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Erin's Idea Page

On Aug. 25, Sara and Erin presented a workshop “Infusing Creative Movement and Creative Drama in Your K-5 Classroom”.  If you missed it, come in and talk to them about some of these great ideas!

Two more ideas from Erin!  To help you incorporate Drama in the Classroom, Erin has created some quick guides to help you.  Both documents are in Adobe Acrobat pdf format, so you can just click on them to read and print them.

• Drama Games for the Beginner

• Tips for Acting out a Story or a Poem

Shakespeare in the Classroom

If your curriculum includes a study of William Shakespeare and his work or if you are thinking of including the Bard in your literature studies, the ARTS Center can help.  We have materials for check out, from narrative forms of his plays to guides for staging his works. We have a resource teacher who can assist in a unit on Shakespeare.  In addition, the local company Theatre-In-The-Making will produce Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in the spring of 2005.  Many teachers take their classes to the productions and may want to focus their studies on that particular play. 

Contact Erin at the APS ARTS Center for more information, 880-8249 ext.160.

“…be not afraid of greatness.  Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”

Malvolio, Twelfth Night

Please fill out the questionnaire to let us know how we can best help you! Click on the link below and it will open in Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Drama in the Classroom Survey

(For those without Adobe Acrobat, you may obtain it by clicking here.)

An Idea from Erin!

An Imagination Warm-Up/Pass the Prop

Take a crumpled piece of paper.  With the students seated or standing in a circle, begin passing it around “as if” it were:

            A kitten                        A bowling ball                          A cactus           A wet fish

A smelly shoe               A ball of used tape                    A hot coal        A cloud

and/or have students suggest items.

The teacher should “side coach” so that the pantomimes are detailed and believable.  Comments such as “Show the weight of the item”, “Show the texture of the item”, “Show the temperature of the item” are ways to guide students to using their bodies to help define the item. Do this several times, changing the item each time.

HINT: Any object can be used as the prop—a scarf, a stapler, a chalkboard eraser—anything that might be handy!

Pass the Prop can be a nice lead in to a writing activity where students write about one of the items that were “passed”.