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Drama Lessons for Families Who are Home-Bound

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Drama Lessons for Families Who are Home-Bound

 

Tick, tock, tick, tock…….

Is it only Wednesday?

Have you worn out the Play-dough, grown frustrated by the board game, broke the new cool toy, gained five pounds by baking chocolate chip cookies and just can’t make one more blanket fort? 

The Joy and Intrigue of Broken Toys

Families:  Have you exhausted your ideas during this pandemic? 

If you’d like a free guide And lesson plan from me, click here LESSON PLAN

Need a little help?

I am here to help you.

Drama Lessons for Families  Who are Home-Bound

If you’d like a free guide And lesson plan from me, click here LESSON PLAN

Many years ago, we lived in Missouri.  I  remember when we’d have a couple of snow days in a row.   Deep snow and ice kept us home.

Of course we didn’t know how long we’d be, but the school district had a rough idea of when we’d return to the classroom.

pexels-photo-3626789

That was fine and it really was fun, but this?

Well, who knows how long this quarantine will last?

When our daughters were children, being very creative beings, they would orchestrate little programs for us.  They’d rehearse for hours, invite us to their concert or play and my husband and I would sit quietly while they gleefully performed for us.

We’d clap at the end as they bowed.  One time they put on their own rendition of Lion King.  Part of the end of the performance included walking around in a circle with a sign which read “Lion King” misspelled to “Loin King.”  We still call the show Loin King to this day…

It was such fun for all of us.  Honestly, I have many fond memories of those performances.  In fact, I remember them more than other times in their young lives.

Drama Lessons for Families  Who are Home-Bound

I say families that do drama together stay together.  (Last Saturday I said “families who Face Time together stay together” so you can see I toss this phrase around as needed.)

When I researched this subject, here was something I found very interesting about families in a research essay, childtrends.org:

Drama Lessons for Families Home-Bound

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Photo by Yulianto Poitier on Pexels.com

Time Use
Perspectives: Shared parent-child activities are important both because they are intrinsically satisfying and because they can help educate and socialize
children. For example, research has found that children whose homes emphasize learning opportunities and cognitively stimulating activities are more academically motivated than other children. In addition, a positive and enriching family environment can help prevent behavior problems in youth, including delinquent behavior.18 Moreover, sufficient quality time together may be a prerequisite for well-being in
family relationships.

Here are a few ideas for you of ways to provide quality time with your family.

Drama Lessons for Families Home-Bound

Here’s a new one! Drama Choice Boards–keep an eye out for more of these.

Drama Lesson Choice Board

Saturday, Sunday and Monday Unit and Play Distance Learning

SATURDAY, SUNDAY & MONDAY READERS THEATER COVER

This reader’s theater script is perfect for a family to use.  It has many roles and opportunities for younger children to be involved even if they can’t read yet.  Plus, there’s an original song.

Bow Wow Blues Unit and Play Distance Learning

RADIO THEATER IV BLUES COVER 285 dpi

The whole family can learn about radio theater with this gem.  Written in the style of old radio shows, Bow Wow Blues is a silly cops and robbers tale.

Plus, the family can learn about the radio theater of old and where it is most present today.

Set Design Rendering Lesson Distance Learning

SET DESIGN THE RENDERING EDITED

A precursor to my set design unit, this gives a family the chance to learn about set design and draw a rendering for any setting.

Maybe a set design of a child’s classroom? A castle?  The wild west?  The moon?

It Could Always Be Worse Reader’s Theater Distance Learning

The title of this reader’s theater is really all anyone needs.  Based on a Jewish folk tale, it is full of humorous moments and roles of animal sounds.

Part of the fun is the chaos that ensues every time the man does another thing that the rabbi suggests.

HINT:  THIS KIND OF PLAY IS RELAXING AND FUN FOR EVERYONE. 

Or how about some beginning playwriting?

Costume Design with Fairy Tale Characters

Costume Design Fairy Square Cover 400 dpi

Does the family enjoy fairy tales?  Here’s a lesson about costume design using fairy tale characters as the focus.

With costume design, a student considers the character from a different perspective or time period. (There is also one for super heroes and one for circus performers.)

It’s important our students learn about growth mindset by learning about successful people.  This series of theater artist biographies include

Idina Menzel, Hugh Jackman, Lin Manuel Miranda and many more.

Famous Theater Artist:  Idina Menzel 

I have several one pager assignments.  One for Idina Menzel and also Lin-Manuel Miranda.

Who am I?

Deborah Baldwin, Dramamommaspeaks

I am a retired drama educator having taught for thirty-eight years in both the public and private sectors. Whew! During this time, I created curriculum for studies in creative dramatics, creative movement, introduction to musical theatre, musical theatre, film making, technical theatre, introduction to Shakespeare, introduction to theatre as well speech and debate. I created seven youth theater companies that continue today in various parts of the midwest, oversaw productions for thirty-eight years, and developed a national playwriting contest for youth theater scripts. In addition, I am an award-winning director who has directed over 250 plays and musicals with children and adults alike. My sister was an elementary teacher for many years as were my aunts. In the late 1800s, my fraternal grandmother was known for her strength in teaching math in the wilds of Kansas. My maternal grandmother established the first kindergarten in Osaka, Japan in the 1890s. In short teaching is in my blood and comes to me joyfully and naturally.

