Pocahontas - City of St. Petersburg

Our Stage is .... Your Classroom
ColThe
iseu
m
005
2
,
1
.
Nov :15 P.M.
,
y
a
d
es
12
Tu
.&
A.M
10:45
Theatre IV
presents
The True
Story of
In This Issue
Before/After the Show Activity Ideas
In this Issue (Goals of the study guide)
Class Acts Program
Evaluations
How to Get to the Performance
How to Contact Us
Pocahontas
5th Grade Activity
Kindergarten - 1st
Grade Activities
One Step Begins a Long Journey
Sequential Sketches
LA.A.1.1.
LA.B.2.1.
3rd - 5th Grade Activities
Did You Know???
Legend or Fact?
SS.A.4.2.
LA.E.1.1.
Powhatan Patterns
MA.D.1.2..
For Everyone
A Moment for Etiquette
LA.C, .TH.A.1.1.
T
TH.A.1.1.
About the Performer
About the Performance
Resource Page
YOUR ROLE IN THE
PRODUCTION
ARRIVAL
L Please plan to arrive at least 20
minutes before show time. Proceed to the entrance with your group and look for the sign-in
table. A designated representative must stop
and sign in for the entire group.
TEACHER PAGES
Class Acts Teacher Resource Guides are sponsored by the Mahaffey Theater/City of St. Petersburg, FL and their partner the Mahaffey Theater
Foundation for the Performing Arts.
Supervising Editor …….......Elizabeth Brincklow,
Education Program Coordinator
Coordinating Editor ……..........Fremont Sheldon,
Education Associate
Writing and Artistic Design........Missy Schlesman
EVALUATIONS can be completed on the form
provided. Your input is very important and useful
to the theater’s education program. Plus, your
evaluations will be placed in drawings for class
appropriate prizes!
Upon entrance, ushers will seat groups on a
first come, first served basis and will seat your
group as quickly and as efficiently as possible.
After your group is seated, the restroom may be
visited. Young students should be escorted.
EXITING Ushers will help your group move
out of the theater in a quick and orderly fashion. You will be directed to the parking area
using various routes. Exit routes may be different from your entrance path due to the ingress
of students entering for the next performance.
Please follow the ushers’ directions.
DIRECTIONS TO THE COLISEUM
Take I-275 to Exit 23A then Exit 2
which becomes 4th Avenue North.
The Coliseum is on the left and
north side.
Class Acts is presented by the Mahaffey Theater for the Performing Arts and the Mahaffey Theater Foundation with the support
from the Division of Cultural Affairs, Florida Arts Council, Florida Department of State, Pinellas County Arts Council, and the City
of St. Petersburg.
Follow the directions of our
parking staff.
QUESTIONS AND
CORRESPONDENCE
Class Acts, The Coliseum
535 4th Ave. N., St. Petersburg, FL 33701-4346
ATTN: Class Acts/ Perkins Elementary School
Pony Route #5
Phone 727-892-5800
Fax 727-892-5770
www.stpete.org/mahaffey.htm
2
FOR THE TEACHER PAGE
Before/After the Show
•
•
K-2 grade teachers:
teachers Using “Sequential Sketches”
on page 6, have your students paste their final
sequences on art paper and display them around the
room or the school hallway.
•
All grade teachers:
teachers View a video or read a story
depicting a version of the Pocahontas legend (see
page 10 for resources) with your students before
seeing Theatre IV’s presentation of The True Story
of Pocahontas. In a verbal discussion or in a written
exercise, have your students compare and contrast
the cartoon version with the stage version*
3 – 5 grade teachers:
teachers In the show, Pocahontas
was lucky enough to have a member of her
tribe see her future in a vision. As part of a
class discussion or as an individual writing
exercise, have your students describe the kind
of future they envision for themselves and the
choices they can make to either enhance or hurt
the vision they hold.
