Learning Activities

Students explore how body language can show a story (i.e. how someone is feeling, character traits, etc.). This warm-up helps students take note of how their bodies move and respond to different given circumstances. This exercise also helps students to begin thinking about how to physically portray something as abstract as a feeling. Students will move around the room and be instructed to sit in different chairs in different ways. The teacher will provide all of the different ways to sit. Students will then be asked to use the chair as a different object (hat, cane, suitcase, phone, shield, etc.)

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will explore sounds using rulers to simulate a barred instrument. Students will experiment with the vibration of sounds by pulling up on the rulers to make them vibrate and create sounds. They will change the ruler's length to create different pitches. Finally, students will work with a partner to create a melody on their barred instrument.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will participate in a guided visualization exercise. This technique will stretch their imaginations like a muscle. Students will share their imagined performance with their class.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will practice using pantomime skills by creating inanimate objects. Students will work individually to create or use a variety of imaginary inanimate objects. The object ideas will be provided by the teacher. Students will have to quickly transition from one object to the next without overthinking.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will practice using pantomime skills by creating inanimate objects. Students will work in small groups and in pairs to create various objects. The object ideas will be provided by the teacher. Students will have to quickly transition from one object to the next without overthinking. Students will have the opportunity to observe and comment on this exercise.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will first mimic sounds and motions (demonstrated by their teacher) as they pass them around the circle. Students will then have an opportunity to create a sound and motion to be passed around the circle.  Finally, students will create a motion to go with their name (their name serves as the sound part of the exercise).

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students studying ensemble building will work together using mirroring and flocking to learn how to lead and follow without verbal communication.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

The teacher will print or make the dance and move sequence cards and give a set to each student. The student will use the cards to create dance sequences that combine locomotor skills with pathways and non-locomotor skills with levels.  

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students apply their knowledge of physical acting by creating a short silent film, in the style of Charlie Chaplin.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Proficent Theatre students will use Stanislavski's Method to analyze a script and character. Using a simplified chart, students will explore the character's objective, possible tactics, obstacles, stakes, subtext, and the Magic If.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will create a character and write a monologue portraying that character, inspired by photos and descriptions from the Humans of New York series. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Theater students will watch a video of their prior performance and evaluate the performance using a rubric and reflective questions.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Advanced Theatre students will determine subtext to explore the inner thoughts of their character.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will use a piece of visual art to write original dialogue.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will use a text's illustrations to gain information about the character's culture.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will be able to interpret the mood of a piece of art by describing the setting of the piece and the colors used within. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will create a 16-count dance that communicates and describes a character in a story. Students will base their dance on a character's traits. 

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

In this exercise, each student will cross from Stage Right to Center Stage. The teacher will guide the students in their crosses by providing different justifications (reasons for moving from one space to another). This exercise will reinforce stage directions and the awareness that there must be a reason for all movement on the stage.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will use what they have learned about recycling and reusing to complete this STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) activity. Students will use recycled items to create something new.   

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will use what they know about severe weather and the see-think-wonder strategy to participate in this Arts Integration lesson.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will use the character lineup strategy in collaborative groups to retell the story of the Three Little Pigs. Each group will be assigned a different character or emotion and then compare the differences between each group. Students will use five elements to express their character or emotion.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will view images of paintings and photographs. They will distinguish between the images by identifying each image as either a photograph or a painting. Students will view a YouTube video that describes how artists use the grid method to create photorealistic artwork. Students will explore the grid method technique using the provided worksheet.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Essential Question: How does collaboration expand the creative process?

The students will investigate, plan, and make a mural. The students will collaborate on how to create a mural to be displayed within the school for all students and faculty to view as a way to show and demonstrate their school spirit.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

This activity is designed to allow students to make connections to their own lives, to help them use background knowledge, and to help them understand that reading comprehension is just as important when singing or playing an instrument as it is when reading a story or text.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

This activity is designed to help students make connections between music and their own lives.  They will use their background knowledge to design movement that expresses their feeling about the song.

This activity is designed to be used following the activity Wild Things: A Song Study.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

This activity is designed to be used after Wild Things - Movement Poem. It requires your students to understand and learn the lyrics but also to be able to play several accompaniments using un-pitched percussion instruments.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will learn that some art has a purpose other than being art. Many common everyday items can be considered art based on the manner in which they are designed. Students will make a glass dish, using previous instruction on design and learn the basics of glass fusing. During the lesson, students will also learn the need to practice safe working practices so as not to place themselves or others in danger. Lastly, students will learn about the transference of energy or heat in objects and how that energy can impact their final form.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

This learning activity should be completed at the end of a geometry unit or after a lesson on symmetry. The teacher will pose a real-world problem that requires the students to create a design for a stained glass window. Using virtual manipulatives, students will work collaboratively to design a symmetrical stained glass window that has at least one line of symmetry.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

This learning activity should be done at the end of a lesson on factors and multiples. The teacher will pose a real-world problem that requires the students to create multiple designs for a tabletop using all the factors of 24.  Using virtual manipulatives, students will work individually to create multiple designs for a table using all the factors of 24.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will collect recyclable materials from around the school's campus and create artwork depicting a landform. The students will create a model of a physical feature of Earth such as mountains, valleys, plains, deserts, lakes, rivers, or oceans. This learning activity should be used at the end of a unit on Earth's systems.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

In order to create music to the story Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Bill Martin, Jr., the students will:

• Sing a call and response
• Play a steady beat
• Create rhythms on rhythm instruments

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will do a series of quick warm-up activities lasting approximately 5 to 10 minutes to prepare for their work in theatre class. They will stretch their muscles, do vocal warm-ups, and practice mental focus in order to prepare their bodies and minds for their work in the class.

This activity was created as a result of the Arts COS Resource Development Summit.

Students will participate in a collaborative guessing game with another classroom from a "mystery place" somewhere on the globe through a video conference. This game helps students learn about geography, culture, and the similarities and differences of how children live all over the world. Students are to prepare questions ahead of time to help them pinpoint their location. These questions are not only focused on geography but culture as well. While honing their questioning and conversation skills each class takes turns answering questions about each other until their location has been pinpointed.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

While students are in pairs and without being able to see each other, student 1 designs and provides oral instructions to student 2 in order for student 2 to recreate a shape and/or structure only student 1 can see. Student 2 can ask clarifying questions, but that is all. This activity builds skills in sequencing, classifying, sorting, orientation, and relative position of objects. It also builds listening skills for oral comprehension and asking and answering concise questions.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.

Students and teacher collaboratively collect and organize data on the length of days throughout the year and analyze patterns that they see. Students and teacher will create a digital spreadsheet and a connected chart in order to reflect and make observations while analyzing the data represented in chart format.

This activity was created as a result of the DLCS COS Resource Development Summit.