Elementary School Programs

Acting 1: The Actor’s Toolkit

2nd – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop & Residency

In this introductory class, students learn the fundamentals of acting through energetic theatre games and exercises. We’ll tackle the most important question behind every character: “What’s my objective?” Once we understand what our characters want, we’ll explore the tactics they might use to achieve their goals, and what happens when they run into obstacles along the way. Each workshop or residency experience will be tailored to the grade and experience level of the class.

Creating Characters

2nd – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop & Residency

Learn how to build complex, dynamic characters that make scripts come to life! In this SCT workshop or residency, we’ll explore a character’s world – their inner life, thoughts, feelings, hopes, and fears – and learn how to show it through the way a character speaks, moves, and interacts with their world.

Drama Quest

Kinder – 3rd Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop & Residency

Go on an adventure without leaving your classroom! In this fun, exciting workshop or residency, students build characters and create a detailed, dramatic environment through collaborative, episodic storytelling. Quest themes can be inspired from a unit in your curriculum or based on student interest. Anything goes as long as your imagination is ready!

Drama Quest Theme Options: Deep Sea Divers, Space Rangers, Arctic Adventures, Rainforest Explorers, Magical Creatures, Shipwrecked, and more!

Improvisation

3rd – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop & Residency

In this fast-paced, creative environment, we’ll learn the fundamentals of improv, beginning with the all-important adage “Yes, and…” From there, we’ll learn how to create stories without scripts or rehearsal using a wide variety of improv techniques, formats, and games.

Musical Theatre Movement

Kinder – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop & Residency

Get on your feet! Each week your class learns how performers use their bodies to tell stories through this fun physical education residency. Students develop movement and dance skills to the tunes from popular musicals. Be sure to have a large space available so students can safely dance.

Conflict Resolution

3rd – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop Series & Residency

Weave theatre and social emotional learning together to practice Conflict Resolution, where your ensemble will rehearse scenarios that require collaboration and growth. Students are empowered to identify the problem and their feelings, stay safe and calm, and communicate effectively as they move towards a solution. This curriculum can be tailored to meet the needs of your classroom, incorporating scenarios on cyber-bullying, exclusion, peer-to-peer disagreements, etc. This curriculum requires 3+ sessions.

Ensemble Building

Kinder – 5th grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop & Residency

Theatre is a gateway to a stronger community. Turn your classroom into an ensemble through a myriad of theatre-based exercises that actors use to become a collaborative team. Each activity will focus on important 21st Century Skills: critical thinking, social/emotional learning, empathy, creative problem solving, positive communication, collaboration, and imaginative play. We recommend a residency experience of 5+ sessions for optimal student success.

Social Emotional Movement

Pre K – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop & Residency

Did you know dance and movement can help students explore how their emotions are shown and felt in their bodies? With the help of their Teaching Artist, students will discover body language, self-awareness, and self-management while listening to different types of music and expanding their movement vocabularies.

What You Do Matters

Pre K – 1st Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | 3-part Workshop Series

This growth mindset story drama series explores what to do when you have an idea, an opportunity, and a problem. Your ensemble will become characters using voice, body, and imagination while engaging in their creative problem-solving skills. This Story Drama incorporates acting, visual art, and imaginative play into a 3-session series, using the best-selling books written by Kobi Yamada.

Playwriting: Journey of the Hero

3rd – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Residency Only

Let’s ignite the power and magic of creativity through the journey of the hero! Students will learn the fundamentals of playwriting: structure, plot, character development, and dialogue through creative exercises that ignite the imagination and explore how these ingredients created everlasting heroes like Matilda, Luke, Frodo, and Dorothy. We recommend a residency of 5 sessions for optimal student success.

Story Drama

Pre-K – 1st Grade | 60 minutes per session | Workshop & Residency

The teaching artist has a problem, a BIG problem, and they need your help! Beloved children’s books serve as the inspiration for our adventures in this class where students use their imaginations to solve problems together. We’ll create exciting new characters, explore dramatic environments, and develop literacy, collaboration, and social skills along the way. With over 370 titles in our library, every class is a new journey into the great beyond!

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi: A Math Adventure

2nd – 3rd Grade | 90 Minute Session | Workshop Only

This math-infused Story Drama adventure engages students to learn and apply knowledge of fractions and ratios—in particular, the magic ratio of a circle’s diameter to its circumference—to solve Radius’s dramatic problem: his father has been transformed into a dragon, and, without the correct dose of antidote, will remain one forever. Students will think critically and creatively to determine the correct dose and restore Sir Cumference to his human form. Along the way, students will experimentally calculate the value of pi.

Sir Cumference and the First Round Table: A Math Adventure

2nd – 3rd Grade | 90 Minute Session | Workshop Only

This math-infused Story Drama adventure engages students to learn and apply knowledge of basic geometry—categories of shapes, concepts of perimeter and area—to solve a character’s dramatic problem: a group of knights cannot get through a single meeting without argument, and invaders are on the way. Students will think critically and creatively as they step into the roles of these squabbling knights and collaborate to devise a solution.

Captivating Critters

Kindergarten – 5th Grade | 60 Minute Session | Workshop & Residency

In this classroom experience, use a magical magnifying glass to shrink down to the size of an insect and investigate the lives and homes of our tiniest animal friends. Feel the texture of a spider’s web, touch a butterfly’s scaly wings, and learn the waggle-dance that honeybees use to tell each other of delicious local nectar. This imaginative journey engages students’ senses and imaginations in a process of tactile and kinesthetic scientific inquiry guided by SCT’s expert Teaching Artists.

