center for puppetry arts
educator resource guide
a note from our
education department
®
Dear Educator/Parent,
WEATHER
ROCKS!
Welcome to the Center for Puppetry Arts and our
production of WEATHER ROCKS!, written by Jon
Ludwig and directed by Spencer G. Stephens.
Photo by C-mont Productions
Written by Jon Ludwig
Directed by Spencer G. Stephens
2013-14 family performance
FEB 6 - MAR 23, 2014
1/2 Price Previews: Feb 4 & 5, 2014
Performances Tuesday - Sunday
Call 404.873.3391 to book your group
This production
is sponsored
in part by:
The Center for Puppetry Arts
is supported in part by:
WEATHER ROCKS! is an original and en“lightning”
musical filled with fun facts about rain, snow,
hurricanes, sunshine, and more! Audiences will
rock out with a cool band of meteorologists as they
open the flood gates on the mysteries of Mother
Nature. This spectacular show is the perfect
accompaniment to a thematic unit on weather,
earth sciences, meteorology, music, musical styles/
genres, puppetry styles, and more!
It has been proven (through test scores and
numerous studies) that the arts
• invite empathy and interaction
• stretch the imagination
• develop important coordination and language
skills (emotional and spoken)
• satisfy educational objectives across the curriculum
• support literacy and writing
• enhance social skills such as problem solving,
turn-taking and active listening
• impact attendance in a positive way
• improve motivation and behavior
• and simply allow children to have fun (they’re called “plays” for a reason, after all!)
This educator resource guide is designed to prepare
you for the experience of a live performance.
You’re also invited to utilize the suggested activities
as a springboard for follow-up fun after the curtain
has gone down.
To access the educational standards across the
curriculum that correlate to each programming
area at the Center (performance, Create-A-Puppet
Workshop, and Museum exhibits) click the links
below:
Center for Puppetry Arts® is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization and
is supported in part by contributions from corporations, foundations,
government agencies, and individuals.
Major funding is provided by the Fulton County Board of Commissioners
under the guidance of the Fulton County Arts Council. Major support is also
provided by the City of Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.
The Center is a member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national
organization for the American theatre; Theatre for Young Audiences
(TYA/USA/ASSITEJ); and International Performing Arts for Youth (IPAY). The Center
also serves as headquarters of UNIMA-USA, the American branch of Union
Internationale de la Marionnette, the international puppetry organization.
© 2014 Center for Puppetry Arts
®
Weather Rocks!, P-K & K
Weather Rocks!, Grade 1
Weather Rocks!, Grade 2
Weather Rocks!, Grade 3
Weather Rocks!, Grade 4
Weather Rocks!, Grade 5
Enjoy the show!
Sincerely,
Aretta Baumgartner, Education Director
Association of Theatre Movement Educators
Atlanta Puppetry Guild
Educational Theatre Association
NOTE: A very special “thank you” to Alan Louis, former Director of Museum and Education Programs at the
Center for Puppetry Arts, for his hard work and expertise on the original version of this Study Guide
(Center for Puppetry Arts, 2009). It was an inspiration for this Guide.
pre-show activities / discussions
WHAT IS A PUPPET?
A “puppet” is an inanimate (non-living) object that is brought to life by an outside force (usually a human being working as
a performer) in order to tell a story.
WEATHER ROCKS! is performed by four skilled puppeteers using a variety of puppetry styles. Rod puppets are one type
of puppet used in the show. Rod puppets are built on a stick (main control rod) that extends up through the puppet’s
body into its head. By coordinating the movements of one main control rod and two hand rods, a puppeteer brings a rod
puppet to life. Another type of puppet used in our show is a hand and rod puppet. Puppeteers operate hand and rod
puppets by placing one hand inside the head of the puppet to turn the puppet’s head and open and close its mouth. The
puppeteer’s other hand operates the control rods attached to the puppet’s hands. You will also notice shadow puppets
in our show. Shadow puppets are flat figures performed on an overhead projector. The audience never really sees the
puppet itself, only its silhouette image on the shadow screen. Some of the largest puppets in our show are body puppets. Body
puppets are like large costumes that the puppeteers wear, or stand inside of, in order to bring the character to life. Our
show also features giant string puppets rigged from the ceiling controlled by a series of pullies. This kind of puppet
may take two or three people working together to animate. Character voices are all performed live by the cast. Each
puppeteer wears a cordless microphone to amplify her/his voice. Dramatic special effects like fog and strobe lights help
tell the story by simulating actual weather conditions and by creating certain moods on stage.
• DISCUSSION: Ask the children what puppets are. Have they seen them before? Are they real or pretend? What can be used as a puppet? Out of what materials can puppets be made, and why would you choose some materials over others for certain projects? Have you ever made your own mouth puppets or shadow puppets?
WHAT IS A PUPPETEER?
