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Saving Humpty Dumpty!


By Lois Lewis

 

Engage creative thinking skills and spark the imagination with the use a new twist on a familiar story in this idea for a classroom theater production!

Grade Level: 3-6

Story Preview: Two young computer whizzes help doctors in a race against time to save Humpty Dumpty!

Roles: Narrators 1 and 2, twins Carol and Christopher Megabyte, Mr. and Mrs. Megabyte, Dr. Menditwell, King Prosperous, Bob Blab, Suzy Speaks

Can Humpty Dumpty Be Saved?
By Lois Lewis

Grade Level: 3-6

Story Preview: Two young computer whizzes help doctors in a race against time to save Humpty Dumpty!

Roles: Narrators 1 and 2, twins Carol and Christopher Megabyte, Mr. and Mrs. Megabyte, Dr. Menditwell, King Prosperous, Bob Blab, Suzy Speaks

Setting: Present day in a kingdom in a faraway land.


Additional Resources

* ClassBrain's Humpty Dumpty: Was It Really An Accident? by Robin E. May Dorey is a lesson with a mock trial play that uses the Humpty Dumpty story to introduce students to the law.
* Humpty Dumpty: The Whole Story from RichlandOne Interactive is a lesson in which students develop and write stories based on Humpty Dumpty or other nursery rhymes of their choosing.
* The Humpty Dumpty Nursery Rhyme Unit from abcteach includes a printable word search, a fill-in-the-blank activity, and a coloring page for student fun.
 

Theme: Nursery Rhymes

Vocabulary:

  • anchorperson: a reporter who leads a television news program
  • beloved: much loved, favorite
  • critical: dangerous, extreme, serious
  • exclusive: single, restricted
  • isolate: set apart from others
  • perch: a place where something sits or rests
  • proclaim: announce, state to the public
  • shatterproof: unbreakable, strong
  • skeptical: doubting or questioning
  • whiz kids: gifted, talented young people

Props: (Optional) desk and/or smock for doctor; classroom computer for the twins; paper crown for the king; piece of paper to symbolize a check or a bag to represent money for the king; toy microphone for reporter; student-drawn or teacher-selected printed picture of Humpty Dumpty

Follow-Up Questions:

  • What do the names Carol and Chris Megabyte, Dr. Menditwell, King Prosperous, Bob Blab, and Suzy Speaks tell about those characters in the play?
  • How much money does King Prosperous offer to anyone who can help the doctors?
  • How does Carol describe the pieces of Humpty Dumpty's broken shell?
  • Why is Dr. Menditwell amazed by Carol and Chris's work?
  • How long did Humpty Dumpty's surgery take?
  • How do you think a rebuilt Humpty Dumpty would look? Draw a picture to illustrate your idea.

Follow-Up Activity:
Invite students to compare and contrast the classic Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme and this play. Organize students into small groups to create charts noting the similarities and differences between each version. Then ask each group to write another stanza for the Humpty Dumpty rhyme based on the action in the play. When completed, ask groups to read their completed rhymes to the class. You might want to compile students' rhymes into a booklet for the classroom library

Additional Notes:
Education World's Summer BOOK-TIVITY #6 tells about the book Whatever Happened to Humpty Dumpty? by David Greenberg. This source provides humorous sequels to Humpty Dumpy and other popular nursery rhymes. Scroll down the page for the description of this book.
The book Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll from Dover Publications is an abbreviated version of this classic tale for students in grades 3 to 5. Humpty Dumpty is one of the characters in the story.

Click here for a printable script.

 

Article by Lois Lewis
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