Lesson Plan
Theatre: Theatrical Economics
| Subject: | Art |
| Grade span: | K to 3 |
| Duration: | 45 minutes |
Description:
This lesson is one example of how you can implement the practice of Integrating the Arts with Other Subjects. In this activity, students read If You Give a Pig a Pancake, identify the goods and services in the story, act out scenes, and ultimately, create their own scripts.Learning Goals:
- Identify and distinguish between goods and services
- Use improvisation and characterization to depict characters from a story
- Create and perform an original script
Materials:
- Copy of If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff
- Chalkboard, dry-erase board, or large easel with paper
- Writing and drawing materials (paper, pencils, markers, crayons)
Preparation:
- Read If You Give A Pig A Pancake.
- Review some of the basic elements of drama, including characterization and improvisation.
- Create a performance space (for example, tape can mark a "stage").
What to Do:
- Read aloud If You Give a Pig a Pancake.
- Ask students to recall the sequence of the story. List all the things the pig asks for. Refer back to the book, if necessary.
- Explain how some of the things the pig wants are goods (items, such as pancakes, syrup) and some are services (things people do, such as playing music or taking pictures).
- In pairs, ask students assume the characters of the pig and the child. Acting as narrator, read a line from the book and let students act out the line, improvising their own dialogue. (For example, the pig might tell the child why she wants the next good or service: "Please give me some syrup -- the pancake will taste better.")
- Pause after each line and allow the audience to identify the pig's request as a good or a service.
- Divide students into groups and ask them create a script for a new play, "If You Give a _____ a _____." Allow students to decide who the main character will be and what he or she will ask for.
- Ask students to come up with at least eight things that the main character asks for.
- As an additional challenge, tell students that the main character should alternate between requesting goods and services, or request all goods or all services.
- Ask each group to perform its play for the class.
Evaluate (Outcomes to look for):
- Student participation and engagement
- An understanding of the difference between goods and services
- Creative scripts that reflect an understanding of goods and services
- Performances that include improvisation and characterization
Standards:
Click this link to see additional learning goals, grade-level benchmarks, and standards covered in this lesson.
