Building a Respectful Classroom Community through Artistic Expression

Regina Mulvena

Introduction

Kathleen H. Wilbur Elementary School is located in the Colonial School District in New Castle County Delaware. Our school serves grades K-5th with a total of over 1,100 students. Wilbur services students with special needs, as well as ELL students. We are also in our second year of offering the Spanish Emersion Program beginning in Kindergarten. Wilbur Elementary has an excellent staff dedicated to inspiring Wilbur students to excellence. Student success is our goal! In 2015, Wilbur was chosen as a National Model School through the International Center for Leadership in Education. We were also selected as a State of Delaware Recognition School by the Department of Education—one of 13 schools in the state.

During my years of teaching, from age’s birth to 5th grade, I have noticed an overwhelming amount of disregard in children’s respect for others. I have not only seen it first-hand in the classroom, but have watched children and adolescents in our society show a lack of respect for others, especially those in authoritative roles. Children can be extremely cruel, inconsiderate and unsympathetic to other children and/or adults. Children are very influenced by their peers and adults in both positive and negative ways. Appropriate social interactions are an important life skill that should be modeled for children. These appropriate social interactions are taught to children at a young age. In my experience, I have had children who have not been exposed to positive social interactions with other children. They have been taught that if someone is mean to you, be mean back. If someone puts their hands on you, put hands on back, if someone yells at you, you yell back. The ‘eye for an eye’ mentality has been taken to a whole new level in our society. Children are not being taught the importance of friendship, cooperation, and forgiveness. This is taught through social and emotional experiences both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. Cooperation and positive interactions builds a classroom of trust and mutual respect. With a mutual respect amongst the class, problematic behaviors will decrease. Shannon Langland stated in the Journal of Behavioral Education that creating a positive and friendly learning environment has shown to inhibit antisocial behavior1.

Rationale

Within our school, the administration has developed an environment that focuses on ‘creative consequences’, rather than the dreaded word ‘punishment.’ We believe that relationships are key in building a positive learning environment where students are inspired to learn. We first wanted to provide students with adult guidance, where they are encouraged to creatively solve the problem in their own way without causing a negative impact on others. We also strive to preserve and/or enhance a student’s self-respect and dignity. Students that have self-worth, take more ownership of their actions, and in turn, will value others. When we build a classroom based on trust and mutual respect, the children begin to take ownership of themselves and their environment.

This year our primary focus of our support team is to guide students to change their mindset, address the problems/situations, and be ready to learn. The mindset that will allow them to grow as a student and as a supportive peer will be developed around these key expectations:

These expectations are meant not only for behavioral purposes, but also academic. For students to be successful learners, they must feel safe and respected in their classroom and school. Students will recognize that they will make mistakes both academically and behaviorally, but will have learned the essential language and actions required to correct such mistakes.

Since most of my students are experiencing the school setting for the first time, the benefits are endless for molding their little minds. When a student comes into the classroom during kindergarten, they are unaware of the expectations that are required of them. It is our job as teachers to provide them with the tools to develop those appropriate classroom behaviors. This at times comes easy, other times, it is a major challenge. Our job as teachers, is to find the best ways to teach our students, both academically and behaviorally.

Kindergarten is a time for exploration and imagination! Students are using their senses, their environment, and each other to learn and explore the world around them. This is an age where children are exploding with and open to a variety of expressive styles of learning. In my experience, most students enjoy learning and playing with the idea of dramatic play, movement and art. These three artistic expressions allow for an endless amount of opportunity for students to learn.

Students will learn and explore new types of vocabulary that help to enhance the idea of community and relationships. They will discuss the word meaning and the different ways of expressing them with the help of puppet making and the kindness board. Students will also understand the importance of those key words and begin to act them out during reader's theatre or role play with a peer. Students will then begin to work together within the classroom to enhance teamwork and build community. The students will explore many questions such as what is respect, what is friendship and what does it look like, and how do we respect our classroom, community and our peers? These questions will support the standard we use for our social studies curriculum. The Kindergarten Civic Standard that we implement in our school is where students will understand that positions of authority, whether elected, appointed, or familial, carry responsibilities and should be respected. The four main focuses of respect will be respect for yourself, others, authority, and the environment. These concepts will also be supported through our growth mindset expectations that are implemented in our school.

