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Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try

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The topic of five winter themed drama lessons you should try sounded like something I should blog about today. By the next time I blog, it will be 2024!  Wow, time has really flown this year. If you want something with a Christmas theme, check out: Drama Units Christmas Theme Bundle

I’m not a big fan of the whole new year’s celebration thing.  In my family, all we did was change the calendar to the next month. Exciting, huh?

However, I know teachers are always looking for thematic units to brighten up the winter months.  This post concerns new years and winter units using drama as the tool for discovery.

Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try

A Story of Generosity

This is one of the only folk tales I’ve found to celebrate the new year. I like the story so much that I’ve created two short class plays of it!

This charming play, based on a Japanese folk tale Oji San and the Grateful Statues share the themes of New Year, multiculturalism, winter, kindness and forgiveness. Students strengthen their study of another culture, reading (fluency), speaking (diction) and listening skills (restating) while learning to work cooperatively. This is excellent and very suitable piece for a vocal music, social studies, reading, language arts or drama class.

Once upon a time, there was an older Japanese couple who make straw hats which they sell at the market every day.  It is a struggle for them to make ends meet, but they greet each day with gratitude and kindness to everyone.  On New Year’s eve the man goes to market and no one buys a hat. As he walks home, dejected and worried, beautiful snow begins to fall.  When he passes the stone statues which sit on the wall near his house, he notices that the snow is falling on their heads and decides to give the statues the unsold hats to protect them from winter’s harshness.

Ojisan and the Grateful Statues

Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try

His wife doesn’t understand her husband’s actions, but forgives him.  In the night a knock at the door awakens the couple.  To their amazement, a large rice cake is sitting there, though they don’t know who left it.  Off in the distance, they see the statues slowly walking back to their place on the wall.  It’s such a sweet story.

Students will have an opportunity to dramatize a folk tale using many of the elements of drama, create straw hats, design snowflakes, sing an original song written in a pentatonic scale and use their imaginations to express emotion through movement.

Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try

In all honesty, I’m all about arts integration–it’s my goal for every classroom to integrate drama into their learning to some degree.  Ojisan and the Grateful Statues is a perfect choice to use as an integration. Contact  your vocal music teacher and present the play together! Your students can sing and accompany the song with metallophones, xyllophones and percussion.

You can find Ojisan and the Grateful Statues here.

Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try

Chinese New Year Celebration

Maybe you want something to celebrate the Chinese new year.  Although this story is not directly related, it is a super story to dramatize.  I have three lessons about–one is a readers theater, one is a play and one is an entire unit.

Li Chi The Serpent Slayer is based on an old Chinese folk tale about a young girl who lives with her family in a small village.  Every few years, a serpent terrorizes her village and drags off one of the young women for his dinner. Everyone is fearful. No one wants to fight the serpent, but Li Chi asks her parents if she can fight the serpent. Want to learn about some other multicultural plays? Check out: The Reasons Teaching Multiculturalism in the Classroom is Vitally Important

Li Chi the Serpent Slayer

Li Chi is a fierce young woman with a quick wit who is cunning and brave.  Her parents deny her this chance and forbid her to go. Even so, Li Chi slips out at night with her dog and climbs the mountain to the serpent’s cave.   This time instead of a girl dying at the feet of the serpent, Li Chi outsmarts it. Li Chi the Serpent Slayer is full of plot twists.   And it’s even more special because the main character is a female! With themes of bravery, love of family, love of community and several others The Little Girl and the Winter whirlwinds is one to beat!

You can find Li Chi the Serpent Slayer here:

 

Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try

A Story of Courage

Here is another story, this time a Bulgarian folk tale which shares a delightfully, sweet story about a little girl who saves her village during the late months of winter. As with Ojisan, there are other version of this story as well. With roles for 25+ The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds shares themes of winter, generosity and courage. Perfect choice for students studying the culture of Slavic countries and/or Europe in a social studies or a drama class. you can find it here:

The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds

The story, a Bulgarian folk tale, of The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds goes like this–A wicked Winter Witch decides to stop Spring from arriving on time and makes Winter the only season on Earth. She hides the Sun behind dark clouds and covers the Earth with heavy snow. One morning the people from a small mountain village awake and fing their houses buried under the snow up to the roofs.

