SNEAKY SEAGULL

Focus on nasally, squeaky voice

Student Instruction: “The Sneaky Seagull loves to fly around the sky, stealing the food of other birds or that people leave unattended. And they have a squeaky squall! Their voices are loud and high and come from the nose. The sneaky seagull soars through the air and squawks ‘I’m really, really sneaky!’”

• • Invite students to repeat the phrase “I’m a sneaky seagull” in as squeaky a voice as possible. Direct students to pay attention to the air flow out of their nose when they make this squeaky voice.

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PLAYFUL ORCAS

Projecting voice from the chest

Student Instruction: “The Playful Orca travels in large pods or families throughout the ocean hunting for food and playing games with each other.

Orcas need to call out to their family members as they travel to make sure they all stay together. Their voices come from their chest and are very loud so that their family can hear them wherever they are.

Now imagine you are an Orca swimming through the ocean. Look at the vast ocean around you and call out to your pod members in a deep voice from your chest ‘Hello! Where are you?’ And call back to your pod members, ‘I am here! I am with you!’”

• • Invite students to place a hand to their chest as they bellow in a deep voice.

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GRAND WALRUS

Projecting voice from the diaphragm

Student Instruction: “The Grand Walrus is a big creature that can swim gracefully through the water, though on land he likes to just sit in the sun and not be bothered. But today, a sneaky seagull tried to bother him and steal his fish.

Now use your imagination to pretend you are the Grand Walrus being bothered by a seagull. Your voice is going to come from your belly (diaphragm). Get up from where your lying down and say in a voice from deep in your belly, ‘How dare you bother me!’”

• • Invite students to place a hand to their belly as they project their voice.

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GREAT BLUE WHALE

Sustaining/elongating voice projection

Student Instruction: “The Great Blue Whale has a beautiful underwater voice. It sings its songs loudly and its songs can be heard for miles throughout the ocean. The Great Blue Whale also swims slowly and gracefully and its song is very loud, and long and deep. Their voice comes from the depths of the ocean and it is low and loud.

Now imagine you are a Great Blue Whale swimming through the ocean. Look at the vast ocean around you and sing proudly from your chest: ‘I love my ocean! I love my pod! I love to sing!’”

• • Invite students to hold the last word “sing” for as long as possible. Extend the activity by inviting students to sing the words of the Great Blue Whale as slowly as possible, loudly as possible, etc.

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EXPERIENCE

1. Use text evidence or a dictionary to define the new term (both from the unit texts and the theater-based activities).

2. Make a sketch of the word’s meaning.

3. In pairs, students act out the meaning of the words. You may encourage students to write a mini-script for their actions in the space provided, or to silently act out the meaning of the word charades style. You may also prompt students to use the stage area to share their “Act It” sections with the whole class.

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EXTENSION

To distinguish shades of meaning among related words, students work in small groups, each taking on a different though related term, to act out. As a class, students discuss how the acting (and therefore terms) are similar and yet have nuance. This provides students with concrete examples of the small differences between meanings of terms.

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STEP ONE

From Still Image to Physical Movement

After using the Notice and Wonder Chart to analyze the painting The Great Wave off Kanagawa, begin discussing with your students elements of movement that they observe in the image.

• • Sample question: What in the painting looks as though it is moving? How can you tell?
  • Possible responses: The wave looks like it’s going up and it might crash down; the boats look like they are wading in the water and in the big wave; the clouds look like they’re moving across the sky.

Encourage students to continue making inferences about the painting.

• • Sample questions: What might be happening in the water that we can’t see? What creatures might be in the wave that we can’t see with our own eyes? What might those animals be doing in the wave? Are they hunting? Are they caught in the wave?

Extend further: If the wave is going up really high, what do you think might happen next? What do you think might happen to the boats and the people in them if the wave crashes?

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STEP TWO

Activating Imaginations

Once students have observed elements of movement in the painting and have communicated their guesses on what might happen next based on their observations and inferences, prompt them to connect their observations about the painting to their own physicality and experience.

• • Note: For this exercise, it is highly recommended to use calming instrumental background music that could be connected to the ocean. Music is a great way to encourage students to let go of their inhibitions, think openly, and move more freely.