•
All grade teachers:
teachers Have your students look
at a map of Virginia and seek out the names of
towns, counties and landmarks that bear Indian
names. See if they can also locate the names
of places bearing the names of English nobility
and settlers, such as Jamestown, named for
King James I, of England during that time.*
•
All grade teachers:
teachers Pocahontas and John
Smith came from very different cultures, which
sometimes lead to some misunderstanding
and warfare. Discuss with your students the
concept of culture and how understanding a
culture different from one’s own might prevent
misunderstanding and violence.*
TEACHER PAGES
K-2 grade teachers: Read “One Step begins a long
journey …” on pages 4 and 5 with your students.
Use the piece as a springboard for discussion about
the early settlers, as an introduction to the storyline
for the play they are about to see or as practice for
FCAT reading comprehension. Expand upon your
lesson plans by using the resources listed on page
10 for more information on John Smith, Pocahontas,
Powhatan, and Jamestown.
•
Courtesy of Theatre IV’s The True Story of Pocahontas
Study Guide.
*
In this issue, your students will:
•
Read a piece describing the first settlers of Jamestown and the issues surrounding
their arrival. LA.A.1.1.
•
Be introduced to some new vocabulary words used in the written piece. LA.A.1.1.
•
Have an opportunity to illustrate and arrange the events described in the written
piece in sequential order. LA.B.2.1.
•
Be exposed to some little known facts about the early settlers as well as the
characters portrayed in the well-known Pocahontas story. SS.A.4.2.
•
Have the opportunity to compare and contrast the information they’ve been
exposed to in popular Pocahontas folklore with factual events. LA.E.1.1.
•
Complete pattern sequences to strengthen their math skills. MA.D.1.2.
3
One Step begins a long journey ...
Sometimes people seek adventure, and sometimes adventure finds them.
Almost 400 years ago, back in 1606, a group of men from England embarked1 on a voyage that
would change the history of two very different cultures2 forever.
K - 2nd grades
Known as the Virginia Company, the men were sent with orders from King James I to explore
and settle this “New World3,” and to find gold to bring back to England. Little did the men
know how big an adventure this would turn out to be.
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
The Powhatan Indians had lived in
pamahsaivuh (pam-ah-saiv-uh
(
), the area
now known as Virginia, for centuries,
The Powhatan Indians were part of the
Algonquian nation and were led by Chief
Wahunsonacook, (or Powhatan to the
English). They had enjoyed good hunting
and a prosperous way of life with very little
interference with other tribes or people.
The Virginia Company landed on Jamestown Island, Virginia on May 14, 1607. Most of the
men were artisans4 or craftsmen who were used to the comforts of city life. They found the
wilderness of this new world to be rough and scary.
To the native Americans, these new pale faces with their new language and different way of
living were a threat to their ancient way of life. So they decided to protect themselves.
The Indians attacked the encampment5 soon after the settlers landed.
The English settlers, not used to having to defend themselves, fought
back as best they could and soon built a fort to protect themselves
against the Indians. However, because they were not very skilled at
hunting and growing food, the settlers became hungry and sick as the
summer turned into fall and then winter.
During this stressful time, a settler by the name of Capt. John Smith
proved to be a strong and very brave leader for the group. An
experienced soldier, Smith was used to the rough wilderness and knew
how to survive. The other men looked to him for guidance.
Answers to Powhatan Patterns on page 7:
7 1. 10 bean plants 2. 12 bean plants 3. 40 bean plants 4. 2 fish 5. 25 berries
4
Photo courtesy of the Library of
Congress
Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress
John Smith was on an expedition6 outside the fort one winter
day when he became separated from his men and was
captured by members of Powhatan’s tribe. What happened
next is uncertain. Some say John Smith was rescued from
certain death by the chief’s daughter, Pocahontas. Others
say John Smith made up the whole story.
What we do know to be true is that after he was captured, John Smith befriended the chief,
Powhatan. He also became friends with the chief’s favorite daughter,
Matoaka, who the chief had nicknamed Pocahontas (which means
“playful girl” in the Algonquian language). At the time, Pocahontas was
about twelve years old and John Smith was a young man in his twenties,
so they never fell in love, they were just really good friends.
