Title: The Nutcracker Names: Leah Fisher, Jerra Buster, Brian West, Ciara Mahr, Aryn Jewell, Laura McCasland Grade Level: 1st Grade Material Needed for Lesson: Music from the Nutcracker: “The Battle”, “A Pas De Deux”, “Dance of the Mirlitons”, “Tea (Chinese Dance)”; Toilet paper rolls; Nutcracker template; crayons; scissors; and tape. Intelligences: Bodily Kinesthetic, Visual-Spatial Integrated Subject Areas: English/Language Arts, Theater Objectives: 1. When listening to non-verbal music, students will verbalize the emotions they are feeling and the emotions they are seeing portrayed by the instructors, by matching a reasonable emotion with the emotions the song is portraying. 2. Given an action written on a slip of paper, students will use movement to portray the action without verbal language, in order for the action to be correctly identified. National Arts Standard: Theater #2: Acting by assuming roles and interacting improvisations (K-4) and by developing basic acting skills to portray characters who interact in improvised and scripted scenes (5-8). Introduction: Audience Etiquette: Leah will demonstrate and model characteristics of audience etiquette, including: proper clapping, sitting quietly, and eye contact. Laura will then lead the students in a game of “The Nutcracker Says”, in which the students will perform proper audience etiquette characteristics, depending on what the Nutcracker (Laura) says to do. Development: Presentation: Laura will read short summaries of important scenes to re-tell the story of the Nutcracker in a way for the students to get a general idea of the storyline. Include photos of these scenes to assist in the students’ ability to visualize the story. Modeling: Instructors will play one at a time, 4 different songs that convey different emotions, such as scared (“The Battle”), happiness (“Dance of the Mirlitons”), sadness (“A Pas De Deux”), and surprise (Tea-Chinese Dance). When each song is played; Leah, Jerra, and Ciara will model the emotion without communicating through words, how the particular song makes them feel. When the song stops, students will guess what emotion the instructors were portraying. Students must demonstrate proper audience etiquette while observing the instructors. Check for Understanding: How did the changing music change the mood? What parts of the music influenced the mood? What are ways to demonstrate proper audience etiquette?

Guided Practice: “Nutcracker Charades”. Jerra and Laura will serve as the game hosts and the remaining instructors will team up with a student to form four separate groups. Each group will choose two slips of paper from a hat. The slips of paper will say an action that is portrayed in the story. Teams will take turns using movement to demonstrate their action and the remaining teams must guess what the action is. Actions include: opening a present, walking in a blizzard, growing a tree, getting your favorite present taken away, dreaming, going to a party, dancing and battling. Conclusion: Independent Practice and Application: Aryn will explain the following activity. Students will construct a nutcracker with a toilet paper roll and a nutcracker template. Students will begin by coloring the template and cutting it out. Students must tape the parts (coat, belt, head, legs, and arms) in the appropriate spot on/around the toilet paper roll. Authentic Assessment and Documentation: Students will be assessed throughout the modeling stage as they must verbalize the emotions that they are seeing being portrayed by the instructors, as well as state the emotions that they personally felt when listening to non-verbal music. The second assessment will occur as the students are performing the actions in “Nutcracker Charades”. Students must portray an action for scene in the story without using verbal language, so the other students are able to identify what action they are portraying. Closure: Students will have the opportunity to present their completed Nutcracker to the other students. Then the instructors will lead a discussion of the students’ upcoming trip to the ballet. Students must identify what behaviors they will exhibit during the performance and what scenes they are looking forward to.