Download the resource pack here.

18 downloads 17105 Views 2MB Size Report
THE VELVETEEN RABBIT. TEACHER RESOURCES. Based on the popular book by Margery Williams. Directed by Purni Morell. CONTENTS. Page. Introduction.
THE VELVETEEN RABBIT

21 MAR - 19 APR

TEACHER RESOURCE PACK FOR TEACHERS WORKING WITH PUPILS IN RECEPTION & KS1

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT TEACHER RESOURCES Based on the popular book by Margery Williams Directed by Purni Morell

CONTENTS

Page

Introduction 1 Summary of the story

2-3

Interview with Director Purni Morell

4-5

Images of the set design by Designer James Button

6

Classroom activities & resource materials

7 - 19

‘There was once a Velveteen Rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; and for at least two hours the Boy loved him.’

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

INTRODUCTION Welcome to the teacher resources for The Velveteen Rabbit. The play which runs from 21 March - 19 April is created for children in Reception to Year 3 to enjoy. This teacher resource pack and the accompanying CPD day for The Velveteen Rabbit on Fri 28 April will offer a series of drama sessions which can be used before or after your visit to the theatre, and can link to learning across the curriculum. The classroom activities are designed for teachers who are new to drama as well as those with experience of using drama in the classroom. The drama activities will allow the children to explore toys; how they are made and how we play with them, and articulate why different kinds of toys are important. We will connect to the children’s own experience of toys and why they are important to them. The heart of the story is about emotional connection; what it is to be loved and the drama will also give the children the chance to explore these feelings and thoughts within a safe structure. Working through drama gives children the chance to explore things that matter to them within a fictional context, draw on their prior knowledge and apply it to new situations, develop language as they give expression to new understandings and develop emotional intelligence and critical thinking as they see things from different perspectives. The activities will also allow the children to take responsibility, make decisions, solve problems and explore possibilities from within the drama. The age range for the show is wide and while the play will be appropriate for the full range of children in the audience, the classroom activities will need to be adapted to suit your class. The resource pack and CPD day will support teachers in responsive planning and in adapting the activities for their particular setting. The Velveteen Rabbit CPD is a practical workshop day which gives teachers the opportunity to: experience the activities as participants; understand how to approach and adapt the work for their particular class; discuss and share ideas with other teachers and develop skills, understanding and confidence in working with drama in the classroom.

PAGE 1

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

SUMMARY OF THE STORY It is Christmas and in the top of a little boy’s stocking there sat a Velveteen Rabbit. The little boy thought he was the best present and played with him all morning. At lunchtime, aunts and uncles arrived with more presents and the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten about and left on the floor. After that the Velveteen Rabbit lived for a long time in the toy cupboard and no-one thought very much about him. Some of the more expensive toys; the model boat, the wooden lion, the toy soldiers, looked down on him. The only person who was kind to him was an old Skin Horse; he was the oldest toy in the nursery and he was very wise. One day the Velveteen Rabbit asked the Skin Horse ‘What is real?’ The Skin Horse explained that ‘Real is something that happens to you when a child loves you for a long, long time, maybe loves you so much that your fur is rubbed off, then you become real.’ The Velveteen Rabbit longed to become real, to know what it felt like. One evening the Boy couldn’t find his China Dog, the toy he normally slept with, and so Nana picked up the Velveteen Rabbit and gave it the Boy to sleep with. From that time on the Velveteen Rabbit slept in the Boy’s bed every night and the Boy took him everywhere during the day. One day when the Boy couldn’t get to sleep because he didn’t have his rabbit, Nana eventually found it and gave it to him saying ‘all that fuss about your old toy’ the Boy said ‘he’s not a toy, he’s real’ and the Velveteen Rabbit was happy because he knew that he had become real at last. One day when they were playing out in the garden the Velveteen Rabbit was left in the grass. Two rabbits approached hopping and jumping, noses twitching. They asked the Velveteen Rabbit why he didn’t hop around with them and where his back legs were. ‘He’s not real’ they said as they hopped off.