Who’d a thought we’d be practicing social distancing and quarantined?  Not me that’s for sure.

I hope you’ll check out my lessons in my teacherspayteachers store, Dramamommaspeaks.  It’s free to join TpT and there are lots of free lessons to pick up for other interests, too.

In fact, here are a bunch for you: Free Teaching Resources Blog Hop

Take care.  Contact me if you need some advice or just to share how you used the lessons.  I’d love to hear from you.

Contact me at dhcbaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

Drama Lessons for Home-Bound Students or During the Corona Virus Quarantine

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Drama Lessons for Home-Bound Students or During the Corona Virus Quarantine 

 

In light of the Corona virus illness, and many people quarantined at home,  I thought I’d offer you some suggestions of  drama lessons a teacher could assign or a student could take home with them. I am part of several Facebook groups for teachers and typical of teachers, they are all ready preparing for the extended home stays which could happen.

Or……they have a student who will be absent for several days or even weeks.  It does occur.

You’d think it would be impossible for a teacher to assign drama lessons for students to study at home, because we are a performance oriented subject.

Not always, however.

I’d never thought of this learning obstacle until recently.  One of my students who teaches in South Korea has all ready been home for two weeks.  Unfortunately, I fear we are only days from staying home for several weeks here in the states.

A friend told me about a man who bought up all the Purel at a Walmart in Oklahoma.  What an opportunist!

He set up a booth across the street from the same Walmart and charged $100 for a bottle of it!  What?!

Crazy times we live in, huh?

Here are a list of drama lessons and units which your student(s) could complete at home (home bound lessons) either because they are quarantined by the coronavirus or plan to be absent for a week or two.

This gets a teacher started.  There are more lessons which will work and keep the learning going.  I promise.  

KIDS HANDS UP

Creative Dramatics (grades 2 to 5)

I simplified my middle grade lesson and enlarged the design templates.  I hope this encourages students to try their hand at costume design.  It’s such fun!

There are different ways to look at designing costumes for this story.  What if Red Riding Hood lives in the city in 2020?

This is my most popular lesson to date!  Students get the chance to design the set for a play!

A student could read the script with a parent or even the family.  There are post discussion questions which might be of use to you as well. There is a bundle with many funny reader’s theater scripts so look for that in my store.

Middle School Drama Lessons and Units (grades 6 to 8)

This choice board includes nine different theater companies, Marcel Marceau and what is means to be a Foley engineer.

Just put this up today (March 30).  It’s a great show and fun production to learn about.

This is one which I bet your students would enjoy.  It’s all about costume design and the history of super heroes.

This is a two-day lesson about playwriting.  It would be a lot of fun for them.

This would be a super unit if you could purchase a class set of the play ahead of the quarantine.  Or maybe get a few copies for your classroom if you have a student who will be absent for an extended period of time. )

You can purchase them at: https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/tom-sawyer- tr5000 

This is a ten day unit, however a student could complete the entire unit at home by himself if need be.

This is a short lesson giving students an opportunity to draw a set for a fairy tale.

Student can observe someone in their home and after doing a short quiz, write a description of the person.

This is a short newspaper formatted lesson about him.  It could be completed at  home with no problem.  The extension activity could be done independently.  This is a very popular lesson with students.

This is a short biography lesson which students could do easily complete from home with internet access. She’s an up-and-coming actress which they may be not be familiar with.

These boards are marvelous help in distance learning or when everyone needs a break.  They include theaters from around the world and short lessons on designers–costume, set, sound, etc.  Need some differentiation?  These will help.

High School Drama Lessons and Units (grades 9 to 12)

This lesson is intended for gifted seventh graders through tenth grade.  Using a break dancer as the focus, students learn to write dialogue step by step.

This is a lesson for middle grade students, however you could change the assignment and make it more lengthy.

This lesson is perfect for drama students. Students research a theater artist, answer questions about artist’s growth mindset, consider their own mindset and finish with a creative project. This unit was created for high school students, however it could be adapted for middle grade students.

I never thought of this for a situation like this, but you know it is perfect!  Students select a play, answer a group of very comprehensive questions.  Then they create a power point about the play thinking of it from a director and designer’s point of view. Lastly, they create a three-dimensional object which represents the play.

This is a bundle of lessons (discounted) which pertain to technical aspects of a  production.  Students could select one of the four units or maybe a teacher gives them one assignment (such as sound design) and everyone turns in the same assignment.

As I mentioned earlier,  I have plenty of other lessons which could work. 

If you need some help deciding which would be best, do contact me.  Or check out my store at:  Dramamommaspeaks

Have you ever had a student who was home-bound?  I did and boy, was it tricky at the time. I wish I’d had home bound lessons at the time.  I’d love to hear from you.  Contact me at dhcbaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

Here is a FREE lesson if you are in a pinch:  Speech Review Worksheet (middle school and up)

Here are some other suggestions of products which may help you, all FREE:  Free Teaching Resources Blog Hop