Literature will become an important aspect of the unit, using books that will help the students make connects. I plan on using a variety of books that touch on my four main focuses of

respect. These are some of the books that I plan on using or that can be supplemented into the unit:

Concepts

Artist techniques and methods being implemented into the education of young children can make a dramatic impact. In education, we often ask ourselves, how do we get students to communicate with each other? Communication is key in any healthy relationship, whether you are 5 years old or 55 years old. Getting children to commutate with one another and getting them to communicate in an appropriate manner is where teachers need to find more creative methods of implementation. The book Culturally Relevant Arts Education for Social Justice stated that through the arts and drama we can awaken the imagination by engaging the body with energy by reconnecting with them and engaging energy with others 2. This concept will help to broaden my student’s awareness of others and give them opportunities to take risks. It is our job as an educator to take our students to a more rigorous level of learning and provide them with the tools to be successful. We cannot do this unless our students feel confident in themselves by taking those risks in their own learning.

In seminar, we began by learning about dance and movement. I felt as though those two art expressions were a great starting point for my unit. I feel as though, with children, we need to provide more opportunities to express oneself and allow them to move freely in the classroom setting. Using our body to express ourselves in a more appropriate and impactful manner, will allow for many opportunities for growth.

Drama

Drama is a critical way to teach children, both in the general education setting, as well as the special education setting. Research from the article, The Use of Methods and Techniques of

Drama Education with Kindergarten Teacher, finds that drama provides children with a creative way of achieving experience, knowledge while developing personality, social, and artistic skills3. Drama is used today to help students develop a better sense of self. Drama and theatre meets the needs of students and helps to develop student’s imagination, problem-solving skills, and communication abilities. When used in the classroom setting, students are able to develop a stronger imagination by exploring ideas and techniques that are not commonly expressed. Drama also strengthen their communication skills by using different varieties of expressive languages. Strong communication skills tend to make an individual successful at problem-solving and tackling the realities of life.

During seminar, Lynette Overby has provided us with such a great foundation, which has directed my unit in such a positive manner. Drama art forms that will be used in the unit are pantomime, improvisation, and puppetry. My plan is to incorporate literature into my unit to help supplement and enhance my lessons to provide my students with more background and content on the concepts of respect.

Pantomime

The other drama form that I plan on using is pantomime, which has many varieties. Pantomime is a form at acting that requires one to express themselves with only movement or gestures, without any words. Another form is narrative pantomime, where one is given a scenario or short story and one if expected to act out the task. Students gain a great deal of skills, such as self-expression and communication through language and gestures. Pantomime is where the students can build confidence and the ability to speak and cooperate with one another. Peer interactions are strengthened as well as social skills are developed. Non-verbal skills are extremely important for younger students to practice. People learn to read others by understanding non-verbal skills. When your non-verbal signals do not match up with the words you are expressing, trust is not built thus causing tension and confusion. Pantomime is a great tool to use in teaching students how to read and understand others emotions through body language and facial expressions. If an individual can read a person by looking at them, they will gain a stronger sense of understanding when communicating through more verbal means. When introducing drama, pantomime is the first place to begin. Pantomime is an easy and comfortable method of getting students into the idea of performing, as well as reading the audience and peers. Pantomime is a combination of motor, cognitive, and affective learning in an integrated whole.

