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Learning Standards Standards

What does a student learn in ?

This is the year pretend play starts to look like real theatre. Students invent characters and short scenes, then practice them so an audience can follow along. They also watch classmates perform and talk about what the story meant and how it made them feel. By spring, students can act out a small scene with a clear character and share what they noticed in someone else's performance.

  • Pretend play
  • Making scenes
  • Character work
  • Performing for others
  • Watching and responding
Source: Ohio Ohio's Learning Standards
Year at a glance
How the year usually goes. Every school and district set their own curriculum, so treat this as a guide, not official pacing.
  1. 1

    Pretend play and story ideas

    Students start the year by turning everyday moments into pretend scenes. They make up characters, try out voices, and use their own experiences to spark short skits with classmates.

  2. 2

    Shaping a scene together

    Students take their ideas and build them into something a little more organized. They decide who goes where, what happens first, and how a scene ends, then practice it with a partner or small group.

  3. 3

    Practicing and polishing

    Students rehearse the same scene more than once and notice what gets clearer each time. They try louder voices, bigger movements, and small changes that help the audience follow along.

  4. 4

    Performing for an audience

    Students share scenes with classmates or families and talk about what the story meant. They also watch each other perform and say what they noticed, what they liked, and what made the story clear.

Mastery Learning Standards
The required skills a student should display by the end of Grade 1.
Connecting

  • Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art

    TH:Cn10.1

    Students connect something from their own life to a story or character they act out. A memory, a feeling, or something they've seen helps them make the performance feel real.

  • Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural

    TH:Cn11.1

    Students connect a play, story, or character to their own life or community. They think about why people tell certain stories and what those stories say about the world around them.

Creating

  • Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work

    TH:Cr1.1

    Students come up with ideas for a character or scene, then figure out how to act them out. This is the starting point for all theatre work.

  • Organize and develop artistic ideas and work

    TH:Cr2.1

    Students pick characters, actions, and settings for a short scene and try different ways to act it out until it feels right.

  • Refine and complete artistic work

    TH:Cr3.1

    Students revisit a short scene or character and make small changes to improve it, then share a finished version with the class.

Performing/Presenting/Producing

  • Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation

    TH:Pr4.1

    Students choose a short scene or story to act out and explain why it would work well for an audience.

  • Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation

    TH:Pr5.1

    Students practice a scene or character choice more than once, working on voice, movement, or expression until the performance feels ready to share with an audience.

  • Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work

    TH:Pr6.1

    Students act out a story or scene and make choices about how to move, speak, and react so the audience understands what the moment means.

Responding

  • Perceive and analyze artistic work

    TH:Re7.1

    Students watch a short performance and notice what the characters do and say. They start to explain what they saw in their own words.

  • Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work

    TH:Re8.1

    Students look at a short play or scene and explain what they think the characters want and why the story matters. They put their ideas into words, not just a thumbs up or down.

  • Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work

    TH:Re9.1

    Students pick a favorite part of a play or performance and explain why they liked it, using simple reasons like "the costumes looked real" or "the actor spoke loudly."

Common Questions
  • What does theatre look like at this grade?

    Students act out short stories, pretend to be characters from books or their own lives, and make up little scenes with classmates. Most of the work happens on their feet through play, not at a desk. The focus is on imagination and listening, not memorizing lines.

  • How can I help my child practice theatre at home?

    Ask students to act out a favorite picture book or retell a story using a silly voice for each character. Five minutes of pretend play counts. Watching a short scene from a movie and asking what the character was feeling also builds the same skills.

  • Does my child need to memorize lines or perform on a stage?

    No. At this age the work is about making up characters, trying different voices, and listening to ideas from other students. A finished scene might be one minute long and shared with the class, not a full play with costumes and a script.

  • How should I sequence theatre across the year?

    Start with imagination warmups and simple character work in the fall, move into building short scenes with a beginning, middle, and end by winter, then add reflection and feedback in the spring. Revisit each skill often. Six-year-olds need many short tries, not one long unit.

  • What usually needs the most reteaching?

    Staying in character for more than a few seconds, and listening to a scene partner instead of planning what to say next. Short partner games where one student mirrors another help. So does pausing a scene to ask what the character wants.

  • How can I tell if my child is making progress?

    Listen for students using different voices for different characters, explaining why a character did something, and connecting a story to their own life. Saying a puppet sounds sad because it lost something is a real sign of growth.

  • How do I know students are ready for the next grade?

    By the end of the year students should be able to make up a short scene with a partner, stay in a character for a minute or two, and say one thing they liked about a classmate's scene and one thing they wondered about. That is the bar.