Surprise Kits!

Art Lessons: Snow Flakes for any season- The students are given different colored construction paper and scissors and are told to fold paper in half and cut little shapes to make the final product of a snowflake.  This product can be used for the winter season but also other seasons to make funky shapes to decorate the room.

Drawing Lines

http://www.k6edu.com/2ndgrade/art/shapes.html

Objective: Students will reinforce knowledge of line (or any shape) elements.Grade Level 1-6Materials: Construction Paper, Crayon

Procedures:1) Discuss the different types of lines such as straight, wavy, loops, curly, zigzag, etc.2) Fold construction paper in half three times. This should give you eight boxes.3) Have students fill each box with a different type of line.

* Depending on grade level, the teacher could tell the students to draw other shapes or draw shapes with different amounts of sides chronologically going around the construction paper.

We All have Gifts To Give- Take a piece of paper and divide it into four quadrants. On each quadrant draw a picture of a quality you have that you can give to to others.  For example, "sharing".  Take a ribbon and pipe it along the quadrants and tie a bow in the center, it should look just like a present.  Have students get in front of the classroom and share their gifts with the class. 

Create Your own planet (art)- Give students a coffee filter, crayola markers, and an eye dropper.  Have students take any color markers of their choice and draw simple lines all over the coffee filter.  Take the eye dropper and carefully drop water over the markings.  The markings will spread and create a unique design similar in appearance to a planet in the solar system.  Have students name their planets and write a story including details such as the temperature, who will live on the planet, etc. 

1

Firecracker Project

http://teachers.net/lessonplans/subjects/arts_and_crafts/

This activity will make a brightly colored firecracker that can be used as a desk decoration or centerpiece. It's easy and fun to do for all ages!

Materials Required: construction paper (red, white,blue, and black) aluminum cans, glue Activity Time: 20-30 min

1)Prepare in advance-- cut 10 x 1 1/2 inch strips of colored construction paper (red, white and blue)3 of each color per student, cut a rectangle of red paper large enough to wrap around and cover a soda can (1 per each student), cut white stars approx. 2 inches in size (6 per student), cut 4x4 inch square of black paper (1 per student), collect soda cans (1 per student)

2) Have students glue red rectangle piece around soda can to cover the can. Then have them glue the white stars on paper covered can.

3) Have students wrap multi-colored 10 x 1 1/2 " strips around their pencils one at a time to make a curl. After all strips are curled, glue the strips (alternating colors)to the top of the can, around the mouth opening, so that the curls cascade down the sides of the can. In order to fit all strips, you will need to slightly overlap the strips as you glue them down.

4) Roll black 4 x 4 inch square to form a 1 inch tube (this will be the "wick" of the firecracker) cut three 1/2 inch slits in bottom of tube and fold edges up to make a flat, 3 part base for the tube. Glue the base of the tube on top of the can, in the center over the lift tab of the can.

5) After the students have assembled the "firecracker" discuss firework safety.

** You may want to have the students add beans or rice to their can prior to beginning so that they can be used as fun "noise-makers" too.

2

Searching For Shapes Worksheet

http://www.k6edu.com/2ndgrade/art/shapes.html

Name:________________________Searching for ShapesGrade Level (1-2)

Find an example of each of the following shapes. Draw the shape in the box and fill in the blanks to tell us what you found and where you found it.

Square

What did you find?____________________________Where did you find it?_________________________

Triangle

What did you find?____________________________Where did you find it?_________________________

Circle

What did you find?____________________________Where did you find it?_________________________

Rectangle

What did you find?____________________________Where did you find it?_________________________

Oval

What did you find?____________________________Where did you find it?_________________________

Shape of Your Choice

What did you find?____________________________Where did you find it?_________________________

3

An Apple a Day

Students learn about apples, then help create a bulletin board for the classroom.

Objectives: To enhance motor skills with cutting, pasting, painting

Materials: small paper plates (1 for each student) green construction paper squares brown construction paper squares red, green, and yellow paint

Plan:

Read an Apple Book. There are several out there. The Apple Pie Tree, The Seasons of

Arnolds Apple Tree, etc. Talk about the book you have read: Discuss what color

apples are. How do they grow? How do they differ in taste?

Make apples with the children.

Have the children paint their apple whichever color is their favorite.

Set them aside to dry.

When dry, give the children a green and brown construction square. Tell them to cut a

stem out of the brown and a leaf out of the green.

Glue stem onto the apple.

Decorate a bulletin board with a large tree. I put the tree to one side and then make a

construction paper fence along the bottom. I make paper birds, a sun, and other things

to add to the "country scene."

Scatter the apples around on the bulletin board. I put some of them on the ground,

some in the tree.

This makes a great bulletin board made by the children.. This year I captioned it "An

Apple a Day...." and then we talked about various phrases the children have heard

with this in it... what good things an apple can do for you.

We graphed the different apples on the bulletin board.

We counted the apples in the tree, on the ground, etc...

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/135.shtml.

Hungry Caterpillar- Read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to the class.  Then have the class make their very own caterpillar by using construction paper, crayons, and glue.

4

Witches’ Pots

http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/pages/517.shtml

This is a fun activity for early in the year; ties into Halloween-themed projects.

Materials:

Green paint (I used Americana, avacado green to resemble a witch's skin color) Terra Cotta Pots (I bought them at Michael's on sale 5 for a $1.00) Black Felt (I bought a huge bulk piece) Potting Soil Paintbrushes Grass seed (fast growing works best, very cheap) Permanent Black Marker (Sharpie) Wiggly Eyes

Plan:

Paint terra cotta pots using green paint allow to dry at least overnight. Put soil in pots, plant grass seed, water pots. Put pots in an easy to see place, this way the students can see the grass grow. Cut out witches hats using the black felt, you might want to do this yourself, the students

scissors did not work well. Glue hats onto pots. The grass is the witch's hair. Draw on the witch's face.

Comments:

My class did this last year as a first project of the year. We took our time doing it and used it as a learning experience. We wrote a procedural writing at the end including instructions on how to make it. We had them on display during open house, the students took them home that night. The students enjoy the hands on planting and enjoyed watching it grow. The grass grows in less than a week and just gets taller and taller.

Alphabet puzzle. Give each student a card and have them, on the blank side of the card, make an upper case letter on one side of the card, then on the other draw a picture of something that starts with the letter they are assigned. When they finish take the card and cut it apart in a squiggly design, leaving the letter on one side and the picture on the other. Make sure you have a full alphabet full of letters. Mix all the letters and pictures together and have students put the letters and pictures correctly back together. Also have them put the letter/picture pairs in a line on the floor. You may then, hang the puzzle pieces together around the classroom displaying the alphabet.

Materials Needed: colored pencils, note cards, scissors.

5

Brown Bear Animals

http://www.kinderart.com/littles/brownbear.shtml

Skills/Objective:

To use a variety of art mediums to re-create animals from book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear.

What You Need:

Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See by Bill, Jr. Martin & Eric Carle

Bulletin Board Paper Fingerpaint Crayons/markers Collage materials Tempera paint Sponges Q-tips Brushes

What You Do:

Make a large animal shape (2) representing one of the animals from Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See by Bill, Jr. Martin & Eric Carle

Have the children cooperatively work together to recreate that animal: blue horse, purple cat, green frog, etc;.

Once dry, staple and stuff with newspaper. Hang from ceiling (if appropriate) or display on a bulletin board. If displaying on a bulletin board, this becomes an interactive Big Big Book/Story.

Secret Animals: Assign each child a 'secret" animal part, the child choosing the animal. Have them draw their part on white or construction paper. The idea is that each child does not know what the others are drawing. For example, have Bobby draw the head (maybe he chose a dog), Cindy draws the legs (she chose an elephant), and so on. When they are all finished drawing, have them cut out their parts and tape the animal together. Have fun choosing a name for their animal. You may be the first to discover the "Dog-aphant-monk-iraffe"!

6

PAPER BAG PONCHO

http://www.kinderart.com/multic/poncho.shtml

Multicultural Art

For Cinco de Mayo on May 5th (or any day of the year), have yourself a special day complete with Mexican food and Mexican clothes like brightly colored ponchos. Cinco de Mayo is a Mexican national holiday. It marks the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

What You Need:

Large Paper Grocery Bags Bright markers Paints Crayons Paint brushes and water

What You Do:

1. Cut a hole in a paper bag so that your or your child's head can fit through. 2. Cut slits up both sides of the bag. 3. Decorate the paper bag poncho with brightly colored markers or paints or crayons. 4. Try a water paint wash technique, whereby you draw on the paper with crayons and paint a

light wash of paint overtop. 5. You can also glue bits of fabric scraps onto the paper bag as well. 6. Have a look at some real ponchos for inspiration.

Favorite Places: Students can draw and color their favorite place and write a brief description as to why it’s their favorite place.

Bead Bracelets: Students can keep it for themselves or make one for a family member. Beads will consist of regular colored beads, lettered beads, and beads with designs on them.

7

Art with Colored Shaving Cream

Grade Level(s): Preschool, KMaterials:• shaving cream• washable finger paint• plastic spoons, for stirring• bowls• paper• painting smocks for each child• paintbrushesPlan:1. Put a 1/2 cup of shaving cream in a bowl2. Add 1 teaspoon of washable liquid paint.3. Stir with plastic spoon and leave out for kids.4. Put several paint brushes in every color you make.5. Remind the kids to keep the paint brushes in the correct color of paint.6. Now have the kids put on their paint smocks and get a piece of paper to paint on. They can paint whatever they want or they can be given a theme such as paint the people in your family or paint your favorite toy or paint your house.7. Let the pictures dry, and then write a simple sentence at the bottom telling their parents what they painted.

You could also have them print their name if they are trying to learn to write their name!!!

‘Y’ Tree (art):

Materials: Plain sheet of unlined white paper, markers, crayons, or colored pencils and a ruler.

Take a sheet of paper, and get students to make the letter ‘Y’ on a piece of paper. From there let them continue to make ‘Y’s breaking off of the main trunk. Let them color and make the tree into a scene with birds and whatever else they imagine in their scene. After they have colored guide them to take a dark marker or sharpie and begin filling in their families names on the tree. Allow them to bring it home to have their parents help fill in names.

The activity encourages parent involvement, gets students to learn about their families and gets them to let their creative juices flow. It also gives them perspective on line, and letters.

Website: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elem18.html

8

Alphabet Art-

Suggested Grades:K-1

Objective:Students will examine and practice forming letters of the alphabet using a variety of mediums.

Pretzel Dough: Break off a small piece of refrigerated French bread dough and roll it into a long snake. Then shape it into letters and place on a greased tray. In a bowl stir egg white from one egg with a tablespoon of water. Brush each letter with the mixture, then sprinkle coarse salt on top. Bake the letters in a 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven for fifteen to twenty minutes. Cool then eat.

