Floor Plans and Set and Costume Renderings

Use:

1. To teach students to draw and read floor plans and then draw the setting
2. To teach students to research the 'general look' for a period costume and to draw and color a costume plate

Standards

1. Theatre:
   1. Reserach, if necessary, the time and place of the scene
   2. Envision an environment that will tell where and when the scene takes place and that will set the mood for the performance
   3. Translate ideas from a floor plan to a drawing of a place
   4. Draw and color a costume plate
2. Language Arts:
   1. Understand the importance of setting for a story

Settings
http://artswork.asu.edu/arts/students/tb/06_03_floorplan.htm, recommended only if you have ample time

Materials:

• Paper
• Straight edge
• Coloring medium - watercolor, crayons, felt tip markers, etc.

Your Role:

1. Select one scene from a story, play or scenario for the students to use for creating a floor plan, and set and costume renderings
2. Read the web text about floor plans with the students
3. Model drawing a floor plan on the board. Perhaps you can do a section of the classroom or a scene from a story the children have read or a scene they have dramatized. Discuss that the placement of doors and furniture is important because the actors must move around in the set and their actions must be seen.
4. Help the students visualize the setting they will draw. Help them get a "bird's eye view" of the space and objects in the space.
5. Hand out materials; circulate to answer questions, etc.
6. Collect and write comments.
7. Next day, return the floor plans
8. Read the text about set renderings, drawings of a setting
9. Model a floor plan and then next to that, a drawing of the set. It is a bit difficult for some children to translate the bird's eye view (map) of the setting to a frontal drawing.
10. As you model the drawing, you may want to talk about perspective in pictures. Things that are smaller in relation to other things look father away. Show them this. Discuss that with a floor plan, the objects that are in the back are farther away and may seem a bit smaller to the viewer, therefore, they should be drawn smaller.
11. Pass out materials. Have the students draw and then color their settings.
12. If the students are pleased with their work, ask them if they would like to display their floor plans and the accompanying drawing.
13. Critique the floor plans and drawings. Have students note which drawings follow the floor plans. Discuss which setting and prop choices will help the actors tell the story, which are interesting and imaginative.

Time:

• Making floor plans, 20 minutes
• Drawing the settings, 15-20 minutes
• Critiquing the floor plans and settings, 10-15 minutes

Assessment:

1. Did the students understand the concept of a floor plan and how the plan related to a frontal drawing?
2. Did they plan and draw a setting that would make the play's action visible and interesting?

Costumes
http://artswork.asu.edu/arts/students/tb/06_05_costumes.htm, highly recommended for all students as they prepare to enact a character in a scene they will present to an audience

Materials:

1. A Print Figure or Print Model for each student
2. Watercolors, crayons, or felt tip makers

Your Role:

1. Have a period story or play in mind for the students to draw costume plates
2. Read the text at the costume site with the students. Look at and discuss the costume plates. Compare the kind of clothing worn then with what the students and their parents wear now. With the older students discuss how job and social role affect what people wore. Note these differences in the plates.
3. Give the students the Print Figure at the site if they will be drawing several characters from a play. If they are going to draw a character they will play, give each student a copy of the Print Model at http://artswork.asu.edu/arts/students/tb/03_02_charactergame.htm
4. Have the students show their drawings to the class. Have them explain what costume pieces tell when and where the play takes place. Have them explain what about the costume visually explains their particular character, e.g. bright and fancy because the character is wealthy; dark, tattered because the character is poor, etc.

Time: 30-40 minutes

Assessment:

1. The students' drawings demonstrated their understanding that costumes communicate where and when a play takes place.
2. The students made costume choices that illustrated information about their character: job, social class, personality