Brewer Elementary, Year One
DiPietro – Meagan Cascone
Learning Objective/Exit Outcomes:
- Students will be able to describe bad weather.
- Students will be able to list the precautions they should take when dealing with bad weather.
- Students will be able to put different types of weather into the context of their lives.
- Students will demonstrate the ability to focus, concentrate, and use imagination.
- Students will be able to be respectful and courteous in an ensemble.
State Standards:
S1E1. Obtain, evaluate, and communicate weather data to identify weather patterns.
- Represent data in tables and/or graphs to identify and describe different types of weather and the characteristics of each type.
- Ask questions to identify forms of precipitation such as rain, snow, sleet, and hailstones as either solid (ice) or liquid (water).
TAK.CR.1 Organize, design, and refine theatrical works.
- Use imagination to create, revise, and/or add to ideas.
- Demonstrate skills of the mind (e.g. imagination, focus, concentration).
- Follow directions for and contribute in planning theatre experiences.
- Listen to others with respect and courtesy in an ensemble.
Integration Area/Subject:
Science & Theatre Arts
Materials/Playing Space:
We used the front of the room as our playing space
Description:
The teacher sat the students in the front of the classroom and pulled up four students at a time. The teacher explained to the students that she would start the story and when she pointed to them, they would need to continue the story. If she wasn’t pointing to them, then it wasn’t their turn to add to the story. The strategy of Conducted Story encourages the students playing to listen to each other and focus on the ensemble to know when it is time to participate and when it is time to wait for their next turn.
The teacher told the students that they were going to talk about ‘weather.’ She would start her stories by saying something like, “The weatherman said we were going to have a big snowstorm today, so that means…” or “One day when all of the students were playing outside, the sky grew dark and big clouds started to form. Then…” The students would then fill in the blanks, either describing the weather or saying what they do when bad weather happens to complete the story.
If a student was having trouble, the teacher would ask if they would like help from another student playing Conducted Story with them. This relieves the pressure of not knowing in the moment and allows the student to see another student as a helper, encouraging the idea that the group is an ensemble that works together to achieve the goal of telling the story.
Notes:
Below are some additional theatre arts standards you could add in to the Conducted Story strategy. For instance, rather than just having students recite their knowledge through Conducted Story, have them show with their bodies and voice what if feels like to be in the kind of weather they are talking about. It is also very easy to teach students that, when they are sitting in their seats, that is the audience space, and when they are standing in front of the class, that is their playing space, thus connecting the technical elements of theatre to the classroom.
TAK.PR.1 Act by communicating and sustaining roles in formal and informal environments.
- Use voice to communicate emotions.
- Use body to communicate emotions.
TAK.PR.2 Execute artistic and technical elements of theatre.
- Identify playing space and audience space.