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Project GRAD Houston
1510 Jensen Dr.
Houston, TX 77020
832-325-0325 (main)

Mailing address:
Project GRAD Houston
PO Box 15568
Houston TX 77220-5568

The Masks People Wear

View lesson as a pdf file

Grade Level: Kindergarten Bilingual

Content Area: Reading Spanish

Classroom time: 90 minutes or 3 shorter lessons

Purpose:  Identify and relate to story characters. Learn how to make predictions with relationship to the story pattern. Use visual and dramatic arts to interpret and identify with the story.

Skills Addressed: ELA skills: Comprehension; Character, Sequence, Predicting
Fine Arts Skills: Construction, Communication through Art, presentation skills

Supplies: The book El Viaje Del Campesino by Diana Noonan, Vivi Escriva, Celebration Press, 1996, (Scott Foresman Kindergarten reading series) – or Aesop’s Fable, The Miller, His Son, and Their Donkey, http://www.english-zone.com/reading/fables/chapter-281.html , or  The Farmer and His Two Daughters,  http://www.english-zone.com/reading/fables/chapter-281.html (Attachment 1, or another story or fable showing you can’t please everyone), construction paper, popsicle sticks or tongue depressors, scissors, glue, crayons or markers, glue sticks, 1.5” x 8.5” strips of construction paper – 1 per student, and Greek music when presenting the story (optional) which can be found at the following website, http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kal/agm/

Lesson Process:

Warm up:

1. Ask students the following questions:

• Have you and your family ever gone on a trip? – Yes or no
• If you went on a trip, how did you travel there? – Answers will vary – by car, train, airplane, etc.
• Do you remember any thing you saw on your trip? – Answers will vary – animals, cousins, buildings, mountains, etc.
• If you went on a trip, what are some of the things you did? – Answers will vary – visited family, road in the car, etc.

      2. Share with the students a trip you went on if you so desire.

      3. Tell the students you are going to read to them a story about a family going on a trip.

Lesson procedure:

1. The story is presented to the entire group.

2. Read the first two pages of El Viaje Del Campesino.

3. After reading the first two pages, ask the students to share with their neighbor the answer to the following question: 
   • What is going to happen next? – Answers will vary. The son will ride the donkey; the father will ride the donkey, etc.
4. Ask the students to think about the characters in the story while the teacher continues to read the book.  

5. After reading the part in the story about the son riding the donkey and then the father rides the donkey stop.
• Ask the students what they think is going to happen next.
• Ask them if they think the son or the father or no one is going to ride the donkey next? – Son, father, no one

6. Finish the story.

7. Check for understanding:
   • Who are the characters in the story? – Ex. The farmer, the son, the donkey, etc.
   • Ask the students what happened first, second, and at the end. – The farmer, the son and the donkey are going into town. The father and the son each take a turn to ride the donkey. As they head towards town they are criticized by those they pass by, etc.
8. The students move to small groups.

9. Ask them to name all the characters from the story while the teacher writes the list of characters on the board. – Ex. The farmer, the son, the donkey, etc.

10. Explain to the students they will be creating puppets to use to act out the story they just read.

11. Model to the students how to create a puppet using a popsicle stick or tongue depressor.
    • Draw the father, the son and the donkey on construction paper.
    • Color the characters.
    • Cut them out.
    • Glue them to the popsicle sticks or tongue depressor.
12. Give each student two pieces of construction paper, any color, and crayons or markers.

13. Ask the students to draw each of the characters on the construction paper and color them.

14. Distribute scissors and glue, tell the students to cut out the characters.

15. After the characters are cut out the students glue them onto the popsicle sticks or tongue depressors.

16. The students are divided into groups of 8 or 9.

17. The students decide how they are going to present the story to the class together. Example:  some of the students in the group take turns telling the story while others use the puppets to act out the story.

