The Magic of Theatre

Kensington Gardens Preschool Term 3, 2012

Developmental Learning Outcomes:

Children are effective Communicators. They:Express ideas and make meaning using a range of media. Interact verbally and non-verbally with others for a range of purposes. Engage with a range of texts and gain meaning from these texts. Use information and communication technologies to access information, investigate ideas and represent their thinking.

What learning experiences will we provide?

Provide opportunities for children to design and develop small and large theatres. Provide opportunities for children to act out, re-tell or re-create stories. Visit to Patch Theatre to see A Lion in the Night Teach children a variety of dances with repetitive patterns and a variety of music. Opportunities to move and react to different types of music

What can families do to support childrens learning?

If possible, take your child to a theatre an empty one just to have a look at curtains, lights, sets, seating, props. If possible, take your child to a production music, dance, drama. Visit the Patch Theatre website (www.patchtheatre.org.au) or Windmill (www.windmill.org.au) for suitable shows. Alternatively, check out Something on Saturday (www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au) or www.playfull.on.net for Stargold puppet shows and other performances. Read stories about people performing dancing, acting, singing. Read Pamela Allens wonderful stories to your child.

What will you see children doing? Using language and engaging in play to imagine and create roles, scripts and ideas. Sharing the stories and symbols of their own culture and re-enact well-known stories. Using the creative arts such as drawing, painting, sculpture, drama, dance, movement, music and storytelling to express ideas and make meaning. Experimenting with ways of expressing ideas and meaning using a range of media. Using images and approximations of letters and words to convey meaning. Exploring ideas and theories using imagination, creativity and play. Combining gross and fine motor movement and balance to achieve increasingly complex patterns of activity including dance, creative movement and drama. Responding through movement to traditional and contemporary music, dance and storytelling. What will the staff be doing? Planning for and participating in energetic physical activity with children, including dance, drama, movement and games. Providing resources that encourage children to represent their thinking. Building on childrens family and community experiences with creative and expressive arts. Providing a range of resources that enable children to express meaning using visual arts, dance, drama and music. Teaching children skills and techniques that will enhance their capacity for self-expression and communication. Joining in childrens play and co-constructing materials such as signs that extend the play and enhance literacy learning.

Following discussions with children at meeting times this week we need to further explore: Visiting a theatre (possibly at Morialta/Norwood High) Author study: Pamela Allen look at techniques she uses in her books. Plan a Lions Breakfast at kindy, children to wear dressing gowns and bring a soft toy. Construct a theatre with a stage, stairs, curtains, lights, props, food!

Following our preview of A Lion in the Night (Marilyn and Catherine, see web) we need to: Explore sound effects Explore dreams Mime

Set up a shadow theatre

Magical Dream world Theatre as sustenance Sets/wood/glass/ metal Humour Independence/nurtur e

Objects Weathercock teapots Typewriter dressing gown wireless Fish tank bird cage Bubbles radar Bath tub binoculars Pulleys Record players

Sounds Trains animal sounds Smoke detector Toaster popping Thunder Clock Birds Crash church bell

The preview of The Lion and the Night

What did I notice?

Experiences Music/percussion Lullabies Object substitution Target practice Cooking Mixing/pouring Bubbles shadows

Concepts Flying/pilot Shadows Friendship Danger Weather farewells

Emotions Being brave Courageous Fears disappointment

What do we need in a theatre?

Childrens responses:

Ice cream Lollipops Popcorn Drinks Chocolate Seats Lights magic fairy lights Actors Stage Stairs to the stage Curtains Dress ups, costumes

During our group discussion, the children talked about acting out A Lion in the Night. Straight after our meeting these girls set to work on making the hats for the characters in the story.

We acted out A Lion in the Night for our friends at the Bentleigh Aged Care facility.

What is Mime?
Lucy I heard that at ballet they tell a story without talking Ivy it is no words

I am a jumping kangaroo I am pointing

I am driving a car I am flying like a bird

Shadows

Where is the bike? Sally set up the overhead projector and placed a bike on the screen. Its shadow came up on the sheet that had been hung for the children to experiment with. Sally noticed a few children looking behind the sheet for the bike. They looked under, around and behind. Where is the bike? Aidan On the board (the white board) and the teachers chair Seb No, its a shadow so where is the bike? The children looked and looked and thought and thought, hmmmm, where was the bike? Sally asked what makes a shadow? Aidan the sun! Sally so what is making the bikes shadow? Aidan looked around the room and raced to the projector and pointed there it is! and then noticed the bike on the screen.