Peanut Butter: Mix 18 oz. of peanut butter, 6 tablespoons of honey, and enough non-fat dry milk until you get a workable dough. Add a bit of cocoa for flavour and this dough is ready to shape into letters and eat.

Popcorn: Pop up a big bowl of popcorn. Ask students to write out the letters on a piece of paper, and then glue the popcorn on the paper, following the shape of the letter.

Yarn: Give students a long piece of yarn and cut and shape it into letters on a piece of paper. When they are satisfied with their end products, ask them to glue them on a piece of paper.

Shaving Cream: Spray a small ball of shaving cream on each student's work area. Ask them to use their fingers to make letters out ot it. Make sure that you remind them not to put it in their mouths!

Plastecine Letters: Roll out plastecine into a long snake, then form letters.

Glitter:Ask students to write out a letter on a piece of paper and trace it with glue. Then throw glitter on it and shake the excess glitter off.

Leaves: Collect a variety of leaves. Ask students to write out a letter on a piece of paper and trace it with glue, then glue leaves overlapping each other in the formation of the letter.

Icing: Ask students to form letters, using an icing bag, on top of cupcakes.

Cereal: Glue cereal pieces into the shape of letters.

Pasta: Glue pasta pieces into the shape of letters.

Buttons: Blue buttons into the shape of letters.

Water: Dip paint brushes in water and "paint" letters onto a blackboard or a piece of construction paper.

9

Cut Paper Dragons:

Here's a fun idea for an art lesson that also teaches students a little about Chinese culture! I found it at http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elem5.html.

 Lesson Plan: Chinese New YearAuthor unknown

Dragon Materials:

Construction paper, scissors, glue, markers or crayons. Pictures of Chinese dragons.

After a short talk about Chinese dragons and what occasions they're used, Students can make a long dragon with accordion folds. Cut out front of dragon, middle, and back as shown from 9X12 paper (one piece of 9 x 12 for each section). Color patterns on both sides. Fold fan style (accordion fold). Connect and glue together.

 Links

Chinese Dragons - A site that explains the uses for them and includes many pictures. Chinese Dragon Thinkquest Chinese Dragons - A comprehensive site with pictures, legends, and cultures.

Resources

Chinese Paper Dragon Decorations Chinese Prosperity Dragon Statue Chinese Empire Dragon Flag, 3 ft. x 5 ft. Legend of the Chinese Dragon

Personal Kaleidoscope (art):

Materials: Plain sheet of unlined white paper, markers, crayons, or colored pencils and a ruler.

Take a sheet of paper, and divide it into eight parts by first making lines across and down the paper to form a ‘t’ and then with the ruler draw four more lines making a cross across the ‘t.’ The result should be 8 even pieces on the paper.

Next allow the students to write in words that describe themselves, and prompts would probably be helpful such as name, favorite color, hobby, nickname or whatever else they like to fill in the 8 different triangle divisions. The result will have a personal description of each student, made by the students themselves. They can then color it in and draw pictures in each box. 

10

The idea can illustrate different lines, sizes, proportion, angle, color and how to work with a ruler. Website: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elem22.html

What’s Your Favorite Time of Day?

This activity is meant to help the students feel comfortable reading clocks. I will have each student make a clock using paper plates, construction paper, paper brads, and markers. After the students make their clocks, I will give them time to decorate their clocks to their own liking. Then I will ask them to write down on a piece of paper what is their favorite time of day and why. Once the students write this down they will tape all of their responses to the bottom of their clocks. I will then ask each student to put the hands on their clock to that specific time. After the class is done I will hang all of their clocks on a bulletin board. Here is a link that shows how to make paper plate clocks.

 http://familycrafts.about.com/od/paperplatecrafts/a/clockcraft.htm

Wise Old Owls:

If the student’s had a “Wise Old Owl”, what would it look like?

For the activity I will have the students make their own “Wise Old Owls”. The materials needed are: paper bags, streamers, cupcake baking cups, markers, glue/tape, and scissors. Once they are done making their owls, I will have the class sit in a circle. I will then go around the circle and have the students tell a “wise” story using their owl puppet. A “wise” story could be anything from what they have learned to something they would like to teach their classmates.

Here is a link to the website that shows how to make the owl puppets.

 http://www.kidscraftweekly.com/five_minute_issue.html

“Self Portrait”: Have students draw a self-portrait with their names on the back so the rest of the class can identify the picture with the student.

  “Student Newspapers” :  The teacher hands out a blank newspaper that students can draw and color in the different sections to describe themselves. Students can create their own newspapers that tell the rest of the class a little something about themselves, their likes, dislikes, family, and hobbies.

11

Picture Puzzles1. Students will draw a picture using markers or crayons. The teacher could ask students to draw a specific picture (ex. A picture of their favorite thing to do, their favorite season, etc. ).2. The students will use a pencil to create “puzzle pieces” all around the picture. 3. Students will now glue their picture onto a piece of construction paper.4. The students will then cut out the puzzle pieces.5. Finally, students will trade puzzles with their partners and try and put together the puzzle that their partners made.

materials: plain white paper, construction paper, glue, scissors, markers/crayons

Picture Puzzle Piece: Start out this activity by reading Shel Silverstein’s “Picture Puzzle Piece” to the class.  The poem is about the endless possibilities of a single puzzle piece.  After, you can show the class a puzzle piece and ask them questions about what they think it belongs to.  After this, tell the class that they will be making their very own puzzles.  Give each student a blank puzzle worksheet.  You can easily get this from google.  Students will glue the worksheet to a piece of construction paper to make their puzzles thicker and sturdier.  Students will then color in their puzzle however they like.  After, students will cut out their puzzle according to the worksheet.  Students can play with their puzzle.  It is a good idea to give each student a zip loc bag so that they can store their puzzle and not lose any pieces.

Helpful Links

http://www.eliteskills.com/c/13911

http://www.dreamlandmagic.net/halloween/puzzle/puzzle.jpg

Sock Puppets: Make a play out of brown-bagged sock puppets (that will be made as well). The topic of the play can vary to whatever the class has recently been learning.

Lunch Bag Puppets: This activity lets students make their very own puppets out of a lunch bag.  Give students an animal to color in.  I printed off some worksheets from abcteach.com of different animals.  Then students cut out the different parts of the animals such as the head, body, arms, and legs.  Students will glue the animal to the lunch bag according to the picture on the worksheet.  After making an animal puppet, the students will make their own skit.

Helpful Link http://www.abcteach.com/directory/fun_activities/crafts/paper_bag_puppets/

12

Beasties Galore:

I got this idea from the website below. I liked the idea the way it was written, but it reminded me of a similar activity that can be used if I need a quicker activity.

Materials: blank white paper, crayons or markers or pencils.Instructions:

1. Fold the paper in three parts, like a letter.2. Have each student create a monster/beast's face on the top section.3. Turn the papers over so that the middle section is the only one visible and pass all papers

to the left. 4. Have each student draw a monster/beast's midsection in this section of the paper they

were passed.5. Fix the papers so that the bottom section is now face up. Have students again pass the

papers to their left.6. Have each student draw monsters bottoms (legs, feet, tails, etc.).7. Have the students unfold their papers and look at their new and crazy beasties!

http://princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/SubPlans/subelem.htm

 Paper Bag Trees: This activity is a cute idea for learning about seasons or trees.

Materials: Brown paper lunch bags, multi-colored tissue paper, scissors, glueInstructions:

1. Open the paper bag so that it can stand by itself. Carefully hold the bottom of the bag and twist just above the seam/fold several times.

2. Use scissors to cut strips from the top of the bag down to the twisted section. 3. Gather three strips at a time and twist together to form the branches. Continue twisting

three strips until you run out of strips to twist. If you end up with an uneven amount, twist four together or two together at the end.

4. Tear or cut small pieces of colorful tissue paper and glue a few on here and there as leaves for the branches.

http://www.kinderart.com/crafts/papertrees.shtml

Paper plate activity. Supplies: paper plates, construction paper, glue, scissors, crayons. Have students use the paper plate to create a wall hanging to be displayed. They will be creating an

13

animal and then writing the correct spelling of the animal on the back on the plate. (K-2)

Recycled Robots:

Objectives:

1. The purpose of this lesson is to enhance the students' creative and motor skill development and visual/auditory perception to create a unique/one-of a kind piece of art.

2. Students will work in small groups to plan and create a robot from found objects/junk. 3. Students will cooperatively develop a story/facts about their robot.

Notes: This lesson is built upon previous lessons revolving around geometric shapes found in man-made environments. Before this lesson is introduced, students should be able to identify, name and find basic geometric shapes in their constructed environments. Art activities using flat 2-D paper shapes for collage were used to build vocabulary and understanding before this lesson was presented.

  Essential Questions:

What are robots? What are they made of? Have you ever seen a robot up close and personal? What kinds of shapes do you see in robots? How do they move? What do they do? Can you think of anything that you have in your house that is made to help you and your family? (vacuum, dishwasher, clothes washer and dryer, blender, toaster etc...) If you could build your own personal robot, what materials would you use; what would your robot do; does it talk; how does it move; does it eat; what does it eat; what kinds of jobs does it do? Etc...

Materials:

Corrugated cardboard (spray paint) for mounting - Gutted dead school computers, junk from personal and others' sheds, castaways from the school's maintenance and bus barn depts. , junkyard (be a dumpster diver!!)  Hot glue and liquid nails, something to separate stuff for each group (soda pop flats are ideal). Examples of small stuff for the robots might be: clean nails, screws, washers, nuts, bolts, rivets, buttons, coins, jewelry.

Prep ahead of time:

 Cut large sheets of cast-off cardboard into huge rectangles and paint black or whatever color you want. Sort various sized objects from your junk collection into as many boxes as you have groups (4-5 students in each group works well). Decide which kids will work together in which group and write their names on the back of the cardboard.

Activities and Sequence:

Motivation:

14

1. Conversation on how this lesson relates to previous one about shapes and introduction of this lesson and what they will be expected to create -2 minutes

2. Essential questions/discussion and pictures and/or book(s), stories about robots - 5-10 minutes

3. Show the portion of the Big A Video Series*- "Exploring Ideas" on robots - 5 minutes OR Read a book about robots -10 minutes

(if time is short... let them draw a picture of their robot and save the group 3-D lesson for next time and review information the following class period- we all have different time issues)

Procedures:

1. Separate kids into groups. Give them their cardboard and box of junk and allow them to explore the stuff -5 minutes

2. After exploration.. the kids will have great ideas about what they want to use from the junk box for their robot. The only real guidance after this point is to remind them about basic proportion: it will work well if they use a large object for the body and head and the medium sized pieces for the neck, arms and legs and the smaller pieces for feet, toes, fingers/pinchers Also... remind them about trying different ideas- different objects in different places to serve as different body parts of the robot. This allows for everyone in the group to have their idea recognized.

