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TEACHER RESOURCE PACK THE SNOW CHILD FOR TEACHERS WORKING WITH PUPILS IN RECEPTION – YEAR 2

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Page 1: The Snow Child - teacher resources

TEACHER RESOURCE PACK

THE SNOW CHILDFOR TEACHERS WORKING WITH PUPILS IN RECEPTION – YEAR 2

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THE SNOW CHILDRUNNING FROM 18 NOV - 3 JAN | FOR RECEPTION - YEAR 2

A WINTRY TALE FULL OF WARMTH THIS CHRISTMAS.

Once upon a time there was a man and his wife who loved one another dearly, and although they were content and lived happily, there was just one thing they longed for: a child of their own.

So one cold, white winter’s day, they sculpt a daughter out of snow and something magical and extraordinary happens.

This beautiful and inventive show by award-winning company Dancing Brick will transport you into the wintry world of this gorgeous Russian folktale.

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CONTENTSINTRODUCTION TO THE PLAY AND TO THE RESOURCE PACK p.4

AN INTERVIEW WITH THE CREATORS OF THE SHOW p.6

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES p.8Drama and creative classroom activities designed for use with your class before and after a visit to The Snow Child.

Section 1Introduces the children to one of the main themes of the story: the changing cycle of the seasons.

Section 2 Explores responses to seasonal change through plant cycles and animals who hibernate.

Section 3Art activities designed to immerse the children in the wintry world of The Snow Child.

Section 4Introduces the couple; the central characters in the story and explores their close relationship with each other and with their snowy world.

Section 5A selection of post-show activities designed to allow children to respond to the play and share their thoughts and feelings about what they’ve seen. Includes a script for the ‘Story Whoosh’ activity.

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INTRODUCTIONWelcome to the teacher resources for The Snow Child, which runs from 18 Nov to 3 Jan and is created for Reception to Year 2 children to enjoy.

The teacher resources and CPD day for The Snow Child (on Mon 5 Oct) will take teachers through a range of accessible activities for exploring the play in the classroom.

The activities can be used before or after your visit, and use drama, art and writing activities as ways of exploring themes and events that are relevant to the play.

Activities may be used in sequence to deepen and develop children’s responses; however they are designed to be flexible enough for teachers to re-shape and embed them into their own curriculum planning. They are designed for teachers who are new to drama as well as those with experience of using drama in the classroom.

THE STORY OF THE SNOW CHILDThe Unicorn’s production of The Snow Child is based on a traditional folktale from Russia.

A couple who love each other very much are grieving that they have no children. When the first winter snow falls, they watch the village children playing outside and building a snowman, so they decide to go outside and make themselves a Snow Child.

To their astonishment, the child, a littlegirl, comes to life. She brings joy, creativity and delight to the couple, teaching them how to play and make magic in the snow. They make wonderful snow sculptures and create marvellous imaginary worlds together.

The couple care for the Snow Child like any other daughter – and they try to keep her warm! But the Snow Child is different from other children; she makes herself a bed of snow and sleeps outside. The couple allow her the freedom to take care of herself and she is a happy, loving little girl.

But when spring comes, the Snow Child cannot survive – she begins to melt in the heat of the sun. The couple are grief stricken when they discover that she must leave them for a snowy place far away.

For the rest of the year, the couple are heartbroken at the loss of their beautiful little girl, believing she is lost to them forever. However the following winter, when the first snow falls again, the Snow Child returns, promising that she will always come back to them.

Dancing Brick Theatre Company will use this classic story as the starting point for devising a new, inventive and imaginative production. Expect colourful ski-suits, an all white ball pond and the transformation of everyday objects to conjure unexpected worlds.

THE SNOW CHILD - TEACHER RESOURCES

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ABOUT THE STORY This is a story about love, loss, regeneration and change. Just as the seasons come and go, the Snow Child always returns to the couple when the time is right. They learn to trust and rejoice in the cycles of loss, change and regrowth that govern their lives.

Like the couple in the story, children also experience the people they love come and go around them. Adults go out and come home, older children move on to new schools, friends and family visit and then leave again. When children first go to school, they must learn to feel safe in the knowledge that the adults who dropped them off will return for them at the end of the day. The little Snow Child is always happy, she understands that change happens around her and that she will always return to her beloved parents when the time is right. She teaches the couple to trust and be patient with the changing seasons of the year.

The Snow Child is a beautiful cold-weather inversion of the Greek myth of Persephone, in which winter is the time of loss and grief, when the earth is barren and nothing can grow, because Demeter has lost her daughter. In our story, winter is the time of creativity and joy. The Snow Child teaches her parents how to make magic out of their surroundings and to realise that the snow is a marvellous playground, full of creative possibilities…

They learn that the Snow Child has to do things her own way, and that like all children, she has a mind of her own!

