drama and storytelling for year 1 children...drama and storytelling for year 1 children stone soup -...

Drama and storytelling for Year 1 Children

Stone Soup -teacher guidance

AC173 - Stone Soup teacher guidance YEAR 1.indd 1 20/07/2017 17:08

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What is The Ant Club?

The Ant Club is a free set of termly resources from BookTrust. The programme is designed to inspire a love of reading in Reception and Year 1 pupils by developing reading confidence and enjoyment through class based resources.

The Ant Club enables teachers to deliver the reading curriculum in creative and enjoyable ways, engage pupils with reading for pleasure, support pupils to access books, rhymes and stories they enjoy and will develop a love of reading amongst pupils.

The programmeYour school will receive three packs of resources over the year with materials for both Reception and Year 1 classes. Their flexible design means you can adapt them to fit with your existing schemes of work and the needs of your pupils. Each pack includes a teacher guide and resources for pupils to use with their parents and carers.

Reception Year 1

Autumn TermTime to Read

(formerly Booktime, sent separately to The Ant Club)

The Rhyme Challenge

Spring TermStories for Drama:

Chicken LickenStories for Drama:

Stone Soup

Summer Term The Rhyme Challenge Create Your Own Book Online resourcesMany of these resources are also available to download electronically at booktrust.org.uk/ant-club

The BookTrust website is regularly updated with reading for pleasure resources for parents and teachers. This includes book recommendations, activities, and guidance for reading with children of all ages. Visit the website to find out more at booktrust.org.uk

If you have any questions about The Ant Club or would like more information, please get in touch: [email protected]


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Contents

Introduction 4

The Benefits of Drama and Storytelling 5

Overview of Resources 6

Letter for Parents or Carers 7

Teacher Guidance 8 - 9

Working with Stone Soup 10 - 19


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Introduction

Welcome to your spring term resource from The Ant Club, Stories for Drama. Providing a range of drama based activities, this resource is designed to be fun and flexible. The activities will enable you to make reading more enjoyable for pupils, increase your pupils’ confidence in relation to reading and improve attitudes towards reading for pleasure.

BookTrust has worked in conjunction with Perform to bring you this exclusive drama and storytelling resource. Perform is a leading children’s drama company that aims to develop children’s social skills by using specially designed drama, dance and singing exercises.

This resource pack, based on the classic children’s tale Stone Soup, will encourage teachers, pupils and parents or carers to engage in and enjoy storytelling through reading and drama.

This pack includes: • teaching guidance which gives a range of suggestions and ideas

for implementing storytelling and drama activities in the classroom

• an A3 poster and stickers for every pupil

• information for parents and carers about supporting their child’s reading at home.

Alongside lots of general advice to help you make the most of drama with your class, this guide includes suggested plans for four 20-minute drama sessions using Stone Soup, which will help you to build your class’s confidence and positive

attitudes towards reading.

‘Drama is a means of providing children with a lived experience in a way that is mediated, structured and focused in order that they may comprehend it better.’

Andy Kempe, Professor in Drama Education, University of Reading, ‘The absence of presence: drama in the draft curriculum for primary English’, 2012


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Drama can be a useful tool to deliver the curriculum in a creative way and give pupils a lasting love of stories. Drama activities develop pupils’ imagination, supports their understanding of the text and deepens social engagement with reading.

These fun and engaging activities give pupils the opportunity to get excited and engage with traditional tales through Stone Soup.

Drama helps pupils to:• develop a love of stories

• develop a deeper understanding of traditional tales

• improve their knowledge of stories

• improve self-confidence and self-esteem

• work as part of a group

• speak confidently

• identify their own emotions

• recognise emotions in others.

This unique mix of drama games and exercises can be used by teachers with little or no drama experience. For those of you who have more experience of drama within the classroom, we hope these resources will provide you with fresh exercises and ideas.

‘Stories for Drama is great for our pupils and families, as they have little knowledge of traditional tales. For our teachers it is a good way of developing positive relationship with the parents or carers, so we send the resources home. The resources look special, which encourages engagement in fun and accessible way. ‘

The teacher guidance is great for giving in-depth activities to support the core learning activity and the electronic resources are great for dipping into to get new ideas. By focusing on key elements of reading such as drama, The Ant Club packs make learning fun in the class and it is easy for our teachers to pick up and deliver.