Instruct students to begin Step 2 seated (either at their desks or somewhere on the floor). As the music plays, invite students to close their eyes and take a deep breath to clear their minds and bodies of any tension or stress.

Once students are still and quiet, use prompting questions to help them connect the image of the painting and its different elements to their bodies.

• • Examples of questions to help students connect their physical experience to the painting:
  • Envision the painting in your mind. What elements of movement do you remember seeing in the painting?
  • Use your imagination and imagine that you are in one of the boats in the painting. How might you feel? How does it physically feel in your body to be in the rocking boat and seeing the large wave above you?
  • How does the water feel on your body, your face and your clothes as the boat continues to rock in the water? Is it warm? Is it cold? Can you taste the water? Is it salty?
  • Can you imagine that you are the big wave crashing in the ocean?

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STEP THREE

Stand Up and Move

From their seated position, prompt students to slowly stand up in place. If they are still at their desks, you can ask your students to find a place in your designated staging and movement area. Remind them to do so quietly, with voices off and to keep their focus on the image of the painting in their minds.

• • Note: If your room is small for the number of students you have, you can have your students do this part of the activity one small group at a time.

Once students are standing, instruct them to close their eyes again to bring their focus back in. Invite them to take another deep breath to re-center them mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Instruct your students to open their eyes and first move their bodies like water in place. Moving in place will help students stay grounded and feel less self-conscious in the choices that they make. Next, expand on the questions you asked in Step 2 to help students further connect the painting to their imagination and then put what they imagine into their bodies.

Examples of expanded questions and prompts:

• • Remember what elements of movement you observed in the painting – the wave rising about to crash, the boats rocking in the water, the people in the boat trying to keep their balance and the boat from tipping over.
  • Move your body as if you are a person in one of the boats. Feel the boat rock in the ocean. How does that physically make you feel? Do you enjoy it? Are you seasick? Do you have good balance?
  • Can you change the expression of your face to show how you are feeling on this boat?
  • Use your imagination to pretend you are the wave that is rising out of the ocean and about to crash back down. How can you show with your bodies how a wave moves? How can you move your bodies as if you are large? How does water move in the ocean during a storm? How can you show that with your bodies and your faces?
  • Use your imagination to pretend as if you are an animal in the ocean during the storm. People can’t see you, but you are there. How does this animal move in the wave? How does it act around the boats that are in the ocean?

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STEP FOUR

Explore the Space

Now that your students are feeling more comfortable connecting their imaginations to their bodies, you can begin to prompt them to explore movement throughout the space.

Before students begin moving through the space, prompt them to bring their focus and energy back in first to ensure that they are listening fully to your instructions. Always remind them to be safe with their bodies and to be mindful of others as they move.

• • Sample prompt: When I say “Action,” move through the space as if you are an element of this painting. You can choose to be a person on one of the boats in the ocean. You can choose to move as if you are the wave itself causing the boats to rock back and forth. Maybe you’re an animal in the water that we can’t see in the painting. Think about how you will move through the space and feel that movement in your body.

As students move through the space, make positive narration observations of the choices you see.

Example: I see several big waves crashing on boats. I see people rocking back and forth on the boats trying to keep steady and from falling out. I also see some ocean animals swimming around the boats and in the wave.

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STEP FIVE

Strike a Pose!

As your students are moving through the space, instruct your students to strike a pose representing an element of the painting. You may count down on the beat of the music, stating “1 – 2 – 3 – Pose!”

• • Sample phrasing: I am going to count the beat of the music for you. When I say “Pose”, freeze your bodies in place, as if the water in the painting has frozen with you in it. We’re going to create a snapshot of the painting with our bodies. And we’re going to do this three times in a row – Ready? We’re going to pose in 1-2-3- POSE! 1-2-3 Find another pose! 1-2-3-Find another pose! And release back into the ocean. Move through the ocean again.

You can have them strike a pose several times until they are able to do it quickly, without thinking. The goal is to empower students to trust their instincts when making creative choices.

Remind them throughout this part of the activity that there are no wrong choices.

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STEP SIX

Wrap-Up

Begin prompting your students that the activity is coming to an end. Tie the closing to the image in the artwork.

• • Sample phrasing: And now the storm is passing and the ocean is starting to calm down. The boats are slowly becoming more steady and they stop rocking. The creatures in the sea are wading in the water and relaxing after the storm has ended. Find a space to stand calmly and quietly and bring your focus back in.

