POPEJOY SCHOOLTIME SERIES TEACHING GUIDE GRADES 3-6. The PhantomTollbooth. Dreamcatchers Teaching Guides align with the Common Core Standards.

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1 EAM TC H S POPEJOY SCHOOLTIME SERIES TEACHING GUIDE GRADES 3-6 DR CA ER The PhantomTollbooth Dreamcatchers Teaching Guides align with the Common Core Standards.

2 Standards Addressed By Attending the Performance NMCCSS ELA-Literacy.SL.2 NCAS: TH:Re9.1 In order to live free and happily you must sacrifice boredom. It is not always an easy sacrifice. Synopsis - RICHARD BACH Norton Juster s fantastical The Phantom Tollbooth begins with an introduction to the story s hero: There was once a boy named Milo who didn t know what to do with himself not just sometimes, but always. One day a mysterious tollbooth appears in Milo s room and having nothing better to do, he drives his toy car through it. To his astonishment and increasing delight, he finds himself in a peculiar new world, where everyone he encounters is literally an embodiment of their name, from the ticking watchdog Tock, to the loveable but nonsensical Humbug. Milo soon finds himself on an eventful and dangerous quest: he is tasked with rescuing the Princesses Rhyme and Reason, who, in the war between words and numbers, have been banished to the Castle in the Air. Along the way he meets Azaz the Unabridged, the king of Dictionopolis, his brother the Mathemagician, the ruler of Digitopolis, and Faintly Macabre, the not-so-wicked Which. Milo travels through the Forest of Sight where he experiences different Points of View, accidentally leaps to the Island of Conclusions and travels through the Mountains of Ignorance, where he must escape its Demons in order to save the Princesses. With the help of his steadfast companions, he perseveres and brings Rhyme and Reason home, restoring peace to the realm. Along the way something magical happens to Milo; he discovers the delights of friendship, curiosity and knowledge, and that life his own life is filled with endless possibilities. Enchantment Theatre Company is thrilled to bring this captivating story to the stage. Using puppets, masks, magic, inventive scenic effects and original music, the wonder and adventure of the story comes alive. Join us at Popejoy as we journey along with Milo to the Lands Beyond and discover that with humor, good friends and a little bit of courage, anything is possible. 2

3 Vocabulary harrowing - very distressing or upsetting homograph - a word that is spelled like another word but that is different in origin, meaning, or pronunciation ( bow for a part of a ship and bow for a weapon that shoots arrows) homonym - a word that is spelled and pronounced like another word but is different in meaning (The noun bear and the verb bear ) homophone - a word that is pronounced like another word but is different in meaning, origin, or spelling ( to, too, and two ) idiom a commonly used phrase where the words sound like one thing but mean something else; e.g., piece of cake (meaning something easy) illusion something that looks or seems different from what it is; something that is false or not real but that seems to be true or real lure to cause or persuade (a person or an animal) to go somewhere or to do something by offering some pleasure or gain macabre involving death or violence in a way that is strange, frightening, or unpleasant medallion a piece of jewelry in the shape of a medal, usually worn as a pendant metropolis a very large or important city mirage something (such as a pool of water in the middle of a desert) that is seen and appears to be real but that is not actually there monotonous used to describe something that is boring because it is always the same oxymoron- a combination of words that have opposite or very different meanings ( open secret ) peculiar not usual or normal; strange rummage to search for something especially by moving and looking through the contents of a container or a place wistful thinking about simpler or emotional times in one s past, often with some sadness Fun Facts About the Show In our production of The Phantom Tollbooth we use a number of different theatrical devices to bring the story to life. Here are some of the things you and your students can expect to see: MASKS: In the show, the actor who plays Milo doesn t wear a mask but the rest of the actors will wear masks to help them become characters such as the Kings and Princesses, Faintly Macabre, and Dr. Dischord. Other actors will wear dog or bug masks to help them become Tock and Humbug. MIME: Mime is acting without speaking or making any noise. In The Phantom Tollbooth, many of the performers act out the story with their bodies and gestures, but they do not speak. WORDS AND MUSIC: There is recorded narration spoken by Susan Sweeney throughout the show to help the audience follow the story. Original music and songs composed by Charles Gilbert especially for this production add to the drama and atmosphere. PUPPETS: Some of the characters in the story are played by actors wearing masks and costumes. Other characters the Spelling Bee, Alec Bings, and the Gelatinous Giant are played by puppets. ROD PUPPETS (manipulated by sticks) and HAND PUPPETS will be the primary puppet devices you ll see. SCENERY: Most of the scenery will be projected onto three screens across the stage so you ll see Milo s bedroom, the cities of Dictionopolis and Digitopolis, and the lands Milo travels through all projected on these screens. There will also be some scenery pieces to help create the environment of the play such as the Tollbooth, Dr. Dischord s lab table, and the house of the Giant-Midget-Fat-Thin Man. LIGHTING: Special theatrical lights will help create the mood and the world of the story. ADAPTATION: To adapt a book into a play, playwrights use dialogue and action to tell a story rather than words on a page. They often have to add new characters and situations to make the story come alive. Singing, music, and dancing are important elements in developing the story and portraying the emotions of characters. It is a genre of theater in which the audience is willing to suspend their disbelief in the magic of the stage. In musicals, playwrights work with people who compose music and write lyrics. These are just some of the simple crucial steps to make a book come alive on stage! 3