THE SNOW CHILD - TEACHER RESOURCES

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INTERVIEW WITH THE CREATORSThe Snow Child will be created and performed by Valentina Ceschi and Thomas Eccleshare, who together form children’s theatre company Dancing Brick.

CAN YOU TELL US WHO THE CREATIVE TEAM ARE AND WHAT THEIR DIFFERENT ROLES WILL BE?

We are both devisers and performers and so we will create and perform the show together. We have a composer / musician, Harry Blake, who will write and perform the music. We have a designer, James Button, who will design the set and the costumes and make sure they’re built properly. And we have a puppet maker, Matthew Hutchinson, who will design a puppet to use as the snow child.

Together, as a team, we will all write and create our version of The Snow Child story.

WHAT IS AT THE HEART OF THE STORY FOR YOU?

At the heart of the story for us is the way the couple create something out of nothing, out of play. It’s about how we can use our imaginations, but also about how the couple learn to accept the fact that things disappear and reappear.

WHERE IS THIS WORLD FOR YOU? IS IT RUSSIA? IS IT HERE? IS IT MORE OPEN/UNIVERSAL?

Our version of the story will take place in a sort of snowy no-place. It’s not specifically Russia, but it’s definitely a place where the cold is real and the snow goes on forever and ever. It’s an open space, a blank white canvas where the possibilities are endless and anything can happen!

On a more specific note, the aesthetic we are experimenting with is a sort of 1980’s winter Olympic team - as if this couple have wandered away from a soviet ski competition and ended up here. We’re also thinking about a white ball pit!

CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE MORE ABOUT HOW YOU WILL CONJURE THE SNOW CHILD?

The most interesting thing for us is how the couple create the girl out of things that they already have, how creativity can come from anywhere. We’re not interested in suddenly bringing on a perfectly formed puppet and saying ‘here’s the snow child’, we want to experiment with how the couple can take bits of their own clothing for example (goggles, gloves, shoes) and together, make something new.

THE SNOW CHILD - TEACHER RESOURCES

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HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE SEQUENCE WHERE SHE TEACHES THE CHILDREN HOW TO CREATE THINGS OUT OF SNOW?

We’re more interested in the relationship between the three main characters and the fun they can have together rather than the scene where she teaches the village children how to play.

The short answer is we’re probably going to cut the explicit mention of village children.

WHAT PART WILL MUSIC AND SOUND PLAY IN THE TELLING OF THE STORY?

An important one! The music, played live, and written in response to our rehearsals, will be like a film score, emphasising and accentuating the action on stage. We see the show as being largely silent in terms of the performers, so the music will be a score that can help the comedy, emotion and drama! At the moment we think it will be oboe and piano, played live.

HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT HOW YOU WILL MARK THE CHANGES IN THE SEASONS THEATRICALLY?

Not specifically, but it is definitely one of the most important images in the story. We hope there will be some funny costume changes and maybe a Hawaiian shirt or two. We’re also talking about how the white of winter is replaced by colourful blossom and spring.

On a serious note, we love the poetry of a sunny, summers day actually being a bad or sad thing.

WHERE DO YOU IMAGINE THE SNOW CHILD GOES WHEN SHE LEAVES THE COUPLE?

Valentina thinks she goes even further north where it’s colder, into the wood, into the shadows, deep into the unknown.

Thomas thinks she melts and disappears for the summer, hibernating like a bear.

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIESThese activities are designed for use with your class before and after a visit to The Snow Child. They work sequentially by layering and deepening children’s responses, but are also intended to be flexible so that teachers can re-order and build activities in a way that makes sense for their particular children and setting.

THE SNOW CHILD - TEACHER RESOURCES

ACCOMPANYING TEACHER CPD - MON 5 OCT 10AM - 4PM

CPD is FREE for teachers and will be an opportunity for teachers to find out more about the production and to gain practical experience of the classroom activities before working with them in the classroom.

To book your place on the CPD session, please email [email protected]

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SECTION ONE

THE CHANGING SEASONSAIMSTo explore seasonal differences and allow children to draw upon their prior knowledge and extend their experience and understanding of the seasons.

THIS SESSION INCLUDESDiscussion, soundscapes, drama games and exercises, character work and role-play.

A) INTRODUCTION TO THE SEASONS - IMAGESShare images of the four seasons with the children – these could be printed photographs or images/videos on the interactive whiteboard. Ask the children to talk about what they observe in each season and how they feel at these different times of year.