PAGE 2

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

SUMMARY CONTINUED... One day the Boy became very ill. The Velveteen Rabbit sat patiently in the Boy’s bed waiting for the day he got better and they could play together again. Eventually the Boy recovered and his parents said they were going to take him to the seaside the next day. The Rabbit was very excited at the thought of going too. But then the doctor spoke to Nana and told her she must get rid of all the Boy’s bedclothes as they were full of germs, as well as any toys or books that the Boy had in his sick-bed. So Nana scooped all bedclothes and the Velveteen Rabbit with them and they were taken out into the garden where they were put onto the top of a large bonfire. The Velveteen Rabbit sat on the top of the bonfire and thought about all the happy times they had had playing in the garden and a great sadness came over him. And a real tear trickled down his nose and dropped onto the grass. Where the tear had fallen a flower grew out of the ground. As the flower opened, out sepped a fairy. The fairy told the Velveteen Rabbit that he was real. The wild rabbits came hopping out into the garden again and the Velveteen Rabbit joined them. One day when the Boy was playing out in the garden he saw some rabbits hopping around and he thought that one of them looked just like his old toy rabbit.

PAGE 3

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR PURNI MORELL WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO ADAPT THE VELVETEEN RABBIT FOR THE STAGE? I came across the story a few years ago, and I immediately thought it would make a great show, and I also knew who I wanted in it as the Rabbit. I knew that a lot of the time when people stage this book, they have a puppet as the Rabbit, but it was really important to me that the Boy and the Rabbit should both be actors, because that way you can tell the story of the relationship between them. To me, it’s the story of a friendship. At first, the Rabbit is new in the nursery, almost like a new child in school, but then suddenly he and the Boy are thrown together, and they become best friends. But then at the end, the Boy goes away to the seaside and leaves the Rabbit behind, and their friendship comes to a sudden and terrible end. It made me think about what it felt like to have toys when I was a child - I used to worry, for example, about whether I was playing with some of them enough: you know that feeling that you preferred some of your toys over others, and played with them more often, and then suddenly you felt guilty that maybe you weren’t taking good enough care of the others? So I guess for me there was a lot in this story that felt like the kinds of things children will recognise: what it’s like to have a best friend, what it’s like to worry that nobody likes you, what it’s like to be forgotten, how wonderful it is when you and your best friend make up after an argument. All those kinds of things were what drew me to this story.

CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT HOW IT WILL BE STAGED? Almost as soon as I thought I wanted to make this piece, I knew what I wanted it to look like. I knew an actor, as I say, who looks to my mind a bit like a rabbit, so I knew I wanted to have him. And I knew I didn’t want him to be in a rabbit costume, so then I became interested in the idea that the story would not only be about the Boy and the Rabbit, but also be told by the actors themselves. I then realised I needed a third person, to play Nana and the Doctor and all the characters who represent Authority - so if you like, the Boy and the Rabbit are children who live in the world of play and the nursery, but there is another figure who is able to control them and decide their destiny.

PAGE 4

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

INTERVIEW CONTINUED

So then I knew I wanted three actors, and I realised that I wanted the third one to be a man as well, because otherwise it would risk looking like two boys and their Mum, which I thought meant something too specific. So then the idea of three men in suits, playing themselves as performers telling the story, but who could also transform into the Boy and the Rabbit and the Authority Figure came to me, and that led to another thought, which was: a lot of children’s literature is set in the world of a nursery that feels a bit Victorian I’m thinking of Mary Poppins or Peter Pan or The Railway Children, or even Swallows and Amazons; I know they’re not all literally Victorian, but they do all have a certain feel to their worlds that I don’t think most children live in any more. So I became interested in a contrast between the modern and the traditional, and we’ve been working on a design that juxtaposes the two. The world of the nursery will be very traditional, with traditional and vintage toys, but the performers themselves will be in modern dress, and the games they play will be modern games. In the second half we transform the set into a garden, so we can include games outside, and those might feel more modern. And of course at the end, when we get to the bonfire, that’ll be quite abstract - modernist almost, but definitely something the Rabbit can climb. I want the whole thing to feel exciting, and for the audience to really want to be in that nursery with the Boy and the Rabbit, but I tend to prefer theatre that’s actually quite simple, and that doesn’t pretend the story is really happening, so at the same time there will be a slightly homespun feel to it. We’re using movement and specially composed music, which I think is going to feel a bit like the lullabies and pieces for children by Brahms and Schumann. But then our movement director is a BBoyer (break dancer) by origin, so that’ll be an interesting mix. I sort of want the whole thing to feel like an enormous toyshop but to be quite sad at the end, when the Rabbit and the Boy go their separate ways.

