Add a Little Dramatic Play to Learning
Play Scripts for School
Most of the time play scripts for school use, whether they be for puppets or human actors, will be created by the students or with the aid of the teacher as a natural follow-up to various areas of the curriculum. Here are some ideas for drama play to get you started. Feel free to use the scripts for classroom or drama club performances.
More ideas for student Writing ..............
Tales from China, India and Afghanistan are available for download in English and French versions. E-books include stories, play scripts and activities.
Language Arts
- retell well known stories - Fairy Tales, Fables, Myths or parts of a new story or novel
(ad lib or have students write scripts individually, with a partner or as a group) - practice for learning a second language - short conversations with new vocabulary and phrases, retell familiar Fairy Tales, Fables, Myths, fsl skits
- practise spelling or new vocabulary - students create a skit using all the words in the new list or theme (must have written forms of most difficult words incorporated into the skit on props, clothing or scenery)
- teach script writing - have students change a short story into script format (write character descriptions, scene directions, add stage cues ... use a Blocking Sheet, change to dialogue, lists for costumes, props, scenery etc.)
Math
- Equation Skits (game in which students write and present mini skits to illustrate mathematical equations) It's a Numbers Game
Science
- present the lives of famous scientists and have students write a short play to highlight important events in their lives and/or dramatise their "Eureka" moments. Depending on the science involved, it works well if students can actually perform an experiment during the play.
- life without ....... have students write and perform a play showing what life might be like without a certain invention, discovery or fact of nature
Social Studies
- dramatise events in history - signing of the Magna Carta, first meeting between explorers and native people etc.
- timeline of major events - assign specific events to groups of students producing a multi-act play
Try a free musical play script for Canadian history.
Social Interactions
One effective way to deal with issues of social behaviour is to have students act out situations in which they may find themselves. While this is often done as an impromptu re-enactment of an event, I have found that asking students to write a complete script and prepare a formal presentation gives more opportunity for depth of thought on the problem and often leads to wiser resolutions.
Puppets work particularly well for these presentations because students can remove themselves further from the possible emotions and feelings that could arise.
Sample Play Scripts for School
Feel free to print and try out some of these play scripts for school.
William Tell - a short script that would work well with either puppets or people and can be used as part of a music focus on the William Tell Overture.
Little Red Rap - originally written for a camp setting, this is a fractured fairy tale suitable for older students to perform
It's a Numbers Game - sample of an equation skit game that combines story telling, script writing, acting and math skills
A Sticky Problem - a short skit telling the story of the invention of the Band-Aid
Play Scripts with Activities
Yi, the Celestial Archer and the Ten Suns - 2 versions based on the traditional Chinese Tale
Monkey Tales Prologue - play script and narrative of the opening story of the series
