Open Forum

I know the title of this post may seem a little daunting! I work sunday nights for my church working with children from Pre-K - 5th Grade. We separate the groups into Pre-K through 2nd and then 3rd through 5th. This year, they have asked me to lead 30 minute "workshops" for each group for four weeks. I am not looking to turn these tots into Shakespeare aficionados! I am interested in teaching them some vocal warm-ups and fun games to play just a very simple introduction to theatre.

I have already thought about giving the little ones a vocal warm-up for my first lesson (October 20th) maybe doing a quick mouth stretch and have them count their teeth with their tongue and then stand in a circle and pass a noise around the circle. For instance have all of them say "Banana" in a happy mood first, then angrily, then like they think it is the most hilarious thing ever. I have a lot of experience with the little ones and playing games with them but never have I tried to incorporate theatre. This will be very exciting and if anybody has any experience working with this age group that would be great! I would love suggestions!

For the older kids, I have a little more room for creativity and theatric discovery. This bunch is very smart and acts a lot more like middle schoolers! I would love to do a little mime intro and maybe even some dialects? I know they would be excited to do that, but I am not sure where to begin! 

I could really use your help if you have experience with "the younger crowd" ;) please keep in mind that although a majority of the students will come every week the groups will never be the same so anything I do one week cannot be built upon something learned the previous week. 

I am excited to hear what you all have to say! Thanks so much!

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Malissa (Maggie) Little
ITO Region 3 Representative

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What fun for you! OK, not hard to prepare for. The age group you're talking about fall on the part of the educational theatre spectrum titled "creative drama". It's all about participation, not performance. (The munchkins are not  yet developmentaly ready for the experience of facing a live audience) So you really will be playing games with them, theatre games! There are so many in-print and on-line resources for classroom teachers who have no theatre training to use in their classrooms. You can probably find a lot of ideas on this topic. Search for "Creative drama activities". What we want to avoid is anything that looks like or involves an audience like the classic "Thanksgiving turkey play" ! Yuck.

There is a guest artist , Jonas Basom, who regularly comes to a lot of our Conferences to do workshps, and we sell his creative drama books and game cards in the EdTA Store part of this website "The Drama Game File". They are easy to use and a good resource for when working with young children because they are age/grade level organized, but to purchase them is pricey. And they are copyrighted.You can look at a sample on this website to get an idea of the kind of thing I mean. But ask around your school or library to see if they have access to the materials they would let you use.

So good luck, have fun and I know you'll be terrific!

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Anita Grant
Staff Trainer
Children's Museum of Houston


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Original Message:
Sent: 09-14-2013 21:03
From: Malissa (Maggie) Little
Subject: Games/Class Ideas for Pre-K Through 5th Grade

I know the title of this post may seem a little daunting! I work sunday nights for my church working with children from Pre-K - 5th Grade. We separate the groups into Pre-K through 2nd and then 3rd through 5th. This year, they have asked me to lead 30 minute "workshops" for each group for four weeks. I am not looking to turn these tots into Shakespeare aficionados! I am interested in teaching them some vocal warm-ups and fun games to play just a very simple introduction to theatre.

I have already thought about giving the little ones a vocal warm-up for my first lesson (October 20th) maybe doing a quick mouth stretch and have them count their teeth with their tongue and then stand in a circle and pass a noise around the circle. For instance have all of them say "Banana" in a happy mood first, then angrily, then like they think it is the most hilarious thing ever. I have a lot of experience with the little ones and playing games with them but never have I tried to incorporate theatre. This will be very exciting and if anybody has any experience working with this age group that would be great! I would love suggestions!

For the older kids, I have a little more room for creativity and theatric discovery. This bunch is very smart and acts a lot more like middle schoolers! I would love to do a little mime intro and maybe even some dialects? I know they would be excited to do that, but I am not sure where to begin! 

I could really use your help if you have experience with "the younger crowd" ;) please keep in mind that although a majority of the students will come every week the groups will never be the same so anything I do one week cannot be built upon something learned the previous week. 

I am excited to hear what you all have to say! Thanks so much!

-------------------------------------------
Malissa (Maggie) Little
ITO Region 3 Representative

-------------------------------------------

Thank you so much both of you for the great ideas! I really appreciate your recommendations for textual selections; especially since, this is a long-term project and I will be needed a lot of different ideas. Thanks again I will be posting pictures of my little friends ASAP!