Reading lead- Stanley Grove Primary

Literacy Lead- Ernesettle Community School

The Benefits of Drama and Storytelling


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Overview of Resources

Resources for teachers – Stone SoupYour resource pack contains a specially commissioned retelling of the classic children’s story, Stone Soup. This version was written by Julia Damassa, a professional storyteller and children’s drama practitioner.

You can also find an audio recording of this story on The Ant Club website: booktrust.org.uk/ant-club

Letter for parents or carersOn the next page, there is a template letter that you can photocopy to send home to the parents or carers of children in your class. Teachers have told us that this resource looks and feels more special than normal worksheets. Parents or carers and pupils alike value them and it is therefore a fun way to encourage families to engage with reading at home and school.

Resources for pupilsYour resource pack includes:

• one poster for each pupil in your class - pupils should be given this before you start the drama activities, so that they can take it home

• four different sticker types – enough to give one of each to every pupil. At the end of each session you can give pupils the relevant sticker to take home and add to their poster.

The stickers are designed to encourage conversation between pupils and their parents or carers about the drama activities they have participated in that day.

Week Illustration Text on poster Text on reverse of sticker

1FrowningVillagers

Why are the villagers frowning?

‘We don’t have enough to share.’

2Makingthe soup

Who is the soup for?Soon the soup will be ready foreveryone to share.

3 DancingWhat happened after the feast?

They danced, and laughed, andsang, until the sky was dark.

4 DogWhat did the traveller do with the stone?

The traveller gave the stone tothe villagers.


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Stories for Drama

Dear Parent or Carer,

Your child is exploring the traditional tale Stone Soup in school through fun drama activities. To develop their enjoyment of the tale, we would like you to share the story together at home too.

Your child will be bringing home:• a Stone Soup poster

• four stickers to stick on the poster (your child will receive a sticker each time they do an activity in school).

Talking about books and stories together will help to develop your child’s love of reading. On the back of the poster there is a version of Stone Soup for you to share with your child at home. When they come home with a sticker you know they have read the matching part of the story in class. There is a question on the poster which matches the sticker - you can use this as a fun way to start talking about Stone Soup.

Sharing stories with your child is a great way to spend time together. You can re-read sections they have read at school, ask them to tell you (or guess) what comes next, or play around with ideas for ingredients for a strange new soup.

As well as being an enjoyable experience, reading together also helps them to remember the story and encourage a love of reading. Children love repeating stories and songs, anticipating what comes next, and being able to join in. The more you read Stone Soup and other stories with them, the more they will see reading as a fun way to spend their time, developing their reading confidence.

We hope you enjoy sharing this story with your child. If you would like more ideas on great stories for children or ideas for activities related to books, please visit BookTrust’s website: booktrust.org.uk


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Teacher Guidance

Drama in the classroomThere are lots of ways that you can help to create a suitable environment for drama in your classroom. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Establish your space

Establish a clear space within your class where you intend to lead the drama activities. Ensure that it is safe and clear as the activities can be very energetic. If possible, use the school hall where there is lots of room to move around.

Physical Warm Up

Always start with a physical warm up. This helps to:

• get the class to start working together as a team

• introduce the ‘find a space’ skill for younger children

• energise the group at the star t of the workshop

Control Command

Drama classes can be noisy! In order to gain the children’s attention, we recommend using a Control Command. A Control Command is a word which you teach the children at the start of the class. When you say it, they must immediately do something such as stand still. This can be used effectively to ensure children do not become over-excited or unmanageable.

It can also be used to bring parts of a story to life. For example, when reading Stone Soup, you could call out ‘Stone Soup’. When they hear this, all the children in the class must stop what they are doing and silently crouch down into a ‘stone’ shape using their bodies.

Ice Breaker Game

Including an ice breaker game can help to:

• promote working as a team

• heighten listening skills

• encourage the loss of inhibitions.

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‘Teacher in role’

Teacher in role is a way to describe when a teacher becomes a character, in order to help lead an improvisation or exercise. Transforming into a different person is mesmerising for the children and will encourage them to do so too.

Music

Have a CD player and some music to play during different exercises. This helps to enhance the mood or environment that you are creating. We highly recommend that you use music in every drama lesson.

