Welcome Teachers!

This resource page is provided for elementary, middle school and junior high teachers at schools where the Act!vated Storytellers are scheduled to perform.

To help your students get the most out of the shows, you will find a brief synopsis of each story and study guide information.

Act!vated Storytellers' theatrical productions and residency programs:

Reinforce State Content Standards for grades K-12
Integrate the English-Language Arts Standard with the Performing Arts Standard
Build Vocabulary
Include Multicultural Perspectives
Promote an interest in reading, culture and theatre arts

Study Guides for 2007-2008 Touring Productions

Study Guide for "Quizzical Quests" Multicultural Folktales
Study Guide for "Creepy Crawly Critter Tales" coming this summer

Bonus: A Lesson Plan for Recording and Podcasting Stories in the classroom.

Your Students in the Show

Some students from your school will be given the opportunity to learn parts, attend a pre-show acting workshop and perform in the show.

Up to 12 students can participate in each show as guest stars.
Guest Stars will be attending a mandatory half-hour pre-show workshop before the first show.
Please check with your assembly coordinator for details. See the guest star page for more details.
When choosing students to represent your class please choose outgoing students who are quick learners. Sometimes this is the child who "acts" up in class, but only if they can follow directions.
Deaf students who use ASL are welcome to participate as Guest Stars.

Preparing for the Show

Discuss appropriate audience behavior with your class so they will know what is expected of them. Remind them to be respectful of others by sitting flat on the floor so all can see and enjoy the presentation. Students will be using listening and observation skills throughout the presentation. Laughter and applause and at times responding verbally are appropriate. Clapping at the end of the show is polite.
Share some stories and pictures from the tour with the class. Use a map in conjunction with the web site (which is updated daily) to follow the tour as it comes closer to your school. The class can plot the travel route with push pins on a map.

During the Performance

Throughout the performance students will be applying listening and observation skills to recall and interpret information.
As a member of the audience they will respond to the speaker with encouraging nonverbal communication (e.g., sitting still and watching the speaker).
They will learn new vocabulary and possibly some foreign words.

After the Show

Develop conversational skills, use oral language skills and apply listening and observation skills by:

Having the students retell the important events in the stories with correct sequence of events.
Asking questions (who, what, where, why, when, how) about the show and the stories.
Soliciting feedback and asking them to expand upon what they say by making personal connections.
Discussing the setting, characters, problems, solutions and events in the stories.
Comparing and contrasting the two stories/scenes. What is the common theme in both stories? What are the similarities and differences between characters, settings and important events?
Continue the classroom discussion while the students draw pictures of a scene from the show.
Asking the guest star(s) from your class to share what they learned during the pre-show workshop with the class by teaching them the part they learned.

Develop reading and writing skills by:

Using a graphic organizer to state the main idea of one of the stories and list important details. Do one together with the class, then have each student do one for the other story.
Brainstorm a list of things the students thought about the show and write the list on the board. Then ask the students to write a letter to the actors. They may use ideas from the list the class created or come up with their own. The performers are typically on campus for at least forty-five minutes after each show striking the set and loading out. So it may be possible to hand-deliver any letters or cards. They may also be mailed.
To give purpose to the students' writing and experience with electronic media, students may send an email to the actors telling them what they thought about the show or asking a question. (Return email addresses are optional when using our online form.) Please ask them to be specific and go beyond "I liked it" .
Have each student choose a character and write a paragraph explaining how they are like that character.

Incorporate the Fine Arts:

Children act out stories before they learn to read. Ask younger students to act out a folktale as you read it to the class.

Podcasting Stories - A Classroom Project

Students expand reading, vocabulary, listening and speaking skills, while communicating with a worldwide audience; learn about sound (science) and work with electronic media. See our Podcasting Stories project guide.

Extend the learning experience with workshops

Hands-on, minds-on workshops lead by the performers are available on the day of the show. Choose from writing, performing, American Sign Language and more.