B) SEASON SOUNDSCAPES This exercise will help the children feel the mood of that season and add a new sensory dimension to their explorations.

Sitting in a circle, explain that you are going to create soundscapes to explore the mood or atmosphere of each season. Choose a season to start with and ask the class to think of the sounds they might hear at that particular time of year (e.g. blustery wind, crunchy leaves, buzzing insects). As the sounds are suggested, assign a sound to each child or group of children. When everyone has a sound, conduct the circle like an orchestra: when your hands are on the floor, everyone is quiet, as you raise your hands the sounds begin and get louder the more you raise your hands. Experiment with bringing in different sounds at different volumes.

Reflective questions could include:What atmospheres did you feel when you were making the sounds?What kinds of things do you feel like doing when you hear the different sounds?What happened when the sounds were louder or quieter?

C) SEASONAL STATUESThis exercise helps the children relate their own experience of the seasons to the winter activities enjoyed by the characters in The Snow Child.

Ask the class what activities and games might be specific to each season (e.g. kite flying in spring, catching falling leaves in Autumn, ice-skating, sunbathing.) Choose one season and ask everyone to stand up and show how they feel (warm, chilly, braced against the wind) and then to mime some of the different activities appropriate for that season.

Introduce Vivaldi’s Four Seasons - play the class the music for the season you are working on. You could now develop their mime actions into a game of Musical Statues. When the music is playing, the children can all move around the room, miming their seasonal activities. When the music stops, they freeze in a shape that demonstrates their chosen activity for the rest of the class.

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Reflective questions could include: How did the music make you feel and behave?Which activities did you particularly enjoy, and why?

D) SEASONAL JOURNEYSThis exercise will help the children understand the progress and cycle of the seasons, and recognize the journeys taken in the story, in which the Snow Child arrives in the snowy village of the old couple, and returns again to her winter home when the summer comes.

First, place a photograph or object representing each season in the four corners of the room, so that you have a corner for each season.

Ask the children to form a long line holding hands and lead the line in a wavy journey around the room from season to season, stopping at each one. As you walk, you could make up a call and response song to help the children focus on the journey.

When you stop at each new season, ask the children to show you the different activities they might do at this particular time of year. In small groups, ask the children to make a frozen picture of their activities, so that you have a whole group photograph to illustrate your season.

Older children could then activate their frozen pictures to create silent movie scenes showing their activities.

Reflective questions could include: What differences did you notice in the kind of activities you were doing in different seasons? How was your behaviour different in winter and summer? Why might that be?

E) FAVOURITE SEASONSThis exercise is an opportunity for the children to reflect on all the physical activities they’ve improvised and to consolidate their own thoughts and opinions about the seasons.

Ask the class to think about which season they like best and why. Now organise the class into groups of around five or six, according to their favourite seasons. Ask each group to discuss together what it is they particularly like about their season.

The groups now make three frozen pictures showing some of the activities they enjoy at their chosen time of year. They can then link the three activities together using slow-motion movement, so that they have a sequence for their season.

Invite the groups to share their sequences. You could ask each group to create a soundscape of words and sounds for their sequence, or you could play the appropriate Vivaldi music over each one.

VARIATION: Ask each group to show their three frozen pictures. They should bring one or more images briefly to life to hear what they are saying in that moment.

INTO WRITING: Ask each group to write down the words they used in their soundscape. They could use these words as starting points for poetry or as titles/scaffolding for descriptive writing using the prompt:One snowy (or blustery/rainy/sunny) day…

Reflective questions could include: Why do you think some people like one season more than others?Why might you feel differently if you are from a particularly warm or cold place?Who knows of, or has come from a country that is particularly warm or cold? What can you tell us about the weather and landscape in these countries, or what children do for fun there?

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F) MOVEMENT SEQUENCEThis exercise consolidates the imagery and ideas that the children have explored throughout this section and creates an abstract movement sequence based on the seasons. Developing a physical vocabulary of language and movement will support the children in understanding the theatrical language of performance they will see when the story is told on stage. The combination of language and movement also helps the children explore, feel, and articulate the poetic qualities of the seasons in preparation for writing work.

First, ask the children to spread out around the room – everyone is going to learn a series of movements. Ask the children to suggest between four and eight different movements to express actions they would do in the different seasons, for example, stretching up to touch the snow, jumping in a pile of leaves, lying in the sun...

The movements should be as different as possible from each other – i.e., stretching upward/crouching down, slow motion walking/running and dodging, jumping up/rolling on the floor. If you have a fast action, try to include slow motion or a freeze as well, for contrast and control.