During seminar, we explored the technique of pantomime. Lynette suggested that we make use of space, time, and force, as well as staying focusing on the task at hand. The activity we performed in seminar was called ‘Mime it Down the Alley’, which is like ‘Telephone’. The students who are divided in groups and standing in a straight line, are facing backward except for the first person. There is no talking at any point of the game. The first person in each line is given an object to mime (i.e. computer, lawn mower, and toaster). The first person taps the second person in line on the shoulder so that they turn and face each other. The first person mimes the object, and then when the second person thinks they know what they are miming, they turn and do the same to the person behind them. This goes on until they get to the last person in line. The objective of this type of pantomime is to use clear and purposeful movements every

time, to ensure that the object stays the same. Once the object has been mimed to the last person, that person comes to the front and tells the leader the name of the object.

A pantomime activity can be taught very easily to a group of younger student. This is where I plan to begin with my students. By starting with an imaginary object that you can hold, encourage the student to try to imagine, see, feel and smell the object. Have them think about what it would feel like to hold it, how much would it weigh and how would it fit inside their hands? Ask them to think of different ways to use the object. Once they feel comfortable with the object, they can then pass it to another person in the group. Explain that when you pass the object, remember how it feels and pass it in a manner that would be appropriate. This activity would be a great introduction to students on how to use their imagination and prior knowledge of a common object. Narrative pantomime is based on children play in a more spontaneous manner, which is more relevant to kindergarten. The teacher gives a narrative story and the student pantomime the parts. I see this to be the direction I take my class. Providing them with a story or a part, such as, ‘You see a friend having a hard time tying their shoe and begin to cry, what would you?’ Putting the students inside the situation and then having them express their actions or next step to the class, will help the student to better understand exactly what emotions they would express in such a situation.

Improvisation

Improvisation is a key element of drama education, where the performer is unprepared, which requires a spontaneous response. This provides students with a new and rich perception and experience. Through improvisation, students can gain new views and experiences for many different situations. As stated in the Drama/Theatre Framework, “improvisation is a creative, cooperative, and spontaneous dramatic response to rapidly changing and unanticipated dramatic stimuli”4. We see this more often than we might think with children during free play or during social interactive play. Children often develop their own situations or scenarios without even realizing, and encourage others to act out their own perceptions. This is a creative drama and is an essential part of child development which can be used in the classroom, as well as academic areas. This type of drama helps to “establish and build trust, cooperation, and support among the children”5 .According to Viola Spolin (1974), the core of improvisation is intuitive activity, which aids in solving real life problems6. Children need a considerable amount of guidance when learning how to deal with the realities of life lessons, such as sharing, corporation, and respect. It is not uncommon for our teachers to be sole educators our youth in these very important aspects of life. Therefore, it is important for them to find relevant and effective methods of instruction to ensure that children understand how to relate to one another.

There are many strategies that can be used in improvisation, per the California Department of Education, as well as materials that can stimulate idea during the creative process in the classroom. Those materials are:

During seminar, we had the opportunity to perform an improvisation and then assess others in their improvisations. We began our improvisation with five basic acting tools and skills to keep in mind, where we were instructed to use our imagination/mind, voice, body, cooperation, and concentration. Lynette made five suggestions before beginning of improvisation:

When in group improvisation, listen to the other members in the group. During the scene, make sure there is no verbal blocking. The improvisation activity that we performed in seminar was group collaboration. The group was asked to pick an initial situation. The performers were to build a scene that was realistic to the situation. The scene needed to include some sort of complication and suspense. The actors needed to show early on that they want something, and that there are obstacles standing in their way. Finally, the scene needed to have a conclusion.

In my classroom, I feel as though, if we spend a great deal of time with pantomiming, they will have built up the skills and confidence to perform an improvisation activity. I see using this with my students to help them demonstrate a specific feeling or character trait. Since we are discussing respect and how to display it upon others, this will be a great time to give them a scenario such a boy not sharing a toy, and have them show the right and wrong way to treat another person. Once they understand how to pantomime, I believe that the idea of improvisation will come easy. Role playing is like this idea, as younger students are often very good at pretend play; therefore, this will be a successful task for them.

