Hangar Theatre Homeschool program
Creative Drama to explore Social Studies units
By Helen T. Clark of the Hangar Theatre
Did you know:
~ Drama is included as a Literature Text Type for K-5
~researchers believe learning is 50% emotional and 50% cognitive?
~In order for students to meet core curriculum requirements, they need to possess Social-Emotional
Skills?

Label and recognize own and others’ emotions

Analyze emotions and how they affect others

Evaluate others’ emotional reactions

Reflect on how current choices affect future
Grades 3-5 core curriculum hits
NYS Writing Standards:
Text Types and Purposes
3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique,
descriptive details, and clear event sequences. (3-5)
Grade 3 Students
a. Establish a situation and
introduce a narrator
and/or characters;
organize an event
sequence that unfolds
naturally.
b. Use dialogue and
descriptions of actions,
thoughts, and feelings to
Grade 4 Students
a. Orient the reader by
establishing a situation
and introducing a
narrator and/or
characters; organize an
event sequence that
unfolds naturally.
b. Use dialogue and
description to develop
Grade 5 Students
a. Orient the reader by
establishing a situation
and introducing a
narrator and/ or
characters; organize an
event sequence that
unfolds naturally.
b. Use narrative
techniques, such as
develop experiences and
events or show the
response of characters
to situations
c. Use temporal words and
phrases to signal event
order.
d. Provide a sense of
closure
experiences and events
or show the responses of
characters to situations.
c. Use a variety of
transitional words and
phrases to manage the
sequence of events.
d. Use concrete words and
phrases and sensory
details to convey
experiences and events
precisely.
e. Provide a conclusion
that follows form the
narrated experiences or
events.
dialogue, description,
and pacing, to develop
experiences and events
or show the responses of
characters to situations.
c. Use a variety of
transitional words,
phrases, and clauses to
manage the sequence of
events.
d. Use concrete words and
phrases and sensory
details to convey
experiences and events
precisely.
e. Provide a conclusion
that follows from the
narrated experiences or
events.
Core Curriculum Requirement: Create and present a play in response to a particular author or theme
studied in class Language Arts 3-5, page 42)
Social Studies: Native American Groups
Using 4th grade core curriculum book The Iroquois: The Six Nations Confederacy by Mary Englar,
as a starting point, achieve the following: students will use drama and playwriting to touch on the
following components of grade 3-5 curriculum:
Grade 3: Communities around the World
3.4 Each community or culture has a unique history, including heroic figures, traditions, and holidays.
3.4a People in world communities use legends, folktales, oral histories, biographies, and historical
narratives to transmit cultural histories from one generation to the next.
Students will examine legends, folktales, oral histories, biographies, and historical narratives to
learn about the important individuals and events of each selected world community.
Students will examine symbols of each selected world community. (pg. 40-41)
Grade 4 New York State and Local History and Government
4.2: Native American Groups and the Environment: Native American groups, chiefly the Iroquois
(Haudenosaunee) and Algonquian-speaking groups, inhabited the region that became New York.
Native American Indians interacted with the environment and developed unique cultures. (Standards:
1, 3, 5; Themes: ID, MOV, GEO, GOV,)
4.2c Each Native American group developed a unique way of life with a shared set of customs, beliefs,
and values.
Grade 5
The Western Hemisphere
5.1 Early Peoples of the Americas: The first humans in the Western Hemisphere modified their
physical environment as well as adapted to their environment. Their interactions with their
environment led to various innovations and to the development of unique cultures. (Standards 1,2,3;
Themes: ID, MOV, TCC, GEO)
5.1c Early peoples living together in settlements developed shared cultures with customs, beliefs,
values, and languages that give identity to the group. These early peoples also developed patterns of
organization and governance to manage their society.
Students will select one Native American culture group form the United States, one from
Canada, and one from the Caribbean region and compare and contrast them by examining how each of
these groups adapted to and used the environment and its resources to meet their basic needs, and by
examining elements of their culture, including customs, beliefs, values, languages, and patterns of
organization and governance. (pg. 72)