With each move, invite the children to think of an accompanying word or phrase, e.g. “reach for the snow”, “crunchy leaves”, “tiny seeds growing”, “aahh, sunbathing” etc.

Once the children have practiced their movement and text, you can experiment with moving and speaking in different sequences and adding music to create a whole class movement sequence.

F) INTO WRITINGThe children can order the phrases as they wish as scaffolding for creating poems. They can also use the phrases as starting prompts for further descriptive writing.

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SECTION TWO

PLANT CYCLES AND HIBERNATIONAIMS To extend the childrens’ understanding of life cycles in nature through the changing seasons.

THIS SESSION INCLUDESIn-role improvisation, character work, discussion, still image making.

A) PLANT CYCLESThis activity introduces the notion that there is a life cycle attached to the journey through the seasons and particular times of year when living things may lie dormant before they return to life - just as the Snow Child leaves and returns to the village each year.

Ask the children to imagine they are all seeds in the ground. As you lead them through the improvisation, they can move and grow in response to what they hear you say:

• It is spring. Each seed is going to begin to grow shoots and roots, to push up through the soil and grow towards the sunlight. As the rain falls and the sun shines, the tiny plant grows stronger.

• Now the sun is strong, it is summer. The tiny plant has grown into a beautiful flower or tree, with waving leaves and branches and brightly coloured flowers that face the sunshine.

• In autumn, the leaves and petals start to turn red and yellow. Strong winds blow, the plant is blown by the wind, its leaves and seeds fall to the ground.

• Now it’s winter and there is nothing left of the plant but a few bare stems, and its roots. It sleeps, deep under the ground and waits for the snow to melt, for the earth to soften and for the Spring to come again so it can grow.

Reflective questions could include: What do you think the seed is doing in the ground?How did you feel as you were unfurling and growing in the sunshine?How did you feel when winter approached again?

B) ANIMAL CYCLESDiscuss with the children some of the different ways in which animals respond to the seasons. For example, birds migrate in winter, hedgehogs and bears hibernate, other animals that stay in cold climates might struggle to find food.

Explain that in the UK there are three animals that hibernate: hedgehogs, bats and dormice.

Ask the children to find a space in the room, and to move around the space as:

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A hedgehog – as they move, explain that hedgehogs are spiky on the outside and have soft fur on their tummies. They have little legs and they scuttle around in the leaves finding food to eat - slugs and snails and insects. When they sense danger they roll up into a ball so that their spikes are sticking out to scare animals that might attack them.

A bat – explain that bats have furry bodies and leathery wings. They fly around and catch insects for food. They can’t see, but they can hear everything really clearly to find their way. Bats perch on ledges in caves or abandoned buildings.

A dormouse – explain that this is a tiny mouse famous for being sleepy! They curl up into tight little balls with their paws in front of their eyes to go to sleep. Dormice are also really good at climbing and often live in trees.

Now ask the children to get into groups of 4 or 5, choose one of the hibernating animals and to become a family of that animal. Ask them to work together as that family group, improvising as you narrate the following three moments:

The families begin preparing for winter – eating lots of food, drinking water, then creating a warm den or a clean stoop (for bats), covering themselves with leaves and curling up to sleep.

In their nest or roost the animals are now ready for the winter; their heartbeat slows down and they get cooler as their bodies prepare for the long sleep.

When spring comes the animals stretch, wake up, come back to life, go outside and forage for food in the sunshine. What do the animals see, smell and feel when they look around the world they have woken up into? How has it changed from when they first went to sleep?

Divide the group in half so that each half can watch the others’ hibernation sequence.

You can always freeze the groups into a still image and narrate what happens next, then let them act it out, if they need help to focus.

Reflective questions could include: How did you feel when the weather changed?What was good about going to sleep?What was fun about being awake?What did you see when came out of your nest or stoop?

Now ask the children to work in pairs of the same animal and imagine that one of them has hibernated many times before and that the other is very young and this winter will be the first time they have gone into hibernation. Improvise a conversation where the younger animal asks the more experienced animal questions about hibernation. You could model this conversation with a TA or confident child first.

Now that the children have had a go at asking for or giving advice about hibernation, explain that you are going to take on the role of a hedgehog that has never hibernated before and that you will ask them about their experiences as bats, hedgehogs and dormice. You can ask questions like:

What do I need to do to prepare for hibernation?What happens when I start to go to sleep?What the world will look like when I emerge?Do all animals sleep during the winter? What happens while we’re asleep?

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C) MY FAVOURITE SEASON - TEACHER IN ROLEThis activity introduces the children to the Snow Child’s role in the story, and her need to return to the snow when spring and summer come to the village.