Puppetry

Puppetry is a very old art form that has been used in many cultures for a variety of different purposes. It has been used for many, by many, for communication purposes, especially with young children. Children are extremely intrigued by puppets and tend to give in and believe in the realistic personification that puppets take on. Puppetry can be a major game changer when teaching children about how to accept and understand others that are different than themselves. There are many advantages to using puppets in education and can be used for both adults and young learners. In the article, The Role of Puppets in Kindergarten Education in Cyprus, it states that per Jean Piaget’s theory, puppets play help young children develop creative and cognitive skills by forcing them to use their imagination8. Puppets also help teachers and children to grow, relate and learn from one another, providing students with an environment that allows them to feel comfortable9.Children often relate to puppets and come to believe in them, providing them with opportunities to express their thoughts and feelings openly. Puppets can be a great way to teach students to learn how to work and cooperate with others. Drama can be expressed through

puppets and can be used to role play. Children are able to play as someone else or be somebody, which provides many opportunities to see new perspectives.

Puppetry is a technique that can be used for a wide range of purposes within education. It is seen in all curriculum content areas, as well as counseling and building relationships. During my unit, I will use puppets to help student communicate their ideas, thoughts, and feeling to each other, as well as to better understand the other's point of view. During seminar, we learned about many types of puppets, such as solid puppets, sock puppets, stick puppets, and paper bag puppets. These puppets were able to be made within the classroom with a variety of materials. Allowing the students, the opportunity to create, gives their puppet a more personal and emotional connection to the student and the content. Once the puppet is constructed, it must be given a purpose or action. This is where the students are able to express themselves through the puppet, giving the puppet life-like characteristics. Lynette also discussed with us the importance of providing our puppet with a convincing characterization. Making sure the puppeteer is speaking clearly, is not being hidden behind another, and ensuring that the voice is strong, eliminating any laughing or jiggling. When the characterization of the puppet is decided, thinking about the stage or theater will allow for a more concrete setting. There are many ways this can be set up in the classroom, such as with a blanket, table, box, or doorway. Once these elements are finalized, the puppeteer will need to practice how the puppet will move within the scene. The puppet should develop movement such as shaking wildly and laughing heartily, swaying from side to side, walk dizzy, and groan, or trip over something and fall with a yell. These movements will be accompanied with related dialogue for the specific role the puppet will play. This will be perfected only with practice, making sure that all parts and roles are done in a crisp and realistic manner.

Like any performance, there is always a critic at the end, or an evaluation. During our seminar, Lynette evaluated us with a rubric that scored between a 0 and 5. There were 9 parts, puppet posture, were there clear and meaningful finger, wrist, and arm movements, freezing when the other puppets were talking, was there a good use of props, a good use of voices, meaningful movements on important words, convincing characterization, effective dialogue, and a clean development of story. This evaluation was just one of the many that could be used to gage the effectiveness of the performance.

Classroom Activities

Lesson 1: What is respect?

Essential Question: What does respect mean? How do we show respect?

Artistic Expression: Creative movement and role-playing

Warm-up: Begin by discussing with the students our classroom rules and expectations. These rules have been taught since the first day of school, therefore they should be used and familiar to the students. There are creative motions which help the students to better understand and relate to

the rule. We will perform these movements as a class once, then with our shoulder partner a second time. The rules and actions are as follows:

Activating strategy: Begin the lesson by reading the book Chrysanthemum to the class. Before reading, discuss what we like or dislike about our own name. If they could have another name, what would it be? Have the student do a timed- pair- share and with their face partner discuss each question. Once they have discussed, read them the story. While reading, discuss some of the ways Chrysanthemum might be feeling and use facial expressions and body language to illustrate those feelings and have the student mimic your expressions. Have the students take notice to other student’s body and facial expressions. Have the students reflect on these questions: Why do you think Chrysanthemum’s classmates teased her about her name? How do you think she felt? What would you have done if you were Chrysanthemum? Did her classmates treat her with respect? Where they kind to her? Did they show that they cared about her?