PAGE 5

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

IMAGES OF THE SET DESIGN FROM DESIGNER JAMES BUTTON

PAGE 6

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

DRAMA ACTIVITIES These drama activities are designed to be useful for teachers from Reception to Year Three; they are intended to be flexible so that they can be adapted to meet the needs of a range of curriculum and classroom objectives. There are three sequences: The Toys, The Rabbits and After Your Visit, each could be run over two or more small sessions or could be one intensive drama lesson. We have developed these resources with the help of Class 6 (Year 2) at Comber Grove Primary School and would like to thank the children, their teacher Kim, and Literacy Coordinator, Maria, for their support and input into this pack.

PAGE 7

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

SESSION 1/2: THE TOYS This sequence of activities gives the children the opportunity to step into the story and play some of the toys that the little boy enjoys playing with. The activities include: a Story Whoosh, still image, short scene making and teacher-in-role.

AIMS • To explore toys, how they are made and how we play with them. • For the children to use their knowledge and experience to articulate what makes a good toy. • To explore the beginning of the story of The Velveteen Rabbit; looking at how it feels to be the new toy in the play room. Explain that in this session you are going to be looking at toys and thinking about lots of different toys and what it is that children might like about them. Start with a short paired discussion about what toys they like and why they like playing with them. Hear back some examples of favourite toys.

A) STORY WHOOSH: THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY A Story Whoosh is a way of acting out a story with the whole class and allows you see the main narrative, action and characters in a story in broad brush stroke. It is important to go around the circle with each child taking part in turn, making it an accessible and inclusive activity in which all children contribute to telling the story. The teacher will need to take an active narrator/director role and support the children in the creation of the images. This is a very short Story Whoosh and so you can take a little more time making the images and giving all the children the chance to look at the pictures as they are made. • With the children in a circle read out the Story Whoosh - Resource A. • With the first description of the Velveteen Rabbit ask all the children to sit in the circle as if they were the Rabbit in the top of the stocking, to feel what the toy rabbit feels like. • Taking it in turns around the circle, ask the children to come up and act out the different characters (and objects where appropriate) in the story. • When you come to a whoosh in the story, the children who are in the circle making the images go back to their seats and start with the next children in the circle to make the next section of the story. • Hear a few thoughts about how the Velveteen Rabbit might be feeling and why the boy might have forgotten about him.

PAGE 8

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

B) CREATING THE TOYS Explain that the story we are exploring happened many years ago when toys were a little different to today. Ask the children to work in small groups and give each group a photograph of the different toys; the soldiers, the mechanical toys, the boats, the train set, the wooden animals (images for this can easily be found online). Firstly ask the children to think about what the toys are made out of and how a child might play with them. Now ask them to become the toy in their picture and make a still picture. Next ask them to think about how the boy might play with the toys: • Where would he most want to play with the toy? Inside? Out in the garden? In the park? • What would the boy like best about playing with this toy? Explain that you would like them to create a short moving scene that shows the boy playing with the toy. Either they can choose one person in their group to become the boy or the teacher can take on the role of the boy when it is time to show. See each group’s short scenes that show the boy playing with the different toys. Discuss the different toys that the boy played with and what made each one special.

C) THE VELVETEEN RABBIT WATCHES AS THE BOY PLAYS Using the last group’s scene, ask for a child to volunteer to become the Velveteen Rabbit and imagine they are sitting in the toy cupboard watching the boy playing. Ask the children to think about what the Velveteen Rabbit might be thinking. Either: • Thought-track some of the children: when you touch them on the shoulder they speak the thoughts of the Velveteen Rabbit at that moment in the story. • Or, improvise the discussion in the toy cupboard with teacher in-role as the Old Skin Horse and the children collectively playing the Velveteen Rabbit.

