Hugga Loula – Basic Elements/Terms of a Play
Objectives:
Review the following five basic elements of a story utilizing the picture book Hugga Loula: setting, character, plot, conflict or problem, and theme.
Understand five elements/terms of a play.
Students participate in active learning by acting out Hugga Loula.
Supplies: You may want to purchase the following supplies before you teach the lesson. (All of the supplies are optional.)
Costumes: Purchase a yellow shirt for Hugga Loula character, a blue shirt for the dad character, a pink one for the mom character, and a tan or white one for Steve character. (You may need more shirts if you choose the option of having several groups perform Hugga Loula in play form as opposed to just one.)
Possible Props: Stuffed Animal, Stuffed Dog (looks like Lorenzo), few books for Hugga Loula character to read, play tool box with tools or loose tools, play dishes including a small sauce pan, variety of toys for Steve character including ball, helicopter, car, telephone, stuffed elephant, stuffed dinosaur, favorite toy truck.
Settings: You could have the students make signs to denote the following settings: Hugga Loula’s bedroom, the garage and outside, the kitchen, and Steve’s bedroom. (You will need five large white sheets of poster board.)
Before Reading
Review the following terms with the children: character, setting, plot, conflict/problem, and theme.
Character: Who the story is about – usually people or animals.
Setting: Where and when the story takes place.
Review plot, conflict/problem, and theme. Theme is the idea or message of the story.
Introduce the following terms: play, dialogue, stage directions, props, and narrator.
Play: theater performance, acting
Dialogue: conversation between two or more people
Narrator: one who tells the story; reads everything except for the dialogue parts
Props: objects used on stage; can be moved around
Stage Directions: indicates movement, position, tone, lighting, sound effects
Explain that while you read Hugga Loula, the children need to be listening for the different parts and that you will be seeking volunteers for each part after the reading.
Read Hugga Loula.
After Reading:
Select actors for the following parts: Narrator, Hugga Loula, Dad, Mom, brother Steve, and dog Lorenzo. (Please note the Lorenzo part is non-speaking.)
If you wished, you could have another student perform the sound effects.
The rest of the students participate by saying the refrain with the narrator.
(You could also have several different groups practice and perform Hugga Loula. Each group would have six members – if doesn’t come out evenly a student could have two different parts.)
You may want to go all out and have the children perform their plays for parents, grandparents, another classroom, etc.