K - 2nd grades
The new friendship between Smith and Powhatan made it easier for the
Indians and the English settlers to understand one another. At first, the
Indians took pity on the inexperienced settlers and sent food to them
through Pocahontas. This food kept the settlers alive and allowed the
settlement to thrive and prosper.
In the years ahead, the Indians and the English settlers continued to live as neighbors for a
time, each group with their own culture, their own way of doing things. Sometimes they
got along, and sometimes they fought.
One thing remained certain – from the day the settlers arrived, the lives of both groups
were changed forever.
embark – to start out on a trip or journey
culture – a way of life for a group of people; their beliefs, their music and art, their housing, what they
eat, etc.
3
New World – what the Spanish explorers called North and South America when they discovered it in the
1400’s and 1500’s.
4
artisans – a person skilled at working with his hands; like a carpenter, a craftsman
5
encampment – a camp site
6
expedition – a short trip for a specific purpose; in John Smith’s case, he was probably scouting for food.
1
2
All photos courtesy of the Library of Congress
Answers for page 5 Sequential Sketches:
Sketches 1. King James I sends a group of men out to explore this New World.; 2. The settlers land on Jamestown Island on
May 14, 1607.; 3. The Algonquian Indians protect themselves by attacking the new settlers.; 4. John Smith is taken captive by the Algonquian Indians.; 5.
Smith becomes friends with Chief Powhatan and his daughter, known as Pocahontas.; 6. Pocahontas brings food to the settlers of Jamestown.
5
Sequential Sketches
Draw a picture illustrating the scene that each sentence describes in each box below.
After all the boxes are filled, cut out each box and arrange the boxes in the correct order
according to the story on page 4.
The settlers land on Jamestown Island on
May 14, 1607.
Pocahontas brings food to the settlers
of Jamestown.
Smith becomes friends with Chief Powhatan and
his daughter, known as Pocahontas.
The Algonquian Indians protect themselves by attacking the new settlers.
King James I sends a group of men out to explore
this New World.
K-2nd grades
John Smith is taken captive by the
Algonquian Indians.
6
Powhatan Patterns
Patterns were an important part of life in a Powhatan
Indian village. The people depended upon the predictable
patterns of the seasons to survive. Patterns can be found
in the weaving of their cloths, the drum beats of their
celebrations, and the chants of their religious rituals.
Look for patterns in the descriptions below and see if you
can finish each one:
In the summer and fall, Powhatan Indians gathered
fresh vegetables to eat as they were most plentiful at
that time of year.
1. In May, a family planted 4 pumpkins, 6 ears of corn, 8 squash and ________ bean
plants.
2. In June, another family planted 3 pumpkins, 5 squash, 8 ears of corn and
______ bean plants.
3. In July, the chief ordered one of his wives to plant: 5 pumpkins, 10 ears
of corn, 20 squash, and _____ bean plants.
After a long winter in which the members of the Powhatan
tribe ate nuts and grains along with some hunted game, they
enjoyed fish and berries in
the spring.
5th grade
4. In March, a member of the tribe caught 12 fish to be
shared among the other members of the tribe. It was divided in
the following way: one family of six got 6 fish, one family of
four got 4 fish, and a couple got ______ fish.
5. In April, a Powhatan woman gathered 600 berries! They were divided among the
tribe in the following way: one family got 150 berries, another got 50 berries and
another got 25 berries. The last family received _________ berries.
7
Legend or Fact
A legend is an unverified story handed down and believed to have actually happened.
A fact is something that actually happened and can be proven to have happened.
Because she was such a dynamic woman, the story of Pocahontas has become a legend in some ways, but a lot
of her story is factual. See if you can decipher legend from fact. Circle each of the sentences below that you
believe to be a fact. The answers appear on page 12!
P
O
C
A
H
O
N
T
A
S
owhatan. His real name was Wahunsonacook. Powhatan was the name of
his tribe.
ver-anxious. As soon as the boat landed, John Smith was off the boat and exploring
the area.
aptive. Pocahontas was taken hostage by the English and held for ransom.
