Overview
Key Staff
Classroom Teacher
Key Skills
Making Art:
Performance Skills and Techniques
Global Connections:
Connecting to History and Culture
Summary
In this lesson, students will learn about what life was like for early American pioneers. After reading about pioneers in Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie, students will conduct independent research on one aspect of pioneer life. They will write a letter to a friend revealing five things they have learned about their assigned topic. This lesson culminates in the creation of tableaux depicting various pioneer scenes.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
- Compare and contrast lifestyles of the pioneers with those of today
- Conduct independent internet research about pioneer living
- Create tableaux depicting scenes from pioneer life
Teaching Approach
Arts Integration
Teaching Methods
- Research
- Multimedia Instruction
- Role Playing
Assessment Type
Informal Assessment
Preparation
What You'll Need
Materials
- Video depicting pioneer life, such as
Sarah Plain and Tall,The Legend of Davy Crockett, Little House on the Big Prairie, or Old Yeller
(optional; see Teacher References section for some suggested recordings)
- Various props for tableaux of pioneer living (i.e., bonnets, farming tools, brooms, etc.)
Resources:
Required Technology
Lesson Setup
Teacher Background
Teachers should:
- Have general knowledge of pioneer life
- Be familiar with tableaux
Prior Student Knowledge
Students should know that the westward expansion of the U.S. involved families going to settle in undeveloped, often unpopulated, areas.
Physical Space
Auditorium
Grouping
- Large Group Instruction
- Small Group Instruction
Staging
- Prepare slips of paper describing scenarios for tableaux: for example: two friends meeting in the street, a mother and child in the middle of an argument, a policeman chasing after a robber, etc.
- Cue up sections of video(s) if using
next: Instruction >
< previous: Overview
Instruction
Resources in Reach
Here are the resources you'll need for each activity, in order of instruction.
Engage
Introduction
Tableaux vivants, “living pictures” in French, are scenes in which actors are posed without movement or sound. The drama of the scene is conveyed with props, costumes, and the physical positions and expressions of the actors.
In this lesson, students will create tableaux showing life among the pioneers, the American settlers who participated in the Westward expansion of the 19th century.
Engage
1. Read the class chapters 6, 8, and 10 from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie, which describe the Ingalls' family life and home, and Mary's and Laura's chores. Distribute the 'Vocabulary' handout from within the Resource Carousel to the students.
2. You may wish to show excerpts of a film (or various films) depicting pioneer life, such as Sarah Plain and Tall, The Legend of Davy Crockett, Little House on the Big Prairie, or Old Yeller.
3. Lead a discussion about the hardships of pioneer life. Discussion points might include:
- Lack of plumbing, electricity, other conveniences
- Lack of material comforts; having to grow or make all household goods including food and clothing
- Isolation from other people
- Wild animals
- Lack of health care and medicines
- Chores, such as gardening, tending animals, making food and clothing
- Lack of schools, roads, mail delivery, and other elements of urban infrastructure
- Limited protection from natural hardships such as cold winters, tornadoes, drought
4. As a class, have students begin a chart to compare and contrast life today with the life of a pioneer.
Build
1.
Have students research one of the following aspects of pioneer life:
- Recreation and entertainment
- Preparing and cooking food
- Farming
- Jobs (i.e., farmers, laborers, miners, ranchers)
- Chores at home
- School
- Effects of settlement on Native Americans
- Homes (i.e., sod houses, log cabins, homemade furniture)
- Transportation (i.e., covered wagons, stagecoaches, horses)
2. Divide the class into small groups so that three or four students are researching each of the above topics. Reserve class time in the computer lab and/or assign research to students for homework. The following Web sites will be useful for this activity:
3. Have students write a one-page letter to a friend in the character of a pioneer, focusing on the topic area they have researched. Inform students of the proper format for writing letters. Each letter should reveal at least five new things students have learned about the topic. Remind students that they must use proper grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Apply
1. Discuss the ways people show emotions with their faces and bodies. Ask students to model what an angry person looks like, as well as a sad person, a happy person, etc.
2. Introduce tableaux to students. Explain that tableaux is a dramatic convention in which individuals use their bodies to create a frozen scene that expresses actions, locations, feelings or situations.
3. Initiate two-person tableaux with the students. Pass out scenarios to volunteer students and ask them to pose as if they are in that scenario, but they cannot speak or move. They should not reveal the scenario to the rest of the class. (Students could act out the following, for example: two friends meeting in the street, a mother and child in the middle of an argument, a policeman chasing after a robber, etc.) After each scenario, the class should try to guess the scene that the two students are trying to depict.
4. After completing a few scenarios, talk with students about which tableaux were effective and why. Point out good examples of emotion conveyed through the body.
5. Have students create tableaux that reveal different aspects of pioneer life. Have students return to the small groups in which they conducted their research. Each team will depict one scene, which should reveal several aspects of everyday life for pioneers. Students should make an effort to portray a character, rather than just showing an action.
6.
Give students time to prepare a monologue. Tell students that once all the characters are in position and "frozen," you will tap individuals on the shoulder, one by one. This tap signifies that the individual should recite a short monologue describing their actions and how they feel about their action. Give students time to write, or to practice orally with a partner, their monologues.
7. Encourage students to use props that will reveal more information about the scenes they are trying to depict.
Reflect
1. Update the chart developed at the beginning of the class with new information learned in this lesson.
Extending the Learning
Have students record their thoughts in a journal from the point of view of a pioneer child.
next: Standards >
< previous: Preparation
Standards
The National Standards For Arts Education:
Theater
Grade K-4 Theater Standard 2: Acting by assuming roles and interacting in improvisations
Grade K-4 Theater Standard 4: Directing by planning classroom dramatizations
Theater
Grade K-4 Theater Standard 5: Researching by finding information to support classroom dramatizations
Grades K-4 History
Grades K-4 History Standard 1:
Understands family life now and in the past, and family life in various places long ago
Grades K-4 History Standard 2:
Understands the history of a local community and how communities in North America varied long...
Grades K-4 History Standard 5:
Understands the causes and nature of movements of large groups of people into and within the...
Language Arts
Language Arts Standard 1:
Uses the general skills and strategies of the writing process
Language Arts Standard 3:
Uses grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions
Language Arts Standard 4:
Gathers and uses information for research purposes
Language Arts Standard 6:
Uses reading skills and strategies to understand and interpret a variety of literary texts
