Acting curriculum for elementary school

Classroom Lesson Plans Here are links to some lesson plans I've developed for use in my Creative Drama Classroom (and a few games and lessons from others as well). All of these lessons have been tested and proven successful in the classroom. Let me know if they work for you. Have a great lesson plan you'd like to share? Send it to me! I'll try it out and post it here. I'm hoping eventually to have a large library of proven lesson plans here.

To help you find just what you need, I've sorted these lessons in a few different ways:

• DRAMA FROM PICTURE BOOKS:A collection of ideas for using a picture book to start a Drama activity. Listed first here because the ideas vary widely as to appropriate age level.
• HAND ANIMALS:A first character game. For first-time drama students.
• NURSERY RHYME CHARADES:A pantomime guessing game about nursery rhymes. For Pre-Kindergarten and up.
• A TREE GROWS:A narrative pantomime about an apple tree growing from a seed. For Elementary and younger.
• PAINTING THE BOX:A narrative pantomime about personal space and visualizing colors.
• PAINTING THE MUSIC:A narrative pantomime about emotion and drama in music and paint.
• RAINFOREST LESSONS:A small collection of lessons and lesson variations about the rainforest. For Pre-Kindergarten and up.
• NO, YOU CAN'T TAKE ME!:A fun game that requires critical thinking skills. For Elementary students.
• THE LION KING'S COURT:A role-playing game about friendship and animals. (Nothing to do with the Disney film.) For Elementary students.
• SEASONS AND WEATHER:An activity that teaches younger children about seasons and weather or that can be used with older students as an improvisation game. For Elementary and older.
• COMING TOGETHER:A narrative pantomime about space and visualizing space, and about community and friendships. For Elementary and older.
• THANKSGIVING FEAST:A narrative pantomime about using our senses and the First Thanksgiving. For Kindergarten and up.
• SAINT GEORGE AND THE DRAGON: A pantomime project based on the famous story. Teaches analytical thinking skills and body awareness. For Kindergarten and up.
• RHYME CHARADES:A game of rhymes and pantomime. For Kindergarten and up.
• AROUND THE WORLD IN THIRTY MINUTES:An imaginary journey that teaches geography and cultures. For Elementary students.
• BEN FRANKLIN'S INVENTIONS:A physical creativity game. For Elementary students.
• SCULPTURE GALLERY:A game of posing and creating, which allows students to see the creative process from the inside and the outside. For Elementary and older.
• MIRROR MIRROR:A collection of mirroring exercises. For all ages.
• PUPPETS IN THE DRAMA CLASSROOM: A collection of puppet-making and puppetry projects.
• GUIDED IMAGERY:Sensory awareness, imagination, story-making and concentration all are enhanced by this meditation-like activity. For around 3d grade to adult.
• EMOTION WALK:A big lesson about movement, body language, and the ability to consciously control our movements and the impressions we make with them. For older Elementary through adult.
• THREE LESSONS ABOUT ENERGY: Three lessons designed around a third-grade science unit on energy and the three states of matter. For Elementary students.
• THE JEFFREY GAME:A movement game of building on one anothers' ideas. For older Elementary through adult.
• MUSICAL FREEZE IMPROVS:An improvisation game of creative movement. For all students.
• GROUP STORY PROJECT:A big project. Guides a class to cooperatively write their own original story. Can be used to generate a story for the Group Playwriting Project. For Elementary students.
• GROUP PLAYWRITING PROJECT: Another big project. Guides a class to cooperatively write their own play from an existing story. For older Elementary students.
• NEWS PLAYS:Supports Social Studies, History, or Current Events curricula. Involves improvisation, group planning, and performance. For older Elementary students.
• OREGON TRAIL PROPAGANDA:Supports a Social Studies unit about the Oregon Trail. Examines the nature of propaganda, as well as the nature of advertising in today's world. For older Elementary students.
• FOURTH-GRADE PLAY:This is not really a lesson plan. It is a narrative description of the entire project, which took several months, by which my fourth-graders and I wrote and produced a play about the Oregon Trail. For older Elementary and up.
• SOCIAL ROLES:A pantomime guessing game that teaches the idea of social roles within any society, and supports a Social Studies curriculum in world cultures. For older Elementary students.
• GIBBERISH SENTENCES:A pantomime game that explores ways to communicate without words. Can be used as a primer to more elaborate Theatre Games, or to support a Social Studies curriculum about immigrants. For older Elementary and up.
• THE DISCOVERY OF FIRE:An improvised scene about early humans. For older Elementary and up.
• RITUALS:Students create their own magical rituals while exploring the importance of ritual to early (and modern) cultures. For older Elementary and up.
• PAPER MASKS: A lesson using masks to teach body language. Can be related to a Social Studies unit on Greek Theatre. For older Elementary and up.
• EDWENA'S GAMES:The first of what I hope will be many pages of games and lessons from other teachers. A collection of concentration, warm-up and improvisation games from a friend.
• THREE WORDS:A pantomime and improvisation exercise. For older Theatre students
• MAKE YOUR OWN GREEK PLAY:An exercise designed to teach concepts about Classical Greek drama in a hands-on way. For older Middle School and up.
• INSTANT JOURNEYS:A fun and fast-paced improvisation and teamwork game. For Middle School and up.
• STORY STORY: A fun improvisation, storytelling and pantomime game. For Middle School and up.
• I AM WALKING--INSTANT VERSION: A game of cooperation and communication. For Middle School and up.
• JOB INTERVIEW: A wacky concentration game that makes you think on your feet. For older Theatre students.
• CIRCLE OF CHARACTERS: A complex and challenging game of characters and observation. For older Theatre students.
• HANGMAN CHARADES: Just for fun. For Middle School and up.
  
• CONCEPT CHARADES: A challenging game of improvisation and creativity . For Advanced Middle School and up.
  
• WHAT WOULD YOU DO?: An exercise for helping young actors more fully inhabit their characters. For Middle School and up.
  
• SLOW MOTION WALK: A writing exercise, really. Great for getting over writer's block. For Middle School and up.
  
• IMPROVS AND WARMUPS:A collection of warmup exercises and improvisation games collected from various places. For older Theatre students.

• Narrative Pantomime Stories: These are lessons that involve Narrative Pantomime--a technique in which the teacher or leader tells a story and each student, usually working independently, "acts out" the story.
• Physical and Pantomime Activities: These activities all teach physical control and pantomime communication.
• Improvisation Activities: Virtually all Creative Drama involves improvisation, but these plans focus in part on building improvisation skills.
• Role Drama Activities: These lessons use the technique known as Role Drama, in which students are in role and must make choices and relate to each other in role.
• Writing Activities: These lessons focus on the writing process.
• Lesson Collections: Though listed normally on other lists, these are actually collections of related lessons, rather than individual lessons.

Social Studies & History (Including Geography) / Science / Friendship and Community / Language Arts (Including Writing) / Visual Arts Lesson Plans Sorted by Cross-Curricular Content In addition to the Drama and Creativity skills taught in my lessons, most also teach concepts or skills from other disciplines--or general life skills. In fact, many of them have been specifically designed to support my students' curriculum in other areas. Below is a list of extra-dramatic skills and concepts, with those lessons that touch on them. (Sometimes you'll have to look at the "Variations" section at the end of a lesson to find the connection.)