LIBRETTO

This is the libretto that the children came up with during our time together. Mr. Knight will continue working on it next semester until it is ready to perform!

Sentence #1

The college students are planning to go on a trip to Hawaii, but they crash into an island of Dinosaurs because of a storm.

Action: College students in NYC planning their vacation.

Song:

College students: “We’re going on vacation. We’re going on vacation. We’re going to Hawaii.”

Action: Four college students get in an airplane and fly over the ocean.

Song:

College students: We are in the air. We are going around the world.

Action: The plane begins to crash.

Song:

1.    Oh no we’re crashing, we’re crashing, down down down. How are going to get back? We’re going down for real.

a.    CCCDD DEE FFFFFFF GFEDC

Sentence #2:

They are wandering around the island when they sit on a rock, which is actually a Dinosaur.

Action: The students get out of the plane and begin wandering around the island. They see many living things that are singing.

Song:

2.    “Come and see my blueberries, take one if you want one.” (Megan)

a.    CAAGGA FFGGAF

3.    “I’m just a little bush, come smell my flowers. I’m just a little bush” (Lilly)

a.    CAAGGF  FGGAG  CAAGGF

4.    “I’m growing up up up growing up.” (Natalie)

Action: One student sits on what looks like a rock (non-living thing). It begins to move.

Song: 

College student: The rock is moving! But this can’t be, it’s not living.

Dinosaur: We are Dinos, we are dinos. Why are you on my head?

College Students: It’s a dinosaur!

Action: The Dinosaur tips the students off.

Song:

Dinosaur: Get off of me whatever you are!

Song:

Student #1: What’s that? What’s that?

Student #2: Tornado, Tornado!

All college students: Help! Help! Run!

Dinosuar: “Arggg! Go away!”

Sentence #3:

Elsa creates a snowstorm and tornado that spits out zombies.

Action: Elsa comes on stage looking for her lost pet. She cannot find him and is getting angry.

Song:

Elsa: I need a pet. I’m going to freeze everything until I find one.

Action: Elsa creates a snowstorm. The snowflakes come out and begin forming a circle. The whole circle spins and begins moving towards the college students.

Song:

Snowflakes: We’re pretty white snowflakes so white and pure.

Action: Elsa tells the snowflakes to sing “Let it go.”

Action: Zombies come out of the snowstorm. They walk as if they are about to fall. The snowflakes create a wall to protect the college students.

Song:

Zombies: Eat, Brain, Ehhhh….(repeat)

“Here’s Zombie”

College Students: Oh no it’s a tornado, zombies are popping out,

            Oh no we are scared. What are we going to do?

Sentence #4:

The students hide in a cave where they meet Billy, Bob, and Joe, and they find a radio that starts playing Whip Nae Nae. This gets rid of the Zombies.

Action: The college students go into a cave to get away from the Zombies. They see their broken down plane.

Song:

College Student #1: My plane! On my poor plane!

College Student #2: There goes a million dollars.

College Student #1: My dad is going to be so mad at me. I’m going to be grounded for a year!

Action: They suddenly see a baby dinosaur, a dog, and a crocodile working on their broken down plane. The three are singing a song.

Song:

Billy, Bob, and Joe: We are working on this plane. We don’t know who it belongs to.

College Student #3: What?! A dog, dino, and crocodile working on a plane?

Billy: I’m Billy.

Bob: I’m Bob.

Joe: I’m Joe.

Billy: Who               **Billy, Bob, and Joe will always talk like this with alternating dialogue.

Bob: are

Joe: you?

Billy: We are working on this plane.

Bob: We need help building this plane.

Billy, Bob, and Joe: We are done. Now you can go home.

Song:

Billy: Ruffing

Bob: snapping

Joe: RRRR

College student: can they come home with us?

Sentence #5

Action: The college students fly home while playing Whip Nae Nae all the way.

Song:

College students: We are going home after almost being eaten by zombies.

College student: My mom and dad maybe will be mad.

Action: They get home and see their parents. They explain to them what they have learned, seen, and done.

Song:

Parents: Where have you been?!

Other Ideas for the ending

·      The radio is their secret weapon.

·      How does the storm stop?

o   Global warming?

o   The children give Elsa a new pet to make her happy.

·      Elsa is angry that her dinosaur is gone. That is why she creates the storm.

·      Billy is the leader of the three animals.

·      The radio could be a box with someone inside of it playing an ipod.

·      The children take the baby dino, dog, and crocodile home with them. Then the parents say…

o   Song: Parents: Oh my, oh dear, is that a dino here? It couldn’t be, it shouldn’t be, they don’t live any more.

#12- LAST LESSON

State Standards and Objectives

Standard 3 Objective 1d: Create together a new song. As a class choose the subject, compose the verse. Consider solo/chorus for the structure. Decide what volume, timbres, and tempo to use.