Props

It is not essential to use props in a drama lesson. It can often be more powerful to describe something to the children so that they see it in their imaginations rather than present it to them in an object format.

Costumes

Costumes can be useful to help you get into character. For example, if you are playing a traveller, you might find it useful to wear a hat as a visual cue for the children. Children often accept a character more quickly if a basic item of costume is used.

Cool Down

Always end your lessons with a cool down. As drama is often very exciting, a cool down is essential because it tells children that it is time to return to class and more restrained behaviour. A cool down can simply consist of sitting in a circle, discussing what they enjoyed best about the class, and recapping on what they have learnt that day.

Follow-up work

Where possible, continue the themes and ideas you have developed in the drama part of the class into everyday activities or tie in with other subjects.

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Working with Stone Soup

Lesson 1Focus on reading the story and introducing the characters

Example Physical Warm UpThe physical warm up is a really important way to star t your drama lesson. Here is one way of warming up:

• choose a fun up-beat pop song to use as your music

• ask the children to find a space in the room with their arms stretched out to the side

• make sure they are not touching anyone or anything

• ensure that their tummies are facing you at all times (this will help them to see you, and will also allow you to see them at all points)

• warm up their bodies with the suggested movements.

Control Command

Exercise Game suggestion What you need Time

Read the storyaloud to the children

– Copy of Stone Soup 6 minutes

Warm Up Physical warm up CD Player and music 2 minutes

Control Command Stone Soup – 1 minute

Ice Breaker Game The Greeting Game CD Player and music 3 minutes

CharacterExploration

Freeze Frame/PictureThought Bubbles

– 6 minutes

Cool Down Recap and hand out sticker Posters and sticker 1 2 minutes

Teacher says, ‘Stone Soup’

Children to make themselves as small and round as possible– like a stone.


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Themed Physical Warm UpAlternatively, you can add the following warm up suggestions to help theme your warm up with the story of Stone Soup.

Body part Suggested warm up movement

Shoulders Shrug shoulders to ears

HandsFlick imaginary water off handsCircle arms like windmills

HeadMove head gently side to sideNod head gently up and down

Whole body Wobble body like jelly, including floppy arms and wiggling legs

KneesMarch on the spot like soldiersBend knees with small and large motions

Hips Wiggle hips side to side

FeetJump up and down as high as you canJump into a muddy puddle and jump out again

Toes Dip toes into the water

Dig potatoes Mime digging up potatoes

Grind the salt Twist hands as if using grinder

Stirring the soup Use whole body to stir huge cauldron

Eating soup Ladle out soup, mime eating, rub tummy in big circles

Dancing Dance on the spot

Sticker


1Frowningvillagers

Why are the villagers frowning?

‘We don’t have enough to share.’


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Ice Breaker Game – The Greeting Game• ask the children if they know what a greeting is

• talk with them about the greeting the traveller receives from the people in the village

• ask them if they can tell you some different ways that people normally greet each other (say hello, shake hands, high five, a hug)

• play some up-beat music and ask the children to walk around the room and to say hello to as many classmates as possible

• stop the music and say ‘freeze’

• tell the children that this time you want them to walk around the room and shake hands and say ‘how do you do?’ with as many classmates as possible

• start the music and watch the children walk around greeting people by shaking hands with a ‘how do you do?’

• stop the music and say ‘freeze’

• tell the children that this time you want them to walk around and greet as many classmates as possible with a high five

• repeat the game with as many different greetings as you’d like (four greetings are recommended for the game).

Character Exploration – Freeze Frame/Picture• ask the children what a picture is

• tell the children that you are going to ask them to make some pictures of scenes in the story with their bodies

• re-read the beginning of the story where the traveller arrives but the villagers are frowning out of windows

• ask them to describe the picture by discussing which characters are in it, what they are doing and how they are feeling

• once they have described the picture, ask the children to make a freeze frame/picture of the scene with their bodies

• choose one child to be the traveller, and the rest of the children to be villagers

• repeat the exercise, but this time make a picture of when the villagers and traveller are sharing the soup and dancing to music

• if you have a camera, it’s a nice idea to take a photo of the children in their picture freeze frame.


