Students will demonstrate their understanding of how to use movement and character to create a story by outlining a short group scene.
Lesson:
Hook: At the start of class pass back the students’ character descriptions and instruct them that they will be going through the bakery scene again but this time they can use words. Have them go back through and remember their character and describe that they can choose to buy something or play a game with their friends, or just go around and explore the bakery, etc. but they need to be doing something either on their own or with the people around them.
Remind students that although they can talk, they need to keep their voices down because if it gets too loud then the baker’s wife will kick them out of the shop.
Step 1:Discussion/Transition: Bring the students back to a circle and ask them to describe this experience. What was different about their character when they were able to talk? What changed in the story? Did their physicality get any smaller? What do you think conveys the story and the character more, physicality or words and why? Why is it important to know how to do both?
Step 2: Group Practice/Instruction: Explain to students that they are still their same kids but now they need to get into groups of four to five and that they will be creating a short scene or skit together about one of their adventures or a day of playing pretend. Instruct them to again think about a time when they were a kid and think about what they did.
Share a personal example: I used how as a kid I used to play with my two cousins in my grandfather’s bamboo and creek in his back yard and how we would take the baby bamboo because it looked like swords and we would go on epic adventures over bridges and through rivers to slay the dragon or complete our quest. We would have sword fights and dinners by “camp fires” We would use the bamboo to create cups for water and silverware for food.
Remind them to think about what it was like to use their imaginations and to just play without a care in the world.
Step 3: Group Practice/Instruction: Instruct students that they now have the rest of the class to create a group scene that uses the characters they created from the bakery scene. They need to talk together and share who each of their characters are and then find a way to use each of these characters in a scene where they are children who are playing pretend.
Explain that they will have the rest of class to work together in their groups to create a scene where all of their characters are interacting and playing pretend/going on an adventure. Also explain that by the end of class they need to turn in a paper with the following…. (write the following on the board for them to reference)
