Resources

• 15 pencil cases or bean bags for drama warm up (to be sourced by your school)
• Words for the song Scrappy Little Nothing
• Sheet music for the song Scrappy Little Nothing
• Demo Track for the song Scrappy Little Nothing
• Backing track for the song Scrappy Little Nothing
• Plot Point 1

Summary

This introduction lesson provides material for the teacher to start exploring singing and drama as a means of storytelling with their class. It introduces the concept of full body singing – i.e. using your body, facial expression and vocal tone to create character and convey meaning. It is important to deliver the activities as self-consciously as possible to encourage confidence in the children’s responses and level of engagement.

Session Outline

Drama warm up:

1. Eyes Up, Eyes Down Game.
2. In pairs, children pass an object (bean bag, pencil case etc) to each other. Experiment with different ways of giving and taking the pillow. Make it something very valuable and precious. Make it something vile and distasteful. Make it very heavy. Make it light. Make it prickly. Pretend that it’s a ticking bomb, an injured cat, a hot plate. Discuss how you used your body and face to show each thing.

Music warm up:

1. Learn the 8 Warm Up.
2. Angelina is the heroine of our story and she works in a fashion shop. Imagine you are working in a clothes factory. Our song is about the things you need to do your work. Learn Angelina’s work song.

Happy Birthday instant mini opera

Our plan is to create our own dramatic presentation of Cinderella. To do that we need to understand how we can use our whole body, face and voice as tools for storytelling.

1. As a group ask the children to sing Happy Birthday to ensure that they are familiar with the song as if it is their best friend’s birthday.
2. Now ask them to sing Happy Birthday sadly, as if at a party but no one else came.
3. Divide the class into groups of 5-6. Give each a scenario for their Happy Birthday:
   1. Excitement
   2. Help, there is a fire
   3. Confused
   4. As a lullaby trying not to wake the baby

Each group to perform their Happy Birthday for the rest of the class and the class identify the moods and what about the use of the voices, faces and bodies showed this mood.

Who knows the story of Cinderella? Do you know that versions of the story have existed for 2,000 years? Each version adds or changes some part of the story.

Learning to sing Scrappy Little Nothing using demo track the and sing along to the backing track.

Tell the children that this song sets the mood of their opera.

Conclude by reading Plot Point 1.

Cross curricular option

Research the history of the story of Cinderella from different cultures and countries.

The story of Cinderella is a fable of good triumphing in the end. What is a fable?