3rd - 5th Grades
ge. Pocahontas was a grown woman when she met John Smith.
ero. Pocohontas saved Capt. John Smith’s life.
ne trip to England. Pocahontas visited England as a goodwill ambassador from
the New World.
ickname. Pocahontas was a nickname. Her real name was Mataoka.
attoo Pocahontas had at least one tattoo.
mbassador to England. Pocahontas visited England as a goodwill ambassador
from the New World.
on. Pocahontas had a son named Thomas.
8
Did you know?
• Capt. John Smith arrived at Jamestown
in shackles?
On the way over to the New World he had been arrested for having quarreled
with fellow passengers on the way over the Atlantic from England.
• Pocahontas ended up marrying
John Rolfe, a successful businessman who
began the tobacco
industry in the New World, and not Capt. John Smith. She bore Rolfe a
son, and they named him Thomas.
• Pocahontas died returning from her first and
only voyage to England from a disease she contracted while on board ship. During her
trip to England, she ran into John Smith, who she had been told had died. She was speechless and
in tears during the meeting.
• There was a group that came to the New World before Capt. John
Smith and his group. Known as the “Lost Colony” the group arrived in what is now known
as North Carolina, lived there for a time, and were never heard from again.
• The central part of a Powhatan
Indian village is called a werowance. It
consists of a chief’s house, a temple, a storage building,
and a heavy fence, or palisade.
3rd - 5th Grades
Photo courtesy of www.ab.mec.edu/jamestown/powhatan
• There are several well known places around Virginia
that got their name from an Indian word. The Chesapeake
Hairpin turn at Shenandoah.
Bay got its name from chesapeake, which means great salt water. The
word shenandoah (used to name the Shenandoah Mountains National
Park) means “beautiful daughter of the stars.” Roanoke, Virginia got its
name from the Indian word, roanoke, which means wampum, or shell
money. And the Alleghany Mountains were named as such because the
Indian word for “endless” is allegheny. The Indians of that area believed
that that particular mountain range went on forever.*
Courtesy of the
Library of Congress.
*
Courtesy of Theatre IV’s The True Story of Pocahontas Study Guide.
9
Consc
Conscious
Etiquette
Have you ever heard
the term “Suspension
of Disbelief?” It’s
really a theatrical
term to meaning to
pretend. For example,
in the musical Peter
Pan, the characters
Pan
of Peter Pan, Wendy,
John and Michael all
fly during the show.
Now, we know people cannot fly. However, in the show, they
can. By having the actors fly across the stage, the show is asking
the audience to “suspend their disbelief” or pretend that the
characters can really fly.
For Everyone
In The True Story of Pocahontas,
Pocahontas the actors in the show are going
to ask the audience to “suspend their disbelief” as well. During
the show, a character by the name of Tomocomo has a detailed
vision of Pocahontas’ future. He shares the whole thing with her
as the actors act out what he “sees.” Now, in real life, most people
can’t see the future in such detail. In ancient Indian culture,
there were visionaries who the tribal members believed really could
see future events. But these visionaries usually saw images or
fleeting moments of the future, and not a whole life story in detail.
So, as you enjoy, The True Story of Pocahontas,
Pocahontas allow yourself
to be transformed into the world of 1607; and into the world
Tomocomo “sees” Pocahontas living in!
10
ABOUT THE SHOW
Theatre IV’s The True Story of Pocahontas presents the events of this
fascinating woman’s life in a truly innovative way. After an initial
exposition taking place on the banks of the James River, the bulk of the
story unfolds as a vision shared by a member of Powhatan’s tribe who
is concerned for the inquisitive girl’s safety. The plot is acted out before
the heroine’s own eyes as we watch her meet and save Capt. John Smith,
provide food to the English and later fall victim to their deception, meet
and marry John Rolfe, bear a son and serve as a native ambassador to
England on an ill-fated voyage. The story ends with the visionary’s
caution that her future “depends entirely on the choices and decisions she
makes from that moment on.”
