Animal Habitats: Creating Tableaus

In this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration, students will be exploring the elements of animal habitats through drama and movement. Students will first identify the similarities and differences between common habitats and explore the types of landscapes, weather, animals, and plant life found in each. Students will gain an understanding of a variety of different animals and their habitats through several improvisational exercises, creating the animal habitats with their bodies in a series of dynamized tableaus.

Teaching Artist: Katelyn McKelley

Length: 30 minutes

Animal Habitats: Making Trioramas

In this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration, students will be exploring the elements of animal habitats through visual arts. Students will first identify the similarities and differences between common habitats and explore the types of landscapes, weather, animals, and plant life found in each. Students will gain an understanding of a variety of different animals and their habitats by learning how to create trioramas of the animals and their habitats. This lesson may be taken a step further by creating compare and contrast trioramas of a healthy, thriving animal habitat versus one altered by pollution.

Teaching Artist: Katelyn McKelley

Length: 30 minutes

Character Portraits

Students will learn how illustrators can use portraits to show character traits. Through the lesson, students will look at how artists use portraits to tell about their subjects, do a close read of a passage about a character in a story, and create a portrait of the character. As illustrators, your students will be guided to pay close attention to as many of the characteristics that the author describes in order to create a portrait. The learning experience will include “Close Reading”, Sketching, and Watercolor painting.

Potential books include but are not limited to:  “The Wild Robot”  by Peter Brown, “Waylon” by Sara Pennypacker, “Holes” by Louis Sachar, “Alexander and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” by Judth Viorst, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”, by Laura Numeroff.

Teaching Artist: Kat Sjogren

Length: 30 minutes (virtual); 45-55 min (in person)

Costume Creations: Costume Renderings

In this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration, students will learn about the basic concepts of costume design and what role costume designers play in the performing arts. Students will explore the elements costume designers research in order to design and create costumes (i.e. mood, character, and setting). Students will also investigate fundamentals of costume creation, including fit, function, fabrics, and principles of fashion. Students will create their own costume rendering based upon characters, written works, and/or historical figures, depending on grade level.

Teaching Artist: Katelyn McKelley

Length: 30 minutes

Supplies Needed:

• Print out of figure drawing template or plain, blank paper
• Pencil
• Coloring utensils (colored pencils, markers, crayons, etc.)

Costume Creations: Eco Fashion

Students will explore the basics of costume design and the role costume designers play in the performing arts. Students will be exposed to the fundamentals of costume design, including fit, function, fabrics, and the principles of fashion. Eco fashion will be the primary focus, wherein students will learn about the importance and growing industry of sustainable materials and how clothing and other goods can be made from recycled materials. Students will have the opportunity to create their own costume and/or costume pieces out of everyday items and recyclable materials found around the classroom or home using the fundamentals of art and fashion to inspire their creations.

Teaching Artist: Katelyn McKelley

Length: 30 minutes

Supplies Needed:

• Newspaper
• Cardboard
• Tissue Paper
• Paper Towels
• Aluminum foil
• Scissors
• Elmer’s glue
• Grocery bags
• Variety of tapes (masking tape, scotch tape)
• Fabric markers
• Pins

Emotions Illustrated

How can artists use color, line and shape to show mood and emotion? Through this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration, students will be introduced to the art alphabet, and the color wheel focusing on warm and cool colors. They will use these skills to illustrate emotion vocabulary words through abstract art.

Teaching Artist: Kat Sjogren

Length: 30 minutes, 45-50 min (in person)

Florida Wildlife Textures

Through this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration, students will be introduced to vocabulary that describes textures found on animals, and will learn how to depict the textures visually. Students will learn about the importance of these textures for protection, comfort, and finding food. They will use this information to create a bookmark that focuses on a Florida animal.

Teaching Artist: Kat Sjogren

Length: 30 minutes (virtual), 45-55 minutes (In-person)

Mathemagics

With Connie Cuadrado, a Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall teaching artist, students will be invited to play with the magic of squares and get math-inspired!  The course will include 3 math games. By playing with addition, the students will discover “The Magic Square of the Sun.” Students will perform shape counting on a square puzzle, and lastly will experience and create their own optical illusions on paper using only a pencil and a black marker.

Teaching Artist: Connie Cuadrado

Length: 30 minutes

Moving through math: fluency- adding and subtracting

Teaching Artist: Deb Lombard

Length: 30 minutes

Protagonist-Antagonist

With Connie Cuadrado, a Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall teaching artist, students will learn that protagonists and antagonists are the main characters of a story. The protagonists often work towards reaching a goal or completing a mission. The antagonists do what it takes to prevent the protagonists from achieving their goals. In a collaborative exercise, students will join forces to create and draw both characters according to a mission,  and to spark the creation of a whole new story.

Teaching Artist: Connie Cuadrado

Length: 30 minutes

Reshaping Learning Through Drama (3-5)

Description of all elements of this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration:

Lesson 1: Drama for Understanding 

In this workshop, students will engage in a series of improvisational and dramatic exercises designed to explore and identify emotions and needs, while developing focus, attention and self-control. Students will also engage in exercises designed to understand the importance of goal setting. Specific vocabulary list and themes can be adapted and incorporated per teacher request.

