LESSON PLANNING ARTICLE
"Giggle Poetry" Theater
Subjects
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Arts & Humanities
o Language Arts
o Literature
o Visual Arts
Grades
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3-5
6-8
Brief Description
Students perform the "Giggle Poetry Theater" scripts that are available for free online.
Objectives
Students will
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plan a performance.
gather or create props, sets, and costumes to use in their performances.
present their poems with great expression and humor.
Keywords
poetry, theater, funny, humorous, poem, silly
Materials Needed
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"Poetry Theater" scripts from the GigglePoetry.com Web site
props, sets, and costumes (students will create these from available materials or gather them from home)
Lesson Plan
Have you taken a look around the Giggle Poetry Web site? There you will find hundreds of poems written by
some of America's best-loved children's poets. And they're absolutely free! Explore the site, explore the lesson
ideas, and share the interviews with poets with your students.
But be sure that you don't miss…
the Poetry Theater section. There you'll find more than a dozen simple poem-scripts. Take a look, print them out.
Most of the poems have two, maybe three, characters. Assign roles to students and have them work together to
collect the props they will need, rehearse the poems, and present them to their classmates. Giggle "Poetry
Theater" is an excellent and fun tool for teaching kids to read with expression.
Here is a list of poems in Giggle Poetry's "Poetry Theater" Collection. We have provided you with links to the
poems and a list of the characters in each poem. The notes next to each character are intended to help you
assign roles; you might not want to assign a large role to one of your weak readers. Besides, some of the
smaller roles call for "Poetry Theater" superstars!
You might set the tone for this activity with the "Poetry Theater" poem "Empty-Headed". Print out the poem and
cut the roles into slips. Have students read the roles in order. Then they all join in on the last two lines of the
poem.
More Scripts, One at a Time...
"Lucky Trade"
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"Ish"
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Mother - small role
Child - medium role
Narrator - medium role
Grandmother - small role
Frederick - small role
"Samantha Cinderella Scott"
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Doctor - large role
Narrator, Samantha - combine these two tiny roles; the student can create two fun voices for the different
roles
"Rules for the Bus"
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Child - large role
Driver - large role
"Get Out of Bed!"
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Mom - medium role
Child - medium role
"Bad-Hair Day"
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Student - small role
Classmates, Teacher - combine these two tiny roles
"Turn Off the TV!"
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Child - large role
Mother, Father - combine these two tiny roles; the student can use a deep voice for the father and
another tone for the mother
"I Went to the Doctor"
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Child - large role
Doctor - medium role for a strong reader
"I Call First!"
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Student 1 - medium role
Student 2 - medium role
Student 3 - medium role
"My Thumbies"
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Child - large role
Mother - medium role
"My Doggy Ate My Homework"
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Student - very large role
Teacher - tiny role (you, the teacher, might work with this student and play the role of the teacher)
"My Dog Has No Manners"
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Child - large role
Mom - tiny role
The poems listed above have a total of 25 roles, enough for every student in most classrooms to have a role. If
you need additional poem scripts, you'll find a handful more back on the main Giggle Poetry "Poetry Theater"
page.
Extend the Lesson
Have students explore the extensive collection of poems on GigglePoetry.com to find a poem they would like to
transform into a "Giggle Poetry Theater" presentation. This time, let students create the scripts!
Assessment
You might ask students to rate the best poetry performances. They can give "Poetry Theater" Oscars to the
teams that did the best overall job, the most dramatic (aka funny) readings, and played their roles best.
Additional awards might go to the teams that created the best sets, best props, and best costumes. In short,
come up with an award to give to every "Poetry Theater" team!
Lesson Plan Source
EducationWorld.com
National Standards
FINE ARTS: Theatre
GRADES K - 4
NA-T.K-4.2 Acting By Assuming Roles and Interacting In Improvisations
NA-T.K-4.3 Designing by Visualizing and Arranging Environments for Classroom Dramatizations
NA-T.K-4.4 Directing By Planning Classroom Dramatizations
GRADES 5 - 8
NA-T.5-8.2 Acting By Assuming Roles and Interacting In Improvisations
NA-T.5-8.3 Designing by Visualizing and Arranging Environments for Classroom Dramatizations
NA-T.5-8.4 Directing By Planning Classroom Dramatizations
FINE ARTS: Visual Arts
GRADES K - 4
NA-VA.K-4.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
NA-VA.K-4.3 Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
GRADES 5 - 8
NA-VA.5-8.1 Understanding and Applying Media, Techniques, and Processes
NA-VA.5-8.3 Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
LANGUAGE ARTS: English
GRADES K - 12
NL-ENG.K-12.1 Reading for Perspective
NL-ENG.K-12.2 Reading for Understanding
NL-ENG.K-12.4 Communication Skills
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