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
For Everyone
Theatre IV is a nonprofit professional theater company who has been
bringing its exciting and educational theatrical productions to young
audiences across the eastern United States since 1975. Led by founding
artistic director Bruce Miller and managing director Phil Whiteway, the
company has received numerous awards including the Sara Spencer Award
given to theaters for “outstanding contribution to children’s theater in
the Southeastern U.S.” In 2001, Mr. Miller was awarded the Leadership
in Arts Instruction award from the Virginia Board of Education and
the Commission for the Arts. The mission of Theatre IV is to create
professional, exciting, innovative and theatrical productions of the
highest caliber.” Additionally, Theatre IV is committed to “exploring
and expanding the ways in which the theatre arts can impact positively on
education, human services, and community.”
11
R
esources to Read, Surf
and Watch ....
John
Smith
●Kurtz, Henry Ira, Captain John
Smith, Watts, 1976
*Foster, Genevieve, The World of
Captain John Smith: 15801631, Scribner, 1959
*Doherty, Kieran, To Conquer is
to Live: the Life of Captain
John Smith of Jamestown,
21st Century Books, 2001
www.pocahontas.morenus.org
www.powhatan.org/pocc.html
Pocahontas
Allen, Paula Gunn, Pocahontas:
Medicine Woman, Spy,
Entrepreneur, Diplomat,
Harper, 2003
Bruchac, Joseph, Pocahontas,
Harcourt, 2003
●Benjamin, Anne, Young
Pocahontas: Indian Princess,
Troll Communications, 1991
●*Fritz, Jean, The Double Life of
Pocahontas, Putnam, 2002
12
*Lawson, Marie Abrams,
Pocahontas and Captain John
Smith: the Story of the Virginia
Colony, Random House, 1950
●Mossiker, Frances, Pocahontas:
The Life and Legend, Da Capo
Press, 1996
*Penner, Lucille Recht, The True
Story of Pocahontas, Random
House, 1994
Rountree, Helen C., Pocahontas,
Powhatan, and
Opechancanough: Three Lives
Changed by Jamestown,
University Press of
Virginia, 2005
*Pocahontas (VHS), Walt Disney
Home Entertainment, 2005
*Young Pocahontas (VHS), United
American Video Corp., 1994
www.pocahontas.morenus.org
www.apva.org/history/pocahont
www2.lhric.org/pocantico/
womenenc/pocohont
www.powhatan.org/pocc
Powhatan
●Commonwealth Studies Program,
Indians of Virginia,
●Nee, Kay Bonner
Bonner, Powhatan,
Dillon Press, 1971
●Sweetser, Date Dickinson, Book
of Indian Braves, Fredonia
Books, 2002
www.powhatan.org/pocc.html
www.pocahontas.morenus.org
Jamestown
Price, David, Love and Hate
in Jamestown: John Smith,
Pocahontas, and the Heart of a
New Nation, Knopf, 2003
www.apva.org/history/index
www.timepage.org/spl/13colony
www.ab.mec.edu/jamestown/
powhatan
*Titles found at your local library
●Titles suggested by Theatre IV
Answers to Legend or Fact on page 8: P: Fact; O: Legend; John Smith was under arrest
when he arrived at the New World. He was arrested for fighting with other passengers; C: Fact;
Pocahontas was used as ransom for some things the English wanted from her father, the chief; A:
Legend. Pocahontas was about the age of a 5th or 6th grade girl of today when she met John Smith.
H: Could be either fact or legend; John Smith wrote about “the King’s dearest daughter …” (who)
“got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death: whereat the Emperour was contented he should live…” However, according to some sources, Smith had a reputation
for making up tall tales. Other sources say that it was Powhatan Indian tradition for a young girl to
beg for a prisoner’s life – that it was all part of a ritual. What we do know is that Smith was taken
prisoner and his life was spared. Since he was friends with her father, Smith also was friends with
young Pocahontas. O: Fact; N: Fact; T: Fact; Indian girls of that time probably did have tattoos.
A: Legend; Pocahontas was only 11 or 12 when she met John Smith. He was a friend of her father,
the chief and she would bring he and the other settlers food from time to time, but there was never
any romance. S: Fact; Pocahontas ended up marrying John Rolfe when she was older and bore him
one son – named Thomas.