The people decide that the best thing to do is to send someone to the highest mountain peak, where the good wizard Father Frost lived in his palace of ice and ask him for help. Surprisingly, the Little Girl volunteers to go because she has very little to hold her back.  She believes her warm heart and love for everyone will melt the snow and bring spring. She never considered all the obstacles that would she would meet along her way. Full of varied characters of sizes The Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwind is a lovely story.

Again, we’ve added music to this play and teachers seems to like this aspect.  Since this story ends as Spring arrives, it would be perfect for February or even March.

Since first blogging about this subject, I’ve created additional resources to celebrate winter in the classroom. 

The Great Santa Suit Snafu — A Winter Readers Theater Your Students Will Love

Looking for a lively winter activity that builds reading fluency and keeps your students engaged during the busiest time of year? The Great Santa Suit Snafu is a classroom-friendly Readers Theater script that brings humor, mystery, and teamwork together in one festive package. It includes twelve speaking roles with room for extras and sound effects crew.

The Story:  Only one day before Christmas Eve, the elves discover that Santa’s magical suit has shrunk! A frantic team of reindeer, elves, and Mrs. Claus tries everything—from sewing disasters to “unjingling” Jingle Bells—in an attempt to save Christmas. With witty characters, playful dialogue, and an upbeat ending, students will love performing this holiday comedy. (Even includes musical score to help you learn it!) I’ve even included the lyrics to Unjingling the Bells so you won’t have to work too hard to teach it!

Because Readers Theater requires no memorization, costumes, or special materials, it’s ideal for December lessons, substitute plans, or that energetic week before winter break. The script is written especially for upper elementary and middle school students, with clear character cues, accessible vocabulary, and plenty of comedic moments that make even hesitant readers want to participate.

Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try

Sometimes, my husband and I get crazy ideas.  Rudolph the Rapping Reindeer is one of them.

The story:  Rudolph discovers a unique talent for rapping, bringing a fresh beat to the North Pole just before Christmas Eve. While Santa and the other reindeer are skeptical at first, Rudolph, with the help of the beatboxing elves Twinkle and Jingle, teaches the team to groove and find their rhythm.

Even Blitzen, who struggles to rap, taps out a steady beat with his hooves to keep everyone on track. The fun reaches its peak when Mrs. Claus surprises everyone by unleashing her own wild freestyle rap.

With teamwork and holiday cheer, Rudolph and the crew take flight, spreading joy and beats across the world in the most unforgettable sleigh ride yet.

This 10–12 minute holiday play is perfect for grades 4-6, with 12 speaking roles and room for a chorus.  It  combines humor, teamwork, and joyous fun with a unique musical twist!

Need a good laugh? 

Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try

The February Doldrums

Want something fun for early February?  Get everyone out of the winter blahs with this fun musical. Best for high school students, Ground Hog Day is based on the film of the same name.  Laugh your way through the learning! You can find it here.

Ground Hog Day the musical is about Phil Connors, a cynical Pittsburgh TV weatherman, who is sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in the isolated small town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, when he finds himself caught in a time loop, forced to repeat the same day again and again…and again. Note:  This musical because of language is more suitable for high school students. 

The music is great and the story line is funny. We’ve all thought about what it would be like to go back and do something differently, haven’t we? I know I have.

The unit includes everything a busy teacher would need in order to be successful:  themes of the musical, plot, synopsis, creative staff biographies, Broadway and musical trivia, student questions (with a teacher’s key) and several enrichment activities to secure the learning.

Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try

Hello Spring!

One more unit that I think your students will find fun is Buddy and the Evergreen Trees.