PAGE 9

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

In-role discussion: remind the children that The Old Skin Horse was friendly to the Velveteen Rabbit. Ask them to imagine that they are all the Velveteen Rabbit in the toy cupboard and that you will take on the role of the Old Skin Horse. Before you begin, ask the children in pairs to think about questions the Velveteen Rabbit might want to ask the Old Skin Horse. Then begin the discussion; you will need to prepare some thoughts and facts about the Old Skin Horse to help in the role-play, but also be open to discussing the things that are of interest to the children as they arise. • The Old Skin Horse has been around for a long time; he belonged to the boy’s Uncle and now he belongs to the boy. • He is quite shabby with bald patches on his coat. • He has seen lots of toys come and go and lots of the mechanical toys break or lose bits. • The Old Skin Horse tells the boy that ‘when a child loves you for a long, long time, then you become real….Generally, by the time you are Real all your hair has been rubbed off, or your eyes have fallen out and you are very shabby.’ The aim of the role-play is for the children to explore their sense of the Velveteen Rabbit at this point in the story; his newness to the toy cupboard, his sense of isolation and his aspirations – first to be played with and ultimately be loved by the boy. In the story the other toys are ‘stuck-up and look down on the Velveteen Rabbit’, however for the purposes of the drama it is enough for the other toys to be accepted and enjoyed by the boy and for the Rabbit to be as yet unnoticed. Bring the role play discussion to a close by narrating that it was very late and time for all the toys in the toy cupboard to go to sleep. Come out of role and discuss what you have discovered about the Velveteen Rabbit and the Old Skin Horse. Back in the classroom: the children can do drawings of the toys showing how the boy played with them with writing to describe the toys and how they work. You may have concerns about acting out toy soldiers in the drama. When choosing groups you might like to choose a group that is able to explore this with sensitivity and use the opportunity to talk about why children like toys that allow an exploration of fighting and conflict.

PAGE 10

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

SESSION 3/4: THE RABBITS This session gives the children the opportunity to continue with more of the story and to explore how wild rabbits live. The activities include: a Story Whoosh, movement work, thought-tracking and a whole class improvisation.

AIMS • To explore how rabbits move and how they live in the wild. • To understand why the Velveteen Rabbit might want to be real. • To explore key vocabulary from the story through physical expression. Explain that you are going to carry on with the story of the Velveteen Rabbit and find out what happens next in the story.

A) MOVEMENT SESSION: HOW RABBITS MOVE Start with a physical warm up: shake different parts of the body, move around the space feeling the weight of the body falling into the floor, shake as you move and add in sounds as you shake out. Now introduce the words and phrases - Resource B - if you have these in a hat children can pick out one of the words or phrases. At this stage do not say what the words are describing (the words are all descriptions of the live rabbits taken from the story the Velveteen Rabbit): long and thin, fat and bunchy, hop, twitch, leap, padding softly, creep, stamp, and whirl, but at this stage we want the children just to respond to the word and explore what it means to them physically. As you call out the words you can choose to ask the children to stand like a statue or to move about the space in response to the word. Some of the words will work better if you ask the children to stay on the spot in order to keep the children safe in the space - whirl, leap and hop for example. Ask the children what the movements made them think about when they were doing them? Explain that in the story the Velveteen Rabbit wants to be real and that the words are taken from the story to describe how the real rabbits in the story move.