A performer who uses a puppet or puppets to tell a story is called a “puppeteer.”
There are four puppeteers in WEATHER ROCKS!: Dolph Amick, Jared Brodie, Eliana Marianes, and Mandy Mitchell.
NOTE: the puppeteers will be joined onstage by a musician, Eric Baumgartner, who will play several different musical instruments to
accompany the show.
• DISCUSSION: What skills does it take to be a puppeteer? Every puppeteer plays multiple roles in the show. How are they able to make each character distinct and unique? Puppeteers can change their bodies and their voices to make characters and stories come to life. Do you change your bodies and/or voices and play
different “roles”? How do you think the puppeteers and musician will work together (“collaborate”) during the performance? What similar skills do musicians and puppeteers share? What differences?
© 2013 Center for Puppetry Arts®. All Rights Reserved.
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WHAT IS AN AUDIENCE?
Being a good audience member is as important as being a good puppeteer! It takes teamwork between the audience and
puppeteer/actor to make a show successful. There are “rules of etiquette” that need to be followed, such as:
• A LIVE SHOW IS DIFFERENT THAN TV OR MOVIES. It’s okay to have fun, but do remember that the
people on-stage (and in the audience) can hear you—be polite!
• MAKE SURE EVERYONE CAN SEE. Stay seated so the audience members behind you can see the show.
• BE SUPPORTIVE. The way audience members show they like something is to applaud. Make sure to
applaud if you appreciate what you see and hear. Between songs or scenes, after the show, and after the
post-show demonstration are appropriate places/times to show your appreciation.
• LISTEN CLOSELY. It’s important that you hear all the details of the story so that you can enjoy it fully.
• DISCUSSION: Review the “rules” of being a good audience member. Role play what is appropriate and what is not.
WHAT IS THE STORY WE’LL SHARE (THE STORY SYNOPSIS)?
Everyone talks about the weather. Now you can sing about it! The inspiration for WEATHER ROCKS! came from watching
the Weather People (meteorologists) on TV and wondering what they might do if they were to put on a musical revue. A
musical revue does not necessarily have a story but it has a central topic. In this case the topic is the weather. Each section
of weather basics has it own musical style. We use Gospel, Rhythm and Blues, Punk, Ska, Latin-Jazz, Reggae, Afro-beat,
Country and, of course, Rock ‘n’ Roll music. We hope the songs entertain you and help you to understand how weather
works. Because there are so many different parts to the weather, we decided to use many different styles of puppetry as
well. You will see hand, rod, shadow, body and string puppets. The string puppets in this show are the most complicated
ones. Because the string puppets are operated from the floor and not from above, each string is about 36 feet long and
the puppeteers are working the puppets in reverse. When they pull up the puppet goes down. When they pull down the
puppet goes up. Everything is backwards! Whew! A lot to think about while you’re also singing at the same time. Enjoy
the wonders of weather with WEATHER ROCKS!!
• DISCUSSION: Have you ever watched a weather report on television? If so, what types of things did
you see the meteorologists do as they shared their news? What types of equipment and technology did
they utilize? From what other sources can you get news about the weather? How are the reports on these sources similar to or different from the reports on television?
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learning and enrichment opportunities
Acting and Drama
How do performers tell stories? Just as carpenters use hammers and doctors use stethoscopes, performers
use tools: voice, body and movement. Talk about how we use our voice, our body, and our movement to
pretend to be things, other people, animals, etc. Have the children explore the tools (body, movement, voice)
one at a time:
• BODY: pose as different things (i.e. an elephant, using an arm as trunk and expanding to be as big as possible; a grandmother/grandfather, bending your back and leaning over a bit; a Ferris wheel,
placing both arms over your head in a circle and clasping your hands together)
• MOVEMENT: add movement to the above
• VOICE: how would they sound?
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: Theatre Arts
Fitness
Have students do weather-inspired exercises such as floating like snowflakes, twisting like a tornado, and
swaying like the wind -- these activities improve muscular strength and cardiovascular endurance. Allow
them to tiptoe around the room with their arms up and out like the rays of the sun, practicing balance and
playing with weightlessness and gravity. What other movements can the students do to imitate the action in
WEATHER ROCKS! ?
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: Physical Education, Science
Holidays and Seasonal Celebrations
There are many holidays and celebrations that include weather, or for which a change in weather plays an
important part. Examples include:
• Christmas: many people dream of a “white Christmas”!
• Earth Day: outdoor activities in springtime sunshine are a feature of this April celebration
• Groundhog’s Day: will Punxsutawney Phil predict a longer winter, or a soon-to-come spring?
• Independence Day: picnics and cookouts in beautiful summer weather are a part of many July 4th traditions
• Thanksgiving: this holiday means “autumn” for a lot of households and communities
Can you think of any other holidays for which an aspect of weather (or a change of seasons) is important? Do
you and your family (or friends) have any celebrations that include sun, rain, wind, snow, or for which you need
to check the weather forecast?