Waddle Giggle Gargle!

The children were so fascinated with the bikes shadow that Sally asked them if they could create the props needed to create the back drop for Pamela Allens story Waddle Giggle Gargle! Aidan was particularly keen and set to work drawing and cutting out the blue house and the gum tree, then placing them on the overhead projector.

What next? Can we act out the story using mime?

What can you notice?

At group time Catherine asked the children what they had noticed that was different at kindy today. Many children called out A sheet! Catherine why do we have a sheet? Max McC we are going to have a show Catherine what sort of show can you have with a sheet? Max a shadow show Catherine what makes the shadow? Ivy the machine (pointing to the machine) makes light and it needs power Catherine what is it called? Max X-ray A lot of thought was had and then Catherine told the children that the machine was called a projector. After group time Sally supported a few children who were very keen to act out Waddle Giggle Gargle! Sally asked what do we need to make grandpa look like grandpa, grandma look like grandma and Jonathon look like Jonathon? It was decided that they needed a hat for grandpa, a bag for grandma and a backpack for Jonathon. A bird was placed on the screen to be the magpie.

No words were used by the actors, they acted out the story using mime.

Lets create our own theatre

First Darcy helped sweep and clean the back room. He helped with ideas of where to place our storage boxes and Sally and he then decided to use the felt display board as the theatres back drop. Jack then joined us and when he heard that we were trying to create our own theatre he announced what a good idea! Can I help?. We had a gazebo to erect and the boys sorted the poles into numbered piles. Catherine came to help, so did many more children and we all worked collaboratively to erect the gazebo.

What next : What else do we need in a theatre?....... A stage curtains chairs.

Our Kensi Theatre starts to take shape.

A stage is built using the big blocks and the curtains are threaded onto a piece of string and hung up in the front of the gazebo.

The acting begins

A play is born What is a script?
Connor words Piper words for the people to say What people? Piper the actors Sally Could we write a script? Yes! Sally sat with the children and asked them if they had any ideas. Jack said it could be about a dragon and a leopard Sally what would we call the play? Jack The dragon in the night Sally how would the play start? Jack the dragon and the leopard were sleeping Sally what would happen next?. The children took turns coming up with ideas. Max they woke up to go flying Nicholas they landed in the city Connor they said goodbye to each other and went home Jack the next day they got married Connor then they got two flying dogs Jack then they had a baby Piper the baby grew up and lost a tooth and while they were all sleeping the tooth fairy came and took the tooth and left a coin The End What next? Sally asked the children to draw pictures to represent their ideas and to make meaning. We were then able to read the drawings while the children acted out the play.

Chairs are placed for the audience, and fabrics put out to represent any characters the children may choose to be.

The Dragon in the Night

The dragon and the leopard were sleeping

They woke up and went flying

They landed in the city

They said goodbye to each other and went home

The next day they got married

Then they got two flying dogs

Then they had a baby

The baby grew up and lost a tooth and while they were all sleeping the tooth fairy came and took the tooth and left a coin

Designing a costume
Week 2 The children drew costume designs. Over the next few weeks we could try to make them. Some of our ideas included:
A princess A Mummy A Cat A Wiggly one A dinosaur A sleeping Beauty A monster A treasure A rainbow dress
Who is in this costume? Its

me! My costume is going to be made out of soft things. Its interesting, It doesn't look like me!
My costume is Rapunzel. Its made out of cotton wool. I would make the hair out of leaves I think. My dragon costume has razor sharp wings and a til of scales to keep the fire so he doesnt get burned.

Turning our costume ideas in to 3-dimensional clay models

Turning our costume ideas in to 3-dimensional clay models

Sound hunt
(Or a silent excursion)

The Green group went on a sound hunt outside .Over the day we kept listening and we heard 20 different sounds. SHOE NOISE LAWN MOWER BEE BUZZING TRUCK SEESAW BONKING CHEWING MOTOR BIKE BIRD WHIPPER SNIPPER ROLLER WIND TALKING LAUGHING DOG BARKING CHICKENS CAR SNEEZE BUS BURPING STEPPING

Goldilocks and The Three Bears

The children were able to act out Goldilocks and The Three Bears in front of the shadow props on the overhead projector

Can we write our own scripts and then act it out?

