal. We will focus on what each character "says" "feels" "acts" "looks."
We will choose one peanut narrative to turn into a play and begin writing parts of the play together.
January 8-12
LA 3: We discussed Walk Two Moons and picked out examples of figurative language. We discussed what a frame story is (a story within a story) and discussed the parallel story of Sal's mom to the dog.
Acting exercises included Pantomiming the detective story
Met one on one with students to discuss writing the narrative for the peanut story. Instead of jumping in and writing a play, we are writing a narrative first. We will then vote on one story to turn into a play and then work on it together.
LA 4: We discussed Peter & The Starcatchers and completed the worksheet on parts of a ship. Students need a little more practice finding examples of figurative language (which is normal for 4th graders). Discussed the theme of the story (power, good vs. evil, friendship)
Students finished writing peanut narratives and then we practiced acting pantomiming the detective story. Students also practiced monologues (everyone went once). Next week students must have the monologue memorized!
partsship.pdfThis is for my Friday class reading Peter & The Starcatchers
January 4-5
Warm-up acting exercises- environments. We are focusing on changing our body movement and facial expressions depending on the environment.
Continue writing one act "peanut" play
Discuss the beginning of the novels. LA 3 will do a Walk Two Moons webquest.
Check on monologue memorization. What are some ways we can memorize a monologue?
https://www.wikihow.com/Memorize-a-Monologue
At end of class hold hands and say ONE word that describes your drama experience today.
December 11-15
Acting warm ups including acting as a machine
Continue working on 4 Stages of Playwriting
Vote on a novel to read. LA 3 (Thursday class) chose Walk Two Moons
LA 4 (Friday class) chose Peter & The Starcatchers.
December 4-8
Vocal warm-ups and pantomimes (ex: attempt to open a stuck door)
Four Stages of Playwriting: Finding inspiration (we will discuss some of the ideas from "The Team" that were used for inspiration)
- Students will look at a peanut and imagine that the peanut is a character in a story.
- Create a character profile
- Brainstorm the plot using the plot diagram
- Write a 10 minute one act play with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
- Rewrite and revise the play
November 27- December 1
We will reflect on our last class meeting dealing with "what is theater" and "what makes a good actor," and this week we will focus on working as an ensemble.
Students will write in their journal about the one interesting person they observed and describe them in detail. They will also get a chance to act like this person for 30 seconds.
We will do some acting warm ups as an ensemble and then do a cold reading of a play called "The Team."
November 20-22 We will not meet because of Thanksgiving holidays
November 13-17
This week begins our 1st week in our GRC rotation.
We discussed class procedures and worked on bellringers.
We had a great class discussion answering the following questions:
- Can you describe what theater is?
- How is it different than reading a book?
- How is it different that watching a movie?
- What makes a good actor? How is acting for theater different from a movie?
- Have you ever seen a play? What made it good?
We then played charades displaying emotions. 3 students went up at a time to portray an emotion picked from a basket and the audience had to guess which emotion was being portrayed. Then students swapped roles.
Students also played a mirror activity game where they had to use observation skills and mimic the person standing toe to toe with them. As the audience, we shouldn't have been able to tell who was the leader and who was the follower.
We discussed the importance of asking yourself "what is my OBJECTIVE?" with each line.
Students participated in a cold reading of a play to work through the dialogue. Then we added a bit of expression to our lines during the second reading of the same play.
HOMEWORK: Observe the people around you and choose ONE interesting person. When you come back you will write in your journal describing the person you observed.
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