Into The Woods - Lyric Study for the ELA Classroom

Looking for a way to shake things up in your ELA classroom? Want to incorporate more arts and theater but don't know where to start? Look no further than Lyric Study with Into The Woods! You don't have to know anything about Into The Woods or theater to teach it!

Lyric Study is a program introduced to me by Anthony Lombardi and my colleagues at PS/IS 49 in Queens. It is the study of a song's lyrics for 5-10min at the beginning of each ELA class - like a Do Now, but a musical one! Students answer questions based on the text while listening to the song, and practice writing short responses and note-taking.

Into The Woods Lyric Study takes that idea and attaches it to an entire musical. Due to its repetitive nature and short time frame, it is really great for ELL and students with neurodiversities. This curated set of songs focus on each character's moment of growth or learning their actions have consequences.

This packet contains:

• An introduction and explanation page
• A guide for note-taking
• A song list
• Introduction Activity for Act I + Synopsis for Act II
• A song page with a brief synopsis of the play up to that point
• 3-5 prompts for students to answer
• Lyrics complete with bolded vocabulary words
• CCSS alignment and 1-point rubric

The songs:

1. I Know Things Now
2. Giants In The Sky
3. On The Steps of the Palace
4. Stay With Me
5. Moment in the Woods
6. Your Fault/Last Midnight
7. Midnights/Children Will Listen

(NOTE: the exclusion of The Mysterious Man and The Baker's arch is purposeful due to the 2012 movie's exclusion of it. I prefer to teach along side the 1991 OG Broadway Cast reveal that arch when we watch it - but please do what's best for you and your students!)