Buddy is a little blue bird with a hurt wing. When winter comes, his selfish and thoughtless bird friends leave him behind. Consequently, Buddy is sad, very worried and hurt by their leaving. A group of evergreen trees hear him saying good bye to his supposed friends and decide they want to help him. They befriend Buddy and invite him to live in their tree limbs until winter passes. Buddy heals over the winter delighting in living in the snowy evergreen trees, his new friends. This story teaches the themes of winter, friendship, compassion and generosity. You can find it here. 
File:In the winter forest (5431146866).jpg

Hello Every Month!

Recently, I found this folk tale and thought it was would be a perfect readers theater unit.  Why? First, there are many speaking roles!  The story will remind you of Cinderella to some degree.  It has a parable that could lead to a class discussion topic.
The Twelve Months reader theater unit and  story concerns a young and beautiful girl (called Marushka in some variations) who is sent into the cold forest in the winter to perform impossible tasks by her evil stepmother. She must get spring violets, summer strawberries and fall apples in midwinter as presents to give her stepsister for her birthday. On her journey, she meets a group of magical people who are the personification of the twelve months of the year.
When she returns home with the strawberries, her step mother and sister don’t believe her.  Finally, the step sister becomes so engaged with anger, she decides that she will go up into the snowy mountains by herself.  Little did she know, her rudeness would come back to ruin her.
Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try
As always, I hope your 2023 year begins with much promise, joy and lots of fun teaching moments.  Teaching and learning should be fun, I believe.  It’s my hope that if you pick up these units, I’ve helped you to do so.
Drama Readers Theater Scripts Folk Fantasy Fairy Tales Literature Toolkit
Save money!  Pick up this bundle here:  Drama Readers Theater Scripts
What units do you teach during the winter season?  Anything thematic?  I’d love to hear about it.  Contact me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com with your ideas.
Happy New Year!
Five Winter Themed Drama Lessons You Should Try
 

 

 

 

How Do I Use Arts Integration in the Classroom?

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How Do I Use Arts Integration in the Classroom?

When I was a little girl, I spent a lot of time playing out on the east porch of our huge old house. Usually, I pretended I was a princess.  I’d drape a towel over my head and promenade around the porch and make my castle under the ping pong table.

As you can tell, I am a naturally creative person.  Are you?  I bet so.  In fact, all of us are to some extent.  Although I have one friend who says she doesn’t have a creative bone in her body.  She thinks if you are creative it means you easily draw a life-like picture, can sing an aria, tap dance or sculpt with clay.

I feel badly for her when she says this, because she is very creative!  She is an excellent cook and has a beautiful decorated home.  However even with those talents, she doesn’t think she’s creative.

That’s a real pity in my book. Had she learned through arts integration when she was a student, I think she would see how creative she really is.

What is Arts Integration?

What is arts integration? Simply put according to Scholastic.com it is, “Arts integration is the use of the arts in core curriculum classrooms. When used well, arts integration is seamless — the interplay between the art and subject is fluid as one flows into the other.”

When I was a youngster, my favorite part of reading class was the projects we would do after reading the book.  I loved drawing a picture about the book.  Sometimes I didn’t even finish the book, I wanted to draw so badly.  Ha!

As I began researching the arts integration subject, one that is very dear to me, I wanted some research to back my thesis. My Masters in Education is in arts integration.  Integrating the arts in to a lesson comes naturally for me.

How Integrating Arts Into Other Subjects Makes Learning Come Alive | KQED

What skills does arts integration learning nurture in your class?

  • Test scores increase
  • Classroom engagement intensifies
  • Teacher effectiveness increase
  • 21st century life skills are developed
  • Students’ innate abilities are unleashed
  • Creativity permeates each subject

What else can arts integration do?

Engagement: Arts integration facilitates personal motivation to learn through problem
solving, and strengthens best practices in teaching as a result of increased student
investment.

Collaboration: Participation in arts integration practice promotes learning partnerships
that evolve through respectful relationships that value the strengths of each individual.

Pick up my FREE guide and ten page drama integration lesson here: FREE Drama Integration Guide

Agility: Learners are engaged in rigorous arts integration practice that teaches flexibility,
embraces change, and invites multiple perspectives.

Knowledge Construction: Arts integration is relevant to the learner as it promotes and
supports the use of critical thinking skills and inquiry.