Dreams in our Bed

Three girls came up with an idea for a play and decided to call it Dreams in our Bed. They all worked together to write their script. They took turns drawing their thoughts into a book format to represent their ideas. The play script :
Chloe was dreaming of flying butterflies and caterpillars and a boat sailing on a rainbow. Lauren then went to bed and very soon she was dreaming of beautiful flowers in a field. She dreamt of flowers all night long. Emma then went to bed and very soon was dreaming of fairies flying all around her. She dreamt of fairies all night long. In the morning the girls woke up and had their breakfast, then got dressed and went off to school.

The girls then drew and cut out the props needed to create the shadow backdrop to enable them to act out the play.

Dreams in our Bed

Dreams in our bed

After the performance of Dreams in our bed the girls re created in diorama form their bedrooms and themselves in their beds dreaming their dream. Each of them chose the materials they would need to represent their dream and independently worked on their 3D creation.

Aesops fables
Sally and Olympia shared the story of The Lion and the Mouse with some children which naturally led on to the children acting out the fable.

Backstage
What happens backstage? Changes of costume.. Marilyn tidied an area behind the theatre for the costumes. The children were able to enjoy the opportunity to have many changes throughout the day.

Week 4 and we have been talking about the jobs that people do in the theatre. Not every one wants to be an actor so what other kinds of work are there.

And more ideas about jobs in the theatre..

The children and teachers have been exploring what jobs people can do in the theatre and asking questions that provoke our thinking.

Making props to support our plays involves thinking ,planning, designing, sharing, talking, working together and on individual projects

Our visit to Patch Theatre The Lion in the Night

Creating the Set of the Lion in the Night

What is a Set?
Lily I dont know Evie The clock and the cupboard and the cradle? Mille the bath? Nicholas the chair? The children were a little unsure if they were right so we talked about what a set was and discovered that a set was all the things on the stage that creates the setting for the play to be acted out on. Can we make the set for the Lion in the Night? Yes The children chose a big box to represent the stage and set to work making the inside black just like the stage at the Patch Theatre. They chose black material and black paint. What next?...... Plan and design the things that they remembered from their visit to The Lion in the Night.

Plans for the Set were drawn and the making began.
The children chose many varied materials to re create their plans. Clay, wood and the glue guns and collage.

The man in the cupboard

The ladder

Bath and bubbles

The cupboard

The children added their creations to the stage. Was there anything else we needed? Evie the chairs for the audience!

Then.. the people for the seats!.......... The audience! Was our set complete? The set was placed inside with a light to help create the theatre setting. What nextcan we create the set of The Lion in the Night in our kindy theatre?

Sally asked some children if we could create the set for the Lion in the Night in our theatre. The children revisited their making of the box set they had made then re created it out in the theatre.

A script was written from the childrens remembering's of their visit to the Patch Theatre and the acting began. Lots of children thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to perform their version of The Lion in the Night.

What nextCan we add sound effects to our performance?

Experimenting with sound..

Can we choose things to use to create the sound effects to prompt the next scene of The Lion in the Night?........ Bells were used to represent the riding of the bike.. Our rain maker was used when pouring the tea.. The recorders were used to make bird noises. The xylophone was used when the bubbles were being blown.. The children used their voices to make a vacuum cleaner noise We will continue to experiment with sound and encourage children to take the role of sitting in the wings to prompt our sound technicians to move on to the next scene.

A Lions breakfast

Shopping for our Lions breakfast was lots of fun. A walk through the park, a visit to the supermarket, then in to the fruit and veg shop where the kind owner donated 10 punnets of strawberries. Yum!

The lions breakfast

After many weeks of talking about the Lions breakfast, the day finally arrived and the children came to kindy in their dressing gowns, carrying their favourite soft toy and sat down to enjoy a Lions breakfast of porridge, toast and honey, strawberries and dog biscuits! What was everyones favourite choice of breakfast? the eggs! the strawberries! the honey toast!

the dog biscuits!

surprised happy

angry

Exploring how we show our emotions with our faces and then putting that into our acting

happy

sad

grumpy

angry

The theatre experience The Lion and The Night included music. The music made us feel happy, sad, angry and surprised. With our percussion instruments we experimented with fast and slow tempos and loud and soft sounds to see and hear how it made us feel.

23/8/12 Today the children were self directing in the theatre. They wanted to put on a play. A lot of time was invested in putting on costumes back stage. Everyone kept saying we will practice and then we can do it. By observing the play I noticed children are beginning to understand lots of concepts about what theatre is like. Costumes Scripts Props Audience Presentation skills Working together Imagination Putting ideas into action

Sculpting a lion
Can we make our own lion and what should we use?
The children were very keen to make a big lion using clay. A mould had to be made first and some children that are familiar with the process started to scrunch newspaper for the legs. Once the legs were made and taped to a box that was chosen for the stand the question was asked how are we going to make the body? Mia immediately came up with the idea of using a box and disappeared out to the making table to find the perfect box. She came back with a large Cheerios box and I asked how are we going to stop the box from collapsing when we add the clay? Again Mia had the answer fill the box up with paper! the children continued to scrunch newspaper and completed the mould. What next. Add the clay

The process of working with clay..

