Second Visit! (October 16, 2018)

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Today was an exciting day! It was the first day that we integrated dramatic activity into the curriculum that the class has already been learning.

We started out with the Number Levels game that we played last time. The students were excited to show me that they remembered how to play from the previous visit. We were able to jump right into this game without much instruction. This served as a warm-up to get the kids moving and thinking.



The main focus of the lesson was on teaching “5-Finger Retell” through drama. “5-Finger Retell” is the different parts of a story broken down so that children can begin to analyze a text: 1) character, 2) setting, 3) problem, 4) solution, and 5) plot. The class has been talking about this concept over the past couple of weeks, so I wanted to use an activity that could help them solidify the idea and assess if they can pick out each part within a story.

For the activity, I talked and explained what acting is. We did a few examples where students would act like they were reading a book, going swimming, or playing an instrument. Then, we read “Sir Pete the Brave” from the book 5-Minute Pete the Cat Stories by James Dean. The class was then split into 5 groups with each group being assigned one of the parts of a story. We read the story again, and each group focused on their specific part. The groups then went to different parts of the room and discussed the part they listened for. As a group, the students decided and practiced how they would act out their part. Some groups performed actions and other groups created tableaus (pictures) of their story part. After having sufficient practice time, the class came together on the carpet to watch each group perform. After the last group, I asked questions and went over the story parts one more time to make sure that the students understood each section of the “5-Finger Retell.” By the end of the activity, each student was able to tell me the different parts of a story.





















If I were to do this activity again, I would remind the students about using their “performing voices.” Some of the students were quieter and did not fully perform when they were in front of their peers. This is to be expected as doing things in front of a group of people can be daunting. I would focus on helping the students feel like they were in a safe space to let their creativity flourish without reservation.

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