Elementary My Dear Mozart!!!!!!!

Teaching Opera to Elementary Students…

stepping outside of the box

Staci Kelly PendryJohn E. Ford PK-8 Montessori

School

ACTIVITY #1

Write your name in the middle of your paper.

Do a web with words that define who you are.

Your web can look however you want!

Share Out

How do we define ourselves?

Pre-Judgement based on what you think you know

(All girls wear pink is a stereotype)

What is a Stereo-Type?

*Draw me an OPERA singer…be detailed…it is OKAY to be stereotypical for this activity

Was your singer… A woman? Wearing a long dress? Mouth wide open? Breaking glass? Wearing horns?

VTS – Visual Thinking Strategies

What do you see/hear?

What makes you think that?

Anything else?

*very important never to give positive or negative feedback to the comments

Opera Listening Exercise #1*Listen to the music…write what you think is happening at each minute marker…

MINUTE 1

MINUTE 2

MINUTE 3

MINUTE 4

MINUTE 5

Magic Flute Synopsis for

kids

Remember, the overall experience is not to make them leave the performance an opera lover, but to leave with a new respect for an art form foreign to most of them. I always

tell them, I don’t LOVE all types of music, but I respect the artists and the art forms,

despite my personal feelings. We love what we are familiar with. It’s all about

PERSPECTIVE.