Children that have worked with clay many times before were able to teach some of our younger children the process of scratching and slipping the clay to ensure the pieces of clay stayed joined together during the drying process. Water was provided so that the children could smooth the joins in the clay and ensure there wasnt any cracks to be seen. How does it feel? So soft! And so smooth!

What next . A vote was taken and it was decided to make a boy lion. We will continue to work on the lion and ask the children what they thought could be used to make the mane, tail etc..

The next day it was time to add the finishing touches to the lion. The children looked at the resources available and made the decision to use corks for the mane. When they ran out someone decided to add straws as well.

Many of the children added their own ideas for the eyes, nose, mouth, whiskers, claws and the tail. The final process of scratching the fur on to the body with a fork completed the process.

Later, when the moon was out and the tide was high, the Queen woke up. And what did she see? She saw a lion stealing the baby.

What next?...
Can we put the lion in a cot to use on the set?

Our Lions cot

A few children were asked what could we do to make the lion look like he is in a cot? Lucy suggested using wood at the glue gun table so we took the lion outside, a few children chose the wood and set to work gluing. This proved to be quite challenging work. The wood didnt stay glued, it wobbled, it was different lengths and very soon children started to loose interest. Catherine suggested that Nathan and James would make a pretty good team so over they came to the challenging job of gluing, patiently holding the wood until it had dried and gluing some more. With some help from Sally, they measured the wood and piece by piece the cot was glued together. Ben and Joshua then painted the cot.. Did it stay together? No.. the wood surround was too fragile to last. It looked like some problem solving was needed. What next.. Ask the children what they thought we could use that would be stronger?

Our Lions cot

The very next day Sally asked James what he thought we could use to make the cot stronger so that we could use it in our theatre. Again we went out to the making table and after some very considered thought we decided on some stretchy cardboard pieces that were flexible and more likely to stand up to kindy use. James and Bridie worked on the new style cot until it was finished then we placed the lion in the theatre. Great problem solving.

Light technicians

Sound technicians

Stage hands and actors

In Week 7 we began to put everything we have been exploring together. Our musical production of The Lion and Night had light technicians, stage hands, lighting technicians and actors. We also focussed on our acting and showing emotion. The music to help us feel the emotion. We all had our preferred roles in the production and we worked on the idea of being a production team.

Hair and makeup studio

Can we set up a pre performance hair and makeup studio out in the back room? Yes What would we need? Matilda brushes Joshua chairs Matilda mirrors Together, the children and Sally set up a wonderful studio for hair and makeup. Very necessary when you are actors! The children became very involved in magazine reading while they were waiting, hair washing, colouring and styling each others hair. What amazing glamour's!

A sign for the salon.

Millie said we need a sign. She then independently went off to make the sign. When she came back she said I have the sign and read it to Sally would you like to come to our hairdressers. What fabulous four year old writing! Millie chose where she would like her sign and put it over the appointment desk. The salon was complete.

The

The Lion in the Night

Where do you think the lion is going?

The Magic of Theatre and Literacy

Every week Linda and a small group of children explore words associated with our childrens interest and their prior learning which have emerged from our terms project. The session is filled with exciting and tactile experiences that allows for lots of movement, team work and speaking and listening. While exploring the meaning of a word Syllables are practised; Beginning Sounds are reproduced; and Rhyming fun is had by all.

WORD AWARENESS : Linda took a small group of children to investigate a word. To focus on our Terms project, The Magic of Theatre and relate our work to our discussions thus far, the chosen word was ...

Linda read the dictionary meaning to the children and the children used their developing phonological awareness to determine the number of syllables in the word and the beginning sound and to make up rhyming words. We looked up the meaning in the dictionary : theatre A theatre is a building where people go to see plays. Syllables : theatre Two syllables Beginning Sound : theatre th.
like in three like in thirsty like in throat like in thumb

Rhyming Words :
we made silly rhyming words using the beginning syllable of our names

theatre boster theatre sophter theatre - ister

Linda then asked the children to draw what they think a theatre looks like and what they might see at the theatre.

Continuing our focus on our Terms project, The Magic of Theatre Linda took a small groups of children to act out words in our theatre ...