3. THEN....sit back and let them “creatively play” and imagine. THIS IS THE GOOD STUFF - 10-15 minutes

4. Monitor and make suggestions only if a group is stuck, but that is very rare... they are oozing with ideas to try out.

Closure

Review what they learned today and tell them that their robots will be permanently attached to their background next time they come to class.

“Scratch Art Lesson” (www.incredibleart.com) “Incredible Art Lessons”

Kids LOVE this art lesson! It is a good two art period lesson. Using the size paper of your choice, have the kids cover it in BRIGHT crayon colors. Press HARD and leave no white showing from the paper. Then YOU (as the devoted teacher) gets to collect them and paint them black (students may do this step themselves). Yes Paint them! Using black tempera paint, pour some into a large bowl and add a few drops of liquid soap. (The soap makes the black tempera adhere to the crayon-covered paper). Using an inexpensive foam brush, paint all the crayon covered papers and let dry over night. The next day, have the students use a sharpened dowel rod (about 6 inches long) or even a tooth pick, to scratch the paint off and create a design. The LOVE to do this. The oohs and aahs are great! Some designs and scenes that work great are

15

underwater scenes, clowns and circus scenes, vases of flowers, etc. A drawing may be done first then transferred to the scratch board (put white crayon or chalk on back of drawing).

“Grid Name drawings”: Incredible Art Lessons (www.incredibleart.com) 1.  Create a grid using pencils and rulers on any sheet of paper that will fit the name - for 1st time use large grids. 2.  Bubble letter the name on the grid - lightly in pencil - no overlapping of letters. 3.  Then in sequence format...color the grids as the plan outlines...+ - space in that part of the letter appears within the grid and part appears outside the grid, inside outside the line - to reveal an optical illusion of the name from the grid format. 4.  Consider: within each square a space needs to be considered inside or outside the letter of the space within the grid.  Using a selected color scheme - color inside spaces 1 color and outside spaces another color...then the name can be seen as the color selection reveals it!

Balloon Ghost Craft: Supplies needed:    * A white balloon    * Scissors    * 2 white plastic grocery bags    * Tape    * A black marker         Cut the handles off the white plastic grocery bags. If there are colored markings on the bags, cut them off too.    Leaving the seam at the bottom of the bags intact, cut the bags into strips.    Blow up a white balloon.

Tape the plastic bags around the end of the balloon (tape the bags in a circle a few inches from one end of the balloon). If you plan on hanging the ghost up as a decoration, tape the plastic bags around the plain end, leaving the tied end of the balloon exposed so you can tie a string to the top of the ghost.    Using a black marker, draw two eyes and a mouth on the ballon.

You now have a spooky ghost that you can use as a Halloween decoration or as a toy This ghost flies really well!

16

"Tell your own story"- Show a series of pictures and have the children write a story to go along with the pictures. Tell them to add details so that they dont all write the same thing. They can make it funny.

17

Thank You:Students will be able to go to a station where they will use stamps, markers, crayons, scissors and glue to create a thank you card for someone at home.

The teacher can provide stamps and material to cut and paste on their card. This adds more to a normal coloring session.

Teachers in lower levels can help the student to write in their card, make sure the student atempts to write some of it to make it personalized.

Make Handprints Could use the stamp ink that doesn’t make a huge mess. Have big construction paper. After they make their hands, could write a note to a family member (such as mom and dad).

Draw your Family Have construction paper with lots of crayons. Could have a sticker box for them to decorate the page with. Give instructions like draw your house, the people in your immediate family, pets, and your favorite toy. Draw the people as they really look (tall, skinny, short, brown hair, etc.)

Egg Carton Eyes Headband: Students make a headband out of construction paper, egg

carton cut outs, and other various art supplies.

http://familycrafts.about.com/od/eggcartoncrafts/a/sceyemask.htm?p=1

Yarn Name- Students will print their names on construction paper and then glue yarn on top of their print.  They can also decorate their name plate.

Farm Animal Puppets- Students will first make farm animal popsicle stick puppets by drawing on construction paper or through template. They will them act out stories using the puppets and singing along to songs like the Farmer in the Dell.

18

Family Cartoons: This activity teaches sentence structure while allowing students to express their artistic creativity. First, the teacher shares a personal funny family story with the class. Then, the students are to think of a funny story that occurred in their family. Have the students write down their story in three sentences on a piece of paper: What happened first, next, and last. After their sentences, ask them to create a three panel comic strip to go along with their story. (The teacher may want to bring in an example of a comic strip for reference). All of this can be done on the same paper with the illustrations on top and the sentences below their corresponding picture (or vise versa). A neat idea that can be done once the students complete the assignment is having the teacher collect the comic strips to create a class book and make copies for everyone to take home.

Collage Animals: In this activity all you need is construction paper, crayons and glue. Students will draw out an animal of their choosing, and then fill in the color by glueing down torn up pieces of construction paper.  They can then color on any specific features(eyes, nose, tail, etc.) and a background.  Students will learn about making collages, and the motor skills for drawing and glueing.

Toucan Sam - Students will learn about the origins of the toucan and draw the toucan on the Froot Loops box http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/Patti-Animals.htm

Physical Art:

Supplies needed: internet site with famous paintings

In K-2, students will be exposed to physical education programs that involve dance and movement.  The teacher will introduce a famous painting, like "The Starry Night" to the students and encourage them to look at the different aspects and elements of the painting. The students will then act out and depict the emotions expressed in the painting.  Students must use their movements to show the shapes and colors within the painting.  At the end of the lesson, the students will share their experiences with one another and describe what movements they made and how they think the artist felt.

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/Breannie-artPE.htm

Pop-art self portrait- Divide paper into 4 sections and do the same portrait 4 times, but use different colors. (like an Andy Warhol painting)

19

Picasso Faces.

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/Jeanette-picasso.htm

The teacher tells the class about Pablo Picasso and they look at some of his famous paintings. They then draw self-portraits in a Picasso style. The students can use any shape for their faces and choose if they want one, two, or no ears etc. They should outline the faces with black marker and use oil paints to make their portraits look more like Pablo Picasso’s artwork.

All About Me:

Supplies Needed: crayons/colored pencils, different colored construction paper, pencils

Students will draw self-portraits of themselves. Using their favorite colored crayon or pencil, they will write their name on the top of the paper. For grades 3-5, students will point out one thing on their portrait that they love about themselves. Students' portraits will be hung on a bulletin board to introduce themselves to their classmates.

Print Making: For this activity you will need foam sheets, paint brushes, paint, paper, and pencils. Use the pencil to carve any design or picture you want into the foam sheet. This will be your stamp. Apply a layer of paint onto your stamp and then press the stamp onto your paper. You can wash off the paint from your stamp and reuse!

incredibleart.org

Draw your Favorite Animal: On a sheet of construction paper, using markers, the student will be asked to draw their favorite animal and state why at the bottom. After everyone has completed this activity, they will stand up and share with the class. Every picture will be pinned to the bulletin board. Once this activity is completed and if time allows, they can draw freely whatever they choose.

Magazine Collage: In this activity, each child is given a magazine, scissors, and a sheet of construction paper. The children are asked to look through the magazine and cut out 10-15 of their favorite pictures. Then they will paste the pictures on the construction paper to make a collage. Afterwards, students might be asked to share with the class why they chose some of their pictures.

20

Oragami Cups:

:05 minutes - introductions and getting to know each other a little

:10 minutes - Explain the history of origami. "Complete Origami, An A to Z of Facts and Folds" by Erik Kenneway can help prepare you, as well as a little web research. Make sure you explain your interest as well. My dad taught my class when I was in grade school and he became interested after spending three years stationed at Yakota Air Force Base in Japan.

:10 minutes - Show the different types of paper you can use included foil, patterned, makeshift and specialty paper. Talk about size of paper and how it creates different difficulty levels and affects the look of the completed models. You would be surprised at how fascinated they are by this. Most of them think of one type of paper and one approximate size.

:5 minutes - Show the different books and instruction resources they can find to learn how to fold, and how the instructions themselves are labeled. I also show them my two favorite books, A John Montroll one and one which my dad gave me from 1961. I also show "Origami by Design" by Lang pointing out specifically the math algoriths in Chapter 14.

:10 minutes Show and tell time. I present models I have folded and some that I have made art out of. I have them guess what the simple ones are supposed to be. Simple models sometimes only suggest what the model is and it can be fun to listen to the various interpretations. They also like the realism of the more complex models.

:15 minutes A simple one that does not require accompanying folding instruction hand outs. It still needs to be cool enough that it is worth folding.

**The design I chose to use for the surprise kit was a cup. I figured the kids could start with something really easy and then eventually work their way up to progressively harder models. Also you could come around and put some candy or a snack in their cups once they are completed.

I got the lesson plan from: http://andrewfry.blogspot.com/2008/06/origami-lesson-plan-for-kids-with-model.html

 And the origami cup idea from page 21 of: http://www.copernicusproject.ucr.edu/FamiliesForSuccess/ORIGAMI.pdf

21

MUSIC LESSONS:

Emotion composers. Supplies: common classroom items (books, pens, pencils, paper, cups, ect)Activity: Split the class into small groups. Each person in the group uses one item they have at their desks to make a noise. On note cards have emotions written. Assign each group one card. The students will make a song with their classroom instruments that demonstrates the emotion they are assigned. Give the students a few minutes to create the song and have them write down who is doing what in the song with what “instrument”. The group must compose a song for the class that depicts their emotion.

Preamble Song. This is the same song from the Schoolhouse Rock video, if any of you have seen it. It is basically the Preamble to our Constitution in song form; i have attatched a video of the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_TXJRZ4CFc

The Goldfish Song by Laurie Berkner- This song is about fish that do a lot of different activities (riding bikes, brushing teeth, wagging tails, swim) and the students can act out what the song is saying.

In A Cabin Song- This song has movements that go along with the lyrics.  And after every time you sing through the song a line is removed but the movement is still present.  So at the end, all the lyrics are removed and you are just doing the hand movements. "In a cabin by the woods, A little old man by the window stood, Saw a rabbit hopping by, Knocking at his door. “Help me! Help me! Help me!” he cried, “I need a place where I can hide!” “Come along and play with me, we’ll be as happy as can be!”

If all the raindrops…. http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MusicDynamicsSftLd.htm

In the lesson the teacher is trying to teach the students about fortissimo and pianissimo. The teacher will teach the students the song “If all the raindrops…” and then the students will sing it once in fortissimo (with their arms up to show that it is a big sound) and once pianissimo (squatting down to show that it is a small sound).

