Literacy and The Arts Lesson: ​Make Lemonade ​Tableau

Location Duration Grade Level Materials Arts included

Outside 55 mins 8th Grade Boombox, Selected Music

(soccer fields) book section handouts, &
or Our Classroom Theatre
(blacktop) Box of Props

Objective(s)
The four groups of students will each successfully create and perform a tableau depicting
a specific scene from the book ​Make Lemonade by V ​ irginia Euwer Wolff.

Step by Step Explanation/Description of Lesson, Including clearly separated

Transitions
(You will likely need more room than what I have included here…be certain to be
thorough)

To begin, I will have the students count off 1-4 to divide into groups. Then I will instruct
the students to break off into their groups and find a comfortable place to work on their
tableau on the soccer field (or blacktop if it is too muddy). Then I will instruct a member
from each group to come up and retrieve the section of the book they will perform
through tableau.

Group 1:​LaVaughn is looking to make some money for college and leave her
impoverished surroundings. She then answers an ad for a babysitting job but she is taken
back by the fact that a 17-year-old single mother, named Jolly, was the one that posted the
ad. Jolly is the mother of a 2-year-old boy named Jeremy and baby girl named Jilly.
LaVaughn helps Jeremy through different growth milestones. For instance, teaching him
to make his bed and potty-training him.

Group 2:​ LaVaughn shares that her father passed away when she was younger and Jolly
shares with LaVaughn that she was homeless at one point and temporarily lived in a
refrigerator. Then one night Jolly comes home because she had lost her job, she was fired
after fighting against her boss’s sexual advancements and harassment. Jolly tried to report
her boss but she was ignored. Her efforts to find another job are unsuccessful. This is
when LaVaughn babysits Jeremy and Jilly for free and at one point even uses her own
money to buy Jeremy a pair of shoes. LaVaughn then takes Jolly along with her to school
for her self-esteem class that she calls “Steam Class.” However, Jolly seems embarrassed
and seems to feel uncomfortable in the school. (Perform this appropriately if you choose
to tabelu the section where Jolly loses her job. )

Group 3:​ This is when Jilly starts choking on a plastic spider leg and Jolly uses the CPR
training she received in school to save her daughter. Jeremy begins dialing 911 he dials ”9”
on the phone, but then LaVaughn finishes the 911 call. Therefore, Jeremy technically tried
to help to save his sister. LaVaughn completes the 911 call, but Jolly has already removed
the plastic spider leg out from Jilly’s airway. LaVaughn is impressed by Jolly saving her
daughter and she tells her mother about what happened. LaVaughn’s mother was also
surprised. However, at this point of the story Jolly “pulls away” from LaVaughn and no
longer uses her as a babysitter (or even speaks with her). Jolly is close to completing and
receiving her GRE, but LaVaughn has “been broken off,/like part of her bad past” (p.198).

Group 4:​ LaVaughn has a job cleaning a church and is focused on attending college.
However, Jolly reconnects with LaVaughn briefly and tells her, “‘a little lemon thing’”
(p.199) is growing from the seeds LaVaughn helped Jeremy to plant. LaVaughn
remembers her mother spinning Jeremy through the air and congratulating him for
helping to save his sister. (Please do not attempt to spin or swing each other, remember
tableau is a still image and you can still convey this, be creative with your prop choice).

While the students are discussing how they will create an accurate tableau and what
props they will be using from our classroom box of props, I will play some light music in
the background by artists like ​John Mayer​ and ​The​ ​Counting Crows​. After 33 minutes have
past I will turn off the music to give a nonverbal 2 minutes warning. After the 2 minutes
have passed, I will call out, “Clap once if you can hear me… Clap twice if you can hear me!”
After I have regained all the students' attention, I will instruct all the groups to take a seat
where they can see our “center stage” and first performance group. The groups will come
up randomly selected by me and perform their tableau. Once each group has gone the
class as a whole will determine in which order each event occurred then perform them in
the correct order. This will take the rest of the class period.