PAGE 11

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

B) RABBITS IN THE WILD Talk about whether anyone has seen a real rabbit or one on the television - what did they notice about the way they move? We are going to work in small groups to imagine we are rabbits living in the wild, using some of the movements we used before and creating some new ones. Pass round photographs of the wild rabbits, the bracken, an open glade or meadow, trees, and tree roots (easy to find images online). Explain that we are going to use these pictures to help us imagine that the hall is an open meadow covered in daisies and dandelions. Around the edge of the meadow are trees and bracken. At the foot of the trees old roots and beneath the trees are rabbit burrows. Move the children into groups of 4/5 and ask them to imagine that around the edge of the room, at the foot of where we imagine the trees to be, they are rabbits asleep in their burrow. Continue to narrate what happens when the rabbits wake up and ask the children to act out what happens to the wild rabbits. Say ‘freeze’ in between each moment of action to focus the children so that they can listen to the next piece of narration. • The rabbits begin to wake and stretch – becoming long and thin and then fat and bunchy. • The rabbits one by one pop their heads out of the burrow and then hop out, but they are careful and hide in the big bracken leaves at the edge of the meadow. • The rabbits have many predators (ask the children what might be a danger to the rabbits) – foxes, cats, birds of prey. • They creep out of the tall bracken, their feet padding softly on the ground. • The rabbits become more confident and hop out into the middle of the meadow where the sun is shining. • They begin to play: Taking a big hop side-ways. Then trying a big leap. They whirl round and round in a dance. • They hear a sound – they stop; their ears go up and their bright eyes shine. • They stamp their back feet to warn other rabbits there may be danger. • All is fine so their noses begin to twitch, they look around for food; they wrinkle their noses, sniff the dandelions and begin to nibble the leaves. • They hear another louder sound and all the rabbits jump and scatter back to hide in the bracken and the trees.

PAGE 12

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

C) STORY WHOOSH Continue the story using the Story Whoosh - Resource C, this time going up to the point in the story where the Velveteen Rabbit meets the wild rabbits. Finish the session by asking the children to spread out and find a place on their own. Ask them to show you an image of their real, wild rabbit and then one of their Velveteen Rabbit. Finally ask them what they think the Velveteen Rabbit might think when the wild rabbits come up to him in the garden. You could thought-track a few of the children to hear some of those ideas. Back in the classroom: This is an opportunity to research how rabbits live in the wild and to look at the care of pet rabbits.

PAGE 13

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT RESOURCE PACK

SESSION 5/6: AFTER YOUR VISIT These sessions will be designed for after your visit to the Unicorn Theatre to see The Velveteen Rabbit. As the play has not yet been created this section will describe approaches we anticipate we will use but will give specific detail to once we have seen the finished play.

AIMS • To support the children in expressing their responses to the play. • To recreate moments from the play in order to explore the friendship and the separation of the boy and the Velveteen Rabbit. • To develop language that allows the children to articulate the experience of coming to the theatre to see The Velveteen Rabbit. The friendship Begin with a Story Whoosh - Resource D, which takes the story to the point where the boy and the Velveteen Rabbit become the best of friends. In small groups ask the children to show either still images or small scenes which show their friendship. The children can recreate moments from the play that they have seen. You can return to a circle and narrate the different moments of friendship that the children have created as you might narrate a Story Whoosh. Discuss with the children what made the relationship between the boy and the Velveteen Rabbit so special? The illness In the circle continue the Story Whoosh - Resource E. This takes the story up to the moment where the boy becomes ill. Again in small groups ask the children to create an image or small scene titled ‘What happens when the boy becomes ill’. Keep the focus on what happens while the Velveteen Rabbit is waiting patiently for the boy to get better. The Velveteen Rabbit becomes real This activity will seek to support the children in expressing their thoughts and feelings about the resolution that comes at the end of the story when the Velveteen Rabbit and the Boy meet each other once more in the garden when the Rabbit becomes real.

PAGE 14

RESOURCES

RESOURCE A STORY WHOOSH 1

It’s Christmas and under the Christmas tree the little boy sees, sitting on the top of his stocking, a Velveteen Rabbit. Whoosh Everyone in the story circle imagine they are the Velveteen Rabbit sitting on the top of the stocking. ‘He was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen.’ The little boy took him out of the stocking and played with him all morning; he thought he was the best present. Whoosh At lunchtime aunts and uncles arrived carrying more presents. The little boy opened all the presents one by one and the rabbit was just left on the floor and forgotten. Whoosh For a long time the Velveteen Rabbit lived in the toy cupboard and no-one thought very much about him. Some of the more expensive toys: the model boat, wooden lion, and the mechanical toys were very confident, but didn’t really notice the Velveteen Rabbit. Whoosh The Velveteen Rabbit watched each day as the boy took out one of the toys to play with. Whoosh The only toy in the cupboard who noticed him and spoke to him was the Old Skin Horse. Whoosh