Invite students to take another deep breath to help calm their bodies and minds.

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STEP SEVEN

Reflection

Once students are back at their seats, ask them to reflect on their experience either aloud via class/paired discussion or independently in their journals focusing primarily on how movement helped them to further understand the painting. Additionally, they can add the information to their Notice and Wonder Charts.

Many students may begin to naturally make more abstract connections and observations (for example: “I think the edges of the waves look like fingers or hands”). Encourage this divergent thinking with further probing questions.

Before closing the activity, ensure to ask students to review the details they gathered about the artwork to name the central message, or what this text is mainly about. Use this moment as a formative assessment for a central idea.

• • Note: This will also help students prepare for Focusing Question Task 1.

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EXTENSION

Prewriting Activity for Focusing Question Task 1

Focusing Question Task 1 asks students to write a paragraph explaining how art reveals important characteristics of the sea. Students are prompted to choose one of the texts from the module thus far and explain how the artist, poet, or author used details to express a central message about the sea.

Build upon the “Strike a Pose!” activity by providing students with the graphic organizer on the following page. Here students can clarify the central message of the text and gather the details they will use to craft their paragraph.

You may decide to separate your students into groups depending on the text they chose to analyze for the FQT. After naming the central idea, students can create a tableau using supporting details from the text and share their tableaus with the rest of the class on the main stage if desired.

Return to Topic

STEP ONE

From Still Image to Physical Movement

After using the Notice and Wonder Chart to analyze the painting The Great Wave off Kanagawa, begin discussing with your students elements of movement that they observe in the image.

• • Sample question: What in the painting looks as though it is moving? How can you tell?
  • Possible responses: The wave looks like it’s going up and it might crash down; the boats look like they are wading in the water and in the big wave; the clouds look like they’re moving across the sky.

Encourage students to continue making inferences about the painting.

• • Sample questions: What might be happening in the water that we can’t see? What creatures might be in the wave that we can’t see with our own eyes? What might those animals be doing in the wave? Are they hunting? Are they caught in the wave?

Extend further: If the wave is going up really high, what do you think might happen next? What do you think might happen to the boats and the people in them if the wave crashes?

---

STEP TWO

Activating Imaginations

Once students have observed elements of movement in the painting and have communicated their guesses on what might happen next based on their observations and inferences, prompt them to connect their observations about the painting to their own physicality and experience.

• • Note: For this exercise, it is highly recommended to use calming instrumental background music that could be connected to the ocean. Music is a great way to encourage students to let go of their inhibitions, think openly, and move more freely.

Instruct students to begin Step 2 seated (either at their desks or somewhere on the floor). As the music plays, invite students to close their eyes and take a deep breath to clear their minds and bodies of any tension or stress.

Once students are still and quiet, use prompting questions to help them connect the image of the painting and its different elements to their bodies.

• • Examples of questions to help students connect their physical experience to the painting:
  • Envision the painting in your mind. What elements of movement do you remember seeing in the painting?
  • Use your imagination and imagine that you are in one of the boats in the painting. How might you feel? How does it physically feel in your body to be in the rocking boat and seeing the large wave above you?
  • How does the water feel on your body, your face and your clothes as the boat continues to rock in the water? Is it warm? Is it cold? Can you taste the water? Is it salty?
  • Can you imagine that you are the big wave crashing in the ocean?

---

STEP THREE

Stand Up and Move

From their seated position, prompt students to slowly stand up in place. If they are still at their desks, you can ask your students to find a place in your designated staging and movement area. Remind them to do so quietly, with voices off and to keep their focus on the image of the painting in their minds.

• • Note: If your room is small for the number of students you have, you can have your students do this part of the activity one small group at a time.

Once students are standing, instruct them to close their eyes again to bring their focus back in. Invite them to take another deep breath to re-center them mentally, physically, and emotionally.

Instruct your students to open their eyes and first move their bodies like water in place. Moving in place will help students stay grounded and feel less self-conscious in the choices that they make. Next, expand on the questions you asked in Step 2 to help students further connect the painting to their imagination and then put what they imagine into their bodies.