4 Theatrical mask, Java, Indonesia, 19th century. BROOKLYN MUSEUM COLLECTION Introduction to Masks and Puppets In this production of The Phantom Tollbooth, actors wearing masks portray some of the characters. Though masks are rare in American contemporary theatre, they have been used since the very beginnings of theatre. The early Romans used enormous masks that exaggerated human characteristics and enhanced the actor s presence in the huge amphitheaters of their day. Greek theatre used masks that were human scale to designate tragic and comic characters. Masks were used in the early Christian church starting in the 9th century and were revived during the Renaissance in Italy with Commedia Dell Arte. Theatre throughout Asia has used masks to create archetypal characters, human and divine. In Balinese theatrical tradition, for example, masks keep ancient and mythological figures recognizable to a contemporary audience, preserving a rare and beautiful culture. Though used differently in every culture, the mask universally facilitates a transformation of the actor and the audience. In Enchantment s productions we sometimes include very large or very small characters in our stories, so we use puppets to portray them. Similar to masks, puppets also have a long and esteemed history. They have been used to represent gods, noblemen, and everyday people as well as animals and mythical creatures. In the history of every culture puppets can be found, from the tombs of the Pharaohs to the Italian marionette and the English Punch and Judy. The Bunraku Puppet Theatre of Japan has been in existence continuously since the 17th century. In the early days of Bunraku, the greatest playwrights preferred writing for puppets rather than for live actors! Puppets are similar to the mask in their fascination and power. We accept that this carved being is real and alive, and we invest it with an intensified life of our own imagining. Thus, puppets can take an audience further and deeper into what is true. Audiences bring more of themselves to mask and puppet theatre because they are required to imagine more. Masks and puppets live in a world of heightened reality. Used with art and skill, they can free the actor and the audience from what is ordinary and mundane, and help theatre do what it does at its best: expand boundaries, free the imagination, inspire dreams, transform possibilities, and teach us about ourselves. 4

