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Drama Lessons for Families Who are Home-Bound

March 25, 2020 By dhcbaldwin Leave a Comment

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?

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.

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

pexels-photo-1231365 — 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

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

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

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

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?

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

March 9, 2020 By dhcbaldwin 6 Comments

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.

Creative Dramatics (grades 2 to 5)

Costume Design with Goldilocks and the Three Bears

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!

Costume Design with Red Riding Hood

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

Set Design: The Rendering (grades 5 to 8)

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

Saturday, Sunday and Monday Reader’s Theater Script

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)

Drama Lesson Choice Board

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

Matilda, the Musical

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

Costume Design with Super Heroes

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

Monologue for St. Patrick’s Day

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

Tom Sawyer Play Study Guide

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

Set Design with a Fairy Tale Setting

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

Set Design the Rendering

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

Character Development through Personality Profile

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

Lin Manuel Miranda

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.

Cynthia Erivo Broadway A ctress

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.

Choice Boards

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)

Play-writing Lesson Dialogue

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.

Character Development through Personality Profile

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

Growth Mindset in Theater Artists

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.

Play Reading Analysis, Presentation and Project

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.

Bundle: Set, Costume, Sound and Properties Design

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

Creative Dramatics Lesson Plans: Nine Reasons to Teach Radio Theater

September 8, 2018 By dhcbaldwin 2 Comments

Creative Dramatics Lesson Plans: Nine Reasons to Teach Radio Theater

In high school, I had a fan girl crush on John Boy of “The Waltons.” Maybe you don’t know of the television show, but I bet you can find it running somewhere on television. This birthed my love of radio theatre.

Part of the mystique of the show was the time period (during the Depression) in which the show was set. How I could romanticize the time period, I’ll never know but I kinda think it’s because of John Boy. Also, I thought it was very heart warming when the family sat around the radio and listened to the evening radio show.

Anyway, back to the reasons I’m blogging about this topic.

Want a FREE guide and lesson plan for elementary students? Click here Guide

Creative Dramatics Lesson Plans

I taught radio theater for over twenty years and I’m amazed by how many people in this day and age still don’t know much about the media.

I’m going out on a limb here, but really friends, if you need an unusual creative dramatics lesson plan try radio theater, because–

It’s creative
It’s a perfect example of differentiated instruction.
Listening skills are strengthened–listening for one’s cues, creating sound effects by focusing one’s attention to them
Speaking skills are polished–enunciation, rate of delivery, and diction come in to play when a student reads aloud
Reading skills are cultivated–when a reader reads something repeatedly, they can’t help but become a better reader
Language skills are honed–students become better communicators
Cooperative learning is such a necessary part of this study
Many of the radio theater play scripts I teach with are from previous eras–what a super way for students to learn about the past
It’s just plain fun!

Although I use radio theater in my drama classroom, I am acquainted with several teachers who have implemented it in the language arts and social studies/ history classes as well.

There are scripts of classic books (Sherlock Holmes, Oscar Wilde, H.G. Wells) and historical moments, some fictionalized. Today I found one about Abraham Lincoln. How great!

How about these:

The Hindenburg Disaster
D-Day Invasion
War of the Worlds
Japan Attacks Pearl Harbor
Nazis Enter
Albert Einstein Speaks on the Importance of the Radio
Winston Churchill’s Speech, “We Shall Fight on the Beaches”
John F. Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis
And countless more!

For instance, you take any book they enjoy and turn it into radio theater. Or maybe you use a particular fairy tale and present it as radio theater. You see? The ideas are endless.

I am busily creating radio theater scripts at this writing. I plan to offer some for each grade level, so keep looking for them.

I have a few ready now. There are several choices. One is the radio theater unit only. I developed it so teachers can use it to complement their teaching of a particular script of their choosing.

Radio Theater Unit Only

If you’d like to see a preview of my middle grades radio play, Bow Wow Blues, check it out Bow Wow Blues Radio Theater Unit .

If you’d like to hear the script performed by students, check out: https://youtu.be/ouj4Ui5M2Eo

This TEN DAY unit, nearly 30 pages in length, is suitable for middle and high school drama classes or elementary gifted classes study creative dramatic and includes:

• a lesson on the history of radio theatre,
• information about Foley engineers
• three links to video clips of Foleys
• student created sound effect project
• five links to radio play performances (some vintage and some recent)
• a lesson in writing and producing radio commercials
• links to four commercials and two acting exercises focused on sound effects
• procedure plan to follow throughout the unit
• teacher’s questions
• a sound effects quiz
• a student group example of a radio commercial
• trivia about radio theater stars

Need some guidance on radio theater hand signals? Check out: Radio Theater Hand Signals

Here is a production by an ESL class in Tbilisi Georgia. They did a wonderful job!
https://soundcloud.com/user-719594153/albums

Or may you’d like a bundle of them: Radio Theater Bundle

There are individual scripts available too.

The Invisible Man

Radio Theater Unit and Free Play

Looking for something to spur conversation about our personal perceptions of ourselves and how the world sees us? Based on the story by H.G. Wells, The Invisible Man is a terrific play to use with your students. It consists of a cast of 17 + with roles for both experienced and novice actors including several Foley engineers, a pitchman and music tech. The play runs about 25 minutes with commercials.

The Canterville Ghost

Here’s one school’s version of The Canterville Ghost! https://youtu.be/BqFpChUkPbA

If you are looking for something spooky, but fun then The Canterville Ghost is a great choice. The Canterville Ghost radio play is based on the novella by Oscar Wilde has a cast of 15 +. There are roles for experienced performers and novices, several Foley engineers, a pitchman and music tech. The play runs about 30 minutes including commercials.

I ran on to this script and was ecstatic because it includes pirates, mystery and fun. My husband, who is a instrumental music teacher, composed a song for the pirates to sing (optional, of course) but it makes it so engaging. It’s scary and creepy and loads of fun. The play runs about thirty minutes.

The Frozen Pirate

Bow Wow Blues

I really enjoyed adapting this radio play hoping students would enjoy the subjects–pirates, stolen treasure and mystery! The Frozen Pirate is based on the novel by nautical author William Russell and requires a cast of 15 +. My husband, an instrumental music teacher and composer created a sea shanty reminiscent of songs from the time period, too! There are roles for experienced performers and novices, several Foley engineers, a pitchman and music tech. The play runs about 35 minutes including commercials. Bow Wow Blues, my last product listed here is an original comedy I penned for my class. It’s full of humor, puns, funny characters and a quick moving plot. Students love it! I’m so glad.

And lastly, I offer them as a set. So, for example a teacher gets The Canterville Ghost AND the teaching materials for radio theater (Or they can purchase The Invisible Man with its teaching materials and so forth.)

If you are looking for classics, how about The Cask of Amontillado or the Monkey’s Paw?