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Character Exploration – Thought Bubbles• ask the children to think of the different scenes in Stone Soup

• form another freeze frame of one of these scenes

• keep one child ‘frozen’ and then ask the other children to think about how the character might be feeling. Ask someone to say what they think the character is thinking, e.g. for the first scene, a villager might be thinking – ‘Why should I share my food with this new person?’

• repeat the exercise with another character, or a freeze frame from another scene

• sit everyone down and ask if anyone can think of a question for one of the characters, e.g. ‘Why don’t you want to share with the traveller?’ Now take on the role of the villager and respond. The response might be ‘because I am hungry, and it is my food’

• ask if there are any other questions, and respond in character

• ask different children to answer questions as some of the characters at different moments in the story - support the children to come up with answers for the questions.

Cool Down and hand out sticker


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Sticker


2Making the soup

Who is the soup for?‘Soon the soup will be ready for everyone to share.’

Ice Breaker Game – Copy Gesture• tell the children that you are going to play them a fast up-beat piece of music

• explain that when you turn on the music you are going to give them different instructions

• if you say, ‘dance with your fingers’ they all have to find a partner and dance with their partner with their fingers touching

• if you say, ‘dance with your toes’, they have to find a new partner and dance joining up their toes

• when you say, ‘EVERYBODY’ they must all make a circle as fast as they can and dance together

• tell the children that you might say any body part. For example, dance with your elbows, knees, backs, tummies, shoulders or ankles. Every time they have a new body part command, they must change partners and dance with someone new

• turn on some up-beat music and start the game by calling out different body parts and watching the children.

Lesson 2Focus on learning the Stone Soup poem & encourage confident speaking voices


Recap the story – – 3 minutes

Warm Up – CD Player and music 2 minutes

Control Command Soup spoon – 1 minute

Ice Breaker Game Everybody CD Player and music 3 minutes

Exploring Rhymes The children act out the poem The Stone Soup poem 9 minutes

Cool Down Recap and hand out sticker Sticker 2 2 minutes

Control Command

Teacher says, ‘Soup spoon’

Children stand up tall and straight and hold their arms above their heads in a circle, to make the shape of a spoon


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• ask the children to tell you what happens in the story of Stone Soup

• read them the Stone Soup poem that summarises the story

• read the poem again, pausing before the rhyming words at the end of every other line - let the children tell you the missing word

• once the children are familiar with the poem, ask them to think of actions that could go with it

• support the children to create appropriate actions to perform while you read the poem to them again.

Exploring Rhymes


The Stone Soup poem

Cold and tired and hungry,

The traveller came to town

But the people gave him nothing

They just frowned and frowned and frowned.

So the traveller asked for water,

And boiled it with a stone.

‘Stone soup is the best!’ he said,

‘But it’s sad to eat alone.’

‘With a little salt, some vegetables,

And whatever you can spare,

We’ll have a feast for everyone,

Stone soup for all to share.’


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Lesson 3Focus on reading the story and introducing the characters

Ice Breaker Game – What am I holding?• ask the children to sit in a circle

• tell them that you have something that you want to show them

• mime holding an object in your hands

• ask them to guess what it is

• tell them that it is very small, furry and has eight legs (a spider)

• tell them that you are going to pass the spider around and they all must hold it and pass it on to the person that is sitting next to them so that it goes around the circle

• ask the children how they feel when they hold the spider. What does it feel like? Can they describe the texture of the spider? Which words can describe holding a spider?

• repeat with a different creature (e.g. a mouse).

Control Command


Read the story – – 2 minutes


Control Command Carrots – 1 minute

Ice Breaker Game What am I holding? CD Player and music 3 minutes

Improvisation Character improvisation – 10 minutes

Cool Down Recap and hand out sticker Sticker 3 2 minutes

Teacher says, ‘Carrots’

Children to stretch as tall as they can with their arms up, tomake the shape of a carrot

Sticker


2 DancingWhat happenedafter the feast?

They danced, and laughed, and sang, until the sky was dark.


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Character Improvisation

The traveller

• ask the children to sit down and close their eyes

• ask them to imagine that they are all travellers coming into the village

• what sort of a village is it?

• is it a nice friendly village? A pretty village? A small village? Or a mean looking village?

• ask them to open their eyes and describe what they might see in the village

• next ask them how they might explore the village. How would they move? Quickly? Slowly? Looking around as they go?

• ask the children to stand up and walk around the room as if it is a village and they’d just arrived and wanted to explore.

