Center Stage Youth Theatre

Posts Tagged ‘Tableau’

The Auction Lesson Plan

Day One

 

Motivation/Pretext:

• One teacher will enter the classroom and tell the students that she has just been visiting a farm out in the country, has brought a friend to visit with them and now seems to have lost track of her.  But there is a song that her friend really likes, and maybe if the children join in singing the song, her friend will find them.
• Teacher sings the sing, asking the children to do the motions with her.
• Scarecrow, scarecrow touch your toes.
  Scarecrow, scarecrow tap your nose.
  Swing your arms so very slow,
  Now real fast to scare the crows!
  Tough your head, jump up and down.
  Now sit down without a sound.
• Sing the song again, this time asking the children to join in.  The teacher compliments the children on their effort, and asks them to try again, just a little bit louder, and then making sure to sit quickly and carefully at the end of the song.
• The children sing the song louder and this time, and when they are all sitting the teacher in role as scarecrow enters the classroom. She is carrying a basket with corn, a stuffed crow, a model toy tractor a model toy cow and the book: The Auction.  She greets the children, thanking them for singing her song because she was lost in the school and couldn’t find them.

 

Presentation

• The scarecrow tells the teacher she has some things to show them.  She one by one pulls out the items and asks the children to identify them.  When she pulls out the book, she tells the children that the book is about the family where she was once the scarecrow.  That the family had to leave the farm, which was sad for them, but that the family had many memories of wonderful times together.
• One of the teachers (Scarecrow?  Perhaps one of the other teachers could take this part) prepares to read the book.  She tells the children to pay special attention to what the little boy and the grandfather remember from living happily on the farm.  While he asks the children to think about what the word MEMORY means as she is reading the book.

 

• One of the teachers reads the book.

 

Dramatization

• After the story, the children are asked to think about their favorite scene from the book.  Each child will be asked to tell which of the MEMORIES described by the characters in the book was their favorite one.  A teacher will write the memories down on a slip of paper, and put them in the basket.

 

 

 

• Using the time honored popsicle stick method the children will be grouped in groups of 4  ( this grouping could be beforehand as well, if we can get a class list)  The scarecrow pulls a memory on a  piece of paper out for each group.

 

• The groups will be told that they will be given two minutes to find a way to show with their bodies and their faces a picture (introduce:  Tableau) of what their group’s memory is.  Teachers assist with the process.  After two minutes of work each group’s memory will be presented in turn, and the other children will be asked to guess which part of the book it is from.  (Also introduce thought tracking here?)

 

Assessment?

And finally, to get them back to their seats…

• The Teachers will then introduce the following chant in order to get the children back to their seats.  We will ask the children to pretend they are the crows.   Introduce slow motion and have them practice flying away as the crows without leaving their places  first.  (This way no one will be hurt  and the children will not be in an excited state at the end of the lesson.)  Ask the children what sounds crow make, and ask them to practice making this sound as if we were hearing from very far away (it will be much quieter that way!)   Then the teachers can do the chant, and the children can fly in slow motion using the long distance crowing to head back to their seats, a group at a time.

The floppy, floppy scarecrow
Guards his field all day.
He waves his floppy, floppy hands
To scare the crows away.

 

 

 

 
 

 

A picture card will be placed at each group of desks. Students will be instructed to come up with one thing that they notice about the picture. Students will be called to the carpet by the number on their picture. Each student will be asked what it was that they noticed in the picture. Once everyone has presented, students will try to place the pictures in the order that they think the story will go.

Presentation:

The story will be read to the class and questions asked to assess the child’s understanding of the story and the objectives. Questions include:

• What does it mean to remember something?
• What can you remember from the farm in the story?

Dramatization:

Students will be asked to form a tableau of the farm in the story, and the teachers will begin thought tracking of the characters (animals and machinery can have thoughts, too!). Next, students will be asked to make a sound that they think they would hear on the farm and also to begin acting like whatever would make that sound. Students will head back to their desks while still in character from the soundscape.

Assessment:

When back at the desks, students will be asked to close their eyes and quietly think of a memory that makes them very happy. After a few moments, they will be asked to open their eyes and focus their attention on the classroom teacher.

 

 

Day Two

Motivation:

Students will be asked to recall what their sound and movement from the first lesson was and to imitate it while walking up to the carpet. Students will move around the carpet while in character before being asked to take a seat on the carpet.

Presentation:

A coffee can with a toy cow, farmhouse, letter from an elder, etc. (items subject to change) will be brought in by one of the teachers. Can will be passed around the circle and each student will be asked what they think might be inside the can. After students give suggestions, can is opened and the letter read/object shown.

Dramatization:

Assessment:

Students will be asked questions about the memories in the story and how they might relate to the emotions expressed by the story’s characters. Examples include:

• What was your favorite memory from the story? How did it make you feel?
• What emotions is the grandfather feeling about selling the farm? Why do you think he feels this way?
• What about the grandson, how do you think he feels about his grandfather’s farm being sold? How do you think his memories make him feel?