ARTSEDGE: Boston Tea Party: Tea Party Reenactment

This Lesson at a Glance:

Grade Band:

Integrated Subjects:
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Materials:

For the teacher:

Assessment Rubric

For the student:

		Vocabulary
		Fact Sheet
		Boston Tea Party Reenactment Script

Targeted Standards:

The National Standards For Arts Education:

Theater (K-4)
Standard 2: Acting by assuming roles and interacting in improvisations

Theater (K-4)
Standard 3: Designing by visualizing and arranging environments for classroom dramatizations

Theater (K-4)
Standard 4: Directing by planning classroom dramatizations

Other National Standards:

Grades K-4 History I (K-2) Standard 4: Understands how democratic values came to be, and how they have been exemplified by people, events, and symbols

Grades K-4 History I (K-2) Standard 5: Understands the causes and nature of movements of large groups of people into and within the United States, now and long ago

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Boston Tea Party: Tea Party Reenactment

Lesson Overview:

In this lesson, students research, analyze and reenact the Boston Tea Party.

Length of Lesson:

Three 45-minute periods

Notes:

This lesson is particularly suitable for grade 4.

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

describe the feelings of the colonists after the passage of the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts.
identify two events leading to the Boston Tea Party.
perform a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party.
state the purpose of the Boston Tea Party.

Supplies:

Buckram masks made in the previous lesson, Making a Mask.

Instructional Plan:

Warm Up

Discuss the major events that led to the colonists' disagreements with the British (i.e., the British taxed the colonists in order to pay their war debts, the Stamp Act, the Townshend Acts, a feeling of "no taxation without representation" by the colonists).

Introductory Activity

Have students review the events surrounding the Boston Tea Party by visiting and discussing Liberty! Chronicle of the Revolution from PBS. Review the Vocabulary. Have students list two major events leading to the Boston Tea Party. Ask students to describe how the colonists must have felt during this time period.

Developmental Activity

Explain that the class will perform a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party. Distribute the Fact Sheet and read through it carefully with the class. Discuss costumes and possible scenery. Distribute the Boston Tea Party Reenactment Script.

Guided Practice

Allow students to rehearse the parts and others work in groups to prepare costumes, scenery, and sound effects. (Remember to use the buckram masks created in the previous lesson, Making a Mask.) Allow students a day or two to rehearse and complete costumes and scenery. Set a performance date. Invite parents and other classes to view the performance.

Independent Practice

The students will perform a dress rehearsal and a final performance with an audience.

Assessment:

Have students write a paragraph stating the purpose of the Boston Tea Party. Teacher may also use a Assessment Rubric provided.

Extensions:

Students can research online or in books to find the effects of the Boston Tea Party on the British Parliament.

Sources:

Print:

Conner, Mac et al. Many Americans, One Nation. DeSoto, TX: Bowmar/Noble Publishers, 1979.
LaFarge, Oliver. A Pictorial History of the American Indian. New York: Crown Publishers, 1956.
Ross, Laura. Mask-Making with Pantomime and Stories From American History. New York: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Company, 1975.
National Geographic Society. The World of the American Indian. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 1974.

Authors:

Mary Ann Fox, Teacher
Thomas Pullen Arts Magnet School
Landover, MD