ACROSS THE CURRICULUM

The possibilities are numerous for using both the book and musical stage adaptation of Ashley Spires’ The Most Magnificent Thing as a jumping off point for cross-curriculum and interdisciplinary study in your classroom. From vocabulary enrichment incorporating acting and drawing to growth mindset lessons and STEAM based curriculum this charming picture book offers a platform for reaching any number of educational goals.

Below are resources and suggestions to incorporate both the book and stage musical of THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING into your classroom studies.

THE STORY

PLAY SYNOPSIS A young girl has a wonderful idea. “She is going to make the most MAGNIFICENT thing! She knows just how it will look. She knows just how it will work. All she has to do is make it, and she makes things all the time. Easy-peasy!” With an inventor’s zeal the girl employs her trusty assistant, her lovable pug, in pursuit of building her vision into reality, but, her things do not go quite as she had planned. As the girl tries and fails, repeatedly, she finds invention is

anything but easy. Her neighbors offer helpful advice, which only serves to frustrate her further, finally to a point where she declares, “I quit.” It will take working through her anger and frustration before her vision is realized. She learns that she needs to “smooth and wrench and fiddle,” and “twist and tweak and fasten,” until she manages to get it just right. Stages Theatre Company’s world premiere musical adaptation shows that it’s okay to make mistakes as we “create, tinker and achieve.”

A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE PLAY & ITS HISTORY The Most Magnificent Thing was adapted for the stage by playwright Cristina Pippa (Stages adaptation of Flora & Ulysses) and composer and lyricist, Michael Gruber (Stages adaptations of I Love You, Stinky Face and Stone Soup) and is based on the book, The Most Magnificent Thing written and illustrated by Ashley Spires. Stages Theatre Company commissioned the adaptation in the winter of 2018 and we are excited to bring this delightful and charming musical to our stage this spring.

BEFORE ATTENDING THE PLAY READ THE BOOK Before attending the musical adaptation at Stages Theatre Company, read the picture book the play is based on, The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires.

DISCUSS THE BOOK PAGE TO SELF CONNECTIONS:

1) Have you ever had an idea to make something? What was it? What did you do to go from an idea in your head to making it into something in the world? What was easy about the process? What was difficult? Did you have to make changes to your original idea in order to build it? Why were those changes necessary?

2) Why do you think taking a walk helped the girl find a different perspective on the things she had built? Have you ever needed to “take a break” from something and then come back to it and be able to make better sense of it? What happened? Why is “taking a break” helpful for our brains and our creativity?

3) The girl gets frustrated with her mistakes and inability to make the most magnificent thing. She finally quits, but comes back later and finishes her project. Have you ever been frustrated by not being able to do something right away that you wanted to do? Did you persevere? Why is making mistakes sometimes necessary for us to succeed? What are some things to tell ourselves when we become frustrated? How do you persevere?

WATCH VIDEOS BASED ON THE BOOK

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzVB7JzQMzs • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgECc3gKuTo • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1Hewhi5x6Y • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aejgkYuWiQk

LISTEN TO MUSIC FROM THE SHOW

THEATRE ARTS Predictions and Expectations (Grades K-4)

BEFORE THE PLAY: Read the book The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires with your class. With student input, establish the expectations for the upcoming play. What actions or events might be seen on stage? What characters might the play include from the book? What set or sound or costume elements might they see on stage? It is a good time to cover some of these stage elements with your students to enhance their enjoyment and understanding of live theatre. Students may draw or write about what they anticipate seeing.

AFTER THE PLAY: Revisit the expectations to see how many were realized. Discuss the similarities and differences from the book to the play, in terms of plot, characters, and action. Were the characters as portrayed on the stage faithful to the characters in the book? How or why? How would you describe the main “message” of the play? How was it similar or different from the book? Did they see what they expected? What were some of the stage elements that they remember seeing? Set? Costumes? Props? Lights? Sound? Music? How did these elements support the story of the play?

CIRCLE ACT THE STORY Re-telling & Re-en-ACT-ing (Grades K-2)

In this exercise, students will act out the story of The Most Magnificent Thing as a group. All students will play all the roles simultaneously. You, as the teacher, will play the narrator to keep the story moving and to give directions.

1) Read the story of The Most Magnificent Thing to your students.

2) Discuss what happens in the story. Who are the characters? Where is it set? What are the events?

3) Stand with your students in a circle and let them know they are going to act out the story of The Most Magnificent Thing. Instruct them that they will all be playing all the parts while standing in the circle. They will switch from role to role as the story progresses. This switching will be prompted by you as the narrator. Remind them that they will always stay in their place in the circle. (i.e. if the character walks or runs, it is done in place.)