Vocabulary: respect, disrespect, role-playing,

Lesson: Begin the lesson by asking the student about the word respect. Have the word respect on the Smartboard or on chart paper. Discuss with the students about the word respect. What do they think it means? When have we heard, or used it before? Draw pictures and words to go along with their responses. Introduce the word respect with its definition. Explain that respect is how you feel about someone and how you treat him/her. Having respect for someone means you think good things about who a person is or how he/she acts. You can have respect for others, and you can have respect for yourself. Brainstorm with the student’s ways that we show we respect others or ourselves. Give them an example to help kick start their ideas. Record these on a fresh page on the Smartboard or chart paper. Then tell the students, “ when we do not show our friends respect, then we are being disrespectful. Has anyone ever heard that word before?” Discuss ways that we show disrespect to our peers or ourselves.

Now that they have discussed ways to demonstrate respect, explain to them that they will now do a little role playing. Demonstrate with a student what role playing looks like. Have all the students stand up and give a scenario. Explain that you are going to tell them to do something but you want them to listen for your instructions, kind of like Simon Says. For example, tell the

students that you want them to pretend you are playing with Legos. Say to them, “Okay, its center time and you are playing with Legos. Go!” Wait 15 seconds before saying, “Now, Mrs. Mulvena turns out the lights and says, ‘Hands on top’, what should you do?” The students should stop, say ‘Everybody stop’, and put hands up. Ask the class, if that shows respect to the teacher and if they didn’t listen, would they be showing respect? Then have some dialogue with the class. Then explain that it is now their turn to practice role-playing. Give them 3-4 scenarios to act out. Teachers are encouraged to adapt role‐playing to address issues most relevant to your class.

Lesson Two: Respect for yourself

Artistic Expression: Improvisation and creative drawing/writing

Essential question: How do we respect ourselves?

Vocabulary: YET, improvisation, expression, tones

Warm- up: Play three types of instrumental songs with different tones (explain tone is the kind of sounds you hear in music) to illustrate excitement/happiness, somber/sadness, and suspense/scared. Play the music and ask the students to tell you how they make them feel. Then have them use facial expressions and/or body movements to demonstrate how that would look. After they have had a chance to put themselves into position, make them freeze. Snap a photo and then have them turn and look at their peers. Have them listen, discuss, and pose for each song. Take a photo of the class when they are posing to display is the classroom.

Lesson: Read the story to the class called Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees. As you read, stop briefly to ask questions about some of the illustrations. For example, for the illustration on pages 5-6, you might ask:

After reading, ask the students these questions:

Ask children to think about things that they cannot do right now but want to be able to do someday. Explain to the students that they can draw themselves doing something that is hard to do. The they can practice that one thing until they are successful. They are then going to write a sentence that says, ‘I can’t ______ yet!’ (see appendix A). Display these in the classroom to help

remind the students that they are working on a specific skill and check back in with them in a few weeks. This will promote positive attitudes toward themselves and hopefully promote peer encouragement to help each other become successful.

Lesson Three: Respect for others

Artistic Expression: Puppetry

Essential questions: How do we show respect to others? How would we want to be treated?

Vocabulary: kindness, friends, politeness, puppetry, sharing, caring, recipe

Activating strategy: Tell the students we are going to be talking about Friendship and how we are to treat others. Read the story, What is the recipe for friends? By Greg Williams and Illustrated by Greg Abele. Before reading, discuss what a recipe is and when we use one. Then have the student raise their hand and share ideas. Explain to them that a recipe is what we use to make something, it explains what ingredients we would need to create something, usually food or a meal. Ask the students, if we were to make chocolate chip cookies, what would we use, what ingredients would we need? Except a wide range of answers. If we were making cookies, and we added broccoli, would you like it or want to eat the cookie? After the discussion about recipes and what a bad recipe would taste like, ask the students what makes a good friend? What would our recipe for friends look like? Refer to the story (kindness, sharing, politeness and listening).