18. Each group presents the story to the rest of the class.

19. Optional: Read another fable, (Example: The Farmer and His Two Daughters. http://www.english-zone.com/reading/fables/chapter-281.html or Attachment 1)

20. Share with the students that some of the earliest puppets were actually tribal ritual masks that evolved into doll like figures with movable arms and legs. (http://sunniebunniezz.com/puppetry/puphisto.htm)

21. Ask the students if they know what a mask is. – Examples: They wear masks for Halloween, they cover the face, etc.

22. Show students pictures of masks. (Attachment 2)  or http://www.masksoftheworld.com/Mexico/Mexico%20Guatemala%20Mask%20group.htm

23. Students create their own masks –
    • Give each student an 8.5” x 11” piece of construction paper and scissors
    • Ask students to fold their paper in half (they can all fold it in the same way if it is easer but it doesn’t matter which way they fold it)
    • Point out the fold – They have to make sure they leave some of the folded area. Show them the pattern that happens when they cut on the fold.
    • Cutting through both layers of paper students cut out pieces from the top, sides and a few pieces on the fold.
    • Students cut a 1” slit in the middle of the bottom of their masks
    • Have the students open up their piece of paper to see their mask.
    • Ask the students if their masks look like something. – Answers will vary – person, animal, creature, etc.
    • Suggest the students use different scraps of paper to glue onto their masks to decorate it or they may use markers or crayons to decorate.
    • Give students a strip of construction paper
    • Students fold the strips of paper in half “hamburger style” creating two 4.25” sections
    • Open the strip half way
    • Fold the mask halfway
    • Set the mask on the strip positioning the slits to go over the strip of paper
24. Put students in groups of three.

25. The three students create a fable or story using their masks as the characters in the story.

26. Students either present their fable to the class or put two groups together and they present the story to each other.

Student’s assessment or final product:

Students create puppets and present a dramatic interpretation of the story. The teacher checks for their understanding of the story by observing the presentation. The teacher also assesses their understanding through class discussion. The teacher assesses their vocabulary through the presentation of their own fables.

Extension activities (optional):

1. Puppet show:
   • Students are assigned one character.
   • They create a paper bag puppet depicting their assigned character out of a paper bag and construction paper.
   • Students are put in groups of three depending on the character they were assigned (a father, a son and a donkey)
   • The students recreate the story to the class in their groups of three.
2. Students create their own story.
   • Students are put in groups of three.
   • The students create their own fable.
   • The students create puppets depicting the characters in their story.
   • The students present their own story and puppet show to the class.
3. After the students make the masks a math lesson on symmetry can be discussed or the difference between a two-dimensional object and a three-dimensional object.
4. Writing activity:
   • The students name their mask and write a sentence stating what they think their masks looks like.
   • Hang the masks on a wall with the name of each mask next to it.
   • Ask the students to think about an adjective to describe the character their mask portrays. Example – Happy dog, mean monster, an old monkey, etc.
   • The students write a sentence describing the character their mask portrays. – Example – The happy dog likes to go for a walk.
   • As a class or in small groups, create a story involving as many of the masks as possible. Depending on their ability and whether it is a class or group activity, the students or the teacher writes down the story.
   • Perform the story by having the students hold up their masks when their character is being read about.

Attachment 1

The Miller, His Son, and Their Donkey

A MILLER and his son were driving their Donkey to a neighboring fair to sell him. They had not gone far when they met with a troop of women collected round a well, talking and laughing. “Look there,” cried one of them, “did you ever see such fellows, to be trudging along the road on foot when they might ride?’ The old man hearing this, quickly made his son mount The Donkey, and continued to walk along merrily by his side. Presently they came up to a group of old men in earnest debate. “There,” said one of them, “it proves what I was a-saying. What respect is shown to old age in these days? Do you see that idle lad riding while his old father has to walk? Get down, you young scapegrace, and let the old man rest his weary limbs.” Upon this the old man made his son dismount, and got up himself. In this manner they had not proceeded far when they met a company of women and children: “Why, you lazy old fellow,” cried several tongues at once, “how can you ride upon the beast, while that poor little lad there can hardly keep pace by the side of you?’ The good-natured Miller immediately took up his son behind him. They had now almost reached the town. “Pray, honest friend,” said a citizen, “is that Donkey your own?’ “Yes,” replied the old man. “O, one would not have thought so,” said the other, “by the way you load him. Why, you two fellows are better able to carry the poor beast than he you.” “Anything to please you,” said the old man; “we can but try.” So, alighting with his son, they tied the legs of The Donkey together and with the help of a pole endeavored to carry him on their shoulders over a bridge near the entrance to the town. This entertaining sight brought the people in crowds to laugh at it, till The Donkey, not liking the noise nor the strange handling that he was subject to, broke the cords that bound him and, tumbling off the pole, fell into the river. Upon this, the old man, vexed and ashamed, made the best of his way home again, convinced that by endeavoring to please everybody he had pleased nobody, and lost his Donkey in the bargain.

