Books Vs. Scripts - theatrical elements and how to translate a story into a script.

For our next lesson, we wanted to get moving on the students creating their fairy tale scripts for the Arts Night at the Mabel.  We went back to an old class format of presenting a short power point presentation to lay out elements visually before moving forward.
Before we got to the Power point, I did spend some time with the students looking at the difference between how a story book is written, and how a play is written.

The students caught on to this quickly - the idea that in a story book, "He said" or "She said" is important for us to know who is talking -but completely unnecessary in a script - the same with describing actions (except in stage directions) In a story we tell what is happening, in a play we show what is happening.

We then went on to review all of the different elements that have to come together for a play to work - both on stage and off:
Script
Director
Stage Manager
Lighting
Costumes
Set Design
Sound Design
Actors
etc...

Students were then put into groups of three and given their playwright hats, and got to work with a book and readers theater version of the story - they could fracture the story if they wanted, but they had to create a script that their classmates could use to perform the play.

This was fairly challenging for most groups - there were plenty of ideas, but less willingness to compromise at first. However, as the teachers and I made our way around to each group, we were able to get most groups rolling on their first few lines... Many of the students were doing a great job of keeping elements like lighting, sound, and costumes in mind as they were writing - which was really wonderful to see!  

Playwrights in their writing berets!

Fractured Fairy Tales - The Inside Scoop! April 6/7

Moving along with our fairy tale theme, and preparing the students to write their own fairy tales, we set the stage with a big pink castle, with an incongruous Big Bad Wolf sign on the front. The teachers and I were dressed up as reporters to get the "real story" on who was living in the castle and why, and to interview the students to see if they knew anything about the rumors going around that the Big Bad Wolf was actually "the good guy".

This format worked extremely well! We had a lot energy, and when we asked the students questions about the story, we put the (blow up) microphones up to their faces, and treated them like live witnesses at the scene - they really got into it!  

We then grabbed the book "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" and treated it like a breaking update - we all gathered around our story telling area to hear the "True Story". The teachers and I once again passed the book back and forth working on great story telling techniques.

After getting the "real story" we talked about the elements of a fairy tale, and how looking at a different perspective, and changing expectation (fuzzy kitten can be evil and ugly troll can be good) can make for a fun fractured fairy tale.

The students then drew fairy tale elements from the cauldrons. They all had the same setting -the big pink castle, but then they drew two characters (they decided which was good and which was bad) , a magical object, and a problem.

And then used those elements to fill in a basic story boarding sheet:

Red = Characters

Orange=Magic Item

Purple = Problem

The students, with a bit of guidance started creating some really wild and fun stories, and most of them were very excited to share them!

 The students wanted to try the reporter coats on - so we had a lot of fun with that - I think a few old trench coats and microphones could go a long way for students to "investigate" or "report" on all kinds of things in many different subjects. 

Book Reporters, perhaps??!!  These ladies are on the job!!!

It was so much fun seeing the teachers really embrace the reporter role - I really think this was one of our most successful lessons: Simple, with clear connections, theatrical and fun without being overwhelming or intimidating - everything just fit. 

Fairy Tales - Setting! 3/31/16

For our next lesson in Fairy Tales, we wanted to review the elements of a Fairy Tale, and then focus in on one element in particular - the setting.  In order to create a Fairy Tale setting in the classroom, the teachers and I wore old fashioned aprons to become like the classic Mother figure in most stories - and the best thing was - when the students walked into the classroom this is what they saw:

As soon as the kids walked in they were exclaiming " Whoa!! Whats that?? It's a Bean Stalk!! Look at the footprints!!!" It automatically put them in an excited and anticipatory mood for our lesson! 

Next the teacher and I talked about how worried we were that little Jack had gone missing - having left nothing behind but some beautiful golden eggs. We asked the students if they had any idea what could have happened to Jack, and they started pointing towards the ceiling and talking about the giants in the sky! 

So we decided the best way to figure out what had happened was to read the story - so we headed to the story telling spot in front of the fire, and the teacher and I swapped back and forth telling the story (it is considerably longer than the ones we read last week - and switching back and forth helps me model different story telling techniques and allows the teacher to jump right in and try them out.) 

After reading the story, the students were asked to identify the elements that make up a fairy tale that they noticed within the story - they did a great job, not only with the obvious characters and setting, but remembering the special features, like magic, and the number 3. 

Once back in their seats we lead them through a mad libs like work sheet. We told them that we were going to change one of the most important parts of the story of Jack and the beanstalk - The Beanstalk!!! They had to choose something else that was magic that was given to them - and when it is buried, they had to pick what it would transform into - one of my examples was that I received magical Jell-O beans, and it turned into a huge Jell-O stalk that I had to figure out how to climb! 

This is the worksheet of one of the students: 

Ethan received magical candy that grew into a gigantic Marshmallow Plant!! The next step in our day was creating a "Set" that showed our new magical part of Jack's Story:

Ethan beginning work on his Marshmallow Plant to the sky!

Almost finished - Note the magic candy at the base and the puffy marshmallows all over the plant!

Getting creative with materials in Mrs. Meyer's class! 

One thing we wanted to do was to challenge the students to go further with their "sets". Instead just using a puff of cloud and a single pipe cleaner, we wanted them to try and create a mini world - I am excited to post updates of these little sets next week - when the students have had  a bit more time to complete them. 

Due to an all school meeting we were unable to get to 'set building' in Mrs. Schuster's class, and Mrs. Paulson's class will have this lesson the next week on Tuesday.  I am looking forward to having a bit of time to talk with the teachers about what they thought of this lesson and how we will move forward from here. 

Filling out the worksheet was easier for some students than others, but the technique of walking through it together, I believe, made it more successful than if we just would have handed them out and had them work on it individually. They also had to address the challenges that arose in the story from the kind of "Beanstalk" they chose - how do you get up and down? How does that change the story? Can in be chopped down? What happens when the giant tries to climb down it?

I think this could also be used as a good transition for the students to work in groups to create a life size set for their stories.


**Edit: A few more fun pictures!