March in Time: Students will march along to music practicing learning their right and left, and changing with the tempo of the music.

22

Repeating and dynamics.

Song: If all of the Raindrops Musical Element: Dynamics (fortissimo and pianissimo)

Concept: The students will experience a change in dynamics that will also be visually represented by the children's changing stance when singing fortissimo and pianissimo.

Objectives:- - The students will sing "If All of the Raindrops..."- - The students will demonstrate understanding of dynamics by singing part of the song loudly and repeating the song and singing that same part softly.- - The students will use their arms when singing loudly and crouch down when singing softly.Materials needed: Instrument to give starting pitch.Preliminary procedures: The teacher will discuss with students how music can be played loudly and softly and that students can sing loudly and softly.

Procedures:1. Teach "If All of the Raindrops..." using the rote method. The teacher can take suggestions from students about different foods that could make up the raindrops and sing additional verses.2. The teacher explains that singers use their voices to make certain parts of the song louder. The teacher continues by explaining that during the "uh uh uh uh" portion of the song students will sing it louder and use their arms to express how that part of the song is louder.3. The teacher explains that singers can also use their voices to make certain parts of the song softer. This time during the "uh uh uh uh" portion of the song students will sing softly and crouch down to demonstrate how that part of the song is softer.Evaluation:The teacher will lead the students in singing the song 3 more times - - once using normal voices, the second time using fortissimo voices, and the third time using pianissimo voices. The teacher can listen for the changes in dynamics and watch if the children change positions as the dynamics change. If the students seem to have a fairly good understanding of the process, the teacher can use suggestions from the students about different foods that could make the raindrops.Follow - up:The teacher will review what was experienced and discussed about dynamics and fortissimo and pianissimo.If All the Raindrops...If all of the raindrops were pizza and ice creamOh what a rain it would be.I'd stand outside with my mouth open wideuh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uhOh what a rain it would be.

23

Tea Coffee Tea Coffee. http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/music/teacoffee.htm

This lesson is used to teach students about rhythm. The teacher claps four times slowly while saying 1, 2, 3, 4. Then the teacher will do the same thing and replace the numbers with the word tea. Next the teacher will count to 8 quickly. After counting the teacher will replace the numbers with the word coffee. After the students understand the rhythm they will be split into two groups (tea and coffee) and the class will clap out a pattern.

Music: Notes Have chart paper and draw a staff on it. Can teach the note names to children. Treble clef only because it is elementary age. Tell them silly acronyms so they remember. Once they learn note names, have them name different songs, like “twinkle twinkle” and try to figure it out.

Music: Note ValuesFor older elementary students, can teach the different numerical note values, such as whole, half, quarter, and eighth notes. Draw flash cards on cardstock so it’s easy for all to see. Could clap the beats that they represent.

Instruments- This is a fun activity where students make their own noise makers.  The class will put beans into a cup and then put another cup on top.  The cups will be sealed with tape.

Songs to Books: After reading a book to the class split them into groups and have them create songs to go along with the book or a specific scene in the book.

“Tooty Ta”- The class will dance along to the “Tooty Ta” dance.  This is a silly dance that requires listening and following directions.

Creating a Beat:

Students will use their hands to create a specific beat on their desks, legs, books, etc. 1. Each student will create a beat, using a single four count measure, one at a time. They will continue their beat and not change it up.2. After each student has created their beat, one student will start at a time and the teacher will tell specific students to continue. 3. Once each student is going at one time, the entire class will be creating one musical piece.4. This will help students to understand that any sounds put together can be music

24

Circle Music Game

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Music23.htmBy - Liz Cirone Primary Subject - Music Secondary Subjects - Music Grade Level - 1-5 My students LOVE this game and it's great for their memory skills, as well.

Have the class sit in a circle. I usually play four beats of alternating C Chord - G Chord - back and forth. Have them find the BEAT to the song by patting their laps. Ask "Can the beat go faster?" "Slower?" etc..play the music slower and faster as they LISTEN and pat their laps accordingly to the beat.

Next: Add a ball (small rubber red ball works well) They should pass the ball to the next person on the BEAT to the music. (You should play slower...very slow..then fast..then very fast - and the kids should also pass slow, fast..etc)

Next: When you play a "trill" on the piano they should switch the direction the ball is goingNext: When you play three black notes 3 times in a row then whoever has the ball at that time should throw it up in the air and catch it.Next: When you play a "glissando" they should roll the ball across the floor to someone (RULE: No leaning out to get the ball - whoever it touches, that person gets it)Play around with those three things till they get the hang of it - always play the C-G chord pattern inbetween. THEN - -add a second ball. They love it when the ball is heading toward the other ball and one person all of a sudden has two balls on his/her lap.

I continue to add other funny things to keep them entertained and more challenging for older kids especially.

Rhythm and Beats: While sitting on the floor or at their desks, students take turns making a two-beat sound with their feet, hands, or mouth. Start off the first round by clapping your hands twice. The person to your right makes a sound of his/her choosing, such as finger-snapping twice, and then repeats the sound you made. The next person makes a new two-beat sound, and then repeats the others. The creation and recollection of sounds continues around the room while keeping a steady beat. If a student is stumped, give out a clue then continue. Depending on the grade level, you may choose to limit how many sounds in a row should be made in each round. At the end of each round, invite the next student to begin a new sequence of sounds. After everyone has participated, have the students perform—one by one—only the sound they chose. Discuss the rhythm and musicality of the sounds the class performed.

25

“Rhythm Competition”: the teacher stands at the front of the classroom and demonstrates a set rhythm to one half of the classroom and another to the other side of the classroom. Both rhythms fit together and are enjoyable for the students to hear together. In order to teach the rhythms the teacher should start at a slow tempo and have the students repeat back the motions until they are learned.  

Rhythm 1: Slap table, Clap, Slap right hand, slap left elbow to table- Slap table 2xs, Clap, Slap right hand, slap left elbow to table *(repeat)*

Rhythm 2: Slap chest (with right hand), Snap, Clap, Slap chest (2xs). Snap, Clap, quickly alternate left then right hand Slap on table

*Students doing rhythm 1 should begin first and then students doing rhythm two can join in.

Head, Shoulders Song

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes.

And Eyes and Ears, and Mouth and Nose,

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes.

 The Continents Song- pointing to the continents on the map too…

Do you know the continents, the continents, the continents?

Do you know the continents all around the world?

Asia and Africa,

North and South America,

Antarctica, Australia, and Europe too.

26

Multiplication Fun - Students will be taught the multiplication songs to make the facts easier to memorize

Rain Storm- Play a sound clip of a rainstorm for the class.  The class will have to use various techniques to copy the sound of a rainstorm.  This includes snapping, clapping, stomping feet, and making noises with the mouth.

Thunderstorm Music Lessson

Song Used: Wilderness Thunderstorm by North Sound Musical

Element to Teach: Dynamics (soft and loud)

Grade Level: Second grade

Concept: The students will experience a gradual change in dynamics from soft to loud that will be experienced through movement and listening.

Objectives: The students will: Listen to a thunderstorm in class Create a rainstorm in the classroom Experience soft and loud through movement

Materials Needed: tape/CD player, recording of a rainstorm, drums

Preliminary Procedures: The teacher will ask the students questions about thunderstorms, such as, "Do you like them?, Are you scared of them?. Discuss.

Procedures:

1. Play the recording of a thunderstorm while the students listen to the dynamics of it.

2. Teacher explains to class that we will create a thunderstorm using our bodies in a round - like fashion.

3. Split class into 3 groups and explain the order for creating the thunderstorm.

4. Create thunderstorm: a) rub hands together b) snap fingers c) pat hands on legs d) stomp feet on ground/play drums e) pat hands on legs f) snap fingers g) rub hands together STOP.

5. Discuss how our thunderstorm was soft and loud.

Evaluation: The entire class participates in creating a thunderstorm in the classroom.

27

Follow - Up: The teacher asks the students what parts of the thunderstorm were softest and what part was the loudest. How did we show that in our creation of thunderstorm?

www.lessonplanpages.com

28

"FIND THE SOUND"

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/Music23.htmBy - Tavis Minner Subject - Music Grade Level - K-3

Materials needed: 1. A chair in the middle of the room 2. Favorite percussive and/or pitched instruments. 3. a blindfold.

OBJECTIVES: 1. To help reinforce listening skills. 2. To help children in knowing the particular sounds of certain instruments.

GAME: 1. Choose a student to sit in the chair and blindfold him/her. 2. Choose an instrument and go to certain place in the classroom. 3. Begin to play the instrument with a continuous rhythmic pattern. 4. Ask the blindfolded student to stand up and walk toward the sound. (make sure that their hands are outstretched as to assist them finding the sound) 5. Once they've found you, have them name the instrument being played. If they name correctly, then they get to choose an instrument to play and they choose a student to be the "blindfolded one". I guarantee that the students will love it!!

This activity can be altered using common objects, like a bucket or a desk and a door.

Song Mixing Activity: What You'll Need: Radio, Paper, Pencil

If you've ever jumped from radio station to radio station in search of a better tune, you know how much fun this game can be. Turn your radio to the first available familiar tune, and write down the first phrase you hear.

Illustration of a girl listening to the radio and writing©2007 Publications International, Ltd.Use the radio to help make a fun new song.

Now turn to the next station, and write down the second phrase. Go to the next station, and the next, until you have six phrases. When you're done, read the phrases as a new song.

29

Vocabulary Song Activities- Have prepared baggies containing vocabulary words learned throughout the year. Assign the students to groups of five and hand each group a bag of six vocabulary words and a familiar song (such as “Mary had a little lamb”). Using the vocabulary words assigned to them, students must create a song to the beat of the song assigned and then perform their song in front of the rest of their classmates.

Music Listening - What's The Sound

Grade Level: K-3

Objectives: Help reinforce students listening skills and help them to recognize sounds of instruments.

Materials: Several Instruments, A large sheet

Procedures:1) Play each of the instruments you have chosen for students telling the students which instruments you are playing.2) Now move behind the sheet and play the instrument having each student raise their hand as they recognize what the instrument is.3) Repeat with new instrument.

Rhythm Bingo-Grades: 4-6Objectives: Students will: 1. Identify types of notes and rests; treble and bass clefs.

Preparation: Make up bingo cards using the word "music" across the top instead of "bingo." Make the center a free square and the rest of the squares (bingo card should be 5x5) should contain different notes and rests and clefs and anything you want to review.

Process: Pass out bingo cards and a small piece of paper (to rip up for game pieces.) Play bingo as usual.The kids love games!

30

On Top of Spaghetti- This is a classic children's song that I grew up on.  It could be used before snack time, lunch time or just for fun as a musical break up of the day!

Song:

On top of spaghetti, All covered with cheese,I lost my poor meatball, When somebody sneezed.