Congruence: Effective arts integration practice upholds deliberate alignment between
academic content and the arts.

Check out Little Girl and the Winter Whirlwinds Readers Theater

Integrity: Mindful synthesis of arts and content learning promotes best practices in arts
integration, which hold true to the art form(s).

Insight: Best practices in arts integration embrace the symbiotic relationships between
ideas, content and the arts.

Skillful assessment: Mindfully designed authentic evaluation of content, process and
product in arts integration ensures that all levels of learning are synthesized, transferred
and applied through art to relevant and related academic concepts.

Resiliency: Arts integration learning experiences foster healthy risk-taking through personal growth, transformation, and empowerment.

Visionary Leadership: Confident leadership, demonstrated through collaboration, communication, and consistency, facilitates arts integration practice that is transformational to a learning community. It teaches growth mindset, too.  Check out this blog post about my thoughts on growth mindset: Growth Mindset in the Study of Famous Theater Artists

Arts Integration Ideas in the Core Subjects

“Okay” you say, “but how do I use it in my social studies classroom?”

If it’s drama you want to incorporate, a really easy way is to read a readers theater script of the subject you are teaching.  For instance, if you are teaching about Nigeria, you could incorporate a Nigerian folk tale.  Or if it’s the Civil War, create a radio play of a particular moment in the Civil War.  Talk about immersion!

Maybe it’s a math class and you want to integrate art into the lesson.   Maybe the students are challenged to create a multiplication problem in a design which also shows the answer, but unobtrusively.

Not many people think about this–when you approach the learning through the arts, students are relaxed and don’t feel the pressure of “I have to learn this right now and it has to be perfect.”  By applying arts into the learning, it gives students an opportunity to sort of live with the learning concept.  I promise, they will remember the concept much better if you apply the arts. Even the most challenged student will have success because the arts allow for differentiation so easily.

Arts Ingration Lesson

In my DramamommaSpeaks store, I many lessons and units which a teacher could incorporate into their arts integration collection.  Recently, I created a unit on the Zuni legend, The Maidens of the Corn. It was a fascinating experience.

This 47 page product includes:

  • Two warm ups–one physical and one imaginative, both boost energy
  • Original version of the Legend of Corn Maidens–great for comparison and contrast
  • Teacher’s script–what I say and how I say it!
  • Advice in directing reader’s theater
  • Blocking plot for performance
  • Kachina Dolls Information
  • Vocabulary
  • Who are the Zuni people?
  • Eleven page script with roles for 20+
  • Original song reminiscent of the Zuni music
  • Sheet music (optional for performance)
  • Sound bytes of music
  • Enrichment activities–designing a costume, designing a set, study of other Native American creation myths or a drama exercise using tableaux

This is a good example of arts integration in the social studies classroom.  In time, I plan to create more arts integration lessons for teachers, so do look for those.

Teaching humor?  This radio play will do the trick for you. It’s best with secondary level students.   Mark Twain’s The Invalid’s Story Radio Play

Do you have a suggestion of a lesson you’d like created?  I create lessons for teachers if they request them.  I really enjoy this, because I see immediate results as the teacher uses the lesson and I take any suggestions they may have or we work it together.  It’s awesome.

What arts integration have used in your classroom?  I’d love to hear.  Contact me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

Dramamommaspeaks Blog Author Deborah Baldwin

 

 

 

The Reasons to Teach Broadway Musicals to Your Students

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The Reasons to Teach Broadway Musicals to Your Students

There is a phenomena I can’t quite explain.

It used to be people weren’t all that excited about musicals.

Well, some people weren’t. I always liked them.  In fact, I remember the first musical I attended.  I saw Pearl Bailey in Hello Dolly! on Broadway.  That was a really amazing production.  My parents took me to see George M. Cohan as well and all I remember (because I was 10) was the tap dancing and lots of it.

Those of us who are eat-sleep-breathe-drama-and music love all of them.  Although I have several favorites.

