Final Drama Unit: “Extra You”

Grade: 3rd
Book:
Barnett, M., & Klassen, J. (2018). Extra yarn. New York, NY: Scholastic.
English Standards:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.2. Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse
cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed
through key details in the text.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3.
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or
feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7.
Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to
what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character
or setting)

Reading Comprehension Goals:

● Make connections text to self

● Probe for deeper meaning
● Speak to authors intent
● Determine primary message
● Make predictions
●
Drama Standards:
ART.T.I.3.1 Identify and describe different characters though vocal expression.
ART.T.II.3.1 Illustrate characters, environments, and situations that support the creation of a
classroom dramatization.
ART.T.III.3.1 Infer from a text, characters and setting in stories.
ART.T.III.3.2 Analyze elements of dramatic structure for successful classroom dramatization.
ART.T.III.3.4 Collaborate to extend and add on to improvised stories.
ART.T.III.3.6 Further describe the character's wants and needs.

I really want this unit to focus on identity and improvisation. In this story, there is a lot of
symbolism about a girl who has a unique gift. Because of this gift, she is able to “color” and
“warm up” the town, changing her community for the better. People look at her confused at first
because she is different, however, the community ends up appreciating her gift and a person
becomes envious. The end of the story embraces the fact that no one can take a child’s gift away
from them. I think this would be a great chance to take a mentor text for identity and enhance a
comprehension unit with dramatic exercises.
Through the utilization of drama elements and activities, I will hopefully be able to
engage students more effectively in the comprehension of the story. Through acting exercises
and expressive recreation, the students will be reimagining what they envisioned as they heard or
read the story. This will also be able to enrich the students’ writing skills because of the great use
of detail they will be interacting with to physically act out scenes from the story. As they create
and collaborate with their fellow actors, they will be actively creating their own meaning for
different aspects of the story.
Lesson Idea One: Freeze Frame

Lesson summary: This lesson will have the students practicing tableau and engaging in their
interpretation of significant parts of Extra Yarn. In order to do this, the students will need to
inquire about how their character would be feeling in reaction to the story’s events and perceive
what they may be thinking based on story comprehension and prior knowledge. This will be
allowing students to make connections between prior understandings, the story, and their
perspectives.

SWBAT identify different key characters

SWBAT predict what the characters are feeling and thinking
SWBAT communicate with classmates to coordinate for stage design
SWBAT reflect on how characters in the book affected the events that unfolded.

As a warm up activity, I will have all of the students pretend to be a piece or ball of yarn.
I will coach them through moving like a thread and will pretend to roll like a ball. I will ask
students to voice their opinions about the sensory reactions to yarn: how yarn feels, looks, even
might smell.
I will ask the students to pretend to work with yarn. I will ask them to manipulate it in
different ways to see if they knit, crochet, tie, pull, loop, etc. This will be the launch for
introducing the book. Students will also be encouraged to share if they have any experience
crafting with yarn as a medium. Lastly, I will ask how yarn makes them feel (does it make them
feel warm, loved, itchy, cozy, etc).

1. After reading Extra Yarn as a class, students will be assigned different characters at
random for a fun “freeze frame” activity. Characters are:
a. Annabelle
b. Luke
c. Mr Norman
d. Mr. and Mrs. Pendleton
e. Dr. Palmer
f. Little Joe Lewis
g. Mr. Crabtree
h. Tourists
 i. The Archduke
j. Three Robbers
2. Students will be given instructions to think deeply about the characters they will be acting
out as we recount the order of events as a class.
3. I will write on the board as we recount the story so that the students can refer to the key
details to prepare for their role in the tableau.
a. Annabelle knits for herself, then others, & then the town.
b. Community reacts to her knitting in different ways.
c. Tourists become interested and want to meet Annabelle.
d. Archduke tries to buy her yarn, gets denied.
e. Archduke orders robbers to steal the yarn.
f. The box of yarn was empty so the Archduke cursed Annabelle and her family’s
happiness.
g. Annabelle still remained happy.
4. I will model how to act out a character that didn’t have a major part in the book. I will
pretend to be Annabelle’s dog and model how I would improvise and use context clues to
represent the dog effectively.
5. Next, the class will all gather in the classroom to begin loosely brainstorming and
communicating how their characters will act and pose in relation to one another by
posing questions and making inferences about the story.
6. I will shout “freeze frame” and look over the posing the students are holding and I will
narrate what I am observing so that the students can see my thinking.
7. Students will write down a reflection about their character. They will express how they
felt their character seemed from the book, how their role was transformed when they took
on this character, and how their character worked as a part of the whole scene.
Assessment: I will be formatively assessing the students during discussion to see how students
are communicating the key details from the story. I will also be looking at their selection of pose
according to their character and how their reflection journal coordinates with the lesson
objectives.
Materials:
● Dry erase board to gather key events
● Barnett, M., & Klassen, J. (2018). Extra yarn. New York, NY: Scholastic.
● Reflection Journal

Lesson Idea Two: Your Gift

Lesson summary: Students will present a skit that will adapt the book to reflect their own
unique talent. Students will need to explore the story from a deeper understanding in order to
adapt it to personalize it for a mini performance. In doing this, the students will also need to
speculate how they could use their gift to have an affect on their community the way Annabelle
does with her gift of knitting.

