Elements and concepts in music and drama in a preschool curriculum program:
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Acting:
- Expressive use of body and voice
- Movement is important to free the child’s energy and emotions and aware of the workings of the body and to control them.
- Increase ability to communicate
- Enhance child’s imagination
- Sensory awareness activities to sharpen perception and appreciation of how sense help us enjoy and know the world
- Sensory recall activities to remember feel, look, sound, smell and taste that enable to recreate the sensations even it’s just in their imagination
Playmaking(informal)/Playwriting(formal):
- Collaborative improvisation
- Playmaking, chidlren will will decided on who the character and what the character will be doing, there is no need to write down.
- Playwriting, a formalized script is prepare and it’s it’s already pre-planned on who do what.
Responding & Constructing Meaning:
- Development of aesthetic sensibility
- They must know the theater convention such as curtain up, curtain down, curtain call etc.
- They should also know the audience etiquette where they should keep quite when the play is going on, laugh at appropriate time, clap at appropriate time and so on
Designing:
- Envisioning and arranging the environment
- Arrange furniture to suggest a a particular setting or use fabric or accessories for costumes
Directing:
- Planning classroom improvisation
- Develop social, group, and concensus skills as they plan and rehearse to improvised on the scripted scenes to be presented to the audience
Researching
- Finding information to support classroom dramatizations
- Use books, posters or any visual material
How theatre arts work in the classroom?
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1. Introduce
Give idea, story or poem to engage attention by related them to their own experiences or ask them questions.
2. Present poem or story
Tell the children the story and have them relate it to their personal experiences
3. Plan
Teacher will plan for the play by being a sidecoach(give suggestions to the chidlren, let the children pantomime) or play a role(teacher act it out) or appreciative audience(just sit/stand and watch).
4. Act
Start acting and chidlren should keep stay in their intended place and quiet and wait for “curtain” signal.
5. Reflect/Evaluate
Make connection between the play and real life with the children and help them recognize, appreciate the aesthetics of the play. This will let the teacher know how well the children understand the art form.
6. Plan & Replay
Repeat the 5 steps above either replay the same character or scene or move on to a new scene.
Music and drama help children develop an awareness of of themselves as:
Physical beings: Body and voice as an instrument to create and communicate
Creative beings: Enhance creativity
Organizers of experience: Learn to solve problems, shape and control what is happening by using their minds and bodies to give form to the art
Reflective beings: Responding thoughtfully to their surroundings
Social beings: Enhance and cultivate moral values among their peers and their surroundings
Key issues in selecting materials for music and drama lessons:
1. Must be safe and sturdy.
2. Must be suitable for their age.
3. Can be used as teaching materials for other lessons as well.
