Prescribed Learning Outcomes
It is expected that students will:
- use vocal elements (high-low, loud-soft), when developing roles
- demonstrate an awareness of a variety of movements used to express an idea, mood, or role
- retell known stories in correct sequence
- identify appropriate environments for a dramatic work
To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Drama Skills in other grades click on an icon below.
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Suggested Instructional Strategies
- Have students sit in a circle. Work with one or two hand puppets to tell familiar stories and to encourage a flow of dialogue across the circle. Encourage use of appropriate voices to match the mood or dialogue in each story.
- Suggest that students choose a specific environ- ment (e.g., a park, a beach) for dramatic play. As they sit in a circle, ask students to imagine the place with eyes closed and identify what they see, hear, smell, and feel. Ask questions (e.g., What does it smell like? What do you hear?) to clarify images, until they have developed a rich description of the environment. In a class discussion, help students identify ways to transform the dramatic play area into the chosen environment by asking questions such as: Where shall we make the cave?
- In preparation for working on body movement, have students, individually or in groups, use body positions to form the shapes of letters or numbers suggested by the teacher. Then, ask them to depict a particular moment in a story using tableaux or mime. Through discussion, have students reflect on how they created the mood through body positions and facial expressions.
- Ask students to mime familiar situations (e.g., birthdays, adventures with pets) or known stories. Emphasize the sequence of a distinct beginning, middle, and end.
- Divide the class into groups and give each group a series of three pictures or cards that tell a known story. Have groups put the pictures in order (beginning, middle, end) and retell the stories with appropriate voices.
Suggested Assessment Strategies
- When students work with puppets, look for evidence that they:
- change their voices when they speak as puppets
- keep their puppets in character for several pieces of dialogue
- embellish the original story in logical ways
- follow the general outline of the original story (beginning, middle, end)
- When students use body positions to create the shapes of letters or numbers, note the extent to which they are able to:
- create a recognizable shape, alone or with group members
- visualize how their body positions appear to others
- invent a variety of ways of creating the same basic shapes
- As students depict a specific story moment in mime or tableaux, note and encourage their efforts to:
- change facial expressions to evoke specific moods
- connect gestures with moods or characters
- adopt movements suggestive of particular characters
- give specific examples of strategies and techniques they and others used to convey mood
- When students recount personal experiences or retell stories, note the extent to which they:
- follow a logical sequence
- change the volume and expression in their voices to add interest and make meaning clear
- use gestures to make connections with the audience
- include details that add interest
Look for evidence that students are willing and able to use their imagination and resourcefulness to transform the dramatic play area.
Recommended Learning Resources
Print Materials
- Building Plays
- Center Stage
- Christmas On Stage
- Drama Guidelines
- Dramathemes
- Elegantly Frugal Costumes
- In Role
- Readers Theatre for Beginning Readers
- Story Drama