Before acting out our words the children clapped the syllables in the words.
These children are pretending to be cats and kangaroos and to use the telephone.

This group of children also enjoyed pretending to be different characters as well as practise clapping the beats (syllables) in a word. We will continue to use opportunities within our project focus to promote vocabulary and phonological awareness with the children.

Continuing our focus on our Terms project, The Magic of Theatre Linda took small groups of children to play I Spy with a picture from the book The Lion In The Night.

First we named all the objects we could see in the picture.

Next we played I spy with my little eye something beginning with the sound ... The children searched the picture and offered suggestions.

We saw a lion, a baby, a castle, the sun, a forest, trees, a church, the water, a boat, a dog, the mountains and people!

Finally the children acted out the characters from the picture and then reinforced their learning by naming the objects again. We will continue to use opportunities within our project focus to promote vocabulary and phonological awareness with the children.

What have we discovered about he Magic of Theatre? Childrens Voice Week 10 On Monday afternoon the children shared their learning with parents. We watched and then reviewed the Power Point documentation of the Terms experiences. We have done a lot of miming this term. What is Miming? Martha Miming is something when someone is thinking and then you have to act. Jet You have to not talk. Seb Its when youve got nothing to act with. Millie People guess what you are doing. Who is responsible for making the sound effects at the theatre? Max Mc C Sound technician. When we do shadow work what is bigger? The shadow or the real object? Max W The shadows are bigger.

What did we have on stage? Joshua A lion.

What have we discovered about he Magic of Theatre? Childrens Voice Week 10

What do we remember about the Lion in the Night? Mia The lion was stealing the baby. Max Mc We were acting. Millie We were making lots for the theatre. Actors Who did we have to make hats for? Millie The queen, the captain Max and the admiral, and the queen Aiden and the king. Max The dog and the cat and the sergeant

What have we discovered about he Magic of Theatre? Childrens Voice Week 10 What was off stage? Addison Clothes. Max W When the bears came back we checked who ate the food and we saw who did it and it was Goldilocks. Josh Goldilocks came to the house. Mia I woke up (when I was Goldilocks). Jet Goldilocks came into the bears house. Seb Goldilocks went into one of the bears bed. Max R We needed to eat porridge. We had to go for a walk and Goldilocks came and ate the porridge up.

Comments about the Theatre experience Aiden I enjoyed A Lion in the Night. I enjoyed being an actor. Jet I like the theatre. I liked the funny bits. Josh I liked the funny bits. Max I really, really liked it. Seb I loved the funny bits. Lucy I like it. Mia I liked the girl Goldilocks and A Lion in the Night.

Sharing our Learning The Magic of Theatre

On Tuesday afternoon the children shared their learning with parents. We watched a video of the children performing Puff the Magic Dragon and then reviewed the Power Point documentation of the Terms experiences.
Seb We were doing a show for the Bentleigh people. Neve We played play dough with them. Addison This is about mining. Lucy Miming is telling the story but not talking. William The bike is little but it looks like behind is a big bike. Jet The bike it was about the magpie in Waddle Giggle Gargle Poodle. Max F Aidan was playing with it the bike. Aidan I am making a little blue house. Seb They were tricked! They said Wheres the bike? Wheres the bike? Oliver I helped to make the theatre. Lucy A script its numbers and letters. It is something that you want to say. Addidon And also you can write books. William It is making your own story. Cerys I heard chewing on our sound hunt. Evie Someone was hearing the lawn mower. Addison This is Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Emma This is about Dreaming in my Bed that Lauren made up (the name). My dream was about fairies, Laurens dream was about flowers and Chloes dream was about butterflies.

Jet I got caught by the hunters. Lucy The mouse saved the Lion. Seb Backstage I had 2 jobs. One was the Sound Technician. Sam We went into the park to do some Olympic stuff. In week 5 we visited the Patch Theatre to see their performance of The Lion in the Night. William Up the back is the Sound Technician. Seb We made the Lion in the Night show. Evie F I made all the chairs. Addison For the audience.

Neve I am acting a sad face. Addison We are making the lion out of clay.

Addison The hairdressers.

Seb We are having a Lion in the Night breakfast but not with real dog biscuits we made dog biscuits.

The children were asked what they liked or did not like about the Lion in the Night .. Bridie I liked the bit when the lion roared. Cerys The part I got scared about was the storm. Seb It was the Sound Technician doing it. Jet I liked the lights. Oliver I didnt like the dark. Seb I liked the dark.