It rolled off the table,And on to the floor,And then my poor meatball,Rolled out of the door.

It rolled in the garden,And under a bush,And then my poor meatball,Was nothing but mush.

The mush was as tastyAs tasty could be,And then the next summer, It grew into a tree.

The tree was all covered,All covered with moss,And on it grew meatballs,And tomato sauce.

So if you eat spaghetti,All covered with cheese,Hold on to your meatball,Whenever you sneeze.

31

Fruits and Vegetables Song: This song would incorporate learning how fruits and vegetables are good for you with singing. To teach this lesson I would write the words of the song on the board so that everyone could see. I would then read over the song with my students a few times. The last time we practiced I would have my students stand up and provide them with some hand movements that would go with the words of the song. Since the song is to the tune of Mambo #5 I would have the karoke youtube version to play for them. When the lesson was all said and done, the students would know more about the value of eating fruits and vegetables, have a cute song to teach their families, and hand gestures to go along with it. This lesson would be aimed towards third or fourth graders who have learned how to read most of the words.

 Mambo #5 Karoke Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLdsoVSVNrI

 

Fruits and Vegetables Song (sang to the tune of Mambo #5):

Boys and Girls, this is Mambo number five.

One, two, three, four, five, eat your five a day and you'll be just fine,

To the market for some peas and bananas

The boys want sweets, but the girls don’t wanna…

5 a day like I had last week,

I must stay healthy and not get weak.

I like apples, bananas, carrots, and pears,

And as I continue, you know they’re getting better.

So what can I do? I beg you my teacher.

Eat your 5 a day and you’ll be sure to please her

Anything good, so that I can play all day,

So please mom give me 5 a day.

 

Chorus

A little bit of strawberries in my life,

32

A little bit of broccoli on the side.

A little bit of lettuce is all I need,

A little bit of cauliflower is all I eat.

A little bit of raisins in the sun,

Make grapes a snack, so fun!

A little bit of celery here I am,

A little bit of vitamins to be a strong man/woman!

Mambo number five.

 

Jump up and down and move it all around.

Shake your head to the sound, put your hands on the ground.

Take one step left and one step right.

One to the front and one to the side.

Clap your hands once and clap your hands twice

And if it looks like this then you’re doing it right.

 

Chorus

I eat this all to be a strong kid.

So I can work and I can play.

I can have so much energy all day.

Mambo number five.

Chorus

 

Lyrics found at: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/printables/PPEMusicFruitVegetableSongOnly3.htm

33

Symphonies: Peter and the Wolf

This is a neat lesson plan for teaching children about how music can tell a story. It's from http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MusicLASymphonyStorytellingWithPeterAndTheWolfCharacters45.htm.

Title - Symphonies - Peter and the Wolf By - Rebecca Hughes Primary Subject - Music Secondary Subject - Language Arts Grade Level - 4 - 5

Story Telling Through Music - Symphonies - Peter and the Wolf

(This lesson is the third in a series of lessons on story telling through music. The other two lessons focus on musicals and operas.)

Objectives:

The fourth and fifth grade students will discover how stories are told through symphonies by:1. Analyzing the story of "Peter and the Wolf" 2. Creating their own story using characters from "Peter and the Wolf."

Standards:

VIII. MAKING CONNECTIONS. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.a. Explain the role of music in life experiences, celebrations, community functions, and special events.c. Explain how the principles and subject matter of disciplines outside the arts interrelate with those of music.

IX. RELATING TO HISTORY AND CULTURE. Understanding music in relation to history and culture.a. Listen to examples of music from various historical periods and world cultures and identify the pieces by genre or style.

Materials:

Web-diagram worksheet (This work sheet is on an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper and is laid out in landscape formation. In the top right hand corner there are five lines and below these lines, there is a web-diagram that has one inner circle and five outer circles. The lines are to be used to summarize Prokofiev's story. The title of the story goes in the

34

center circle of the web-diagram, and in the five outer circles the students write in a character's name and the instrument that portrays them. The left side of the paper is the same, except the web-diagram is in the top left hand corner and the lines are on the bottom left hand corner. In this web diagram, the center circle is for the title of the student's story and the outer circles are for characters and the instruments that portray them. The lines are where the student will write their own story.)

Smartboard

Procedure:

1. Review Prokofiev's story of Peter and the Wolf at the smart board o The review will be 10 minutes longo During this time the students may not talk unless called upono After this time, they will have plenty of time to talko Use the smart board as well as the website http://www.philtulga.com/Peter.htmlo This website contains the story as well as the musical themes for each charactero Discuss the actual story line and how it is not too exciting. o Tell the students that they could come up with a much more interesting story to

tell through a symphony.2. Web-Diagram exercise

o The students will get into groups and work on the web-diagram worksheeto The worksheet requires them to summarize Prokofiev's story as well as list all of

the characters and the instruments that portray them o The students must also pick at least four characters from the story and portray

them with a different instrument (tell why instrument chosen)o The students must then write their own story of Peter and the Wolf (must be at

least 5 sentences long).o I will place on the board a checklist with all of these details

Closure:

If there is time at the end, all groups will share their stories with the class during class meeting.

Assessment:

Observe the student's accuracy in their understanding of Prokofiev's story through the discussion during the first 10 minutes of class.

Test the students' accuracy in their knowledge of Prokofiev's story and in their creativity in creating their own story. This will be done through a web-diagram worksheet.

35

Climber Song: This is a buildup song (like Hole in the Bottom of the Sea) and I will post the lyrics here:

Oh a climber went yodelingOn a mountain top highWhen along came an ___________ *Interrupting his cry

Yo deay layYo dilly ah kee keeYo dilly ah koo koo______ ______ **Yo dilly ah kee keeYo dilly ah koo koo______ ______ **Yo dilly ah kee keeYo dilly ah koo koo______ ______ **Yo dilly ah kee kee Oh~oh-repeat-

*For each verse add a different interruption. You can make your own but these are mine:Avalanche = rumble rumbleSkiier = swish swishGrizzly Bear = rawr rawrLumberjack = Tim Ber!Pretty Maid = kiss kiss (I do the kiss sound rather than saying kiss)St. Bernard = bow wow / ruff ruff / etc.

**Use the sounds next to the interruption. Build them up so that by the end it goes:Yo dilly ah kee keeYo dilly ah koo koobow wow, kiss kiss, Tim Ber!, swish swish, rumble rumble.

36

Movement Lessons:

Chicken Dance-

Objective: To teach the students the concept of the chicken dance and develop an understanding for it.Equipment: Record player or tape player along with the musicFormation: One large circle centered in the middle of the roomRules:lst sequence --- Four snaps(thumb and fingers up in air)2nd sequence --- four flaps(arms go up 6 down, elbows bent)3rd sequence --- four wiggles(hips and knees bend low)4th sequence --- four claps--skip around the circle when the music changes to the slower beat, then repeat the steps above when the music changes back to the first sequence.

“The Cup Game”: A rhythm game where the participants need one red plastic cup to participate. The goal is to start out at a slower tempo and move faster to see who can still stay in the game. In order to teach elementary school students the teacher will need to break up the rhythm into two sections and go over it slowly. Start out with the cup in front of each student and the rhythm is as follows:

o   Clap-clap, slap-slap-slap(on cup),clap, slap on table, pick up the cup, Clap, (turn your hand so that your thumb is facing down with the right hand) pick up the

cup, slap top of cup with the left hand, slap cup to table with the right hand, grab with the left hand, slap right hand across the table, and put cup down to the right to pass it along to the person to the right.

*This game can be played going in the opposite direction to make it more challenging

Cup Game: Students sit in a circle of about 5 or 6 children. Each child has a plastic cup. The teacher demonstrates a rhythmic routine of clapping and tapping on the cup, and then the students try it themselves. The routine involves passing your cup to the person sitting next to you, so if it is done correctly, the cups end up being passed around the cirlce. The goal is to try to stay together rhythmically as a group and to do the routine as quickly as possible while still being accurate.

37

Concentration: Students will sit in a circle and play the “00, 11” game: a game of quick thinking, memory, speed, and concentration. The game starts out with a steady pattern of clapping; everyone has to clap continuously the entire game. Everyone claps their hands on their thighs twice and then claps their hands together twice as well and they keep this rhythm going. Everyone in the circle counts off clockwise and is given a number and the person with the number zero starts out first. The person that is assigned to zero says, “zero, zero” as they clap twice on their thighs. Then they pick any other number that is assigned to someone else. Say for example, they pick the number three. They then clap their hands together twice and say, “three, three”. Then the person assigned to the number three is next to go and has to keep up with the clapping rhythm and say “three, three, one, one” (or any other number besides one if they desire). The first person to forget their number and not go with the pace of the game is out. Everyone then counts off their new numbers and the next round begins. This is an example of how the game is played:

Keep in Rhythm…

Jolly, Jolly Rhythm…

Ready-o?

Lets go!

Starting with…Zero!

“Zero, Zero, One, One”

“One, One, Three, Thee”

“Three, Three, Five, Five”

“Five, Five, Two, Two”

“Two, Two, One, One” Etc…

Freeze Dance-Grade Level - K-5 Pick a song, classical, Swing, theater, etc. with a fun beat to dance to. The students have to express themselves to the music and must move fast at a fast tempo, slow at a slow tempo, and when I STOP the music, they must FREEZE.

Any student that doesn't FREEZE when I stop the music is out until the next round.

38

March in Time- Grade Level - K-4

Concept / Topic To Teach: Kids will learn difference between left/right and walk/march in time.

Materials: CD of a short march (1:30). (like the White Cockade on the US Marine Band's Liberty for All CD.)

Have students raise left hands.

Once students can demonstrate raising their left hands, have them stomp their left foot in time.

Next, have them march in a circle in the military fashion of LR-LR.

To help them know the difference between left and right,have them hold up their left hand. Their hands should all be pointing either outside or inside of the circle.

Once they've marched one direction, have them turn around and march the opposite direction.

This is a good warm up for K-4 grades, before doing any seatwork or other activity.

Math Bounces: Use bouncy balls to and have the class pass them back and fourth counting, but make it challenging by having them count and leave out “prime” numbers or “perfect square” numbers. Depending on what the class has learned.

Shape Toss: For this activity I will have different shapes in different colors. Students have to land bean bags on these shapes based on the color and shape that I would announce. So when you call out “blue square” they will have to know that the color blue is and what the shape a square is to toss their bean bag in the right place.

Sign Language: For this activity I would like to teach my class how to spell out their names using sign language. To accomplish this I would teach them all of the letters of the alphabet. 

http://www.family-friendly-fun.com/special-needs/sign-language.htm

39

Princess Pat:

This is is a lesson that would involve both music, movement and art. You would start first by singing the song with the class (lyrics: http://www.boyscouttrail.com/content/song/princess_pat-1779.asp). It's a call and response song, so you would need to learn the lyrics and hand motions in order to teach them to the kids. But it's a lot of fun, and my group had a blast learning in class!