Ask the children to create a group photograph of a hot summer day. Begin with one or two children demonstrating a frozen picture of a summer activity and build in the rest of the class according to their suggestions.

Explain that you are going to become someone who is finding the summer weather difficult to manage. Ask the children where that person might be in their picture. Then ask them to think of what they might ask or say to a person they see is ‘sitting on their own in the shade’, or who is ‘still inside’ for example.

Preparing a short script and some questions such as the ones below in advance will help:

I’m not used to this weather; how long will the summer last? How long will it be until it’’s really cold? I love the freezing days the best, the snow and ice and the dark winter nights. What do you enjoy about this weather? What would you do if you were from a cold climate and you didn’t feel comfortable in the heat? How can you help me get through the summer?

FOLLOW UP WORK – SNOWY COUNTRIESDiscuss with the children where your character might be from – countries close to the North or South Poles, perhaps. Ask the children to find these countries on a map, and then discover three things about life in a snowy climate. For example, they might want to explore daylight and darkness, the kind of creatures that live in snowy places, what people eat, or what the landscape looks like.

You could also create season collages: give each child, or group of children, a large collection of fabric scraps, pebbles, leaves, seeds, etc. They should sort the objects into piles that they feel are appropriate for each season. They can then create mood-boards, collages or boxes to show the mood, texture, colour palette and feeling of each of the seasons.

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SECTION THREE

MAKING SNOWY LANDSCAPESAIMS To go deeper into the snowy setting of The Snow Child; to explore winter weather in art, including painting and collage, to create a snowy backdrop for further drama work.

THIS SESSION INCLUDESPainting with textured paint and making snowflakes using masking tape. You will need: a large roll of paper, A3 and A4 paper for snowflakes, masking tape, scissors, paint and brushes.

A) FALLING SNOWFLAKES – A SKYSCAPEAsk the children to work on A3 or A4 paper. They can make snowflake shapes by sticking strips of masking tape onto the paper, first in a cross and then diagonally. Once the snowflakes are stuck onto the paper, the children can paint a swirly sky over the top of the masking tape.

When the individual sheets of paper are dry, the children can carefully peel away the masking tape to reveal the white snowflakes on the sky-coloured paper. The individual papers can be stuck onto the larger sheet to create a bigger sky.

B) ANIMAL CYCLES - SNOWY LANDSCAPESOn separate sheets of A4 paper children can paint a winter sky and allow it to dry. They can then draw or collage objects onto their paper which would be covered in snow in winter time – for example trees, the roofs of houses, fences etc.

The children can then either use puffy paint (or mix their own from equal parts PVA glue and shaving foam) to cover their drawings in 3D snow. Once the snow paintings have dried they can be added to the large sheet of paper.

C) LIGHTING EXPERIMENTInvite the children to observe different kinds of lighting on their art work. Place blue or white gels over a torch or angle-poise lamp and notice the effect it has on the picture, and on the general mood of the room. Now try a yellow or orange gel. Ask the children: Which colours feel most wintery? How do the changes in lighting make you feel?

D) INTO WRITINGIn groups, ask the children to think of lots of words to describe their snowy landscapes. They can then order

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the words however they like to make a list poem.

VARIATION: Give each group a single letter to work with – their lists can only use descriptive words beginning with this letter.

The children could also write a story about a character living in their snowy landscape and what happens when a new character arrives to live there.

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SECTION FOUR

FRIENDSHIP AND LOVEAIMS To explore the relationship between the couple in the story, using drama to understand the harmony between them and the sense of loss and longing they experience when something is missing from their lives.

THIS SESSION INCLUDESCharacter and pair work, mirroring and working in unison to create movement sequences, reflective discussion.

A) MEETING THE CHARACTERSRemind the children of the work they’ve done in Section 2, when they created snowy landscapes. Now introduce two characters living in this world of deep winter snow: the couple at the heart of the story. Explain that this couple have lived together in their little cottage in a snowy world for years and years and that they love each other very much.

Ask the children to imagine they are either the man or the woman, dressing up in their warmest winter clothes to go out into the snow. Take suggestions for all the layers everybody needs to put on to stay warm. As a whole group, mime getting dressed using their suggestions, and then together imagine going out into the snow. Take suggestions for all the different activities the couple might do – gathering firewood, playing games, building a snowman etc and act them out.

B) A DAY IN THE LIFEOnce the class has agreed on and tried out a range of different activities, ask everyone to imagine that we are now back inside the cottage. This exercise helps the children explore and identify with the lives of the couple in more depth.