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: Social Studies, Social Sciences, History
Math Fun
There are many ways to explore math using the performance as an inspiration. Count how many characters
you can recall from the play, and figure out what percentage of the show’s total character count represented
each type/aspect of weather. Talk about the puppets you saw and organize them in terms of size, guessing
which might be tallest, which might be shortest, and which might be similar in size (greater than, less than,
equal to). What other math games can you create using the show and/or its characters as a jumping-off point? CURRICULUM CONNECTION: Mathematics
Music and Sound Effects
Explore how music can help tell a story. Music was a big part of this theatrical experience. How did music help
you understand the actions of the play and the feelings of the characters? Make your own music: play drums
you make out of coffee cans, guitars you make out of cereal boxes and rubber bands, and flutes you make out
of empty plastic bottles. Create lyrics and sing along! What mood or emotion do these different instruments
suggest, and how can your voice reflect these emotions? Listen to different styles of music (such as classical,
jazz, country, and pop/rock) and identify what instruments you hear being played. Discuss what “sound effects”
are and recall any sound effects you heard in the show that helped create the world of the puppet play.
CURRICULUM CONNECTION: Fine Arts/Music, Fine Arts/Visual Art
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Places and People
What parts of the story made you think/know it was set at the/in the weather desk of a newsroom? Find out
more about what it takes to be a broadcast meteorologist and what it’s like on the weather set of a television
news program by visiting this site: http://broadcastmet.com. What would it be like to have this kind of a
job? What skills would you have to have to be a success? What challenges face meteorologists? Discuss the
similarities and differences of forecasting for the newspaper, for television and/or on the World Wide Web.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: Social Studies
Puppetry and Science
How are puppets brought to life? How are puppet shows created? Have the students create a puppet show
using objects they can find in the classroom and/or in their desks. Have them each bring in one kitchen utensil
from home (marked with their name on masking tape!) and brainstorm how to re-create a favorite fairytale
using these utensils. Puppets designed for this show and for all puppet shows use scientific applications in their
designs. Can you figure out how simple machines (levers, pulleys, wedges, screws, wheels/axles, inclines) might
have been used in the puppets, set, props or stage for this puppet show? Discuss how properties of light and
dark apply to the production and performance of this show. What other ways can you see that science would
have been used in the research for or creation of WEATHER ROCKS! ?
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: Theatre Arts, Science (Engineering and Technology)
Simile
sim•i•le (noun): a figure of speech in which things different in kind or quality are compared
by the use of the word like or as (as in eyes like stars) http://www.wordcentral.com/
There are many similes that use weather to create comparisons. Examples include “as right as rain,” “as cold as
ice,” and “as pure as snow.” Can you think of any other commonly-used similes that use aspects of weather as
a basis for their comparisons? Try creating some weather-inspired similes of your own!
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: English Language Arts & Reading (Writing)
Spelling
What fun can you have with the letters of the words “weather” and “rocks”? Give each student the letters
W-E-A-T-H-E-R-R-O-C-K-S (or write them on the SMARTBoard or chalk board) and ask them to make (and
define) the following words: other, heat, water. What other words can you and your students make (and
define) using those letters?
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: English Language Arts & Reading (Spelling)
Storytelling
How are stories written? How can a story be told? Have the children draw a series of pictures to illustrate
what happened in the story. Add simple captions. This is called a “storyboard” and is often the way a play
or a movie is created! Have the children act out what they remember, allowing different children to take on
different roles (including scenery so all have a part to play!).
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS: Theatre Arts, English Language Arts & Reading,
Fine Arts/ Visual Art
Weather Activities
Engage in fun, educational weather-related activities in your schoolyard or backyard! Use examples found in
THE WILD WEATHER BOOK (by Fiona Danks and Jo Schofield) and Weatherwatch (by Valerie Wyatt) such
as:
• Cloud in a bottle (p. 23, Wyatt)
• Rainbow hunting (p. 11, Danks/Schofield) • Make your own thunderstorm (p. 25, Wyatt)
• Rain painting (p. 22, Danks/Schofield)
• Catch a falling snowflake (p. 40, Wyatt)
• Puddle reflections (p. 55, Danks/Schofield) • Smog in a jar (p. 57, Wyatt)
• Wind music (p. 70, Danks/Schofield)
• Make a simple barometer (p. 75, Wyatt)
• Tracking wildlife (p. 100, Danks/Schofield) 5
further reading
Barrett, Judi. The Complete Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. ISBN 1442401990
Bluemle, Elizabeth. Tap Tap Boom Boom. ISBN 0763656968
Bodden,Valerie. Our Wonderful Weather. Series -- titles include: Clouds, Hurricanes, Snow,Thunderstorms,Tornadoes. Various
ISBNs.
