Union County Youth Ballet - Home of Monroe City Ballet
Union County Youth Ballet
The Nutcracker Ballet
December 10, 2010, 9:15 & 11:00
 
 
Curriculum Areas
Social Studies
Language Arts
Science
Math
Computer
Music
Art
 
 
Grades K-5
 
 
Projects & Lesson Plans:
The Nutcracker: An Integral Curriculum
 
Social Studies
 
Timeline Work
If you are teaching history and are concerned with dates, you may be interested to know that the Nutcracker was first performed on December 18, 1892. If you are doing a timeline with your class, find other happenings around this time and year. You can also mention to your students that the show did not come to America until 1940, when it was performed by a Russian ballet troupe.
 
Geography: Russia
The story of the Nutcracker originally came from Russia. If you are using story disks, draw a simple ballet slipper on one and place it on Russia. If you wish, you may check out a book on Russia to go along with this week’s studies.
 
Geography
Going on a journey? In the Nutcracker, a journey to the Land of the Sweets drives the plot of a young girl’s dream. Her visit teaches her about the culture of many different countries. This is a great opportunity to explain to students that most countries have different customs and different ways of life. You may even want to take each day of the week before coming to the performance to study how different countries celebrate the holidays. Seeing the ways that people live in different countries is one thing that makes traveling so interesting. Have the child write a story and/or draw a picture answering the following questions:
· Have you ever been on a journey to a new place?
· Where did you go?
· How did you get there?
· Can you describe the place?
· Was it different from where you live? How?
· Did they speak another language?
 
 
Language Arts
 
Literary composition
Break the class up into small groups. Choose different fairy tales and have each group read one story. Allow the groups to present the story to the class and have a class discussion comparing the characters and their adventures to those in The Nutcracker.
 
 
Literary Comparison
Study the story of The Nutcracker as a fairy tale. Read the original E.T.A. Hoffmann tale, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King,” and the Alexander Dumas pere version from which the ballet’s original libretto was arranged, “The Nutcracker of Nuremberg.” You may also want to discuss some of the various modern stories of the ballet. Discuss the similarities and differences between the tales.
 
Story Discussion
You may want to ask the child, “Have you ever had a dream that took you on a journey like Clara?” Have the child write a story using different adjectives and verbs to describe what happened on this journey. This also presents a great opportunity for the children to present their stories to the class, if you so choose.
 
Writing
As a class, write your own version of The Nutcracker that begins in your neighborhood in the year 2010 (or any other time and place you choose). Have the students act out the story that they write.
 
Author Study
The original Nutcracker story was written by a man named E.T.A. Hoffmann. This man was a lawyer who turned to music and writing after the invasion of his homeland, Prussia, in 1806. In 1815, Hoffmann encountered his first Nutcracker in a local market and then in 1816 he wrote a tale called, “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.”
Take the students to the computer lab or use your school’s mobile lab and have them find a certain number of facts about Hoffmann. Ask them to draw a scene from his original story (which is slightly different than the ballet that we know today) and write the facts about Hoffmann under the scene. This will help the more visual and kinesthetic learners grasp the story, while working on computer and note-taking skills for everyone.
 
 
Science
 
Sound Production
Talk with your students about how sound is produced via vibrations. You can discuss different terms such as pitch, volume, amplitude, etc. When you come to the performance, you can point out the different equipment used to produce the sounds of the music.
 
Machines
Study pulley systems with your students. A great example of this is the fly-system that is used to raise and lower scenery and backdrops in a theater. At the performance, tell students to note how smoothly this equipment allows this process to happen.
 
Energy
Discuss the flow of energy throughout the human body. Dancers use this energy to propel their bodies forward in leaps and spins. Watch video clips before coming to the show of ballet dancers and ask the students how they think the dancer uses energy and in which direction it flows. You may even want to call Mrs. Bonita to come in and talk with the students about a dancer’s energy.
 
Anatomy
Discuss the makeup of the human body with your students. You can study the different bones and muscles and talk about what holds our body together. Dancers must learn to use these muscles in special ways. You can discuss the different types of stretches and strength building exercises that dancers do, and even try these with your class so that they can understand how much work must go into making dance look so easy.
 
 
Math
 
Telling Time
Something magical happens in this story when the clock strikes midnight. You may wish to have a lesson on time telling with the children. Discuss the meaning of “midnight” and “noon” as well as other time-telling phrases. If you have a small clock, let a child make the clock say midnight, and pretend to run and hide from the Mouse King. Let another child move the clock forward to 12:30 and let them pretend that the Nutcracker Prince is coming to save them.
 
Counting
There are numerous opportunities for counting with your younger children. You can count the children at the party, the mice in the battle, or the number of times you see the Nutcracker throughout the story.
 
 
Music
 
Learning more about Tchaikovsky (and his music)
Obtain CD’s of Tchaikovsky’s music from the Nutcracker. Listen to this throughout the week. Discuss with your students which pieces they enjoy the most and why. If you want to do a move in-depth study of Tchaikovsky, check out the Classical Kids audio CD with the story of his life and music, Tchaikovsky Discovers America.
 
 
Art
 
Comparing Illustrations
Try to find as many different illustrations of the Nutcracker story as possible, each with a different illustrator. Discuss the differences and similarities with the children. Ask what they notice is different and what is similar. Ask which illustrator’s picture they like best and why.
 
Illustrating
Have each child choose a scene from The Nutcracker to illustrate, based upon the style of the illustrator they like best.
 
 
OVERALL VALUE of The Nutcracker:
An integrated curriculum meets various Language Arts standards while children develop a healthy appreciation of different art forms and means of self-expression. They enjoy sharing fairy tale elements of dreams and dramatizing stories. They will be able to verbalize their ideas and write reports utilizing standards and rubrics. The students are allowed to recreate scenery to describe the element of mood that snow or the different sweets create in The Nutcracker. Research will integrate details, facts, history of ballet, theater elements, and music. Children can enjoy dancing to the music and dramatizing their favorite scenes, engage in role-playing, and design a class mural, all of which promote self-esteem.
 
 
Bonita Simpson, artistic director and founder of the Union County Youth Ballet would be glad to come to your school and talk with the students about the performance, ballet, or the Nutcracker story in general. Please call her at least two weeks in advance at 704-289-5733.