Learn about them here: The Reasons These Shows are My Favorite Broadway Musicals 

Movies Adapted From Broadway Musicals– All right!

The Reasons to Teach Broadway Musicals to Your Students

Broadway Musical Lessons

I began creating Broadway musical lessons about two years ago and to date I have over twenty lessons. They are very popular and I’m so glad I created them.

When I taught at a school in Colorado, our musical theater students chose a musical they wanted to share with the rest of the class. They’d share its synopsis, a song and a bit of trivia.

At the time, I thought it would be a super experience for students to learn about these over the course of the school year.  Maybe every Friday could be Broadway Musical Day? In that particular case, I only saw the students once a week (they were basically home schooled the rest of the week) so I couldn’t take the time for my idea.

However, I thought a drama or vocal music teacher might find these of use.

The Reasons to Teach Broadway Musicals to Your Students:

  1.  It is always very entertaining.
  2.  Musical theater is a fabulous blend of music and theater–you get a little of both and never too much of either.
  3.   The action in a musical moves along fairly quickly because it’s peppered with song and/or dance, hence it keeps everyone engaged.
  4.   It is an excellent example of cooperative learning and creative problem solving–it incorporates every other arts medium–dance, art, music and theater!
  5.   Songs allow for interpretation of moments that a monologue can not explain so easily.
  6.   An entire moment in a story can be demonstrated through a song and dance which is much more interesting than  merely using dialogue.
  7.   In a school environment, most school musicals involve more than just the drama department–the music department participates which includes band and orchestra students.   Talk about involving the school!
  8.   Musicals are an excellent way to teach about current or historical events–Hamilton, Ragtime, Les Mis, 1776, The Scottsboro Boys, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Parade, Come From Away to name a few.
  9. Musicals teach about social issues–Rent, Cabaret, Dear Evan Hansen, Fun Home, Newsies, South Pacific, The book of Mormon, Hairspray, West Side Story, Falsettos, Newsies, Next to Normal, etc. 
  10.  Plus, as my husband said, “They are just fun!”

At least once a month or two, I create a new Broadway musical lesson.  Here is what they include:

(Here is an example from Hairspray, the Broadway Musical and pair it with Costume Design with Hairspray Characters

Broadway Musical Lessons for You to Use Tomorrow!

The product includes:

  • Letter to Teacher
  • Two Warm Ups–Dance Tutorials from the Actual Production
  • Teacher’s Script–What I Say and How I Say it!
  • Photos of Hairspray
  • Synopsis of the Musical
  • Plot of the Musical
  • Short Biography about Marc Shaiman composer and choreographer Jerry Mitchell
  • Separate File of Photos for Teacher’s Use in Lecture
  • History about the Origination of the Production
  • AND a Mini-Lesson on What are the Tony Awards?
  • List of Tony Awards
  • New York City Map with Competing Theaters Labeled
  • Student Note Page for Hairspray
  • Teacher Note Page Key
  • Trivia about Broadway and Hairspray
  • Songs List
  • Pinterest Board Link Specifically about Hairspray
  • Extension Activities– SEVEN Terrific Suggestions of Ways to Secure the Learning and Enrich the Experience either Individual or Group
  • Two costume design templates for one of the extension activities
  • Sources & Links to Film Clips from the Show
  • And More!

Comprehensive? You bet.

Did you know that Wicked is being made into a film with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande?

How can I use these in my classroom?  It depends upon the musical lesson, but teachers have used them in elementary through high school grades in classes of drama, vocal music, language arts and American history.  These lessons can be as short as one day or up to three days in length depending upon what the teacher requires.

All of the musicals in the gallery are available in my store here: Dramamommaspeaks Products

Plus, they are great with substitutes!

I hope you consider teaching with a Broadway musical lesson in the near future.  Do check back often, because as I mentioned, I’m always adding another to the store.

Want some free stuff?  Check out my page FREE Stuff.

What do you like about musicals?  I’d love to hear from you.  Contact me at DhcBaldwin@gmail.com or DeborahBaldwin.net

Deborah Baldwin, author of Dramamommaspeaks