Examples of expanded questions and prompts:

• • Remember what elements of movement you observed in the painting – the wave rising about to crash, the boats rocking in the water, the people in the boat trying to keep their balance and the boat from tipping over.
  • Move your body as if you are a person in one of the boats. Feel the boat rock in the ocean. How does that physically make you feel? Do you enjoy it? Are you seasick? Do you have good balance?
  • Can you change the expression of your face to show how you are feeling on this boat?
  • Use your imagination to pretend you are the wave that is rising out of the ocean and about to crash back down. How can you show with your bodies how a wave moves? How can you move your bodies as if you are large? How does water move in the ocean during a storm? How can you show that with your bodies and your faces?
  • Use your imagination to pretend as if you are an animal in the ocean during the storm. People can’t see you, but you are there. How does this animal move in the wave? How does it act around the boats that are in the ocean?

---

STEP FOUR

Explore the Space

Now that your students are feeling more comfortable connecting their imaginations to their bodies, you can begin to prompt them to explore movement throughout the space.

Before students begin moving through the space, prompt them to bring their focus and energy back in first to ensure that they are listening fully to your instructions. Always remind them to be safe with their bodies and to be mindful of others as they move.

• • Sample prompt: When I say “Action,” move through the space as if you are an element of this painting. You can choose to be a person on one of the boats in the ocean. You can choose to move as if you are the wave itself causing the boats to rock back and forth. Maybe you’re an animal in the water that we can’t see in the painting. Think about how you will move through the space and feel that movement in your body.

As students move through the space, make positive narration observations of the choices you see.

Example: I see several big waves crashing on boats. I see people rocking back and forth on the boats trying to keep steady and from falling out. I also see some ocean animals swimming around the boats and in the wave.

---

STEP FIVE

Strike a Pose!

As your students are moving through the space, instruct your students to strike a pose representing an element of the painting. You may count down on the beat of the music, stating “1 – 2 – 3 – Pose!”

• • Sample phrasing: I am going to count the beat of the music for you. When I say “Pose”, freeze your bodies in place, as if the water in the painting has frozen with you in it. We’re going to create a snapshot of the painting with our bodies. And we’re going to do this three times in a row – Ready? We’re going to pose in 1-2-3- POSE! 1-2-3 Find another pose! 1-2-3-Find another pose! And release back into the ocean. Move through the ocean again.

You can have them strike a pose several times until they are able to do it quickly, without thinking. The goal is to empower students to trust their instincts when making creative choices.

Remind them throughout this part of the activity that there are no wrong choices.

---

STEP SIX

Wrap-Up

Begin prompting your students that the activity is coming to an end. Tie the closing to the image in the artwork.

• • Sample phrasing: And now the storm is passing and the ocean is starting to calm down. The boats are slowly becoming more steady and they stop rocking. The creatures in the sea are wading in the water and relaxing after the storm has ended. Find a space to stand calmly and quietly and bring your focus back in.

Invite students to take another deep breath to help calm their bodies and minds.

---

STEP SEVEN

Reflection

Once students are back at their seats, ask them to reflect on their experience either aloud via class/paired discussion or independently in their journals focusing primarily on how movement helped them to further understand the painting. Additionally, they can add the information to their Notice and Wonder Charts.

Many students may begin to naturally make more abstract connections and observations (for example: “I think the edges of the waves look like fingers or hands”). Encourage this divergent thinking with further probing questions.

Before closing the activity, ensure to ask students to review the details they gathered about the artwork to name the central message, or what this text is mainly about. Use this moment as a formative assessment for a central idea.

• • Note: This will also help students prepare for Focusing Question Task 1.

---

EXTENSION

Prewriting Activity for Focusing Question Task 1

Focusing Question Task 1 asks students to write a paragraph explaining how art reveals important characteristics of the sea. Students are prompted to choose one of the texts from the module thus far and explain how the artist, poet, or author used details to express a central message about the sea.

Build upon the “Strike a Pose!” activity by providing students with the graphic organizer on the following page. Here students can clarify the central message of the text and gather the details they will use to craft their paragraph.

You may decide to separate your students into groups depending on the text they chose to analyze for the FQT. After naming the central idea, students can create a tableau using supporting details from the text and share their tableaus with the rest of the class on the main stage if desired.

Return to Topic