The villagers

• ask the children to sit down again and close their eyes

• ask them to imagine that they are all villagers, and the traveller has just arrived

• what sort of a villager would they be?

• are they a friendly villager? A mean villager? A suspicious villager?

• ask them to open their eyes and tell you what sort of villager they are

• next ask them how they might behave. How would they react? Would they hide? Run away?

• ask the children to stand up and hide away from the traveller, with a frown on their faces.

Conversation

• split the children into pairs

• choose one child to be a traveller and the other child to be a villager

• ask the children to remember what happens when the traveller meets the villagers (the traveller asks for food and shelter and the villagers refuse)

• choose a fellow teacher/confident child and act out the conversation with them to show the children what might happen

• ask the children to act out the conversation in their own way

• after a few minutes ask some children to demonstrate their conversation to the group.



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Lesson 4Focus on re-telling the story

Ice Breaker Game – Salt and Pepper• choose a piece of fast moving

upbeat music for this game

• ask the children to find a partner in 10 seconds

• if any child doesn’t have a partner, ask them to join up and make a threesome

• ask the children to stand ‘back to back’ (their back against their partner’s back)

• followed by ‘shoulder to shoulder’ (their shoulder against their partner’s shoulder)

• next ask them to stand ‘tummy to tummy’ (their tummy against their partner’s tummy)

• finally ask them to stand ‘finger to finger’ (their finger against their partner’s finger)

• next ask them what action you make to pour salt and pepper on your food

• tell them that whenever you say ‘Salt and Pepper’ they must move around the room sprinkling invisible salt and find a new partner within 10 seconds

• it is important that you give them a set amount of time to re-group, otherwise they will keep running around

• turn on your upbeat music track and call out the four different body part commands you have just practiced

• then call out ‘Salt and Pepper’

• repeat using another four commands from the following list

• then call out ‘Salt and Pepper’

• repeat four final commands from the following list.

Control Command


Recap the story – – 2 minutes


Control Command Soup pot – 1 minute

Ice Breaker Game Salt and Pepper CD Player and music 3 minutes

Physical Exploration Re-telling the story CD Player and music 10 minutes

Cool Down Recap and hand out sticker Poster and Sticker 4 2 minutes

Teacher says, ‘Soup pot’

Children puff out their cheeks and make themselves bigand round, like the big soup pot used by the traveller.

Sticker


4 DogWhat did the traveller dowith the stone?

The traveller gave the stone to the villagers.


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Re-telling the story• Sit the children in a circle.

• Tell them that you want to re-tell the story of Stone Soup without reading it.

• Tell them that you are going to start the story off and then you are going to go around the circle and everyone must add a little bit onto the story until you get to the end.

• Before you start, recap the order of the story with the children.

• Ask them to tell the story by using as many descriptive words as possible.

• Start telling the story up to the point at which the traveller arrives in the village and meets the villagers for the first time.

• Ask the children to tell you what happens next, so they begin to tell the story themselves.

• Once the traveller starts cooking the stone soup, start off saying something like ‘Mm, this soup is delicious but what it really needs is...’.

• Ask the children to take it in turns to improvise ingredients for the soup. Ask them to also include where the villagers went to find each ingredient.

• As you go around the circle everyone gets to add an ingredient to the soup until its ready to eat.

• Finish by miming eating the soup and then celebrating to some music.


Suggested Commands Action

Toe to tummy One child puts toe against other child’s tummy

Finger to back One child puts finger against other child’s back

Sole to sole One child puts sole against another child’s sole

Elbow to back One child puts elbow against other child’s back

Knee to thumb One child puts knee against other child’s thumb

Toe to elbow One child puts toe against other child’s elbow

Back to front One child stands with back against the other child’s tummy

Shoulder to tummy One child puts shoulder against other child’s tummy


To access an audio version of

Stone Soup, as well as other

resources from The Ant Club, visit

us online: booktrust.org.uk/ant-club

Registered charity number 313343

BookTrust is the UK’s largest children’s reading charity. We work to inspire a love of reading in children because we know that reading can transform lives. Each year we reach 2.5 million children across the UK with books, resources and support to help develop a love of reading.

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drama and storytelling for year 1 children...drama and storytelling for year 1 children stone soup -...

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