5 COURTESY OF NORTON JUSTER Norton Juster Norton Juster is an American academic, architect, and popular writer. He is best known as an author of children s books, notably for The Phantom Tollbooth and The Dot and the Line. This summary is from a 2011 interview with National Public Radio. The Phantom Tollbooth was the first book I had ever written and my first collaboration with the cartoonist Jules Feiffer, who provided the marvelous illustrations. Like most good things that have happened in my life, The Phantom Tollbooth came about because I was trying to avoid doing something else. It was 1958, and after three years in the Navy, I returned to New York City to work as an architect. I had also received a grant to do a book on cities for children. I started with great energy and enthusiasm until I found myself waist-deep in stacks of 3-by- 5 note cards, exhausted and dispirited. This is not what I wanted to do. In order to stop thinking about cities, I had to start thinking about something else. I had been an odd child: quiet, introverted and moody. Little was expected from me. Everyone left me alone to wander around inside my own head. When I grew up I still felt like that puzzled kid disconnected, disinterested and confused. There was no rhyme or reason in his life. My thoughts focused on him, and I began writing about his childhood, which was really mine. Not everyone in the publishing world of the 1960s embraced The Phantom Tollbooth. Many said that it was not a children s book, the vocabulary was much too difficult, and the ideas were beyond kids. To top it off, they claimed fantasy was bad for children because it disorients them. The prevailing wisdom of the time held that learning should be more accessible and less discouraging. The aim was that no child would ever have to confront anything that he or she didn t already know. But my feeling is that there is no such thing as a difficult word. There are only words you don t know yet the kind of liberating words that Milo encounters on his adventure. Today s world of texting and tweeting is quite a different place, but children are still the same as they ve always been. They still get bored and confused, and still struggle to figure out the important questions of life. Well, one thing has changed: As many states eliminate tolls on highways, some children may never encounter a real tollbooth. Luckily there are other routes to the Lands Beyond. And it is possible to seek them, and fun to try. 5

6 Grades 5-6 (Extensions 3-4) NMCCSS ELA-Literacy.RL.7 ELA-Literacy.SL.2 NCAS MU:Re7.1 The Role of Music in The Phantom Tollbooth Lesson 1 Objectives Students will: be introduced to the composer s job; listen and observe the music in the show The Phantom Tollbooth; Discuss how the music helps the action, setting, and defines characters. Materials The Phantom Tollbooth by Norman Juster Optional: question sheet from this lesson Procedure 1. Read the book. 2. Introduction: Charlie Gilbert is the composer of the music for The Phantom Tollbooth. His music underscores the action of the story, and helps the performers tell the tale without words. One of the ways a composer helps to tell the story is to create musical themes or melodies that occur again and again throughout the play. 3. Explain that during the show they will be asked to observe and listen for answers to musical questions such as: When you see the play, concentrate on finding the theme music for Milo. Is there a theme for Tock the Watchdog? What about for the Princesses Rhyme and Reason? Did you notice any recurring melodies for other characters? Can you name the instruments that were used for Milo s theme? 4. Explain that the composer also creates songs to help us understand the characters and to move the action along. For example, have them listen for Milo s song in the beginning of the play and see how it helps us to understand his point of view. 5. The music in a performance can often indicate a new setting. Listen for the changes in the music when Milo arrives in the Lands Beyond; Milo and Tock arrive at Dictionopolis; Milo, Tock, and Humbug travel into the Forest of Sight; and when Milo returns home. 6. Were there other musical setting changes that the students noticed? 7. The composer has an important job in setting the mood or atmosphere of a play by the music he creates. For example, when Milo meets King Azaz and the Mathemagician the music is very different than when he meets the Princesses Rhyme and Reason. Ask the students: Have you ever seen a scary movie or been to a haunted house? Describe the music you heard. How did the music help make the movie or experience scary? Have you ever been to a circus and heard happy carnival music? What if you heard that music when you were at school? What would you think was happening? 8. What was the mood of the music at the end of the play? 9. When your students watch a musical, television or a movie, are they aware of all the music in the background? Invite them to pay attention and report back on their experience. continued on page 7 6

7 Extensions/Modifications Activity 1. Get the entire class up and away from their desks. Play a piece of music and ask everyone to move or dance with how the music makes them feel. Does it make you want to sneak around? Look for something? Skip? Does it make you feel sleepy? Angry? Scared? After a minute or so, play a different piece of music with a vastly different mood. Switch at least one more time. Discuss. Activity 2. Ask your students to recall a personal experience (for example, a family vacation or the first day of school). Ask one student to tell his/her story to the class. After he/she is finished, have the same student retell the same story. This time, play a dynamic track of music (preferably instrumental) to underscore the story. Ask the class how this music affected the story. When you attend the performance, encourage your students to pay attention to the music, and remember how the music created different moods within the piece. Assessment Quality of participation 7