Ocean Adventures

Kindergarten – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop & Residency

Come with SCT on a journey to the water’s depths. Brush past silky smooth kelp and rough coral as you swim through the Sunlight Zone to encounter the bio-luminescent creatures that populate the world below. Feel the chill, experience the pressure, and befriend an Angler Fish, all while safe in your classroom, strengthening your social-emotional skills with SCT’s expert Teaching Artists!

Water Cycle

Kindergarten – 5th Grade | 60 Minute Session | Workshop Only

It’s another rainy morning in the Pacific Northwest. Wake up, put on your rain boots, splash in puddles, make funny faces at your reflection, and ultimately ask the big question: where does this water come from? Evaporate alongside a water molecule, feel the softness of a cloud, and hover under a parachute as you play, learn, and grow with SCT Teaching Artists.

Captivating Critters, Sensory Drama

Kindergarten – 5th Grade | Flexible class length based on student dynamic | Workshop & Residency

In this classroom experience, use a magical magnifying glass to shrink down to the size of an insect and investigate the lives and homes of our tiniest animal friends. Feel the texture of a spider’s web, touch a butterfly’s scaly wings, and learn the waggle-dance that honeybees use to tell each other of delicious local nectar. This imaginative journey engages students’ senses and imaginations in a process of tactile and kinesthetic scientific inquiry guided by expert Teaching Artists. Sensory Drama Option: Encourage your students of all abilities, particularly those with sensory processing challenges and/or sensory-seeking behaviors, to engage their minds, bodies, and imaginations in a dramatic exploration of the world around them! The sensory drama option is specifically geared towards classrooms of students with physical and developmental differences.

Ocean Adventure, Sensory Drama

Kindergarten – 5th Grade | Flexible class length based on student dynamic | Workshop & Residency

Come with SCT on a multi-sensory journey to the water’s depths. Brush past silky smooth kelp and rough coral as you swim through the Sunlight Zone to encounter the bioluminescent creatures that populate the world below. Feel the chill, experience the pressure, and befriend an Angler Fish, all while safe in your classroom, strengthening your social-emotional skills with SCT Teaching Artists! Sensory Drama Option: Encourage your students of all abilities, particularly those with sensory processing challenges and/or sensory-seeking behaviors, to engage their minds, bodies, and imaginations in a dramatic exploration of the world around them! The sensory drama option is specifically geared towards classrooms of students with physical and developmental differences.

Sensory Social Residency

Kindergarten – 5th Grade | Flexible class length based on student dynamic | Residency Only

This residency takes students on a series of imagined field trips to locations students might visit in real life like a museum, zoo, and grocery store. In each place, students explore sight, sound, touch, and smell, and practice some of the social interactions they might have there, with Teaching Artists stepping in and out of character as fellow actors in the scenes. Teaching Artists guide students through the experience of BIG emotions, like feeling angry, sad, overwhelmed, and joyful to help students practice strategies for emotional self-regulation. The sensory drama option is specifically geared towards classrooms of students with physical and developmental differences.

Water Cycle, Sensory Drama

Kindergarten – 5th Grade | Flexible class length based on student dynamic | Workshop Only

It’s another rainy morning in the Pacific Northwest. Wake up, put on your rain boots, splash in puddles, make funny faces at your reflection, and ultimately ask the big question: where does this water come from? Evaporate alongside a water molecule, feel the softness of a cloud, and hover under a parachute as you play, learn, and grow with SCT Teaching Artists! Sensory Drama Option: Encourage your students of all abilities, particularly those with sensory processing challenges and/or sensory-seeking behaviors, to engage their minds, bodies, and imaginations in a dramatic exploration of the world around them! The sensory drama option is specifically geared towards classrooms of students with physical and developmental differences.

A Kid’s Book About Racism

2nd – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop Series & Residency

This workshop series explores A Kid’s Book About Racism written by Jelani Memory, and explains what racism is, how to know it when you see and experience it, and ideas for what you can do about it. This curriculum requires 3+ sessions.

The Holocaust and The Diary of Anne Frank

4th – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop Series & Residency

The Diary of Anne Frank is studied world-wide as it documents the sobering true story of eight people living and hiding in Nazi occupied Holland during World War II, as seen through the eyes of 13-year-old Anne. Her words reach out to us over the generations, inspiring us to never forget, to never give up on the power and goodness of the human spirit, and to always “fill life with living.” This workshop explores these historical events while teaching the importance of empathy, advocacy, and disruption of othering in society. Students should have knowledge of Anne Frank before taking this workshop or residency. We recommend a workshop experience of 3 sessions for optimal student success. Inspired by The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett.

Season 50 Dramatic Connections Workshops

Kindergarten – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop 

Dramatic Connections Workshops are booked in tandem with a field trip to SCT and are a classroom experience designed to enhance students’ engagement with what they see on stage. The workshop curriculum is developed and presented by our Teaching Artists in the form of a one-hour pre- or post-show workshop! The workshop can happen at your school or at SCT (pending class size and availability). It ideally takes place within a week of your field trip date. The curriculum is designed for Kindergarten through 5th grade students but can be adapted for each workshop opportunity. The workshop will have students on their feet, stretching their imaginations while deepening their knowledge about the characters, setting, and themes of the mainstage show. Looking for more info? Check out our Drama Connections page.

Former Season Workshop

Kindergarten – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop Only

Did you miss the show but read the book? Our past mainstage workshops are available upon request and pair with a classroom study on the book or theme of the show title. Discover SCT’s previous seasons here.

Commission a Topic

PreK – 5th Grade | 60 Minutes per Session | Workshop & Residency

Don’t see a topic we offer yet? You can commission new workshops that integrate theatre with a subject or unit of your choice. You’ll be paired with our teaching faculty to co-design a kinesthetic and interdisciplinary learning experience tailored to your curriculum needs.