Arts Bridge: First visit! (September 15th)

For my first lesson with my first graders, I decided to ease into storytelling with them. Carolyn, the teacher I’m working with, had told me that the class was learning about “community helpers” that week, so naturally I wanted to try to incorporate elements of that into the story. The result was a lesson that went very well, considering it was my first time working with first graders. They responded really well to the story, they were engaged physically and intellectually, and they enjoyed being able to help tell the story.

One thing that I had a hard time with was timing. I have 45 minutes with the kids, and in that 45 minutes I wasn’t quite able to get through all of the material I had planned in the lesson. Having too much is of course better than having too little, but the ending is the most important part because it it gives the students a chance to apply the things they’re learning. If I were to do it again I would spend less time on the first part of the activity in order to give the students a chance to reflect and apply the lesson at the end.

Here’s to hoping I do better with timing on my next visit!

The Storyteller and his Audience:

Objective:

Children will demonstrate how to be a good audience and storyteller by listening to and creating their own stories.

Utah Drama Core Standards:

·      Standard 1.T.CR.1 Develop imagination to create artistic ideas and work.

·      Standard 1.T.R.1: Demonstrate audience skills of observing attentively and responding appropriately.

·      Standard 1.T.CO.1: Identify similarities between story elements and personal experiences in dramatic play or guided drama experiences.

Materials Needed:

·      A Fire Truck Named Red by Randall De Seve

·      Crayons

·      Paper

Opening Discussion:

·      Introduce Drama (The act of creating or telling a story. It can mean playing games, pretending to take a journey, or acting in a play. Sometimes, we do drama just to learn rather than to put on a play.)

Step One: Introduction

·      Ask students about what they’ve learned about community helpers. How do community helpers help people?

·      Have a short discussion with the students regarding the last time they helped somebody.  Ask them to shut their eyes and make a picture in their mind of what helping that person looked like. Give them help by reminding them of various things they might have helped with, (did you help clean your room? Did you comfort someone who was upset? Did you help your brother or sister learn something?). Ask students to share with you their memory.

·      Choose a few students and listen to their stories. Draw students out, asking for details, being delighted that they will share with you. Thank each student for telling you his or her story. Use and emphasize the words story and storyteller.

·      Tell the students you liked their stories so much you might go share their stories with someone you know. (“At dinner tonight I might say to my wife that there was this child in class today, and he had felt so good when he helped his dad rake the lawn,” etc.) Honor the fact that the students shared with you. Demonstrate that you were a good listener. Repeat specific details of the stories as you speak, so that the students will notice how closely you paid attention.

·      Tell the students that you feel as if you received a gift, a present, today, when they told you their stories. Tell them you are going to pass the present along when you share their story with someone else. (“A story is like a present. You give someone a gift when you share a story.”)

Step Two: Storytelling

·      Invite students to listen to a grandpa’s story about him and his fire truck. Explain that just like the children’s stories are a gift, this story is a gift as well. Ask the students how they can show appreciation for this gift while you tell the story. Ideas might include listening quietly unless asked to participate, not interrupting, sitting still, etc. Explain that these are all good ideas, and that that you might sometimes even ask them to participate in the story as an audience.

·      Present A Fire Truck Named Red by Randall De Seve.

o   Have the students participate actively. Ask them to make the sounds of a fire truck siren, to splash like an elephant, etc. Make sure you also help them follow their rules of a good audience even when participating.

·      Help the children discover all the storytellers involved. Discuss the fact that Rowan’s grandpa shared a story with him. Also, a man named Randall De Seve made up the story. Then point out that you (the teacher) were a storyteller also, because you told (in this case, read aloud) the story to your students.

·      Share that in the next few lessons we’re going to learn about stories and how to share them with other people.

·      Discuss the following concept in light of the story you just read. Refer to illustrations as examples.

o   The Storyteller’s job is to make the story interesting. (“How did Rowan’s Grandpa make the story interesting?” “Do you think that his Grandpa was actually called by the circus, or was that just something to make the story more interesting?”)

Step Three: Application

·      Ask students to draw a picture of how they helped someone recently. However, they must have an open mind, and extend their thinking and add some fun exciting new fictional details to their picture. Perhaps if they helped their mom fold laundry, they might add that a robot also came and helped, or maybe they folded the laundry with their feet instead of their hands.

·      Have the students tell their stories to classmates. Classmates may guess what is “real” and what is fictional. Remind the students to be a good audience for the person sharing the story.

·      Praise the students for their work. Discuss how they did their job as an audience. Thank them for their help in making your job easier as a storyteller as well as being willing to become the storyteller. Say again how much you loved their stories; they were wonderful presents. (“A story is like a present. You give someone a gift when you share a story.”)