8 Grades 3-6 NMCCSS ELA-Literacy.SL.2 NCAS TH:CN10.1 Silent Communication Games Lesson 2 Objectives Students will: communicate ideas and feelings without using words Materials A large open space where students may move freely Procedure 1. In The Phantom Tollbooth, the actors were able to communicate ideas and feelings without using words. Discuss with the students how the actors let the audience know what was happening, even when they weren t using their voices. Use any or all of the following activities to explore the possibilities of communicating without speaking: 2. INVISIBLE OBJECT: Imagine you are holding a very heavy bowling ball. Pass it around the circle without speaking and without dropping it! Think about how you have to stand to hold a heavy object, what your muscles feel like, how slowly you have to move. Give prompts like, Be ready for it! It s heavy. Make sure your neighbor has it before you let it go! When it s gone all the way around, try passing around a very light feather, a hot potato, a live frog. ( Don t let it get away! ) Don t say what it is you are passing, have the students guess based on how you handle the imaginary object. 3. WITHOUT WORDS: Ask students to think of actions or gestures they use to communicate. For example, can they think of ways to act surprised using only their faces? Can they say something without using any words? Without speaking, try saying: Hello! Yes! No! I m sleepy. I m scared. I m going to sneeze. It s over there. I love you. I don t know. I m hungry. Go away! Come here! That s funny! Where are you? My stomach hurts. What other ideas can they communicate? 4. TABLEAU: Now try to communicate a larger idea as a group. Still without talking, your students will have to create a tableau, or a frozen picture, of a place or activity of your choosing. They should try to do different things from each other. For example, if the activity is recess, not everyone should be playing kickball. If one person freezes to indicate one activity, a second person can react to that movement rather than imitate it. You should see people frozen in mid-run, sitting and laughing together, throwing a ball, etc. Try the following: a. At recess b. In the desert c. Having a picnic d. Getting ready for school e. At the Word Market. 5. HOW DO YOU MOVE? Make a space in the classroom for the students to move freely. Tell the students they are standing on a towel on a very hot beach and in order to get to the ocean they must walk across the scalding hot sand. Ouch! How do they move across the space? Other suggestions for environments to move through: a. A hot sidewalk covered with chewed bubble gum b. A frozen pond c. A very steep hill d. A pond scattered with stepping stones e. The surface of the moon f. A big pool filled with Jell-O. 6. MORE MIME: Extend the space exploration to include other imaginary activities: a. Carefully paint a door. After finishing, open the door and step through it without getting any paint on your clothes. Does the next person through the door know the paint on it is wet? b. Build a snowman. The teacher should be able to tell how big the snowman is by how the student uses the space, or how cold it is where they are. c. Eat an ice cream cone on a hot day. Can you do it before it melts? If you eat it too fast, do you get brain freeze? d. Rake leaves into a large pile. Admire the size of the pile, make sure no one is looking, and then jump into it. 7. TO CONCLUDE, ask the students to list the ways they saw one another communicate without using words (through facial expressions, movement, gesture). 8