Ask every child to work individually and in silence as either the man or the woman in the story. It is bedtime, and everyone is fast asleep in bed in the little cottage. Now talk the children through the beginning of a new day: the light dawning, each of them starting to wake up and begin their morning. As you talk and make suggestions as to what happens when the day begins, the children mime each activity. Leave plenty of choices open for the children to decide how they want to go through their own day. For instance:

What is the first thing you do when you get out of bed?Do you spring up and start your exercises, or are you rather slow first thing in the morning?Do you make your bed, or run outside to see the snow? What do you have for breakfast? How do you make it?Do you need to gather firewood before you can cook?

Talk the children through the whole day, making sure you ask about household chores inside and work and play outside. End with everyone having a cup of tea looking into the fire in the evening and then finally getting back into bed at the end of the day and falling asleep.

If you have time, divide the class so that each half can watch the other half’s day.

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Reflective questions could include: Which activities did you most enjoy?What feelings did you notice at different times of the day?How was it to watch the other group?Which activities did you see other people doing that particularly interested you, or made you curious?What do you think about the couple’s lives?

C) MIRRORINGNow the children have thought about the daily lives of the couple, they can explore the love between them and how closely they are connected. Explain that one of the important things about this couple is that they are very close; they enjoy doing the same things and they are very comfortable with each other – you might say they were like ‘two peas in a pod’ they get on so well.

Before you begin, ask the class to stand in a circle and mirror you in making simple movements and gestures. Demonstrate how slow and precise the movement needs to be to achieve perfect mirroring. Then model the exercise with one person before asking the class to split into pairs for the exercise.

Ask the pairs to face each other, agree a leader and that person begins to move one hand very slowly so that their partner can mirror the movement as exactly as possible. Encourage the pairs to be precise in their movement – it can help to play some very slow music over this exercise to help the children move slowly. If they move too fast, it’s impossible for their partner to keep up!

Once the pairs are comfortable moving together they can introduce more complex movements - changing levels, walking around the room etc. They can also experiment with having no leader, simply allowing each gesture to flow into the next.

You could invite half the pairs to demonstrate their mirroring to the rest of the class and then swap round, so everyone has a chance to observe the movement.

Reflective questions could include: How did you feel doing this exercise?How was it to watch?What kind of movement made it possible to be a really good mirror? When it worked, what were you both doing to make it work?How does mirroring help us understand the couple’s relationship?

D) MOVEMENT SEQUENCE - DAILY LIFEOnce the children have established their mirroring partnership, they can create a sequence from the couple’s life. Each pair should choose any four actions they performed in the ‘Day In The Life’ activity, for example, stretching in bed, lighting the fire, skating down the garden path. Once they’ve decided on their activities, they should find a way to perform them together, mirroring each other or doing the same thing in unison, side by side, so they are doing each action as one.

Ask the pairs to now link the actions with slow motion movement so they have a sequence. You can add some music to underscore the movement. The children can share their sequences with the rest of the class.

Reflective questions could include: How was it working so closely with another person?How did it feel doing the same things at the same time?What did it look like when you observed other pairs working together in this way?

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Now finally ask the children to go back into their pairs and show a picture of the couple in the evening sitting side by side looking into the fire. Explain that they are so comfortable with each other that they don’t need to speak. But sometimes they look into the fire and they make a wish. Their lives are almost perfect, but there is one thing they long for.

Explain that when you touch a child on the shoulder you would like to hear their character’s thoughts. Hear a range of children’s thoughts about what they long for.

It is useful to leave the class with some questions and thoughts to look out for when they come to the performance. For example:

What kind of activities do you see the couple do together in the show?When you watch the performance, see if you notice some of the ways in which the couple show their closeness.

In the story, you may also notice that something is missing, even for this couple who have lived very happily together for a long time.

When the couple sit together in the cold winter evenings, looking into the fire, is there anything missing? Do you think there is anything they might wish for, or long for? What might they be searching for?

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SECTION FIVE - POST-SHOW ACTIVITIES

RESPONDING TO THE PLAYAIMS To help the children recall what they saw in the story, to deepen their responses to the story and characters, to encourage a range of creative responses to the story through speaking and listening, practical activities and writing.

THIS SESSION INCLUDESSimple drama games, freeze frames, improvisation, further development of work from Section 3.

A) STORY REMINDERSSitting in a circle, gather memories of the performance from all the children. Now ask the children to work in groups of four or five. Using ideas they have shared in the circle, ask them to work quickly and make frozen pictures of images that you call out, for example, a snowman, a cottage, a magical child. As the groups make their pictures, you can walk through the shapes they have created as though they are a landscape or theatre set.