SWBAT explore miming as a way of communicating

SWBAT express a unique part of their identity
SWBAT relate their own personal experiences to the story
SWBAT infer ideas based on a student’s dramatization

As a warmup, students will recall the characters they played in the last drama activity of
“freeze frame” to recall the key details of Extra Yarn. I will have them recreate their freeze frame
pose and then tell them that I will individually call on the students to hear their dialogue for their
character according to the scene depicted. This will be very useful because many of the
characters have little to no dialogue in the book (i.e. tourists), so the students will rely on their
own imagination and educated guesses based on their roles in the story.
As I call on the students around the room they will speak their line, (i.e. “I will knit them
some boots”, “Who is the girl who never runs out of yarn?”). Then we will build on that previous
activity by discussing how adding dialogue to their freeze frame helped them to deepen their
understanding of their character.

1. As we review the story of Extra Yarn, I will ask the students to share what they learned
from the story. I will encourage students to think about a time someone shared kindness
through a talent in their own life.
2. Using this connection to their own experiences, I will ask students to think about a talent
they have:
a. “What is something unique about you?”
b. “Is this a talent? A character trait?”
c. “How do, or could you use this unique talent to help others in the community the
way Annabelle helps the town with her skill in knitting?”
3. As the students brainstorm, I will ask them to sketch, doodle, or make note of any ideas
that come to mind in response to their prompt. Using this mind map, I will then have
them begin transitioning into how to illustrate their gift and its impact on the community
through a game of charades.
4. Students will have a chance to perform their special gift through transformational miming
to the class in a game of charades. It will be a fun, energetic way for the students to show
and tell through acting and by learning how to use their control of body to motion their
personal talents.
5. Using their reflection journals, students will take time to think about how they were
challenged to act out their unique trait as though they were in a play. They will consider
the ways in which they had to remain flexible in their approach to make their ideas more
 clear to the guessing audience. Lastly, students will share whether or not this exercise
helped them understand the book even more.
Assessment: Students will be assessed based on choosing a unique trait about themselves and
based on creativity to make this “gift” come to life through mime. It will be based on effort and
willingness to experiment with movement.
Materials:
● Reflection Journal
Lesson Three: In Other Words..
Lesson summary: Students will learn how to quickly shift their outlook of the story by adjusting
to the coaching by the teacher, The teacher will change the direction of the story by changing the
different elements of the story. In doing this, the students will be required to approach the story
from all angles. The students will then reflect on the idea that the same morals can remain the
same throughout.

SWBAT look at stories from new angles

SWBAT maneuver their bodies according to different prompts
SWBAT express different morals of a single story

As a warmup, students will create a circle around the room. I will give them different
prompts to react to. I will say different words and they will react according to whatever comes to
mind when I say the word or phrase. For instance, if I say “peanut butter and jelly”, the students
will pretend to be a sandwich, pretend to spread jam and peanut butter on bread, pretend to eat,
or vocalize by saying, “yummy”. We will go through a few to get the students’ bodies moving
and ready to improvise on the class stage in the lesson.
1. I will ask students to break up into groups of four. The students will have time to gather
to assign parts to one another based on the characters in Extra Yarn.
2. I will have students grouped around the room as I give directions. I will tell them that the
students will begin their skit by acting out their roles in the story as it is. However, when
I shout a pivot in the story elements, they will need to adjust their acting out to reflect my
change.
3. Groups will go up and perform as I go through different changes in the story. Some
examples are:
a. “Annabelle is a painter instead”
b. “What if the story took place in the forest?”
c. “What if the tourists were all elderly?”
d. “What if the Archduke was a famous Disney actor instead?” etc.
4. We will close the lesson with a class discussion to review the different ways the story
changed and praise the good acting choices that were made. We will go over our favorite
moments and then decide what the morals were after all of the scenes took place.
 5. As we go over the morals, we will discuss how the morals stayed the same despite the
different prompts that were given.
6. Students will write in their reflection journals about their experience with improvisation
and also express what they thought the moral of the story might be.
Assessment: I will be looking for quick transitioning and willingness to explore with expression
through acting. I will also look for thoughtful reflections in their journal.
Materials:
● Barnett, M., & Klassen, J. (2018). Extra yarn. New York, NY: Scholastic.
● Reflection Journal