Branley, Franklyn Mansfield. Snow is Falling. A Let’s Read-and-Find-Out Book. ISBN 0064451860
Hall, Calvin and Daryl Pederson. Northern Lights: The Science, Myth, and Wonder of Aurora Borealis. ISBN 1570612900
Christian, Spencer and Antonia Felix. Can it Really Rain Frogs? The World’s Strangest Weather Events. ISBN 0471152900
Danks, Fiona and Jo Schofield. The Wild Weather Book: loads of things to do outdoors in rain, wind and snow. ISBN
0711232555
DK Publishing. Weather Watch: Cub Scout Activity Series. ISBN 0756631084
Dwyer, Mindy. Aurora: A Tale of the Northern Lights. ISBN 0882405497
Fleming, Denise. The First Day of Winter. ISBN 0312371381
Formby, Caroline. Wild Weather Soup. ISBN 0859539504
Iverson, Diane. Discover the Seasons. ISBN 1883220432
Kerrod, Robin. Exploring Science: Weather - An Amazing Fact File And Hands-On Project Book: With 16 Easy-To-Do
Experiments And 250 Exciting Pictures. ISBN 1861473079
Lin, Grace and Ranida T. McKneally. Our Seasons. ISBN 1570913609
Martin, Jacqueline Briggs. Snowflake Bentley. ISBN 0547248296
Milord, Susan. The Kids’ Nature Book. ISBN 1885593074
Root, Phyllis. Grandmother Winter. ISBN 0618494855
Vancleave, Janice Pratt. Weather: Mind-Boggling Experiments You Can Turn Into Science Fair Projects. ISBN 047103231X
Wyatt,Valerie and Pat Cupples. Weatherwatch. ISBN 0921103638
Zoehfield, Kathleen. Secrets of the Seasons: Orbiting the Sun in Our Backyard. ISBN 0517709945
© 2013 Center for Puppetry Arts®. All Rights Reserved.
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internet resources
http://www.puppet.org
Visit the website of the Center for Puppetry Arts, where you can take a virtual tour of the Museum and see examples of
puppets from many cultures and of many different styles.
http://www.clean-air-kids.org.uk/airquality.html
Find out more about the air we breathe on Clean Air Kids’ web page.
http://www.firstpalette.com/tool_box/printables/snowflake.html
Print fantastic snowflake patterns from FirstPalette’s website!
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/
Visit the National Weather Service website for the world’s largest archive of climate data at your fingertips.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/brochures.shtml#children
Download weather safety materials designed with kids in mind via the Office of Climate, Water and Weather Services page of
the National Weather Service website.
http://www.planetpals.com/weather.html
Accept the invitation to “weather together!” when you visit the Planet Pals weather website.
http://www.groundhog.org/
Celebrate Groundhog Day at the official website of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club.
http://www.puppeteers.org
Find out about puppetry and puppeteers in the United States by visiting the webpage for the Puppeteers of America.
http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/
Enjoy this online guide to snowflakes, snow crystals, and other ice phenomena: SnowCrystals.com.
http://www.unima-usa.org
Learn how Union Internationale de la Marionnette USA “promotes international friendship through the art of puppetry.”
http://www.weather.com/
Where else but the Weather Channel would you go to find out what’s going on in the sky?
http://www.weatherwizkids.com/index.htm
Learn about weather folklore, laugh at weather jokes, and test your weather knowledge with online flashcards at Weather
Wiz Kids’ site!
http://eo.ucar.edu/webweather/
Visit Web Weather for Kids to learn what makes weather wet and wild.
http://www.wildwildweather.com/
Explore the “Wild Wild Weather” web page, created especially for kids by TV meteorologist Dan Satterfield of Huntsville,
Alabama.
WITH USE OF OR RELIANCE ON ANY SUCH THIRD PARTY SITES,
We do our best to vet third-party websites and links; however Center for Puppetry Arts offers no warranty or guarantee as
to these sites, links, or as to the content therein contained.The content of the sites may not reflect the opinion or belief of
Center for Puppetry Arts or its clientele and does not constitute an endorsement or sponsorship of such sites.
Please use these links at your own risk.
YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS SHALL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE OR LIABLE,
DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, FOR ANY DAMAGE OR LOSS CAUSED.
1404 Spring Street, NW at 18th • Atlanta, Georgia USA 30309-2820
Ticket Sales: 404.873.3391 • Administrative: 404.873.3089 • www.puppet.org • [email protected]
Headquarters of UNIMA-USA • Member of Atlanta Coalition of Performing Arts and Theatre Communications Group
Text by Aretta Baumgartner and Alan Louis • Design by Melissa Hayes
© Center for Puppetry Arts ® Education Department, February 2014
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