Lesson: Explain to the students that we are going to create our own puppet. We are going to be able to interact with other puppets in the class and show how we treat others, with a caring and kind attitude, and by listening and being polite. The students will be able to create any type of puppet they wish to make. This will take a day or two to complete, to allow the puppets to be created and give time to dry. Provide the students with examples of different puppets, such as sock, paper bag, and stick puppets. They will have time to practice their voice and movements before being able to interact with other puppets in the class.

Once the students have completed the puppets, they will be given a scenario to act out with another student (another puppet). The teacher will give a scenario where there is a problem between two friends that needs to be solved. Below are suggested scenarios, although, it is encouraged that the teacher adapts the scenarios to meet the needs of the class.

Scenario 1: You are playing with the Legos and your friend comes up and asks if they can use on of your blue Legos for their tower. What do you do? What do you say?

Scenario 2: You are playing tag on the playground with your friends and another student comes up and asks if they can play too. What do you do? What do you say?

Scenario 3: You are working in the art center and your friend is asking if they can borrow your glue stick. What do you do? What do you say?

Culminating activity: After the students have worked with other students, bring them back to the carpet. Have your puppet ask the other puppets questions about the words or language we should use when talk or playing with others. Have them share some ideas with you while you record them on the chart paper. Label the page Respect for Others or Friendship.

Lesson Four: Respect for Authority

Artistic Expression: Pantomime

Essential questions: How do we respect authority?

(The following EQ’s are a review from our previous social studies unit) Why is authority needed? Who is the authority?

Vocabulary: authority, pantomime, job, responsibility, leader

Activating strategy: Play the game follow the leader. Have all students form a circle around one player in the middle. The middle player closes his/her eyes -- and the rest of the group quietly chooses a leader. The middle player opens their eyes and tries to guess the leader by actions. The entire group follows the leader, in everything he/she does. As soon as the middle player discovers who the leader is --the game is over. Participants should be encouraged to be as specific as they can with each movement. This only works if movements are clear, not too fast, and if the group `follows the leader` as fast and as precisely as possible.

Lesson: Have the student remain in their circle and sit on the carpet. Write the word authority on the SB or char paper. Discuss with the students the word ‘authority’. Ask them if they remember what that word means and who they know the authority to be and what their job requires. Record their ideas and examples of authority. Choose one of the examples from the chart and demonstrate the activity to the students. Explain that we are going to pretend to be one of these types of authority (teacher, police, firefighter, parent, etc.) and act out how they would act or things they would do. To communicate the idea of a general activity, each student must pantomime a specific person and their actions. Tell the students you are doing to act out one of the people we mentioned on our chart paper and then have the students guess who that student is pretending to be. Make sure the students understand they cannot speak - only use their bodies, facial expressions, etc.

As the students are acting out their person, the teacher may help guide the student to ensure that they are performing appropriate and actuate actions. Once the person is identified by the other students, discuss what their responsibilities are as an authority figure. What do we expect from them? How should we treat those individuals? What happens if we do not follow the rules of the authority? For example, if it is a police officer, the student might pretend they are arresting someone but not speaking and the students could discuss that police officers protect just from bad things and we should always listen and follow their directions to make sure we are safe. Allow a few students to act out authority figures, and then allow them to work in partners. If needed, give students prompts to help stimulate conversation. Such as, what are three ways you can show your teacher respect? What are three ways you can show your parents respect?

*Lesson modification: You also could create cards that have authority figures already printed for them and they could pair up with multiple students and act out their authority figure.

Lesson Five: Respect for our Environment

Artistic Expression: Puppetry and role playing, and illustrations

Essential questions: How do we respect our environment? What happens if there is no respect for property?