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Malissa (Maggie) Little
ITO Region 3 Representative

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Original Message:
Sent: 09-15-2013 16:46
From: Anita Grant
Subject: Games/Class Ideas for Pre-K Through 5th Grade

What fun for you! OK, not hard to prepare for. The age group you're talking about fall on the part of the educational theatre spectrum titled "creative drama". It's all about participation, not performance. (The munchkins are not  yet developmentaly ready for the experience of facing a live audience) So you really will be playing games with them, theatre games! There are so many in-print and on-line resources for classroom teachers who have no theatre training to use in their classrooms. You can probably find a lot of ideas on this topic. Search for "Creative drama activities". What we want to avoid is anything that looks like or involves an audience like the classic "Thanksgiving turkey play" ! Yuck.

There is a guest artist , Jonas Basom, who regularly comes to a lot of our Conferences to do workshps, and we sell his creative drama books and game cards in the EdTA Store part of this website "The Drama Game File". They are easy to use and a good resource for when working with young children because they are age/grade level organized, but to purchase them is pricey. And they are copyrighted.You can look at a sample on this website to get an idea of the kind of thing I mean. But ask around your school or library to see if they have access to the materials they would let you use.

So good luck, have fun and I know you'll be terrific!

-------------------------------------------
Anita Grant
Staff Trainer
Children's Museum of Houston


-------------------------------------------






Original Message:
Sent: 09-14-2013 21:03
From: Malissa (Maggie) Little
Subject: Games/Class Ideas for Pre-K Through 5th Grade

I know the title of this post may seem a little daunting! I work sunday nights for my church working with children from Pre-K - 5th Grade. We separate the groups into Pre-K through 2nd and then 3rd through 5th. This year, they have asked me to lead 30 minute "workshops" for each group for four weeks. I am not looking to turn these tots into Shakespeare aficionados! I am interested in teaching them some vocal warm-ups and fun games to play just a very simple introduction to theatre.

I have already thought about giving the little ones a vocal warm-up for my first lesson (October 20th) maybe doing a quick mouth stretch and have them count their teeth with their tongue and then stand in a circle and pass a noise around the circle. For instance have all of them say "Banana" in a happy mood first, then angrily, then like they think it is the most hilarious thing ever. I have a lot of experience with the little ones and playing games with them but never have I tried to incorporate theatre. This will be very exciting and if anybody has any experience working with this age group that would be great! I would love suggestions!

For the older kids, I have a little more room for creativity and theatric discovery. This bunch is very smart and acts a lot more like middle schoolers! I would love to do a little mime intro and maybe even some dialects? I know they would be excited to do that, but I am not sure where to begin! 

I could really use your help if you have experience with "the younger crowd" ;) please keep in mind that although a majority of the students will come every week the groups will never be the same so anything I do one week cannot be built upon something learned the previous week. 

I am excited to hear what you all have to say! Thanks so much!

-------------------------------------------
Malissa (Maggie) Little
ITO Region 3 Representative

-------------------------------------------

You might want to reference the work of Judith Kase-Polisini. Specifically her book: The Creative Drama Book:Three Approaches. 

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Robert Strickland
Administrative Director

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Original Message:
Sent: 09-14-2013 21:03
From: Malissa (Maggie) Little
Subject: Games/Class Ideas for Pre-K Through 5th Grade

I know the title of this post may seem a little daunting! I work sunday nights for my church working with children from Pre-K - 5th Grade. We separate the groups into Pre-K through 2nd and then 3rd through 5th. This year, they have asked me to lead 30 minute "workshops" for each group for four weeks. I am not looking to turn these tots into Shakespeare aficionados! I am interested in teaching them some vocal warm-ups and fun games to play just a very simple introduction to theatre.

I have already thought about giving the little ones a vocal warm-up for my first lesson (October 20th) maybe doing a quick mouth stretch and have them count their teeth with their tongue and then stand in a circle and pass a noise around the circle. For instance have all of them say "Banana" in a happy mood first, then angrily, then like they think it is the most hilarious thing ever. I have a lot of experience with the little ones and playing games with them but never have I tried to incorporate theatre. This will be very exciting and if anybody has any experience working with this age group that would be great! I would love suggestions!

For the older kids, I have a little more room for creativity and theatric discovery. This bunch is very smart and acts a lot more like middle schoolers! I would love to do a little mime intro and maybe even some dialects? I know they would be excited to do that, but I am not sure where to begin! 

I could really use your help if you have experience with "the younger crowd" ;) please keep in mind that although a majority of the students will come every week the groups will never be the same so anything I do one week cannot be built upon something learned the previous week. 

I am excited to hear what you all have to say! Thanks so much!

-------------------------------------------
Malissa (Maggie) Little
ITO Region 3 Representative

-------------------------------------------