This Week's Focus

Exciting words

By modelling the use of sophisticated words, we can promote children’s vocabulary growth and word consciousness, helping them to better communicate and express themselves.

We’ll use exciting and imaginative language to discuss the characters within The Hercules Beat and discuss how the language we use makes our story sound more interesting.

Balance

Learning how to balance requires awareness of our bodies, good concentration and control. This is useful for children in many areas, from sport through to singing.

We’ll see if we can maintain controlled body positions in this session filled with fun coordination exercises. 

The art of mime

Children love games like charades and this actually builds their thinking and physical skills. Mime is a key aspect of drama and it helps children understand the importance of using their whole body and not just words and voice.

We’ll demonstrate the art of mime and introduce techniques like visualisation and spatial awareness.

Confident body language

Children quickly understand the power of body language and we can help them learn how to confidently use it to their advantage.

We’ll use ‘power posing’ alongside gesture, eye contact, facial expression and vocal intonation to demonstrate how we can use our bodies to help us communicate.

Project, don’t SHOUT

Many children lack awareness of their vocal volume, speaking too loudly in quiet places or too softly elsewhere.

A loud voice can be used to our advantage when acting, and we’ll look at appropriate times to use vocal projection in our everyday lives too.

Exploring our emotions

Helping children recognise and understand their emotions is an important part of supporting their development and, if they understand emotions early, they are more likely to freely express themselves.

We’ll discuss different types of emotions, from happy to sad, and look at the many ways that we can communicate how we are feeling.

Have a happy heart

When we do aerobic exercise, we breathe faster and take in more air which gives our heart a workout.

The Hercules Beat is all about dancing to stay fit, and we’ll learn about cardiovascular exercise as we work on one of the dance routines from our show!

Storytelling

Storytelling enhances imaginations, helps visualise spoken words, improves vocabulary and refines communication skills.

How we deliver a story is everything, and we’ll practise the art of great storytelling using techniques like pitch, gesture and eye contact to ensure that our audience is fully engaged.

Being kind

Treating others as we’d like to be treated ourselves is something we can teach children from an early age.

We’ll use improvisation to demonstrate that kindness helps us feel good, and that giving is as important as receiving.

Listening to each other

Children who are good listeners often grow up to become good communicators. It’s an important skill to develop at an early age and, like a muscle, it needs regular exercise to grow stronger.

We’ll play some fun games where we need to make sure we understand the meaning of what’s being said and then check who’s listening!

Delicious diction

Ensuring that people can hear what we’re saying is an important part of communicating clearly.

We’ll learn about diction, clarity and volume as we practise speaking activities which enhance public speaking confidence. 

Getting ready for show week

We’ll go over what we’ve learned, rehearsing lines, dances and songs to make sure we’re ready for next week’s dress rehearsal.

Final rehearsal

It’s time to add the finishing touches to the shows, using top teamwork skills to make sure everyone is as ready as they can be.

Presentation week

The children will be excited to welcome family and friends to their final performance, proudly demonstrating the wonderful progress everyone has made.