These are pictures of our characters from our drama unit on the book SOMEBODY LOVES YOU, MR. HATCH. Mr. Hatch is a character who lives a very dull life and does not have any friends. I read the first few pages aloud to the class and stopped. In groups we brainstormed everything we knew so far about Mr. Hatch and words to describe Mr. Hatch. We shared these as a group and I recorded them on chart paper.

Next I told everyone that Mr. Hatch lives in a place called FRIENDLY TOWN, the friendliest town in Canada. We brainstormed the names/professions of the people who might live in Friendly Town, names of streets and places in Friendly Town (e.g. Sunshine Street, Friendly Park, Smiley University) and everyone assumed one of the identities. Next they made pictures of their characters and wrote about their occupations, addresses, background information and relationships to Mr. Hatch.

Once everyone had an established identity, I called a town meeting and as the Mayor of Friendly Town, I read an anonymous letter aloud which was requesting that Mr. Hatch be kicked out of town because he is so unfriendly. The author of the letter was afraid that Mr. Hatch would ruin the town's reputation for being friendly and the town will lose tourists and money. People might even move away. Everyone then divided into two groups: those who wanted Mr. Hatch kicked out and those who wanted Mr. Hatch to stay. In role, they wrote letters to the mayor stating their points of view. In the classroom I posted a notice of a town meeting to kick Mr. Hatch out. The two groups of citizens (pro and against Mr. Hatch) made signs (e.g. HEY HO! HEY HO! MR. HATCH HAS GOT TO GO!), wrote petitions and collected signatures. They wrote short speeches which were to be read aloud at the town meeting.

As mayor, I was in charge of the town meeting and an ESL student was my secretary. She wrote down the names of those who wanted to speak. Two policemen were my guards and they spoke to people when they became disorderly, laughed, or spoke out of turn.

The meeting progressed with each citizen giving a short speech. Mr. Hatch was given an opportunity to speak but wasn't present (too unfriendly, of course). Instead, his lawyer read a letter by Mr. Hatch. A vote by secret ballot was held and there was overwhelming support for Mr. Hatch to stay. Everyone held a party and wrote postcards to Mr. Hatch.

I finished the unit by reading the entire book to the class and we made a banner that said, EVERYBODY LOVES YOU, MR. HATCH!

This unit meets the following specific expectations for Ontario's grade 3 drama curriculum:

•demonstrate an understanding of a character's point of view through writing and speaking in role •demonstrate the ability to concentrate while in role in drama •defend a point of view through speaking and writing in role •create works of drama •identify the themes and subjects found in drama, and make links between these and their own  experiences; •clarify the meaning of complex or ambiguous dramatic situations (e.g., by posing questions in and  out of role to characters in a drama); •solve artistic problems in drama in cooperative work groups

PLAYING FAIR PLAYING FAIR is a drama unit based on a series of videos called PLAYING FAIR. Each week the class viewed and discussed a video. Students then wrote a summary about the video and two diaries in-role (as the bully and as the victim of the bully). The completed summaries and diaries were made into booklets which were shared with the class. The final activity was called the PAPER DOLL. Students stood in a circle. In the centre of the circle, on the carpet, was a life-size paper doll. I told everyone "I want you to step into the circle and say something hurtful to the paper doll. After you say it, you are to scrunch up part of the paper doll and then step back." I demonstrated what to do. I said "You are so stupid!" and scrunched up a hand of the paper doll. Students then, one by one, insulted the paper doll and scrunched it up. By the end, the paper doll was nothing but a scrunched up ball. I asked the students to describe the paper doll in one word. Students said things like "Garbage" and "Trash". I told everyone "Now I want you to step into the circle and say something nice or comforting to the paper doll. After you say it, smooth out a part of the paper doll with your hands." I demonstarted what to do. I said "You are such a kind person!" and smoothed out a hand of the paper doll. Students then, one by one, said something nice to the paper doll and smoothed it out. By the end, the paper doll was smoothed out but pieces were ripped or torn and you could still see many wrinkles and creases. I asked students to describe the paper doll in a sentence. Students said things like "The doll is smoother but still damaged." and "The doll still isn't what it was like before we insulted it." At this point we discussed how the paper doll was like the characters who had been bullied in the videos. The problems were solved in the videos but the children had been damaged by what had happened and nothing could erase the memories of being bullied and hurt by others. We then made anti-bullying and anti-racist posters which we displayed throughout the school. This letter was sent home to the parents at the beginning of the unit: Playing Fair Parent Letter