4) Start by setting the scene. Where are we? Time of year? Inside/Outside? Who is there? What are the characters doing?

5) Start telling the story. Have the students become the main character (the girl) waking up with an idea of making the Most Magnificent Thing. They can start by having a pose of getting an idea and add language like, “I have a wonderful idea!” and “I’m going to make the most magnificent thing” and then move to, “First, I need an assistant.” Then, have her trusty pug enter the story. Create a pug pose and think what the pug might say. “I’ll be your assistant.” It is easiest to do the story using call and response.

6) Then, continue the story and see how much the students remember and if they know what comes next.

This can be effective in exploring—beginning, middle and end; story setting; comprehension; story sequencing and character as well as in re-telling a story.

ACT A WORD (Grades K-3) There are trios of action words in The Most Magnificent Thing that provide an opportunity for students to expand their vocabularies. In this exercise students use their bodies to act out the action words to learn their meanings.

PURPOSE • To use body, expression and imagination to

show what a word looks and/or feels like • To develop a way of defining, exploring, and

remembering words to expand vocabulary.

OUTLINE 1. Make the words visible to the students (on the board or through flashcards, etc.) 2. Go through the list of words in call and response as the students view them 3. Play with the sound and feel of the words as you go through the list. Exaggerate the

articulation of the word and how it feels through sound. 4. Define the words on the list with the students in a class discussion. 5. Have students get up on their feet in a circle and stand in actor neutral—Feet shoulder

width apart and planted in the ground, hips centered, arms resting at sides, shoulders straight, eyes forward, voices off, and ears open. You can return to actor neutral throughout the exercise to ground the students between the physicalizing of each word.

6. CREATE A PHYSICAL POSE for each word: 1) Say the first word on the list and have students explore a physical pose for the word

that embodies the meaning. Have students refrain from using sound/voice to embody the word. Encourage them to physicalize the word using their whole body.

2) Then, based on student exploration, choose ONE pose for the word. Have the students then all create this ONE pose using their whole body. It is important that the exploration of the word happens but in the end there is only ONE pose for the word. Be a little strict that everyone uses their whole body and specifically makes the same pose.

7. Repeat the physical pose process with all the words on the list, reviewing the list periodically to help refine and memorize each words physical pose.

8. Use the words physical definition to continue to work with the words: 1) In a call and response format—you call out the word, students do the pose 2) Using flash cards – you show the word, students do the pose 3) You show the pose, the students say the word 4) Read the book aloud again and have students do the word pose each time they hear the

word in the story.

WORD LIST from THE MOST MAGNIFICENT THING tinker, hammer, measure pounce, growl, chew examine, admire, discover smooth, wrench, fiddle twist, tweak, fasten fix, straighten, study smash, jam, pummel saw, glue, adjust stare, crunch, explode

LANGUAGE ARTS VOCABULARY PAPER SLIDE SHOW (Grades K-3) The book The Most Magnificent Thing is filled with rich vocabulary and offers an opportunity to work with juicy words. In this lesson, students use vocabulary found in the story to create a paper slide show to demonstrate their understanding of the words.

• Read the book, The Most Magnificent Thing and then use the vocabulary list above or create a vocabulary list of important or unusual words from the story with the students.

• Assign one word from the list to each student. • Then, have the students write a sentence using the

word to demonstrate their understanding of the word’s meaning.

• Then, have students create a slide show of their word. The first slide is the word. The second the sentence using the word and the third a picture that illustrates the word’s meaning.

• These slide shows can be digitized and shared.

WRITING PROMPTS (Grades 1-4) Below are writing prompts that use the book, The Most Magnificent Thing as a jumping off point.

• In the book, after the girl gets frustrated with the progress of her invention, she crunches her finger and then explodes. It is described as, “not her finest moment.” Write about one of your “not finest moments.”

• What is your “most magnificent thing?” • What is your story of perseverance?

MY MOST MAGNIFICENT THING

A STEAM RELATED LESSON PURPOSE For students to design and build their own MOST MAGNIFICENT THING.

OBJECTIVE Use imagination to solve a problem Engage in the design process Build analytical skills to determine if what is created works as designed

THE PLAN 1. Read the book The Most Magnificent Thing OR after seeing the play and present the

students with a challenge for them to create their own MOST MAGNIFICENT THING. This challenge can be open ended and set with limited parameters of time, materials, size, etc.