PAGE 15

RESOURCES

RESOURCE B

RABBIT MOVEMENT WORDS

Long and thin Fat and bunchy Hop Twitch Leap Padding softly Creep Stamp Whirl

PAGE 16

RESOURCES

RESOURCE C STORY WHOOSH 2 • It’s Christmas and on the top of little boy’s stocking sat a splendid Velveteen Rabbit. • The little boy took him out of the stocking and played with him all morning; he thought he was the best present. • At lunchtime aunts and uncles arrived carrying more presents which the little boy opened and very soon the rabbit was forgotten. Whoosh • For a long time he lived in the toy cupboard and no-one thought very much about him. Some of the other toys; the model boat, wooden lion, and the mechanical toys were very confident and barely noticed him. • The only toy who noticed him and spoke to him was the Old Skin Horse. Whoosh • The Skin Horse was the oldest toy in the nursery and very wise. One day the rabbit asked ‘What is real?’ • The Skin Horse said ‘It’s the thing that happens to you when a child loves you for a long, long time, then you become real.’ • The rabbit longed to become real, to know what it felt like. Whoosh • One evening the boy was in bed, he asked Nana for the china dog that he always slept with. • Nana was tidying up around him, throwing all the toys into the toy cupboard. She couldn’t find the china dog. • She looked around the room; she looked in the toy cupboard. She grabbed the Velveteen Rabbit by one ear. ‘Here take your old bunny; he’ll do to sleep with you’. Whoosh • From then on the Velveteen Rabbit slept in the boy’s bed every night. • They played games under the cover; they made tunnels out of the bedclothes and played games in a whisper. Whoosh • One day when they were playing out in the garden together the Velveteen Rabbit was left alone on the grass and out of the bracken crept two rabbits. • The rabbits padded softly up to the Velveteen Rabbit and with their noses twitching sniffed all about him. Whoosh

PAGE 17

RESOURCES

RESOURCE D STORY WHOOSH 3

• It’s Christmas and on the top of little boy’s stocking sat a splendid Velveteen Rabbit. • The little boy took him out of the stocking and played with him all morning; he thought he was the best present. • At lunchtime aunts and uncles arrived carrying more presents which the little boy opened and very soon the rabbit was forgotten. Whoosh • For a long time he lived in the toy cupboard and no-one thought very much about him. Some of the other toys; the model boat, wooden lion, and the mechanical toys were very confident and barely noticed him. • The only toy who noticed him and spoke to him was the Old Skin Horse. Whoosh • One evening the boy was in bed, he asked Nana for the China Dog that he always slept with. • Nana was tidying up around him, throwing all the toys into the toy cupboard. She couldn’t find the china dog. • She looked around the room; she looked in the toy cupboard. She grabbed the Velveteen Rabbit by one ear. ‘Here take your old bunny; he’ll do to sleep with you’. Whoosh • From then on the Velveteen Rabbit slept in the boy’s bed every night. • The boy and the Velveteen Rabbit became the best of friends and were hardly ever apart. Whoosh

PAGE 18

RESOURCES

RESOURCE E STORY WHOOSH 4

• One day when they were playing out in the garden the Velveteen Rabbit was left alone. • He saw two rabbits approach, like himself but quite furry and new. • One minute they were fat and bunchy, the next long and thin, and their noses twitched. They were real rabbits. • ‘Why don’t you play with us? Can you hop on your hind legs?’ One of them said. • ‘He hasn’t got any hind legs. He isn’t a rabbit at all. He isn’t real’. The other said. • ‘I am real’, the Velveteen Rabbit said and he nearly began to cry. • Then the rabbits hopped off. Whoosh • The weeks passed, the boy loved the rabbit so much that the rabbit got old and his whiskers came off. • Then one day the boy became very ill. Whoosh

PAGE 19