Here's a link a youtube video from a camp: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAEfoDjAIqo&feature=related

After you go through the song, the only materials you would need for the kids to have are paper and markers/crayons/colored pencils. You would have them draw out what they think the A-Riga-Bamboo looks like. After they've had enough time to draw it out, you would go around the room having the kids share thier artwork and explaining their reasoning. My group varied between stuffed animals and a stick of bamboo, so it's really interesting to see what people are imagining!

Crazy Math activity: Move the desks out of the way. Have the students stand on one side of the classroom and give them a math problem. Tell them that the answer to the problem is the number of people they must have in their group when I say go and they get to the other side of the classroom. Each time I will give the students a different way to get to the other side. One time it may be walk, or skip, or hop on 1 foot, or slither like a snake, or crab walk. If there are left over kids, they must form a group of as many as they have and then they must tell me how many more they would need to complete the group. After all are in the correct number they go back and I give them another problem.

Body Letters/numbers : Break the class into teams. The teams will need to make the letter or number I call out with the people in their group by moving their bodies. The teams will work on moving their bodies and special concepts with their group to make the appropriate letter/number.

Silent Speedball: Everyone stands up next to their desks. One of the children is given a ball. He makes eye contact with another student, says that student's name (and nothing more), and then throws the ball to that student; she will then do the same thing, passing the ball to another student. If a student either makes a bad pass or does not catch the ball, he or she sits down until the next round.

Four Corners - One students calls out a certain corner of the classroom while the other students move to each corner

40

Math Relay: Students will be separated into groups and will individually run to the other side of the room to complete a math problem and then run back to where they started. If they get the problem wrong, they will have to run back to the other side and fix it. Once the student has completed the problem and returned to their original side, the next student will do the same thing. The first group to finish wins.

Hot Bot: While the teacher plays a song on a CD player (or plays a guitar, if you can), the students dance around the room. They must be continually dancing, as long as the music is playing. The teacher stops the music at random points; as soon as the music stops, the children must sit down on the floor as quickly as they can. The last person to be seated is out until the next game. One person is eliminated every time the music stops. The point of the game is to try to be the last person who is still "in."

Seed Flower Stretch: The class can stand behind their desk chair or spread out around the classroom.  The students are going to grow from tiny seeds to beautiful flowers.  Students crouch down on the floor and slowly reach towards the sun as they blossom.  Once they become fully blossomed flowers they let out a big "AAAAHHHHHH!"  You can repeat the stretch getting faster and faster in speed each time it is done. The students should also focus on their breathing. When you are going at a slow speed it is a good stretch and mediation.  When going faster, it raises energy and enthusiasm among the students.

Wonder Ball: The class sits in a circle and passes the ball to the person next to them.  The teacher and students sing the wonder ball song while passing the ball. The song lyrics are: The wonder ball goes round and round, to try and catch it you are bound, if you’re the one to hold it last, I fear for you the game is past, YOU ARE OUT! The person holding the ball when the song ends, is out.  You can change the speed of the song which will also change the speed the ball is passed

Imagination Circus: As a class make a list of all the animals in a circus. Turn all of the desks into a circle to make a circus "ring" where all of the students have plenty of space to freely move. Then choose an animal from the list and have all of the students act like that animal. Go through the entire list that the students made up.

Mirror Mirror- In pairs of 2, 1 person is the leader and the other person mirror images his/her actions

41

Around the World Math: Have a small ball that can be tossed around. Ask simple math questions and as they each answer, they pass it back and forth to each other to pick someone new to answer it.

Handshake Partner: This is the handshake partner game. You will have all the kids stand up and you will say "Find someone who _____." (Fill in the blank with has the same eye color, hair color, shoes, birthday month, etc) Once they each find a partner, you will tell them to shake their partner's hand, and this person will be called their handshake partner. Then tell them to find a new partner (you can continue the theme of someone who has the same ____ as you) Then tell them to give this person a bear hug, and this person will be their bear hug partner. Then have them find  a new partner (make sure they are not repeating people- each round should be someone they have not been with before) Have this partner be their high five partner. Keep going until you run out of time, or run out of ideas. Be as silly as you can- make things up! In the past I have done things like, "have one person be a cowboy and another person a cow, and have the cowboy lasso the cow and reel 'em in!" or "leap frog" or "act like an animal with your partner" or something that randomly comes to mind! Also, make sure that after a few rounds you call out previous round names. For example, after you have done 3, call out "Find your handshake partner!" After they have found their handshake partner, have them find  a new partner and give them a task. Then call out "Find your high five partner!" this is a good way to break up cliques, because sometimes throughout the day you can say "Sit next to your _____ partner!"

Movement and Rhythm in Modern Art: In this lesson you will show students some works of art and ask the students about them. You will then ask the students to act out what they see in the picture. You can ask them to act out how it makes them feel or to act out the shapes and lines they see in the painting.

incredibleart.org

Fly Butterfly Fly. http://www.lessonplanspage.com/MusicPEFlyButterflyFly-DramaticMovementToChopinIdeaP2.htm

This lesson encourages movement and drama. The teacher will read a story about a butterfly. While they are reading the story the students will act out what the butterfly is doing in the story. When the story is over and the butterfly is flying the students “fly” around the room. The lesson plan recommends using music from Chopin, but any music should be alright.

Fly Butterfly, Fly!- This is a fun activity in which the class will listen to a story and song.  The story is about a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.  The class will have to act out the different stages of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.

42

Juggling Fun: Bring in light weight scarves and give whoever wants to participate, 3 scarves. The students can use these to practice juggling. Juggling works the right and left side of your brain at the same time. It is very stimulating. My elementary teacher brought these out with her at recess and we all loved to try. She only had one arm so even if you dont know how to juggle it is something the kids can pick up without demonstrating.

Toss It Up: Pair the students up, with each pair holding a bath towel between them. Try to toss and catch a lightweight ball from towel to towel. If indoors, use a beach ball to avoid breaking things. Count how many times you can toss it before it hits the ground.

http://www.funattic.com/game_list.htm

Move That Direction: After a lesson in which the students learn various directions, have them practice these. Take a ball and move it in various directions (up, down, sideways, backwards). Have the students mirror your movements by using their body. For example, if you hold the ball up, they should stand up as straight and tall as they can; if you hold the ball down, they should crunch down as small and close to the floor as possible. Continue until the children have a firm grasp of which way is which.

Pantomime: Give students a general topic and have them pick something specific in that area. The students will be in groups of 4 and each group can have a different topic. For example, the topic could be the circus. One child could be a lion tamer, another, a juggler. To pick topics, there could be some in a hat and each group could draw one out of the hat. The children should act this out in front of their classmates and the other students should guess what each group is doing.

Let’s Move: Put in an upbeat CD of your choice and tell the students to all stand behind their desk. This is a movement activity and it is great for starting the morning. While the music is playing the teacher leads the class in actions to perform. She can call out a scenario such as "fishing" and each student can reenact their own type of fishing. You can continue through these scenarios by telling them to reel in their fish that they caught. You can switch it up throughout the songs. They can move on to riding a bike and pretend to ride a bike. By staying behind their own desk gives each student their own floor space and directions not to take their actions out of control by running all over the room.

43

"Freeze tag"- Two students stand in the middle of the class and begin making up a story. The teacher can help by giving a role to be. For example, just to start off the game, the teacher can whisper to one student that they are a bossy mother. The students have to keep acting until the teacher shouts freeze and two new people take over their frozen positions and continue.

Space Walk (Blindfolded):   Depending on the age of the group, either the teacher or a group of children set up an obstacle course using objects from the classroom. Once the course is established, a child is chosen to be blindfolded. Depending on the age of the children, either the teacher or a student will verbally instruct the blindfolded student through the obstacle course without touching them. If the blindfolded student touches one of the objects, they must start again. Once the child is through the course, another student is blindfolded and the course is slightly altered.

  A discussion about senses and movement without sight can follow the activity.

Theatre Games for the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook by Viola Spolin

Art Musical Chairs:

Materials: Chairs, Music, Marker for each child, Sheet of Paper for each chair

This lesson will incorporate art, movement and music into the classroom. The teacher will set up the same number of chairs as she has students in a back-to-back fashion just like musical chairs. Everyone in the class will begin sitting in the chair and once the music begins the students will walk around the chairs until the music stops. When the music stops, the students will take a marker that they are carrying with them and begin drawing a picture on the piece of paper that is on the seat of the chair. However, once the music starts again the children must stop what they are drawing and continue on to the next chair until the music stops again. The game continues for a few rounds until each paper on the chair contains a beautiful, crazy picture. This is a good filler because no one gets eliminated in the game and each student will have a chance to add some flair to other’s pictures. I would use this lesson in a first grade classroom.

http://www.lessonplanspage.com/ArtMusic-MusicalChairsGameWithArtIdea14.htm

Tree Tag: This movement lesson requires some students to stand in hula hoops waving their arms like tree branches while other students attempt to maneuver around them without being tagged. If a student is tagged by a "tree" they trade places with that student.

Quick Sand: In this movement game the teacher creates a simple obstacle course with places you can step and places that are quicksand.  At the end of the obstacle course is a bean bag. Students must get their, grab the bean bag, and get back without touching the quicksand in order to earn a point for their team.

44

Drama Lessons:

High Five - The idea behind this activity is that is versatile and can be used for fun or to relate to learning material. 

Students trace an outline of their hand onto a piece of blank paper. Then, the teacher assigns the class a prompt; they can be provided with a prompt about anything. For instance, it could be "5 reasons I like the color pink". Each finger acts as a branch and students are to write down 5 reasons that they like the color pink. 

For older kids, they could have prompts such as: "5 reasons I am special" or "5 things I am good at" and have peers fill in each finger with  positive comments. 

The same concept can be used to review a class lesson. With a prompt such as "5 presidents" or "5 words that end in -at", students can review a lesson. The handprint acts as a bubble map but allows students to use their creativity and have more fun with the assignment. 

Acting Activities: Give each child a simple phrase, easy to memorize. Example: "Anthony, come here." or "Open the door." Each student then has to say their line in three or four different tones of voice to convey different meanings. Improvisation: Pretend you have a box of shoes (or use an actual shoe box). Take imaginary shoes out and make a big deal about putting them on (a ballerina will lace up to her knees; a fireman will pull on high boots, etc.). Then, silently, act out the character (dance, put out fires climbing ladders, etc.) Have the other kids guess the character.

