EcoDrama Lesson Plan

Standards:
GLCE - L.EC.04.11
Interactions - Organisms interact in various ways including providing food and
shelter to one another. Some interactions are helpful: others are harmful to the
organism and other organisms. Identify organisms as part of a food chain or food web.
TH:Pr6.1.4.a:
Share a small-group drama/theatre work, with peers as audience.
Purpose: Providing information about ecosystems and modeling them.
Arts Integration: Drama/Skit (see standard TH:Pr6.1.4.a)
Learning Outcomes:
- The student will identify living and nonliving items
- The student will identify and model how organisms in an ecosystem interact
- The student will represent their understanding of ecosystem interactions, in the form of a
small group drama/skit, that they will share with their peers.
Pre-Test: Watch video clip about the African Savanna. After watching the clip use the
worksheet the students will use to model a discussion about the habitat type, the living
components, non-living components and interactions they observed in the video. Ask the
students to make other observations or add comments on what they saw in the clip.
Bridge-In: Teachers demonstrate grassland ecosystem in a dramatic performance.
- Torie: will demonstrate the nonliving component of rain that falls during the rainy
season. She will water the plants (specifically the grass) that grows in the grassland and
then seep into the ground (lay on the floor by the grass).
- Amber: will demonstrate the living grass in the grassland. She will be rained on by
Torie and then grow tall (by going from a kneeling position to a standing position). She
will eventually be eaten by other animals that live in the grassland.
- Nicola: will demonstrate the living antelope. She will show how she interacts with the
grass by eating it. She will eventually be eaten to demonstrate a food web.
- Lu: will demonstrate the living lion. The lion will eat the antelope showing the predator
prey interaction that occurs on the African Savanna.
Input from you:
- Accommodations:
- None are required for specific students in this classroom but could be achieved for
other students with special needs by programming (or having other students help
to program) voice output devices and encouraging students to pantomime based
on their physical abilities. For students that need more assistance (or as
scaffolding requires), the teachers could offer them choices of roles, movements,
and lines.
 - Students that quickly identify helpful and harmful relationships between living
and nonliving items within an ecosystem can be encouraged to think about,
discuss, research, and/or act out what could change those relationships and how
that would affect the ecosystem. Provide additional resources (e.g., articles and
websites to students who desire additional information.)
- Multiple learning styles are met through the design of this lesson plan including:
kinesthetic (through pantomime), visual (through viewing skits and video),
auditory (through listening to instruction), and interpersonal (through group
work.)
- Methods and Materials: PowerPoint (and equipment needed to run PowerPoint)
worksheets (1 per group), whiteboard + markers (to facilitate discussion following each
skit), printed articles (enough reading materials for 5 group members)
Desert Article:
Sahara
Sahara
Great Lakes Articles:
Invasive Species
The Great Lakes
Water Bug
Hydra
Forest Article:
Tropical Rain Forest Ecosystems for Kids
Information About a Forest Ecosystem
Coral Reef Article: See document below
Running Time Materials Activity Planned
Time Needed Needed
Total

3 3 min Powerpoint Names, Topic for lesson (habitats)

-slide 1

5 2 min Powerpoint Quick Facts about grasslands and a Video( found in

-slide 2 & 3 powerpoint) - Title: Life on the African Savanna

10 5 min Powerpoint Explanation of worksheet by discussing habitats,

- slide 4 climate, living items, non-living items, and
interactions within the habitat
- Strictly student opinions as a pre-assessment
- Answers written on board for later
referencing

12 2 min Teacher skit (I do)

17 5 min Pass out Review of teacher skit + prompts that elicit student
student interaction/participation that review the components
worksheet 1 of worksheet + short chat about what drama
is/elements
Prompts should included (we do):
- Please demonstrate one of the living
elements you witnessed in the skit about the
African Savanna.
- Please demonstrate the nonliving element of
the skit you witnessed.
- Talk to the person next to you and
demonstrate, with your partner, one of the
interactions you saw in the skit.

Emphasize the skit requirements in a

PowerPoint slide:
- Each student should choose one living or
nonliving thing from their ecosystem to act
out
- One student can choose to be the
narrator instead
- At least one student must be a living thing
- At least one student must be a nonliving
thing
- Each student must use their voice, body, or
both to act out their role
 - Each student must act out at least one
interaction with something else in their
ecosystem
- A narrators job would be to
describe the interactions portrayed

32 15 min Pass out at Students read + discuss articles and fill out
least one worksheet 1
article per
ecosystem
group

47 15 min Make skit within group (you do)

1:07 20 min Pass out 5 min per group + short discussion within group
worksheet 2 after each skit, group should record their answers
before from the group discussion on worksheet 2
beginning this Students should discuss and record (found on
segment of worksheet 2):
the lesson - What were some living things in the skit?
- What were some nonliving things?
- What interaction did you observe?
- How did the students show that interaction?

1:20 3 min Discuss final thoughts about what it means to be

living or nonliving and what interactions are found
within any of the habitats discussed in class
- Achievement will be measured by the
students ability to define and provide
examples of living and nonliving items and
some interactions may occur within a habitat
or ecosystem, expanding on what they may
have said at the beginning of the lesson. /
final goodbyes
Name:_________________________________________
Ecosystem Group:_____________________________________

Sahara Desert Group

What were some living elements portrayed in this skit?

What were some nonliving elements portrayed in this skit?

What interaction did you observe in this skit?

How did the students show that interaction?

Rain Forest Group

What were some living elements portrayed in this skit?

What were some nonliving elements portrayed in this skit?

What interaction did you observe in this skit?

How did the students show that interaction?

Great Barrier Reef Group

What were some living elements portrayed in this skit?

What were some nonliving elements portrayed in this skit?

What interaction did you observe in this skit?

How did the students show that interaction?

Michigan Lakes Group

What were some living elements portrayed in this skit?

What were some nonliving elements portrayed in this skit?

What interaction did you observe in this skit?

How did the students show that interaction?