Vocabulary: environment, property,

Activating strategy: Have the student close their eyes and think of a place they like to go to play, or a place that is special to them. Have them then share their special place with a partner? Quickly being them back and ask them, what is someone came into your special place and ruined it? My special place is in my bedroom and if someone came in and threw my things on the floor and didn’t clean it up, I would feel very sad and angry. Now think about how you would feel if someone were to come into your special place and acted like that. Then have the students share with a partner and then pick 3-4 students to share out to the class.

Lesson: On the SB or chart paper, at the top, write respect. Then make two columns, one that is blank and the other labeled ‘Looks like’. Explain to the students that we are going to take everything we have learned and think about what respect might look like and what it sounds like in different environments. For example, respect in the classroom looks like cleaning up the classroom. To help start the thought process, give the students a location, such as playground or their house and then they can share what it looks like. Once you have developed a list, explain to the students that they are going to use their puppets to role-play with other students in the class. Explain they will pretend to be in a situation where they are to show how you would respect the given environment.

Culminating activity: After the student role-play, have them come back to the carpet and explain to them that they are now going to use what they have learned to draw a picture of themselves showing respect. It could be respect for ourselves, others, authority, or the environment. They will need to pick one and draw a picture of themselves showing respect and write a sentence to go along with their picture (see appendix B).

Appendix A

Name_________________________________

I Can’t Do This YET!

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix B

Name_________________________________

I show respect by....

I show respect by____________________

______________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________

Appendix C

English Language Arts Common Core Standards

Reading Standards for Reading: Informational Text

Key Ideas and Details:

RI.K.1: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Craft and Structure:

RI.K.4: With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text.

Reading Standards for Writing

Text Types and Purposes:

W.K.1: Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is...).

Reading Standards for Speaking and Listening

Comprehension and Collaboration:

SL.K.1: Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

SL.K.1.A: Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion).

SL.K.2: Confirm understanding of a text read aloud or information presented orally or through other media by asking and answering questions about key details and requesting clarification if something is not understood.

SL.K.3: Ask and answer questions to seek help, get information, or clarify something that is not understood.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas:

SL.K.6: Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.

Reading Standards for Language

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:

L.K.4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on kindergarten reading and content.

Appendix D

Delaware Social Studies Standards

Civics Standard One K-3b: Students will understand that positions of authority, whether elected, appointed, or familial, carry responsibilities and should be respected.

Civics Standard Four K-3a: Students will acquire the skills necessary for participating in a group, including defining an objective, dividing responsibilities, and working cooperatively

Appendix E

National Core Arts Standards

Theatre Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work

Theatre Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work

Visual Art- Creating Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work

Dance Anchor Standard 1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work

Dance Anchor Standard 2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work

Bibliographic References

Caganaga, Cagda Kivanc. 2015. "The Role of Puppets in Kindergarten Education in Cyprus." Open Access Library Journal 3.

Giles, Andreae, and Parker Guy. 2012. Giraffes Can't Dance. New York: Cartwheel Books.

Hanley, Mary Stone, George W Noblit, Gilda L Sheppard, Tom Barone, and Lee Anne Bell. 2013. "Culturally Relavant Arts Education for Social Justice: A way out of No Way." Routledge.

Henkes, Kevin. 1991. Chrysanthemum. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Hornackova, Vladimira, Jane Kottasov, Zuzana Vanova, and Ann Jungrova. 2016. "The Use of Methods and Techniques of Drama Education with Kindergarten Teachers." International Journal of Science, Behavioral, Eduational, Economic, Business, and Industrical Engineering 10.

Langland, Shannon. 1988. "Teaching Respect in the Classroom: An Instructional Approach." Journal of Behaviroal Education 8 246-62.

Riles, Wilson. 2011. "Drama/theatre framework for California public schools: a process-concept framework for a program in theatre arts for all students, kindergarten through grade twelve: adopted by the California State Board of Education. ." Procedia- Social and Behavioral Sciences 12 60-69.

Toivanen, Tapio, Kauko Komulainen, and Heikki Ruismaki. 2011. "Drama Education and improvisation as a resource of teacher stduent's creativity." Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 12 60-69.

Notes