All About Me Interview- Ask students to pair up with the student sitting next to them. Have the students conduct an “all about me interview. Ask them to come up with their own questions to ask. Students should be prepared to get in the front of the classroom to introduce their partner to the entire class.

45

Dramatic Words- Suggested Grades:AnyObjective:Students will examine a feeling word and represent it in a dramatic presentation. Through this, students will present and observe the different situations that different feelings can exist in.Materials:•a hat, container, or bag•Pieces of paper with a different feeling word written on each. Use feeling words that your class would understand really well. Maybe you can generate a list to use ahead of time by asking your class to brainstorm a list of feeling words that they know.

Some examples of feeling words are:angry, anxious, apprehensive, ashamed,bored, cautious, confident, confused,depressed, disgusted, ecstatic, embarrassed,enraged, exhausted, frightened, frustrated,guilty, happy, hopeful, hysterical,jealous, lonely, lovestruck, mischievous,mysterious, nervous, overwhelmed, sad,surprised, shocked, shy, smug,suspicious, sympathetic

Method:•Place the feeling words in some sort of container.•Ask one student to come up and pick out a feeling without looking.•Now, this student is to act out a scene that has the feeling that they chose.•The rest of the class guesses the feeling that is being represented. The student who guesses correctly gets to go next, and the process is repeated.

Tone of Voice practice: First create an open space in your classroom and have students sit in a circle. Each student selects one index card from a container. On the card, a location (i.e., couch, desk, gym, bus, and park) and a person (i.e., friend, teacher, and guardian) are provided. Pick a student to select one stuffed animal or toy from a pile you gathered before class, and then place it anywhere in the circle. Invite the student to speak to the object as if it were the person listed on the index card in the appropriate tone of voice for the given location. After the student speaks, the rest of the class guesses the location of the conversation and whom the doll or toy represents. Continue until every student has a chance to speak.

46

Emotion Sharing: With the class sitting in a circle, have each student share something he/she is proud of, thankful for, or happy about. Moving clockwise, each student should take turns completing the sentence, “I am ________and I am special because____________.” Remind student that they don’t have to pick an object that are special; they could be special because of an experience or feeling. After each student shares his/her sentence, the person sitting to the left must state why the person who just spoke is special before sharing his/her own unique sentence.

Skits: I will have a couple of skits printed out and kept in my surprise kit. Students can separate into groups and practice performing the skits together. After practicing their skits, each group will perform it for the rest of the class.

Live Scenic Portriat: For this lesson you don't need any materials, it's all about improv! But you might want to have a camera handy, to take some pictures of what your students come up with! If you have a large class, you should split them into two groups of ten, and then alternate turns.

The first group to take the stage would begin by having one person pose and say something like "I'm a fountain." The next student would then walk into the scene and pose as something else that would fit in the same scenic area, such as a tree or bush. Each student must state what they are, and remain posed as that object until the portriat is complete.

For a younger gruop of students, you might give them an idea to build off of. Maybe begin by saying "you are in a park." For older children, you might turn the scenic portriat into a moving or talking portriat. There are many variations, and ways this activity could be done. You can read about it here, where it is called The Martha Game:  http://www.childdrama.com/warmups.html

Statue- The classroom transforms into a museum and the students have to stand still and pick a pose to be a statue.  One student becomes the guard and tries to see if anyone is moving.  When the guard isn't looking they can change their pose but if they are caught, they are out.  

Sculpture Gallery. http://www.childdrama.com/sculpt.html

The students are put in groups of two. One student is the sculptor while the other is the clay. The sculptor “molds” the clay into a sculpture. Once the students are ready the teacher walks around the class and asks the students to describe their artwork. (this could maybe help students learn art vocabulary)

47

Act a Story-- In this activity, the students will read a short story as a class, with one person at a time reading a page out loud. For each new scene or main event, the teacher will pick a few students to be the main characters and act out what happens in that scene. Then, the next scene will be read and new actors will be chosen.

Bag of Props: Bring in a big bag full of random props. Today in my bag I had a cop hat, a pirate hat, a first aid kit, a stethoscope, and other random objects. The students have to come and pick a random object out of the bag with their eyes clothes, and then they have to perform a short act. This will teach the students improv and it is a fun way to practice acting.

Favorite Cartoon:

Objectives: Students will pretend to be their favorite characters from various TV Shows and come together in one big cartoon.

 Grade Level: 4th Grade

 Time Duration: 1 Hour

 Materials: Construction Paper and Markers 

Procedures:

1)  Students will receive one piece of construction paper and one marker.

2) On this paper students will write the name of their favorite cartoon character on the front.

3) They will then come together and pretend to be the character they chose.

4) Students will present the TV Shows in increments of 5 people.

“Simon Says”: The teacher would get up in front of the classroom and have the students follow the directions that are followed by, “Simon says.” Any student that follows a direction without “Simon says” must sit out of the game.

48

Acting out Books:  Read the class one of their favorite books and then split them into groups and have them act out their interpretation of the book. Allow them to use anything they can find in the classroom.

New York (Lemonade): The players divide into two equal teams and stand at parallel goals twenty

or more feet apart. Team one decides on an occupation to be acted out and then advances toward

the team two while the following dialogue takes place:

            Team one: Here we come.

            Team two: Where from?

            Team one: New York.

            Team two: What’s your trade?

            Team one: Lemonade.

            Team two: Give us some.

Team one's players come as near to team two as they dare and act out their occupation, each in his or her

own way. Team two tries to identify what is being acted out; and when one player identifies the trade

correctly, Team one runs for its home base, while the second team tries to tag them. All who are tagged

have been captured and join the taggers’ side. Both sides have the same number of turns, and the team

having the largest number of players at the end wins.

Theatre Games for the Classroom: A Teacher's Handbook : Viola Spolin

"Puppeteer"- One student draws from a hat, an action someone could be performing and they are now the puppeteer. Their puppet is another student who allows the puppeteer to move them to do the action. The puppet has to guess what action the puppeteer is trying to make them perform. When they guess, they become the puppeteer and then choose someone to be the new puppet. Have the students choose someone who hasn’t gone yet so that everyone has a chance.

49

Transformers: This game is called Transformers. Before you introduce the game to the kids, come up with different objects/animals. For example, a printer, a washing machine, an elephant, a flamingo, a windmill, a pirate ship, a clock, a letter of the alphabet, etc.

You will have the kids get into groups, depending on the amount of kids total, I would say between 5-10 in a group. Have the groups spread out (you will need a little bit of room for this one, I would move the desks out of the way and create an open area.) Then you will explain to the kids that you are going to be calling out a 'thing' and they will have to use their bodies to 'form' that thing. For example, if you say washing machine, they have to make a washing machine using everyone in their group (one person is the door, a few people make a square representing the actual machine, someone is a shirt to put in the machine) Tell the kids to be as creative as possible! The more original, the better! They can either lie down or stand up. The goal is to get them to work together to form something better than what they could do on their own.

Story Telling: Have students sit in a circle. Each student says only one word and then the story passes on to the next person. This would inspire creativity and would be an easy activity to start. If the class is large, then it could be split into two groups.

Moving Sentences : Students write down declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences and put them in a hat. The teacher draws from the hat and the students act out the sentence she speaks.

Human Bingo: Students are divided into two groups and each group makes a bingo card standing up. The teacher asks questions she wants them to know and when a student gets it right, they sit down. The first group to get bingo wins.

Wiggle Worm Workout: A song where students can clap, snap, jump, and wiggle around the room. http://kidsmusictown.com/childrenssongslyrics/actionparticipationmovement/wigglewormworkout.htm

The Bear in Tennis Shoes: A song where the students repeat the teacher and then complete the whole sentence at the end of each stanza. http://kidsmusictown.com/childrenssongslyrics/actionparticipationmovement/thebearintennisshoes.htm

Jump in the Story: In this drama activity students read a book and then act out the story.  This involves working as a team.  Once students have planned their stories they will perform them for the class.

Stage Voice - Students will be given a phrase and must say it in different tones

http://www.proteacher.org/a/22801_drama_ideas.html

50

Shoes, Shoes, and More Shoes - Teacher will act out a character by putting on a certain pair of shoes; Students will guess the character from the silent charades

http://www.proteacher.org/a/22801_drama_ideas.html

Around the World in Thirty Minutes.

This is a good way to teach students how to research and work together. It also allows them to be dramatic while acting out their part. The students will need to choose a country that they have never been to. Once they have chosen they will do some research as a group and learn some characteristics of their choice. After they are prepared the teacher will go “around the world.” At each destination the student representing each country will begin to act out their character. The teacher will need to guess where they are from.

http://www.michaelcoady.com/drama_education/matless1.htm

I Spy : This is a good game to play right after recess to get some of the excess energy out.

T = teacher, K=kids

T: I spyK: What do you spy?T: I spy __________*

*Fill in with something the kids can do such as:A rockstar playing air guitarA ballerinaA herd of elephantsetc.

After the teacher says what s/he spies the children must act it out until the Teacher begins with "I spy" again. After a few rounds a student can replace the teacher, and a good way to end would be the teacher saying "students sitting quietly, ready to learn".

http://www.kellybear.com/TeacherArticles/TeacherTip69.htm

No! You Can't Take Me!: (summarized)

Students are divided into groups of 3-5 and each group is given a room in a house. The students are to explain to the teacher why he/she should be kept in the room and not taken out without telling what they are. (Bed, chair, desk, etc). They have to give clues to the teacher and rest of the class as to which object in the room they are.http://www.childdrama.com/lpno.html

51

NO! You can’t take me!

This game teaches confidence, pantomime, and critical thinking. It's also a lot of fun. I have used it with children from Kindergarten to Middle School - obviously with varying levels of sophistication. It looks more complicated than it is - I've never had trouble making my students understand it.

I didn't make this up, although I suspect I have made changes in it. I have used it for years, and I can't remember who gave it to me.

Preparation

After explaining the game a little, break the class into small groups-three to five or so. Each group is given a room in the house--the bedroom, the living room, the kitchen, the basement, the garage, etc. (You can use the bathroom as well if you think your students can handle it. Mine get too silly.) If you want to, you can put the names of rooms on cards and have each group draw one. Don't let the students know what rooms the other groups have.

Within each group, each student chooses one thing that would be found in the room. (For example, if the room is the kitchen, one student might be the refrigerator, one the stove, one the sink, etc.) Side-coach as necessary. After choosing an object, each student practices "being" that object.

Each student must think of at least one--or with older kids, several--good reasons that their object is important. Side-coach them to ask themselves what would happen if the thing were not there.

Playing the Game:

Work with one group at a time. The other groups become audience--which is incidentally an opportunity to practice being a good audience.

The teacher goes to the first group and exclaims, "My, look at all this useless stuff! I've got to get rid of some of this junk!" (Or some such.) The teacher selects one student and says, "I think I'll take THIS thing away."

