Content Area Being Integrated: Mathematics and Theatre ARTS
ARTS DISCIPLINE
Standards Addressed in
the Integrated
lesson/Activity
Theatre Arts:
2.1 Demonstrate skills in
pantomime, tableau, and
improvisation.
Student Objectives in
each discipline
Students will be able to
do pantomime, tableau
and improvise.
OTHER CONTENT
AREA
Mathematics:
1.OA.A.1
Operations & algebraic
thinking; Represent and
solve problems involving
addition and subtraction.
within 20 to solve word
problems
Students will be able to
represent problems
involving addition and
subtraction within 20 to
solve word problems.
Integrated Student objective: At the end of the integrated activity,
students will be able to use pantomime, tableau and improvisation to
represent and solve word problems involving addition and subtraction
within 20.
Essential Questions: What do the words pantomime, tableau and
improvisation mean? What is the symbolic representation of an
addition or subtraction math story.
Materials/Resources: A variety of math “stories” or word problems,
a drum, a stage area.
Lesson/Activity Description: The teacher will tell the class that
they will use pantomime, improvisation and tableau to solve addition
and subtraction word problems. The teacher will explain and chart the
meaning of all three words. The teacher will read one addition story
such as 7 birds sat in a tree. 3 more joined them. Next the teacher
will have the students identify the first addend and the second. Then
the teacher will chart the class responses and draw a picture to go
with the story. The teacher will choose volunteers to
pantomime/improvise being the 7 birds and the tree. Then she will tap
the drum to freeze the tableau. Then, the teacher will have volunteers
pantomime/improvise being the 3 birds that join them. Then the
teacher will tap the drum to freeze the tableau.The teacher will now
ask: How many birds are there in all? The teacher will finish the
symbolic representation by charting the sum of the problem. Next,
the teacher will follow a similar procedure for a subtraction math
story/problem. Then, the teacher will divide the class into two groups.
The teacher will give one group an addition problem and the other a
subtraction problem. Each group will do a tableau of their math
story, while the other group is the audience. before doing the
tableaus, the teacher will tell the class to pay close attention to the
tableaus so that they can identify the sum or difference of the story.
The teacher will also tell the groups that they must assign a
secretary to write the story or word problem into its symbolic
representation and draw a picture.The teacher will also ask the
groups to assign a speaker to explain the group’s word problem. The
drum will be used to signal each group to freeze in their tableau. After
each tableau, the secretary of the group will show the class the
symbolic representation of the word problem while the speaker
explains it. The class will discuss whether the symbolic
representation is correct or not. The teacher will have the class do
think-pair-share to review the meaning of tableau, pantomime and
improvisation. Then the students will take a paper and fold in three
parts. The teacher will ask for volunteers to come up and create a
tableau of either a subtraction or addition word problem while the rest
of the class records the symbolic representation of the word problem
and draws a picture of the word problem. The teacher will repeat this
process a total to three times so that the students have represented
symbolically tree word problems. The teacher will grade this final
product.