PLAY GUIDE. Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and a Fly. Presented on the LCT Main Stage: April 9 27

Transcription

1 PLAY GUIDE Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and a Fly Book, Music & Lyrics by Joan Cushing An adaptation of the three books by Doreen Cronin and illustrated by Harry Bliss 418 W. Short Street Lexington, KY Presented on the LCT Main Stage: April 9 27 Show Sponsor: Major Contributors:

2 Dear Educator - Lexington Children s Theatre is proud to be producing our 78 th season of plays for young people and their families. As an organization that values the arts and education, we have created this Play Guide for teachers to utilize in conjunction with seeing a play at LCT. Our Play Guides are designed to be a valuable tool in two ways: helping you prepare your students for the enriching performance given by LCT s performers, as well as serving as an educational tool for extending the production experience back into your classroom. We designed each activity to assist in achieving the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and National Core Arts Standards for Theatre. Teachers are important voices at LCT, and we rely heavily on your input. If you have comments or suggestions about our Play Guides, show selections, or any of our programming, your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Please Jeremy Kisling, our Associate Artistic Director in Charge of Education, at jkisling@lctonstage.org. Please use the Teacher Response form following a performance. We are thrilled that you rely on LCT to provide your students a quality theatrical experience, and we hope this resource helps you in your classroom. LCT s Education Department The mission of our education programming The mission of Lexington Children s Theatre s Education Department is to provide students of all ages with the means to actively explore the beauty, diversity, complexity, and challenges of the world around them through the dramatic process. We strive for young people to develop their own creative voice, their imagination, and their understanding of drama and its role in society. Your role in the play You may wish to have a discussion with your class about your upcoming LCT experience and their role as audience members. Remind your students that theatre can only exist with an audience. Your students energy and response directly affects the actors onstage. The quality of the performance depends as much on the audience as it does on each of the theatre professionals behind the scenes and on stage. Young audiences should know that watching live theatre is not like watching more familiar forms of entertainment; they cannot pause or rewind us like a DVD, there are no commercials for bathroom breaks, nor can they turn up the volume to hear us if someone else is talking. Your students are encouraged to listen and watch the play intently, so that they may laugh and cheer for their favorite characters when it is appropriate. At the end of the play, applause is an opportunity for your students to thank the actors, while the actors are thanking you for the role you played as an audience.

3 What to know - before the show! Play Synopsis On the last day of summer vacation, three best friends - Worm, Spider, and Fly - write in their diaries as they prepare for their first day of school. The next day, the trio s teacher, Mrs. McBee, asks everyone in the class to introduce themselves and tell the class something interesting about them. Worm worries that he has nothing special to tell, though Mrs. McBee attempts to reassure him otherwise. Later that afternoon, Worm feels isolated while hanging out with Spider and Fly who tell Worm all about the joys of having legs, something Worm doesn t have. At school a few days later, the class presents their All About Me reports. Spider, Fly, and their classmates Butterfly and Ant all provide interesting facts about themselves including fascinating things about what they can do and where they live. Worm, however, claims to have eaten his homework and has nothing to present. During a play date at Worm s house, Spider tells Fly that she will never accomplish her dream of becoming a superhero. Worm convinces the group to dig a large tunnel to use as a secret club, but when Spider s ankles get twisted, Fly agrees to walk Spider home while Worm is left alone to keep digging. Back at school, the students tell Mrs. McBee what they want to be when they grow up. Spider explains that he wants to molt and become a grown up spider while Fly once again shares her aspirations of becoming a superhero. Worm explains that he wants to be a Secret Service Agent. Later that evening, Worm writes in his diary about how worried he is that he is not special like his friends. On Friday night, everyone attends the Gitterbug Ball. During the dance, Fly gets a call from her aunt who is trapped between a window and a screen. Fly decides to jet off to help in the hopes that she ll be able to prove herself as a superhero. Later at school, Fly shares the story of how she saved her aunt for Show and Tell. At the end of her presentation, Mrs. McBee deems Fly a true superhero. Some time later, Worm and Fly notice that Spider has not been at school. They visit Spider at his web where they find him molting. The friends wish Spider well as he finishes growing and hope to see him at Worm s sleepover at the end of the week. When the day of the sleepover arrives, Worm tells his friends that he feels he might not be as special as they are. Spider and Fly reassure Worm that he is quite special by reminding him of all the important things he contributes to the Earth to help keep it healthy. On the last day of school, Worm finally presents his All About Me report to the class. He then invites all of his friends to play in the tunnel he has finished digging for their secret club. They all agree to go, but not before taking one last class photo together as the school year ends.