Learning Objectives

·      Students will come up with the Libretto for the fourth line of their opera.

·      Students will learn that we can write music down on a musical staff. They will learn to draw a treble clef sign and they will determine whether notes are going higher or lower on the staff.

Lesson

            Today was my final lesson! I cannot believe how fast it has gone by and how much I have enjoyed being with this class. They have been so much fun working with!

            I started off playing a version of the “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” game that Jane had given me. I had one child go outside of the room while another child hid a small stuffed snowman I had brought. When the child came back in, we sang “Once there was a Snowman, singing softly when they were far away, and singing louder as they got closer. The children LOVED the game and begged to play it longer.

            We then discussed their libretto and began thinking of more they could add to the last part. By the end we had multiple good ideas. At one point, the children became rather restless and I could tell I was loosing their attention. I had them all come sit on the rug where we continued our discussion. They are always more engaged when we sit on the rug. Also, from my past experiences, I made sure to hold the big notebook in a way that all of the children could see what I was writing. This proved to be much more effective as they could remember their ideas and build off of them.

            I had hoped to talk to them about the Grand Staff and have them write down some of their songs, but we did not end up having enough time. While I did not get to everything in my lesson plan, today was one of the most productive libretto writing days. They had so many good ideas, and we got a lot done.

Reflection

           

            I cannot believe that my time with Mr. Knight’s class is over! The children have amazed me with their ingenuity and creativity. I have also been impressed with their willingness to share and give ideas. I have personally learned many valuable lessons about classroom management and teaching to the children’s interest. If I were to do it over again I would add two activities. First, I would make time to teach them about the Grand Staff and let them write a few songs. I think this would have been a perfect way to teach them musical skills and apply it what they were already doing; it would have been an effective hands on way of teaching. Second, I would have an exploratory assignment where I brought in short stories that mentioned living and non-living things. I think this would have helped them better understand story structure and come up with good ideas for their opera.

#11- GROUP TIME

State Standards and Objectives

Standard 3 Objective 1d: Create together a new song. As a class choose the subject, compose the verse. Consider solo/chorus for the structure. Decide what volume, timbres, and tempo to use.

Learning Objectives

·      Students will come up with the Libretto for the third line of their opera.

Lesson

            Today was one of my favorite lessons thus far. I started off by teaching them a modern version of Up on the Housetop. However, part way through I forgot the words, so they asked if they could sing me a different rap version they had prepared for the school Christmas program. It was adorable!

            Then I had them sit at their desks, and I showed them the libretto they had come up with last time (I typed up the libretto and we simply projected it up on the screen.) I had identified five characters that we needed libretto or actions for in the next scene, so I split the class up into groups and had them each group work on one. I had noticed that many of the children were accustomed to their table grouping and some of the tables did not work well together; therefore, I had them all line up tallest to shortest, and then I numbered them into groups. After giving them 5-10 minutes to think of at least one action and one song for their character, we gathered together on the rug to go over what each group had come up with.

            Overall, I thought the lesson went really well. I loved having the children work in small groups because it gave them all a chance to participate. I walked around helping each group and found that they mostly stayed on task. I had asked one person from each group to be the leader, and I think this helped them to work more effectively.

            One thing I would do differently next time, is to give each group a poster or a worksheet where they would write their final ideas. It took a lot of time for me to write down what they had come up with, and I realized later that it would have been more effective to have them write it down for me.

#10- INDIVIDUAL WORTH

State Standards and Objectives

Standard 3 Objective 1d: Create together a new song. As a class choose the subject, compose the verse. Consider solo/chorus for the structure. Decide what volume, timbres, and tempo to use.

Learning Objectives

·      Students will come up with the Libretto for the first 2 lines of their opera.

·      Students will learn that every person is important in creating and putting on the opera.

Lesson

Today I started off by reviewing and playing the Rudolf the Red nose Reindeer song that Jane taught them last week. They all really enjoy doing the actions. Then we went to the Knight zone where I read to them a cute story about an elementary class that put on a school play. One girl wanted very badly to be the main character, but instead she was assigned to be the stage manager. While at first she was disappointed, she eventually realized just how crucial her job as stage manager was. After reading the story, we discussed how each character and part is just as important as another. We also discussed how each child’s ideas are unique and important.

Next, we came up with recitative for sentence one and two. The children came up with many good ideas and the story is starting to come together.

I am really grateful that I stumbled upon this story about the class play. I believe the children needed to hear that story and learn from the message it taught. There are some children in the class that are less comfortable in voicing their ideas, but I feel strongly that every child should feel valued and important. I hope that I taught them how important every person is.

If I were to do this lesson again, I would come up with questions ahead of time to guide the discussion. I think the children would have learned more if I had let them discuss more of what they had learned from the story. Unfortunately, I ended up doing most of the talking, limiting their opportunities to learn and grow.