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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Imaginary Creatures

For Teachers 1st
Drama and movement are wonderful ways to cover story elements such as setting, character, and descriptive writing. Little ones listen to a poem about imaginary creatures. As they listen, they shape their bodies into what they think the...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

The Golden Egg

For Teachers 1st
Get ready for a musical story time! First your young musicians review musical dynamics as they listen to and discuss the pitch and sound of each instrument you play for them. Then they talk about special words (mostly verbs) in the book,...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Instruments from Various Cultures

For Teachers 2nd
After a review of orchestral instruments and instrument families, learners make their own. They listen to the song "Simple Gifts" and identify the instruments heard in the piece. Then they draw an instrument of their own invention,...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Cloud Sculpting

For Teachers 1st
Dance is a fantastic way to communicate thoughts, feelings, and even science concepts. Make this activity a part of your next unit on weather and clouds. Kids will discuss types of clouds, how they look, and what they do. Then, they will...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Mask Symmetry

For Teachers 2nd
When you engage learners in creating symmetrical objects you are also building their vocabulary and math sense. Kids discuss key words such as, asymmetrical, symmetrical, balance, tint, and shade. They use these elements of design to...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Sequence of Events

For Teachers 4th
Are you in need of a new way to teach learners sequence of events and how to interpret a character's external motivations? Why not engage them in dramatic play? The class will use tableaux to convey the sequence of events in a familiar...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Story Design

For Teachers 3rd
Stories contain very specific elements; plot, characters, and key events. Learners use pantomime to retell a key event from the beginning, middle, and end of a story. They discuss setting and character as each group discusses and then...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Picture Poetry

For Teachers 3rd
What a fun idea! The class discusses, and then writes free-verse poems using sensory detail. They get into small collaborative writing teams to compose their poems. Next, they pantomime the actions from the poem while their teammates...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Finding the Main Idea

For Teachers 3rd
You can mix almost any subject with an arts curriculum. Find out how to use drama to find the main idea of a literary text. You'll read a story, and then learners will make tableaus showing what happened, or what they think will happen...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Pilobolus

For Teachers 3rd
After reviewing dance-specific terminology and watching a clip from the dance troupe Pilobolus, learners create dances of their own. They pair up and use the teacher's cues to create creature dances that exemplify mood and shape. Any...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

What’s My Vocabulary Word?

For Teachers 3rd
The elements of dance can be used to communicate thoughts and, in this case, words. In small groups, the class first creates a set of movements to show a single word. Then, they extend their movements to show a three-word phrase....
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

B-A-G+E

For Teachers 3rd
Budding musicians discuss rhythmic notation and melody as they play a bar instrument or recorder. They use the notes B, A, G, and E to play a simple melody, and then they use those same four notes to turn a poem into a song. They play...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Crow Boy

For Teachers 4th
There is a difference between actions, motives, and the appearance of a character in a narrative text. Fourth graders explore character analysis through the dramatic arts. They create a series of movements, tableaus, and pantomimes to...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Gargoyles Galore

For Teachers 4th
Grrrrr, gargoyles are on the loose! Young artists are familiarized with the history of gargoyles, examine pictures of them, and hear a story about them. Then, they draw a gargoyle and write down exactly how they did it (procedural...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Rhythm Patterns

For Teachers 4th
Fractions can be tricky. Why not have kids think of fractions like they think of eighth, quarter, and half notes? In teams, the class creates four-measure patterns with their percussion instruments. They need to explain their rhythm...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Angles on Kandinsky

For Teachers 4th
Not only is Wassily Kandinsky fun to say, his art contains tons of angles. Learners discuss Kandinsky's music-inspired abstract art and four types of angles. They search one of his paintings for obtuse, right, straight, and acute angles,...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Suki's Kimono

For Teachers 1st
In the story Suki's Kimono drums are used to show mood. Learners discuss mood in the story after they practice playing a simple 4/4 rhythm on their drums. Each group plays the rhythm using a different tempo. They listen to each other...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Cinderella

For Teachers 3rd
Reading fairy tales is so much fun! Learners use dramatic play to assist them in defining and expressing the main theme found in the story of Cinderella. Each group is given a story card and will create a tableau based on the main point...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Comparing Cultural Dances

For Teachers 2nd
All cultures express similar thoughts, feelings, and ideas. But, often times those things are expressed differently. Learners compare and contrast traditional dances from two cultures. They watch videos of each performance, stop to...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Spontaneous Inventions

For Teachers 3rd
Reading out loud can be a real thrill for some, and a real issue for others. Teach your class that reading with inflection and fluency can be as easy as singing a song. They'll first analyze two Bobby McFerrin songs for intonation,...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Comparing Themes

For Teachers 3rd
The tale of "Lon Po Po" is a Chinese story, very similar to the European tale of "Little Red Riding Hood." Learners make cross cultural comparisons between the two tales, focusing on themes common to both. They review story elements such...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Reporting on History

For Teachers 5th
Have fun with history and turn your kids into news reporters of the past. Each group will research, script, and deliver a news report on a historic event they are studying in class. They'll identify the main characters of the historical...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Theme and Variation

For Teachers 5th
The dance elements of body, energy, space, and time are the focus of a lesson on movement and theme. The class follows along as the teacher shows them a new dance that has a theme. They practice the dance, and then change one element in...
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Characters from a Box

For Teachers 5th
Character analysis is a skill we use when we read literary works or want to write a good story. Learners will use drama to practice character analysis while focusing on the details that make characters act the way they do. They'll each...