4 What to know - before the show! Stop, Go, Melt Spiders, worms, and flies all have very distinct and different ways of moving. Challenge your students to create how all three characters would move! When you say go, have students walk around the room. When you say stop, challenge them to freeze as quickly as possible. When you say melt, that s the student s cue to melt all the way to the ground, being safe and careful with their own body and the body of students around them. Once they are melted on the ground, let students know that the next time you say go, they are to move around the room as if they are a spider. Continue the activity by re-forming them as a worm and as a fly. Once students have practiced moving as all three critters, add some more detail to the animals! Have them move like a sad spider, a worm on the morning of its birthday, or a fly who thought iy saw a fly-swatter. KAS: TH:Pr6.1.1; TH:Re9.1.K Critter Comparison The three animals in the play sure have a lot in common, but they re not completely the same. On a white board or piece of poster paper, draw three circles overlapping in a Venn diagram. Label one circle spider, one worm, and one fly. As a class, fill in the poster and have a discussion about what we know about spiders, worms, and flies, what things are different about the animals and what things they have in common. For example, only a spider has eight legs, but both spiders and flies have legs, while worms do not. To dig a little deeper, have students break into small groups to do some research using books and the internet and complete their own Venn diagrams. Then come back together as a class to share all the new things we learned and add them to our class diagram! KAS: TH:Cn11.1.1; ELA-WR:1.7

5 What to know - before the show! Sing a Song The show Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and a Fly is a musical, which means the characters sing songs to express emotions. In small group, assign or have students draw at random a character (Worm, Spider, or Fly) and an emotion, such as happy, sad, excited, or scared. Have each group create a song for their character to sing that expresses their assigned emotion to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Let students know that their songs don t have to rhyme, and can be as simple as the students would like. For example, a scared spider s song to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star might be: I hear a vacuum down the hall I do not like that at all. I should run and I should hide, Or I might get sucked up inside. There are lots of times to hide or Run away when you re a spider. Once songs are complete, have students take turns singing their songs! KAS: TH:Pr6.1.1; MU:Cr3.2.K; MU:Pr6.1.1

6 What to know - before the show! Diary of the Month The Diary of a Worm, Spider, and Fly books are written as entries into a journal or diary. Have your students list some of the major events that took place in their lives over the last month. Then take a few pieces of blank copy paper, fold them in half and staple them to resemble a diary. Have the students decorate the front of their diary with their name and some images that represent them. Next, go through the events and have the students write or draw pictures of the major events that occurred over the last month of their lives. Have each of them share one entry from their month long diary. KAS: VA:Cr1.1.K; TH:Pr6.1.K; TH:Cn10.1.3; ELA. WS.1.1