SEL Competencies: Self-awareness and Self-Management

Lesson 2 :Drama for Community 

This workshop builds on Drama for Understanding as it explores perspective, diversity and empathy through a series of multi-sensory dramatic and improvisational exercises. Highlighting the importance of communication skills, listening, cooperation and teamwork, this workshop offers an opportunity for students to practice responsibility, choices and group awareness.

SEL Competencies: Social awareness and Relationship Skills

Lesson 3: Drama for Change 

A workshop designed to engage students in activities that explore creation, transformation, deepening trust, and problem solving through drama and improvisation. Building on the workshops Drama for Understanding and Drama for Community, this workshop offers students the opportunity to learn the importance of action taking, being proactive, as well as reflection and evaluation.

SEL Competencies: Responsible Decision Making

Teaching Artist: Maria Schaedler-Luera

Length: 30 minutes

***Lessons can be scheduled individually or as a package. There are no prerequisites.

Reshaping Learning Through Drama (6-8)

Description of all elements of this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration:

Lesson 1: Drama for Understanding 

In this workshop, students will engage in a series of improvisational and dramatic exercises designed to explore and identify emotions and needs, while developing focus, attention and self-control. Students will also engage in exercises designed to understand the importance of goal setting. Specific vocabulary list and themes can be adapted and incorporated per teacher request.

SEL Competencies: Self-awareness and Self-Management

Lesson 2 :Drama for Community 

This workshop builds on Drama for Understanding as it explores perspective, diversity and empathy through a series of multi-sensory dramatic and improvisational exercises. Highlighting the importance of communication skills, listening, cooperation and teamwork, this workshop offers an opportunity for students to practice responsibility, choices and group awareness.

SEL Competencies: Social awareness and Relationship Skills

Lesson 3: Drama for Change 

A workshop designed to engage students in activities that explore creation, transformation, deepening trust, and problem solving through drama and improvisation. Building on the workshops Drama for Understanding and Drama for Community, this workshop offers students the opportunity to learn the importance of action taking, being proactive, as well as reflection and evaluation.

SEL Competencies: Responsible Decision Making

Teaching Artist: Maria Schaedler-Luera

Length: 30 minutes

Reshaping Learning Through Drama (K-2)

Description of all elements of this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration:

Lesson 1: Drama for Understanding

In this workshop, students will engage in a series of improvisational and dramatic exercises designed to explore and identify emotions and needs, while developing focus, attention and self-control. Students will also engage in exercises designed to understand the importance of goal setting. Specific vocabulary list and themes can be adapted and incorporated per teacher request.

SEL Competencies: Self-awareness and Self-Management

Lesson 2: Drama for Community 

This workshop builds on Drama for Understanding as it explores perspective, diversity and empathy through a series of multi-sensory dramatic and improvisational exercises. Highlighting the importance of communication skills, listening, cooperation and teamwork, this workshop offers an opportunity for students to practice responsibility, choices and group awareness.

SEL Competencies: Social awareness and Relationship Skills

 Lesson 3: Drama for Change 

A workshop designed to engage students in activities that explore creation, transformation, deepening trust, and problem solving through drama and improvisation. Building on the workshops Drama for Understanding and Drama for Community, this workshop offers students the opportunity to learn the importance of action taking, being proactive, as well as reflection and evaluation.

SEL Competencies: Responsible Decision Making

Teaching Artist: Maria Schaedler-Luera

Length: 30 minutes

Virtual lessons will be through Zoom or a platform of your choice.

**** Lessons can be scheduled individually or as a package. There are no prerequisites.

moving through science: life cycles

Life Cycles- students will learn about life cycles through the use of movement and their body. This lesson has been adapted for all grade levels. Options include the life cycle of a bean plant, butterfly, water cycle or exploring incomplete/complete metamorphosis.

Teaching Artist: Deb Lombard

Length: 30 minutes

Story Generating Cards

Stories are a mix of ideas, characters, challenges, and places that create whole new worlds in our imagination. With Connie Cuadrado, a Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall teaching artist, students will learn a storytelling formula that will help them identify the parts of a story, and create visual stories that can be mix and matched to generate an endless numbers of stories.

Teaching Artist: Connie Cuadrado

Length: 30 minutes

Telling Tales Through Tableau

Through this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration, students will review Tableau skills (levels, concentration, and focal points). Students will discuss the Beginning, Middle, and End of a selected story. Students will work together as a group or in small groups to create Tableaus of Beginning, Middle and End of the story.

Teaching Artist: Laura Courter

Length: 30 minutes

Telling Tales Through Tableau: Problem and Solution

Through this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration, students will review Tableau skills (levels, concentration, and focal points). Students will discuss the parts of a narrative. (Characters, Setting, Problem/Plot and the Solution) Using a selected story, students will learn how to work together to identify and show a problem and solution from the story through Tableau.

Teaching Artist: Laura Courter

Length: 30 minutes

Telling Tales through Tableau: Vocabulary

In this Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall Exploration, students will learn the theatre skill of Tableau using levels, concentration, and focal points. Students will apply those skills using their body and imagination. Students will use the skill with facial expressions and gestures. Using vocabulary words from a selected story, students will create Tableaus of the words.

Teaching Artist: Laura Courter

Length: 30 minutes