Now ask the groups to discuss their own strongest memories from the performance. These could be images (as in the previous exercise) or scenes with characters from the story, for instance the couple playing with the Snow Child. The children should choose three memories and make a freezeframe showing each one. They can then link the images with movement and share these sequences with the rest of the class. If there is time, you could experiment with different kinds of music or a winter soundscape to accompany the sequences.

B) MELTINGThis exercise physically explores the qualities of snow and ice. Just as the snow melts and the Snow Child struggles with the warmer weather in the story, so we can explore the way that ice melts and turns to water.

Ask the children to spread out around the room – they are all going to be snow people melting in the sun. It’s very important for everyone to remember that this exercise is about learning to melt like snow –NOT falling like a stone!

Teach the children to melt safely to the floor in slow motion to a count of 8, by following this sequence of movements:

1: drop onto the left knee2: Using your left hand to help, turn sideways so that the left side (with the knee already on the floor) lowers down until you are sitting sideways with your weight on your left thigh. 3: Roll gently into a lying down position

To get back up, repeat these three moves in reverse.

Once the children have mastered these moves to a count of 8, you can experiment with melting to a count of 4 and 2 – but only if the movements remain as soft and fluid as ice melting.

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Try out melting to music, or different children melting to 8, 4, and 2 counts to create a sense of the snow dripping away and disappearing at the onset of spring.

Reflective questions could include:What did the melting feel like?What made it work well?What words describe what you saw or felt when you melted or watched other people melting?

Now ask the class to try melting while playing the Snow Child. The winter is over, the snow is melting, the sun appears, and she starts to melt in the heat.

Reflective questions could include:How did it feel when you were the Snow Child melting?What did you want to do? How could you stop yourself from melting?

TAKING IT FURTHER:You could now look at some real ice melting – leave one bowl of ice in a cool place and another in direct sunlight so the children can investigate how long it takes to melt.

C) MIRRORING SEQUENCES REVISITED – HELLOS AND GOODBYESRemind the children of the sequences they created in pairs for the old couple. This time, the children can work in threes to create new activities for the whole family once the Snow Child has joined the couple. They should choose three activities:

What were the couple doing just before the snow child arrived?What did the three of them do together?What did the couple do after the Snow Child left?

In their groups of three, the children should expand their sequences to include a moment when the Snow Child says goodbye to the couple and the moment when she returns having been away. Share the sequences with the rest of the class.

Now the children have explored the different moods of the story, when the Snow Child is present, when she leaves and when she returns, they can reflect on the cyclical feelings of loss, sadness and joy experienced by the old couple. You could also remind the children of the work they did on cycles and seasons in Section 1, including migration and hibernation.

Questions could include:How do the couple feel when they are with their Snow Child?What happens to their lives when she goes away?Where do you think she goes?Why does she have to go?What do the couple do when she is gone? How do you think they feel?What changes when she comes back?How might this remind you of the seasons we looked at?

D) WRITING ACTIVITIESThe children could write the story of the Snow Child’s journey when she returns to the snow during the summer months in the village. They could also write letters from the old couple and the Snow Child describing what it is like without each other’s company.

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IDEAS FOR POST-SHOW ART ACTIVITIES By creating puppets and environments you can explore the physical world of the story and link to the way puppetry and objects were used in the production, connecting the children’s experience of the story to the show. You will need: boxes of all shapes and sizes, scraps of fabric and coloured paper, coloured pens, wool and yarn, plain wooden spoons.

A) WOODEN SPOON PUPPETSThe children can create puppet figures of the story characters using wooden spoons dressed with scraps of fabric and wool.

B) CARDBOARD BOX DOLLS HOUSESUsing cardboard boxes, fabric, coloured paper, card and found objects, groups of children can create dolls houses for their characters to live in.

C) MAKING BEDSIn the book of the story, the Snow Child chooses to sleep outside in a bed of snow. Ask the children where they would most like to sleep. If you like, you can use the images in Nick Sharrett’s book You Choose as a stimulus. This book has images of many different kinds of beds including four posters, matchboxes, sea shells, piles of leaves, bunks and hammocks.

Now ask the children to draw their bed, or make it using boxes of different sizes and scraps of fabric.

D) STORY WHOOSHIn a Story Whoosh, the teacher narrates the events of the story, and the whole class perform the action in a circle, creating the setting, characters, objects and events.

As the teacher reads out the Whoosh, s/he will work round the circle, casting the children, who take it in turns to come into the circle and take on the parts necessary to create a scene. They create the house, the windows, the snowman, the falling snow, as well as the characters.

At the end of each section or scene, the teacher will say Whoosh, and the children involved in that scene will return to their place in the circle. As the teacher begins reading a new scene, s/he will bring the next round of children into the circle to create the next part of the story. In this way, everyone in the circle will be involved in the making of the story.