7 What to know - before the show! A Bug s Life: Up Close It s a hard knock life for bugs! Between finding food, dodging raindrops, and avoiding giant shoes, it s almost impossible to find time to do their homework! Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and a Fly follows the life of three very unique creatures. All three have a lot in common with many students: worrying about fitting in at school, trying to find space away from their siblings, and 60% of their DNA! While insects and humans do share much of their DNA code, there are some sizable differences between humans and insects. There are an estimated 950,000 species of insects, and they live on each of the seven continents! Of all the insects, one-third of them are carnivorous and hunt for their food, rather than eating things that already died. Although insects don t have any bones, they have a hard outer shell called an exoskeleton that protects their bodies from harm. Instead of lungs, insects breathe through tiny tubes in their bodies called tracheae that can be located all over their bodies: in their sides, their legs, or their abdomens. And instead of tasting with their tongues, many insects taste with their mouthparts, feet, and some can even taste with their wings, while they smell through their antennae. While humans live an average of 80 years, the average housefly only lives for one month as an adult, while most worms live for almost two years (though they can live from four-eight), and spiders live between one and three years, but the Goliath Birdeaters can live 15 to 25 years! What Makes Up an Insect Every insect needs: Two antennae Six legs (three pairs!) A thorax (the part of their body between the neck and abdomen) An abdomen (the part of their body that contains their digestive organs) A head Must be cold-blooded Incredible Insects! The fastest insect on record is a male horsefly that flew 90 mph! The strongest insect in the world is the horned dung beetle, which can pull 1,141 times its body weight. To survive cold winter months, many insects replace their body water with a chemical called glycerol, which acts as an antifreeze. Insects have compound eyes, which allow them to see in all directions simultaneously. Most contain between 3,000-9,000 optical units, although dragonflies have 25,000 in each eye!

8 How to grow - after the show! Create a Comic Strip Take a piece of paper and trace out three or four squares to contain your comic strip. Then choose one of the characters for LCT s production of a Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and a Fly. Choose an adventure for your chosen character. Do they get stuck in a trap? Do they find a friend? Does something silly happen to them? Write a short outline (with three or four moments) and generate dialogue for each panel of the comic strip. Then draw the pictures of each event in the squares of your comic strip. Add what each of the characters might be saying into the picture, add some color to the drawing, and you ll have a comic strip to share with your family and friends! KAS: ELA.WS.K.3; VA:Cn10.1.K Life as a Worm, Spider, or a Fly Have the students list all the characters they saw in the play on the board. Then list all the things they learned about each of the characters while watching the play. Were they smart, fun-loving, hard working, etc? What questions would you ask each of these characters? Then have a student volunteer to come to the front of the room and assume the role of one of the characters. Ask the students questions from the list. The student must respond as if they are the character from the play. Have the young person consider how the character might sound as they talk and they are to answer the questions as the character would. An extension of this might be to have the students interview each other as the various characters. KAS: TH:Pr4.1.1.b; TH:Pr6.1.K; TH:Re8.1.1

9 How to grow - after the show! Diary Adventure The three main characters in Diary of a Worm, a Spider, and Fly all write in diaries. Writing as if you are a worm, spider, or fly, make a short diary entry on the lines below that could describe something that would happen to any of those animals. Write about something that a worm, spider, or fly could do, something that could happen to them, or an adventure they could have! Dear Diary, Sincerely, KAS: TH:Pr4.1.1; ELA-WR:2.3

10 How to grow - after the show! Answer me, Color me! Directions: Color the answers in the picture using the corresponding key. KAS: 1.OA.6;

11 How to grow - after the show! What to Read Next Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin A young spider discovers daily that there is much to learn about being a spider, including how to spin sticky webs and avoid scary vacuum cleaners. Stuck by Oliver Jeffers When Floyd s kite gets stuck in a tree, he tries his best to knock it down with increasingly larger and more outrageous objects. Scaredy Squirrel by Mélanie Watt Meet Scaredy Squirrel, a squirrel who never leaves his nut tree because he s afraid of what s out there. But when something unexpected happens, his outlook just might change. Parts by Ted Arnold A young boy thinks his body is falling apart until he learns how new teeth grow, and hair and skin replace themselves. LCT teaches in YOUR school! Would you like to see some of these play guide activities modeled in your classroom? Book a workshop for your class with one of LCT s teaching artists! In our pre-show workshops, our teaching artists will engage students in acting skills and themes from the play through drama activities. In our post-show workshops, students will extend their play-going experience by strengthening their personal connection to the play and deepening their understanding of the themes and characters. Call us at x233 to book a pre or post-show workshop for your class! To learn more about Lexington Children s Theatre and our programming for your school visit: