New York City Department of Education
Theater Units for Lower and Upper Elementary Levels
Introduce middle schoolers to playwriting and the elements of drama with a six-session storytelling unit that encourages kids to expand their acting and writing skills. The 12-page packet includes overviews of the lessons, assessment...
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Macbeth: Shakespeare for Elementary Students (Elementary, Literature)
Students act out a fully realized Shakespearean play designed to be utilized by mid level elementary students.
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Red Ribbon Week
Students perform monologues about bullying and cyber-bullying. In this bullying and drama lesson plan, students write scenes while improvising before word processing the scenes. They put their work in order to present a show about...
Student Achievement Partners
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm - "The Fisherman and his Wife"
Help young readers learn to read and interpret complex text independently. Teach young children to ask interpretive questions and use the text itself to answer them. Use art, word play and drama to provide a deeper understanding of...
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What a Character! Comparing Literary Adaptations
What do Robert Downey Jr., Basil Rathbone, Jeremy Brett, Fritz Weaver, Roger Moore, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Daffy Duck have in common? Why, it’s elementary, my dear Watson! They all have portrayed Sherlock Holmes. Literary detectives...
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The American Revolution: A Play
No instructional activity accompanies this drama about the American Revolution. With 13 speaking roles, the short script could be used for a class production, a instructional activity on the parts of a play, or to supplement your social...
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The Fisherman and His Wife
Engage conversation and explore the journey as you challenge young readers to interpret the german folktale, "The Fisherman and His Wife" written by literary brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.
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Narrative Pantomime: The Great Kapok Tree
Students pantomime the story of The Great Kapok Tree for younger students. In this The Great Kapok Tree instructional activity, students warm up with a game before volunteering for parts in the story. Students practice acting out the...
National First Ladies' Library
We're off to see the Wizard!
Students explore the process of play and movie making from books. They study the basic elements of drama and write and produce a play based on a chosen theme. Students explain the basic elements of a play by looking at "The Wonderful...
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Little Cloud
Students create "little clouds" after reading the story "The Little Cloud" by Eric Carle in this cross-curricular Art and Language Arts lesson for the early-elementary classroom. The author suggests using this with a "Raindrop Picture"...
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Signing a Poem
Students interpret poetry though movement. In this poetry lesson plan students take a poem they've previously read and discussed in class and work in pairs to develop gestures for each line.
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Poetry Creations
Young scholars produce iMovies to share their thoughts of friendship along with poetry creations in this technology-based lesson for the upper-elementary classroom. The lesson includes a link to a "create a poem" site and requires...
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Charlie, the Caterpillar - An Integration of Lit. and Music (Elementary, Literature)
Students sing, dance and play instruments that are integrated with the book, "Charlie the Caterpillar."
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Poetry Interpretation and Figurative Language
Fifth graders discover how figurative language is used in poetry. They read selected poems and identify the figurative language with handouts and worksheets included in the lesson. They write poems of their own using figurative language.
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Very Hungry Caterpillar
Young scholars read "the Very Hungry Caerpiller" by Eric Carle and create their own caterpillers using the same art techniques found in the book in this excellent early elementary lesson. Included with the lesson is a vocabulary list and...
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News to the Core Reported by Very Special Students
Students create news articles that help them build their knowledge, skills, and academic confidence. In this special education lesson, students use previous knowledge to write a newsletter and demonstrate their understanding of various...
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A Dialogue on HIV/AIDS
Learners in an ESL classroom brainstorm what they already know about HIV/AIDS. In groups, they are given slips of paper of a dialogue between two people that is out of order. They put the dialogue into order and answer comprehension...
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Hollywood
Pupils listen to a play, or perhaps, take turns reading portions of it aloud. Afterward, they thoughtfully analyze and discuss the components of a well-written play. Next, a theme is assigned, and each person writes a play in conjunction...
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Destination Reading
Students practice reading skills and comprehension through the use of computers and the educational software "Destination Reading" provided by Riverdeep in this self-directed lesson.
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The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Students research the American Revolution through the story of the Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In this American Revolution lesson, students research folktale and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Students view illustrations for the story....
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Name That Phrase
Students identify the American language, how it has changed and effected culture, and become familiar with idioms. In this American language lesson, students study the eight parts of speech, identify literal and figurative speech, study...
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Heartsongs Poetry by Mattie Stepanek
Use Mattie Stepanek’s Heartsongs book of poetry to inspire young poets to write about their own lives, experiences, and feelings. After reading the introduction to Mattie’s book, in which he talks about himself and his reasons for...
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Othello's Predecessors: Moors in Renaissance Popular Literature
Students gather textual citations from Othello, discuss stereotypes that they hold, examine primary source materials, and write character profiles.
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Genre Jeopardy
Students play a Jeopardy game in which the questions are about different genres. They can use this activity as a review before a test.