9 Questions to Engage & Connect Do you think there is a lesson that the play wants you to learn? If so what is it? What are a couple of new things that you learned today? How would the story change if it were to be told from a different view point? What is something that stood out to you about the play? What about the play was different from the book? Which did you prefer? Why? Why do you think Milo was sad and bored? Do you think Milo will still be bored by everything? What lesson did he learn from his experience? What are cool activities you and your friends do to cure boredom? Do you naturally think more in words or numbers? Is one more important than the other? If the story kept on going, what do you think would happen? Bonus Explorations EXTENSION ACTIVITIES The author has admitted that the Mathemagician s code has no solution. Have the students suggest possible messages that fit the pattern of this code. Explore known codes, such as Morse code, and demonstrate designing codes using symbols, numbers, and letter substitutions. Explain how the Navajo Code Talkers were instrumental in WWII. Students can design a code and then write a message to another classmate to solve, or rewrite a list of spelling or vocabulary words in their code. A Sense of Nonsense! Present each small group of students with a collection of colorful words clipped from magazines the more, the better! Be sure to include verbs, nouns, adjectives, and adverbs. As students sort through the words, their task is to give an order to the mixed-up words. Using glue sticks and their own written words as needed, younger students may create sentences while older students can enjoy writing poems or stories. The teacher may choose a theme or topic, or students can create their own through the relationships they discover among the words. They can add a few of their own words to fill in any blanks, but should largely rely on the words you ve found. Resources BOOKS Juster, Norman. The Phantom Tollbooth: Norman Juster. Maryland: Recorded Books, Inc, Juster, Norman. Illustrated by Jules Feiffer. The Odious Ogre. New York: Michael Di Capua Books/Scholastic, Juster, Norman. The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics. San Fransico: Chronicle Books; First Edition, Juster, Norman. Alberic the Wise and Other Journeys. New York: Yearling; Reprint edition, WEBSITES Pixton Lesson Plan: The Phantom Tollbooth Here is a simple summary of the main characters including drawings and teacher guide. The Phantom Tollbooth The text of the book by Norman Jester, including illustrations by Jules Feiffer. MEDIA The Phantom Tollbooth. Directed by Chuck Jones. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1:30:00) Live Action/Animated Film. About the Company Enchantment Theatre Company creates original theatre for young audiences and families. The imaginative telling of new and classic fables, myths, and legends set to classical or original music inspires, challenges, and enriches their audience onstage, in the classroom, and in the community. ETC deeply believes in the transformative power of theatre and that all children should have a chance to experience the joy and wonder of live theatre. Their unique style of performance includes expressive masks, life-sized puppets, magical illusion, music, movement, and pantomime. This style is accessible to all children and encourages everyone regardless of age and language barriers to explore creative worlds, awaken imaginations, and engage with others in experiencing a live theatrical production. 9

10 The Schooltime Series is a proud member of The Popejoy Schooltime Series is supported in part by awards from: The Eugene & Marion Castiglia Popejoy Children s Schooltime Endowment The Popejoy Schooltime Education Endowment About the Schooltime Series The Popejoy Schooltime Series brings national and international touring companies and performers to Albuquerque. Each company is selected with youth and family audiences in mind, and our repertoire reflects the cultural diversity of our global community. The Schooltime Series includes new plays, familiar stories, literary works, biographies, mythologies, folktales, science shows, music, dance, and puppetry. These professional performing artists create entertaining educational experiences designed to encourage literacy, creativity, communication, and imagination. The Dreamcatchers Teaching Guides By their nature, the arts engage students in learning through observing, listening, and moving, offering learners various ways to acquire information and act on it to build understanding. They also offer a natural way to differentiate instruction as the arts offer multiple modes of representation, expression, and engagement. Additionally, the arts provide an authentic context in which students solve problems. By engaging in learning in one subject, learning in another subject is reinforced and extended, and vice versa. These guides introduce students to what they will see, a basic vocabulary associated with the show, fun facts, vetted resources, and activities providing a connection between the arts and classroom curriculum. Popejoy Hall Popejoy Hall is New Mexico s premiere nonprofit venue for the performing arts and entertainment. Our mission is to provide access to the performing arts for all New Mexicans. House Policies & Etiquette The inside of a theatre where the audience sits is called a house and to get along, have fun, and enjoy the shows, there are rules to follow. Schooltime is a wonderful opportunity to learn how good behavior in a live theater is different from watching television. For guidelines to practice with your class and chaperones, including safety, special needs, food and drink, backpacks, cell phones, photography, recordings, and more, go to schooltimeseries.com/house-policies. Dreamcatcher Credits Selected materials provided by Enchantment Theatre Company, Merriam-Webster Learner s Dictionary, Scholastic, Reading is Fundamental, and other resources noted in this guide. POPEJOY HALL: UNIVERSITY FOUNDED ~ COMMUNITY FUNDED