As the Education Outreach specialist on “Rose,” I created arts-integrative lessons for kindergarten, 1st, 6th, and 8th grades. The play itself covers the STEAM subject areas, so we decided to focus on theatre arts and science standards in the lessons. The lessons found here were designed to help teachers facilitate pre- and post- show lessons in which students collaboratively create theatrical performances or designs in connection with the play and their grade-level science content. Now, we have the lessons easily accessible here for parents to use as home-schooling supports!
In the kindergarten lessons, students create a bird mask and a bird character. In the first lesson, students will share what they know about birds and what they know about characters. Students will draw a picture of their character, learn what a costume is, and then create their mask! In the second lesson, students will warm up their imagination with an acting game, take a look at bird movement, then create their own animal movement for their very own bird character.
Because South Carolina 1st grade science standards cover light and shadows and moon phases, I created a pre-show first grade lesson that teaches students how to create moon-phase shadow puppets. In the first lesson, students begin by brainstorming about what they know about light and shadows and the changing appearance of the moon. Students then learn about what shadow puppets are, create their shadow puppets, and explore their puppets in action. In the next lesson, students are introduced to the concept of mythology as a storytelling method to explain things in the natural world, like phases of the moon and eclipses.Then students create their own story about why the moon changes.
In the 6th grade lessons, students will learn about Greek theatre and theatre masks. First, students will learn about the origin of masks, which cultures used masks, and specifics about the function of Greek theatre masks. Students will then make a mask that conveys a clear emotion. If multiple family members make masks, do some mask work together after making your masks! In the next lesson, students learn about tableau and are reminded of the dramatic elements (characters, setting, plot). Students (or families) will then plan and create a series of tableaus that depict a problem and solution they could face while in space. Take pictures of the tableaus once finished!
In the 8th grade lessons, students will be designing a Mars colony set and a space creature. In the first lesson, students will begin by learning about what a set is, the design process, and brainstorming about what we know about Mars. Students will be creating a design collage to showcase their initial set design ideas. Students will gather images that show inspiration for a Mars exterior, settlement buildings, and technology in the colony and create a google slides presentation. In the second lesson, students will create a design for a mutated sweet potato creature that is mentioned in the play. Students have the option to draw their creature, create a digital collage using images from the internet, create the creature using pieces of cut construction paper, or create a physical collage by cutting out pictures from magazines or printed images to create a picture of the mutated sweet potato!
For each lesson, there is an accompanying Google Slides presentation to help guide the activities. Also, keep in mind that while these lessons were created for these specific grade level science content, the lessons are developmentally appropriate for multiple grade levels! Take a look and see which lesson works best for your kiddos. We hope that these lessons will be valuable to you during this trying time. Have fun working together, learning and creating!
-Emily Pears Caitlyn, Educational Outreach Coordinator