2. Present the students with the idea of a problem that needs to be solved – much like in the book how the girl wanted to create something so her pet pug could ride with her on her scooter. Brainstorm problems so the students can come up with something that they can find a solution to.

3. Once the students have settled on a problem have them brainstorm an idea to create something to solve it. Then, create a plan to execute the design.

4. Finally, have students create their most magnificent thing using materials you either bring in or are brought in by the students. Recycled materials (paper rolls, milk jugs, string, cardboard, straws, etc.) work well as building materials.

5. After creating their most magnificent thing have students reflect on their original plans and decide whether it worked or not or what changes were made for it to work.

PLANNING OUTLINE • PROBLEM • DRAWING OF SOLVE • STEPPED PLAN TO CREATE • MATERIALS NEEDED

EXTENDED LEARNING OTHER STEAM RELATED IDEAS The Most Magnificent Thing is a great jumping off point for STEAM related learning. Below are links to STEAM lessons that incorporate the use of the book.

LINKS TO LESSON PLANS • https://www.rif.org/sites/default/files/Support_Materials/Magnificent-Edu-

Extension.pdf - Contains ideas for Science, Technology Engineering, Art, and Math extensions inspired by the book. (Grades K-4)

DESIGN PROCESS The Most Magnificent Thing incorporates the design process into its story. Below are links to lesson plans and ideas that use the book in teaching the design process.

LINKS TO LESSON PLANS • https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/blog-posts/kriscia-cabral/design-thinking-

lesson-connects-classmates/ - Contains a five day lesson plan on the design process. Students create and collaborate to create their own magnificent thing and share it with the class. (Grades 1-5)

• https://www.kidscanpress.com/sites/default/files/products/assets/MostMagnificentThingThe_2177_teaching_2.pdf - Link to the teacher guide from the book publisher, includes a lesson plan on the engineering process. (Grades 1-5)

SOCIAL-EMOTIONAL LEARNING The Most Magnificent Thing deals with the emotions of not succeeding the first time, and how to persevere and deal with our mistakes. Below are links to lesson plans and ideas that use the book in social/emotional learning.

LINKS TO LESSON PLANS • https://curriculum.eleducation.org/curriculum/ela/grade-1/module-1/unit-2/ -

Curriculum on Learning Habits of Character (perseverance and mistakes) (Grade 1) • http://www.thenedshow.com/assets/growth-mindset-intermediate-lesson-plan-the-

most-magnificent-thing.pdf - Lesson plans on using the growth mind set in the classroom, includes discussion starters, writing prompts, and activities. (Grades K-3)

• https://www.kidscanpress.com/sites/default/files/products/assets/MostMagnificentThingThe_2177_teaching_2.pdf - Link to the teacher guide from the book publisher, includes lesson plans on goal setting and perseverance. (Grades 1-5)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES • https://www.ashleyspires.com/index.html (Ashley Spires author/illustrator page) • https://theteacherstudio.com/its-julys-loved-that-lesson-linky/ (More teacher

resources using the book)

BEYOND THE CLASSROOM FURTHER READING MORE BOOKS WRITTEN & ILLUSTRATED BY ASHLEY SPIRES

• Gordon: Bark to the Future! • The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do • Fluffy Strikes Back • Larf • Small Saul • Over-Scheduled Andrew • Penguin and the Cupcake • Edie’s Ensembles

BINKY SERIES • Binky License to Scratch • Binky Takes Charge • Binky Under Pressure • Binky to the Rescue • Binky the Space Cat

BOOKS ILLUSTRATED BY ASHLEY SPIRES • Mae & June and the Wonder Wheel by Charise Mericle Harper • Book or Bell? by Chris Barton • Go to Sleep, Little Creep by David Quinn • Spare Dog Parts by Alison Hughes • C’mere, Boy! by Sharon Jennings • The Red Shoes by Eleri Glass • Ella’s Umbrellas by Jennifer Lloyd

FURTHER READING (Continued) OTHER GROWTH MINDSET BOOKS

• The Girl who Never Made Mistakes by Mark Pett & Gary Rubinstein • Rosie Revere, Engineer by Andrea Beaty, Illustrated by David Roberts • Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty, Illustrated by David Roberts • Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty, Illustrated by David Roberts • What to Do with an Idea? by Kobi Yamada, Illustrated by Mae Besom • What to Do with a Problem? by Kobi Yamada, Illustrated by Mae Besom • What to Do with a Chance? by Kobi Yamada, Illustrated by Mae Besom • The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds • Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg