Curated OER
Drama with Children 2
Students participate in a variety of activities designed to integrate drama into the classroom. They play charades, mime, practice visualization, active and passive improvisation, develop characters using puppets, etc.
Curated OER
Theatrical Economics
Read then role-play the characters from story of If You Give A Pig a Pancake. Young actors use improvisation and characterization to create the characters from the story. They will also write and role play original version of the...
Curated OER
Graphs of the Heart
Young scholars study Greek literature. In this Greek tragedies activity, students explore the dance-dramas of Martha Graham. Young scholars study the choreography that brings ancient Greek literature to life.
Curated OER
Lights, Camera, Action...Crossing the Delaware in 9 Scenes
How does reading a drama differ from reading a novel? Middle schoolers become playwrights and explore these differences. After viewing the A&E movie,"The Crossing," groups create stage directions, write dialogue, and design sets and...
Ken Taylor
The Stones: Guilty or Not Guilty?
Young drama pupils will perform a number of expressive speaking exercises as they consider the themes of responsibility, consequences, and justice in the very modern Australian play The Stones. With a lot of role playing and...
Curated OER
Theater: Create a Script
Figurative language is the focus in the book Teach Us, Amelia Bedelia. After reading Peggy Parish's book, class members dramatize idioms from the text, using dramatic strategies such as characterization, exaggeration, and...
Curated OER
Theatre: Meaningful Monologues
Students perform dramatic monologues. In this drama lesson, students write their own monologue and perform it in front of their peers.
Curated OER
Art & Drama for Middle Grades
Students define humor and consider how people have different senses of humor and therefore different ideas of what is funny. They explore improvisation, cartooning, comics, body language and storytelling as the means to express humor.
Curated OER
Witchcraft
Tenth graders develop response to witchcraft from a historical and cultural perspective. They evaluate the use of ceremonies and rituals in witchcraft. They develop a character and develop use of genres and styles of drama. They role...
Curated OER
It's All Part of the Story
Young scholars explore storytelling through pantomime, improvisation, and dramatization. They watch an online video, discuss Native American earth stories, role-play various situations, explore websites, and present an oral story to the...
Curated OER
The Cinder-Eyed Cats - Storybook Theater
The pupils listen to the story "The Cinder-Eyed Cats." The students then chose individual parts to play in a theater like production. The pupils move like their character, be it a fish, an octopus, a lobster, a cat, etc. Water music is...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - Bruce Bogtrotter and the Cake
After reading the 11th chapter in Matilda, class members take on the role of Bruce Bogtrotter and re-enact the cake eating scene. Here's the catch: they must come-up with an impromptu re-enactment of the scene from the story, and...
Curated OER
Red Ribbon Week
Learners perform monologues about bullying and cyber-bullying. In this bullying and drama lesson, students write scenes while improvising before word processing the scenes. They put their work in order to present a show about bullying...
Curated OER
Yes But Dialogue Game
Students work cooperatively to explore and practice dialogue improvisation.
Curated OER
Story Telling
Students, through the use of 4 different improvisational exercises, discover how to tell effective stories. They chose 2 selections and perform them, using the interesting methods they learned.
Curated OER
Create An Ending
Students create a new ending for a familiar story that stand alone with a clear beginning, middle and end. As a class, students review a familiar text focusing on plot and character development. In small groups, students work...
Curated OER
A Light in the Storm
Examine the genre of historical fiction while reading A Light in the Storm. They extract events in chronological order to make a timeline. Then, they use information in the book important to the characters to create a presentation of an...
Curated OER
Puppet Show
Students create a puppet show for a play. They choose the puppet characters they wish to enact the play and develop scenarios.
John F. Kennedy Center
Folktale Theatre
Introduce your middle schoolers to a performance and movement activity that uses their favorite stories from fairytales and folklore. They practice basic acting skills, create dialogues with a partner, and then as guided practice,...
Mississippi Whole School Initiative
Dream Big...With Your Eyes Wide Open
For many people, Barack Obama's presidency was the next step in Martin Luther King, Jr's dream of America's future. Explore the dreams of Americans past and present, as well as the young Americans in your class, with a set of activities...
Roald Dahl
Matilda - The New Home
Matilda finally gets her happy ending with a new home with Miss Honey. But first, Mr. Wormwood goes on trial for his wrong doings and bad car sales. Class members take on the role of a character in the trial and participate in a role...
Curated OER
Tolerance: Words that Hurt/Words that Heal
Students "role-play" the part of a person who says unkind things and are photographed while doing so. They then act out a story about making friends. They practice saying kind things and are photographed. Word bubbles are added...
Curated OER
A Report From the 21st Century - Mark Twain
Students look at Twain, the humorist - considered America's favorite storyteller and the funniest man in the world at the time. Students stretch the truth about a personal experience, and consider how delivery affects impact.
Curated OER
Romeo and Juliet-Balcony Scence
Students create and carry out a "modern day" version of the famous scene from Romeo and Juliet to help them build understanding of the plot and the two characters.