OR

The Father and His Two Daughters

A MAN had two daughters, the one married to a gardener, and the other to a tile-maker.  After a time he went to the daughter who had married the gardener, and inquired how she was and how all things went with her.  She said, “All things are prospering with me, and I have only one wish, that there may be a heavy fall of rain, in order that the plants may be well watered.”  Not long after, he went to the daughter who had married the tilemaker, and likewise inquired of her how she fared; she replied, “I want for nothing, and have only one wish, that the dry weather may continue, and the sun shine hot and bright, so that the bricks might be dried.”  He said to her, “If your sister wishes for rain, and you for dry weather, with which of the two am I to join my wishes?’ 

Attachment 2

 

http://www.masksoftheworld.com/Mexico/Mexico%20Mask%20El%20Doc.htm

 

http://www.masksoftheworld.com/Mexico/Mexico%20Mask%20Moor%203.htm

 

 

 

 

http://www.masksoftheworld.com/Mexico/Mexican%20Malinche%20Mask.htm

National Standards:

Kindergarten:

NL-ENG K-12:
1 Students read a wide range of print and non print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

NL-ENG K-12.2:
Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience. NL-ENG K-12.3 Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate the text. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

NL-ENG K-12.12:
Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Art:

NA-VA.K-4.1
UNDERSTANDING AND APPLYING MEDIA, TECHNIQUES, AND PROCESSES
Achievement Standard:

• Students use different media, techniques, and processes to communicate ideas, experiences, and stories
• Students use art materials and tools in a safe and responsible manner

NA-VA.K-4.2
USING KNOWLEDGE OF STRUCTURES AND FUNCTIONS
Achievement Standard:

• Students know the differences among visual characteristics and purposes of art in order to convey ideas
• Students use visual structures and functions of art to communicate ideas

NA-T.K-4.2
ACTING BY ASSUMING ROLES AND INTERACTING IN IMPROVISATIONS
Achievement Standard:

• Students imagine and clearly describe characters, their relationships, and their environments
• Students use variations of locomotor and nonlocomotor movement and vocal pitch, tempo, and tone for different characters
• Students assume roles that exhibit concentration and contribute to the action of classroom dramatizations based on personal experience and heritage, imagination, literature, and history

TEKS Objectives:

K.4) Listening/speaking/communication.
The student communicates clearly by putting thoughts and feelings into spoken words.
(D) retell a spoken message by summarizing or clarifying (K-3).

(K.3) Listening/speaking/audiences/oral grammar. The student speaks appropriately to different audiences for different purposes and occasions.
(D) present dramatic interpretations of experiences, stories, poems, or plays (K-3); and
(E) gain increasing control of grammar when speaking such as using subject-verb agreement, complete sentences, and correct tense (K-3).

(K.9) Reading/comprehension. The student uses a variety of strategies to comprehend selections read aloud
(B) establish purposes for reading or listening such as to be informed, to follow directions, and to be entertained (K-3); and
(C) retell or act out the order of important events in stories (K-3).

(K.10) Reading/literary response. The student responds to various texts.
(C) respond through talk, movement, music, art, drama, and writing to a variety of stories and poems in ways that reflect understanding and interpretation (K-1)

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Project GRAD Houston Scholarship Program
PO Box 15568
Houston TX 77220-5568
If you have questions, please call the Project GRAD Houston Scholarship Department at 832.325.0344
Email: scholarship@projectgradhouston.org

The mission of Project GRAD is to ensure a quality public education for all students in economically disadvantaged communities so that high school and college graduation rates increase.