Miss Nelson is Missing!

Based on the books Miss Nelson is Missing and Miss Nelson is Back

by Harry Allard & James Marshall

Adapted by Joan Cushing

Before The Play

• Read Miss Nelson is Missing and Miss Nelson is Back by Harry Allard and James Marshall to familiarize students with the story. Talk about what they expect from a theatrical performance of the story.

CENTRAL ISSUES

• How do the children of Room 207 treat Miss Nelson? Why do you think they behave this way?
• What is respect? How do obedience and being unselfish relate to respecting others? How does Room 207 learn to respect Miss Nelson?
• What are the rules in your classroom? Write them down. What rules does your class always follow? What rules does your class need to work on? What rules do you think the children of Room 207 were supposed to follow? What rules did they consistently break? How did their breaking the rules affect the class as a whole? How does it affect your class when you break the rules?
• What is the true identity of Viola Swamp? What are some other ways Miss Nelson could have gained the respect of her students besides tricking them?

• A journal or diary is often a daily record of personal activities, reflections, feelings, events, and/or observations. If Miss Nelson, the students of Room 207, Pop Hanson, or another character from the story kept a journal, what do you think he or she might have written? Choose a character from the play and write a journal entry from his/her perspective
• What if the kids discovered that Miss Nelson was pretending to be Viola Swamp? Write an alternative ending to the story.
• The students of Room 207 write a letter to Miss Nelson apologizing for their bad behavior and begging her to return. Imagine you are stuck with Viola Swamp as a substitute and write a letter to your own teacher, asking her to come back to your class.
• Make up a story about the worst substitute teacher you can imagine.

ART

• Make a mural. On a piece of butcher paper, draw the progression of events that happen to the students of Room 207 over the course of the play.
• Mr. Blansford shows the students slides of his pet goldfish. Draw a series of pictures of your own (real or imaginary) pet that you could present to your class as a "slide show".
• Mr. Blansford also tells the students about his ballpoint pen collection. As a class or in small groups, decide on an item to collect. See how many different varieties of your item your group can find. Make an artistic display of your items for others to view.
• Using crayons, markers, and or construction paper, create a new disguise for Miss Nelson (besides Viola Swamp). Display your pictures on the bulletin board.

• "Miss Nelson is Missing" is a musical. Several of the songs are written in very distinct musical styles. Research the musical styles of Waltz, March, Ragtime and Rock and Roll. In which time period did each style originate? Are the styles still popular today? Find examples of each style and share them with your class.
• Pop Hanson likes to reminisce about the past. Interview a person older than you (a teenage sibling, a teacher, a parent or grandparent) about what school was like when they were your age. How was school different back then? How was it the same?
• Draw a map of the town Miss Nelson lives in. Include Horace B. Smedley Elementary School, Miss Nelson’s house, the Police Station, and Lulu’s Ice Cream Parlor.
• Detective McSmogg sings about the exotic locations in which he will search for Miss Nelson. Choose one (or more) of the following and research the history, geography and culture of the historic location/area. Prepare a presentation for you class based on what you have learned.

SCIENCE

• One of Room 207’s favorite ways to disrupt class is by throwing paper airplanes. What is aerodynamics? Explore how different shapes move through the air by making several types of paper airplanes. Which airplanes fly the fastest or smoothest? What makes some fly more efficiently than others? Look at http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/paper.htm for different paper airplane designs.
• Mr. Blansford demonstrates bird calls for the students of Room 207. Go to the library or on the internet and research the calls of several different birds. Try to recreate the sounds yourself.

THEATRE/PERFORMANCE

• Two actors in the show play multiple roles. How do they disguise themselves as new characters in a short amount of time? What do they change about their appearance (hair, makeup, costume)? What do they change physically (voice, movement, posture)? Try it yourself! How much can you change your appearance by changing your body movements, facial expression, and voice?
• The play takes place in several different locations: the School, Miss Nelson’s house, the Police Station, and Lulu’s Ice Cream Parlor. How does the set designer of the play change the scenery to show the audience that we have moved to a new location? How would you do it differently? Draw pictures of your own set for "Miss Nelson is Missing".
• Put on your own musical! In small groups, choose a song to learn. Make up your own choreography (movement or dance) to go with your song and perform it for your class.

• After watching the play, write about it. Tell what you liked or disliked about the story, the characters, costumes, or set. Support your thoughts with examples and reasons. Mail to: CTC, P.O.Box 2007, Sunnyvale, CA 94087. Teacher’s comments are appreciated!