The student replies, "NO, YOU CAN'T TAKE ME!"

"Why not?"

The student answers, without mentioning the name of his object, in this form: "If you take me away. . ." followed by something that would go wrong without the object. (For example, if the student is pretending to be the bed, she might say, "If you take me away, no one will get any sleep." A student pretending to be a wastebasket might say, "If you took me, there would be trash all over the place.")*

52

Once all the students have had their say, the audience tries to guess what room they are in, and then what object each student is. Then the teacher moves on to the next group.

 With younger children, I usually stop at one answer. But with older students, I don't give up so easily. I improvise some reason that the student's first answer isn't compelling enough. "Well, I never sleep anyway." "I like trash on the floor. I'm taking you anyway." In this way I ask the students to think of more than one reason that something is important. If the students are sophisticated enough, I encourage them to think of creative answers. A student pretending to be the bed might say, "What would the kids jump on?" A student pretending to be a lawnmower once said, "We'd get our feet wet walking through the yard." He meant that the long grass would hold water when it rained.

I found this lesson plan at: http://www.childdrama.com/lpno.html

Warm Fuzzies: Children are given slips of paper, each with one classmate's name on it. There are enough slips of paper so that each student has a slip for every other student in the class. For every slip, the students mst write a positive comment or compliment about the person whose name is written on it. The slips will then be given to the person whose name is on it. The teacher must read the comments first, though, to make sure that they are all positive and appropriate.

Season and Weather acting activity:

First Step: Thinking about it. I begin by asking the students to think about the four seasons. What are some of the activities you do most in each season? (Going to school, playing football, raking leaves, etc. in the Fall; swimming, going to camp, watching television, etc., in Summer; playing Little League, planting a garden, etc., in Spring; shoveling, skiing, playing hockey, etc., in Winter.) What kinds of weather do we tend to have in each season? (Sunshine, thunderstorms, heat in summer, fog, hurricanes, cool in fall, snow, sleet, icy winds in winter, friendly rain, warm in spring.)

Second Step: Acting it out. Next I ask the students to imagine if it is fall (for instance). Think of an essentially Fall activity and begin to act it out. When I call out, "weather!" some kind of typical fall weather will take place. Each student chooses for herself or himself which kind of weather it happens. When I call out, "weather!" everyone must react appropriately to whatever weather they are imagining. We repeat this with each season. Sometimes I'll call out "weather!" several times for each season. In my side-coaching I put a lot of stress on the senses. What does the weather sound like? Feel like? Does it have a smell? A taste? What do you see?

53

Charades: Begin by explaining the concept of charades: One person uses gestures, movement, and facial expressions to get the class to guess a predetermined word—without talking. As the audience throws out guesses, the actor nods yes if the guess is getting close or correct. Before class, pick 1-4 characters from a story or nursery rhyme and write the character's traits or characteristics on large note cards. Have students study the cards and pick one trait (or a combination of traits) that best exemplifies the character they are portraying. Invite students to individually act out a trait (or traits) with movement, without speaking. You can choose to have the class guess the character or the trait.

Charades- I took notecards and glued on pictures of animals for students to play a game of charades. Students are to draw a card from the pile and act out the animal received. I used animals because I would like to teach kindergarten and felt that this was most appropriate. For other grade levels, teachers could use verbs or other nouns in their card piles. Students can move around and use their imagination in order to communicate with fellow classmates.

Nursery Rhyme Charades-Grade(s)- Pre-K, K, 1st

Begin by discussing nursery rhymes in general, and by naming as many of them as you can. List them on the board to promote more familiarity with words.

Form a circle with all the children. Each student in turn goes to the center of the circle and acts out an element from a nursery rhyme. (For instance, he might act out someone sleeping for "Little Boy Blue.")The rest of the class tries to guess what nursery rhyme is meant.It is important for the teacher to carefully guide the acting and guessing, and to make positive comments about the performances ("Wow! that's a really interesting way to act out Bo Peep!") and about the guesses ("Well, no, that isn't what he's doing, but I can see what you mean. He does sort of look like he's jumping over a candlestick, doesn't he!") so that everyone feels a part of the learning.

Career Charades-- A child goes to the front of the classroom and acts out what a person of a particular career would do without speaking or making any noises. Whoever guesses what the career is gets to act out the next one.

Rhyme charades- This game requires students to act out words for the class to guess.  For example, you might say “Act out something that rhymes with cat.”  A student might act out swinging a baseball bat and the class would try and guess.

54

Rhyme Charades: This game teaches children to use rhyming skills and creativity. The class sits in a circle on the floor and the teacher starts the game by asking " I am thinking of a word that rhymes with cat", for example. When the child thinks of a word that rhymes with "cat" they raise their hand but do not call out the answer. (The first student who raises their hand gets chosen or the teacher can pick a student randomly). The child that gets chosen goes into the middle of the circle and acts out their word that rhymes with cat. For example if the student thinks of the word "bat", they might flap their arms as wings or pretend to hang upside down. The children in the circle then guess what the child in the center is miming. The teacher must be sure to tell the students in the circle that even if they call out a name that rhymes with "cat" but it's not the word the student in the center is miming, they do not count as correct. When the word is picked, the winner either gets to pick the new word or the teacher can pick the new word.

http://www.childdrama.com/rhyme.html

Game of Charades. Have students break up into two teams. Have already on cards inanimate and animate objects for the teams to act out. Have them be animals, professions, and objects in nature. Give each team an object to act out and have the other team try and guess what they are. Give them a time limit and have the teams get points. (K-2)

Grammar Charades:   Students will play a game of grammar charades. A student will draw a paper out of a hat and each paper will have a word and the name of what grammatical term that it is. The student will tell the class what type of term it is and then act it out. For example, if the paper said table/noun, the student would tell the class that it was a noun and then get on the floor and pretend to be a table. If the student needs helpers, they are allowed to pull a few from the audience. For example, another student can help set something on their peer’s back, as if they were actually setting something on a real table. The class has to guess what that noun is and once they guess it right, another student can start a new charade.

Students will sing the “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” song while pointing to each coordinating part of their body as they sing

55

ALTERNATE IDEAS LIST:

Beautiful Butterflies- Art (made with coffee filters, pipe cleaners and water-base markers)

Dances With Scarves- Movement Apples and Bananas- Song Animal Cracker Game- Movement/ dramatic play Mirror Game- Movement Musical Instruments- Art, Music Crayon Rubbing Blind Contour Drawing Seasons Narrative Pantomime Walking Emotions Color Songs Up and Down Song Two Truths, One Lie One, Two Three! Silence Line-Up Fireworks Dance Mood and Music Fifty Nifty United States Song "The Ants Go Marching" song "ABC" song and movement routine Mother, May I? Self-portrait drawings The ABC scavenger hunt Simon Says Black Snake - song and game On Top of Spaghetti - song Tear Bears - art project Rainy Day in the City - art project Knots - game (great for older kids, not so great for little ones) Magic Telescopes - dramatic play

Watercolor Pictures of Outer Space http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elem10.html

"Composing Unit- Rhythm Charts" http://lessonplanspage.com/printables/PMusicComposingRhythm58.htm

"Dress-Up to the Olde Masters" http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elem16.html

"Adapting a Musical" http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2287/ "Leonardo Da Vinci- Exploratory Movement"

http://www/princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/drama/day2.html "Leonardo Da Vinci- Creative Movement" (same website)

56

Body Art (art) Website: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elem3.html

Face Plate (art) Chain Stories (music) Goal Fence (art) Heads up, 7 up (movement) Mirror Image (art)

Website: http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/elem41.html Oragami hats Describe Someone art activity (characteristics and appearances)

Boom Chicka Boom (song) Rhythmic Circle Mirror! Mirror! World's Greatest Sandwich Make a class flower garden out of cupcake paper cups, cotton balls, and

pipe cleaners Make turkey and Indian hats for thanksgiving Make paper plate snakes for a reptiles lesson  Mad Lib activity Bingo with different lessons like geography or math Make a friendship chain out of paper and markers Self Portrait Puzzle Art Design Video Game Landscape Design Camouflage Collage Figure Drawing Crime Scene Tracing Picture  Making a paper origami box.

http://carriephlyons.deviantart.com/art/Origami-Box-Bowl-TUTORIAL-52664790?q=gallery%3Acarriephlyons%2F27003&qo=3

 Make kaleidoscopes out of paper towel holders.http://increations.blogspot.com/2009/08/homemade-kaleidoscope-toy.html

Drama:  The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

Art:  “Art Talk” (page 47) Art:  “My Feelings” (page 67) Music:  “The Singing Sack” Music:  Painting to music or dancing to music Movement:  Slow Motion/Freeze Tag/Explosion Tag (Spolin) Animal Stick Puppets and Stories Freeze Dance Chalkboard Relay Squiggle Art Junk Art

57

Shape Search Art Room Clean Up Song Making Rain Shape Pictures Song Connection Leaf Sketch into Picture Shake Your Hand Song Paper Dog Origami Shake Your Sillies Out

http://www.rainbowsongs.com/lyrics-database/shake-your-sillies-out.html Crab Soccer

http://www.funattic.com/game_list.htm Walk across a pond using stepping stones.

 http://www.teachingonline.org/drama2.html Become a mountain climber moving very carefully along a long narrow ledge.

http://www.teachingonline.org/drama2.html Do Your Ears Hang Low? Make an Egyptian mask

http://incredibleart.org/ Trace Hand and decorate it Hand animals- making animals with your hands

www.childdrama.com Fly Butterfly,Fly!- telling a story about a butterfly as the students act it out

www.lessonplanspage.com Listen, Listen for a clue-Teachers sings and children listen for what action they should

dowww.lessonplanspage.com

Season and Weather- acting out actions for each seasonwww.childdrama.com

Days of the week- song about the days of the weekteachers.net

Yarn Name-have students glue yarn to their name written on paperwww.lessonplanspage.com

58

Extra Resources:

"ARTSEDGE: Five Easy Drama Games for the Early Elementary Classroom." ARTSEDGE: ARTSEDGE Home. Web. 30 Aug. 2010. <http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3917/>.

"KinderArt - K12 (For Teachers & Homeschoolers)." KinderArt - Art Lessons - Art Education: The Largest Collection of Free Art Lessons and Art Education Information on the Internet. Over 800 Free Art and Craft Lessons, Activities and Plans for K-12; Art for Kids and Crafts for Kids. Web. 30 Aug. 2010. <http://www.kinderart.com/teachers/20activities.shtml>.

http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/elem/grade_level.htmlhttp://www.kellybear.com/TeacherArticles/TeacherTip69.htmlhttp://elementarydrama.blogspot.com/lessonplanpages.com

incredibleart.org

59