Having seen the play you may want to write your own story whoosh out of the ideas that the children have remembered from coming to see the play. Or you may like to use the story whoosh of the original story that the play has been based on (following page) and talk about what is the same and what is different in the two versions.

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THE STORY WHOOSH SCRIPT FOR THE ORIGINAL SNOW CHILD STORY• Once upon a time, in a village far away, in a small cottage, there lived an old man and his wife.• They were very happy together and would sit in their cottage, reading stories in the evenings. • But sometimes, now and again, they felt sad because they had no children.

Whoosh

• One cold winter day, the old man and the old lady stood at the window of their cottage, watching the village children playing in the snow, making a giant snowman.

• When the snowman was finished and the children had gone back to their homes, the old man turned to his wife and said: Why don’t we go outside and build a snow child?

• And the old lady replied: Why not? We can make a little girl.• So they put on their hats and gloves and boots, left their cottage and went out into the snowy garden.

Whoosh

• In the garden, the old man and the old lady slowly and carefully shaped the snow. They made a little body with hands and feet and they rolled a ball of snow to made the head.

• They used a twig to draw on the mouth and eyes. • They trimmed her dress with icicles and made her hair from willow branches covered in frost.• They stood and looked at the snow child they had made – she was perfect.

Whoosh

• The old man looked at the snow child and said: the snow child is so beautiful.• The old lady sighed and said: how I wish she were real. And she touched the snow child on the shoulder.• As she did this, the snow child came to life! Warm breath came from her mouth and her eyes blinked. She

looked at the old couple with the eyes of a real child.• First she moved her head...• then her arms…• then she took a step.• The old man said: Look! She’s alive!• The snow child smiled and then she spoke: I am a child of the snow. I come to you as the cold winds blow.• The old lady said: our wish has come true! And the old man said: at last we have a little girl of our own. • The old couple lead the snow child back into their cottage.

Whoosh

• They were very happy. The old man told stories and the snow child listened. • The old lady sang songs and the old man played his accordion and the snow child danced around the

room.

Whoosh

• That night, the old lady made up a little bed for the snow child, with a warm woollen blanket.• She said to the snow child: come, it’s time to go to sleep.• But the snow child shook her head and said: I can’t sleep here, I must always sleep outside.• But you will be too cold said the old lady.• The snow child laughed and said oh no, I will never be too cold! And she ran out into the garden.

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Whoosh

• Every night the snow child slept outside in a bed made of snow, surrounded by the frosty forest trees.• And every night the old couple looked out of the window from inside their cottage, to make sure that she

was alright. The moon and stars shone down upon her and they could see that she smiled as she slept. All was well.

Whoosh

• All winter, the snow child would play with the children in the village. She showed them how to make many things out of snow: horses, a carriage, a beautiful palace…

Whoosh

• Then the spring came and the sun warmed the land. Birds returned from far off places and flowers grew in the garden.

• The children of the village were glad, they danced in the sunlight and called to the snow child: come! come play with us!

• But the snow child would not go. She hid from the sun and sat in the shade under a willow tree.• The old lady asked her: what is wrong?• The old man asked: are you ill?• The snow child answered: nothing is wrong, I am fine. But the snow child grew sadder and sadder as the

days got warmer. Her lips lost their colour and she seemed weak and tired.

Whoosh

• One morning, when all the snow had melted, the snow child came to the old man and the old lady; she held their hands and said: I must leave you now. I am a child of the snow, I must go where it is cold.

• The old man and lady said: No! No! you cannot go! As they held her, a few drops of snow fell to the floor. She slipped from their arms and ran out the door, away from the cottage.

• The old couple called out: Come back to us! Come back!

Whoosh

• The old couple cried as they thought they would never see the snow child again.• All summer, the children played, the birds sang and the flowers grew. But the old man and his wife could

only think of the little girl.• But the following winter, as the snow started to fall, the old couple looked out of their window and there

in the garden was the snow child!• They rushed outside and hugged her. The snow child said: I am a child of the snow. I come back to you as

the cold winds blow.

Whoosh

• The snow child stayed with the old couple all through winter. And when spring came, she left them again.

• But this time the old man and his wife were no longer sad. They sat in their cottage by the fire and felt happy, for they knew that their snow child would return to them every winter for ever after.

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THE SNOW CHILDA Unicorn I Sheffield Theatres I Dancing Brick production

By Valentina Ceschi and Thomas Eccleshare

Resource pack written by Kate Beales

Developed with Year 2 pupils and staff at Woodcroft Primary School