Assessment: ​Groups will be assessed by use of props, accurate portrayal of the event, and
if they correctly placed these events in order. All of which will be noted on the Anecdotal
record below.
(Larger Version at the Bottom)
How will you multi-level this lesson?

This lesson is multileveled in a number of ways, from verbal and written directions, to
physical and visual representations for conveying a tableau summary of the book ​Make
Lemonade. ​I created this activity with the mindset of making the content available to a
variety of both reading level capabilities, as well as the different preferred learning styles.
a. Visual Learners- ​This activity meets this need as it is building a visual/ theatrical 
representation of the selected events. 
b. Auditory Learners-​ Directions will be given verbally as well as we will be conducting 
group and class discussions.  
c. Kinesthetic Learners-​ This activity meets this need as they are physically building this 
representation to perform and working together as a group to do so. 
d. ESL Students-​ Directions can be written in different languages to help support this need 
(google translate, but check with someone for clarity and correctness) and/or a translator 
would be ideal. 
e. At-risk Students-​ Activities like this help assist with keeping students engaged and 
having multiple levels of support from peers and myself to comprehend the book we 
recently read.  
f. Advanced Learners-​ This activity assists advanced learners as the sky's the limit. The 
only limitation is their imagination.

(Handout and Anecdotal Record on Next Two Pages)

 (Cut This Handout into Four Sections Prior to the Lesson)
(Remove group and page numbers so as to not give away the order of the story)

Group 1:​LaVaughn is looking to make some money for college and leave her
impoverished surroundings. She then answers an ad for a babysitting job but she is
taken back by the fact that a 17-year-old single mother, named Jolly, was the one
that posted the ad. Jolly is the mother of a 2-year-old boy named Jeremy and baby
girl named Jilly. LaVaughn helps Jeremy through different growth milestones. For
instance, teaching him to make his bed and potty-training him.

Group 2:​ LaVaughn shares that her father passed away when she was younger and
Jolly shares with LaVaughn that she was homeless at one point and temporarily
lived in a refrigerator. Then one night Jolly comes home because she had lost her
job, she was fired after fighting against her boss’s sexual advancements and
harassment. Jolly tried to report her boss but she was ignored. Her efforts to find
another job are unsuccessful. This is when LaVaughn babysits Jeremy and Jilly for
free and at one point even uses her own money to buy Jeremy a pair of shoes.
LaVaughn then takes Jolly along with her to school for her self-esteem class that she
calls “Steam Class.” However, Jolly seems embarrassed and seems to feel
uncomfortable in the school. (Perform this appropriately if you choose to tabelu the
section where Jolly loses her job. )

Group 3:​ This is when Jilly starts choking on a plastic spider leg and Jolly uses the
CPR training she received in school to save her daughter. Jeremy begins dialing 911
he dials ”9” on the phone, but then LaVaughn finishes the 911 call. Therefore, Jeremy
technically tried to help to save his sister. LaVaughn completes the 911 call, but Jolly
has already removed the plastic spider leg out from Jilly’s airway. LaVaughn is
impressed by Jolly saving her daughter and she tells her mother about what
happened. LaVaughn’s mother was also surprised. However, at this point of the
story Jolly “pulls away” from LaVaughn and no longer uses her as a babysitter (or
even speaks with her). Jolly is close to completing and receiving her GRE, but
LaVaughn has “been broken off,/like part of her bad past” (p.198).

Group 4:​ LaVaughn has a job cleaning a church and is focused on attending college.
However, Jolly reconnects with LaVaughn briefly and tells her, “‘a little lemon thing’”
(p.199) is growing from the seeds LaVaughn helped Jeremy to plant. LaVaughn
remembers her mother spinning Jeremy through the air and congratulating him for
helping to save his sister. (Please do not attempt to spin or swing each other,
remember tableau is a still image and you can still convey this, be creative with your
prop choice).
 Anecdotal Record for​ Make Lemonade​ Tableau

Group Names:​ .​ Date:​ .

Performance Notes Comments

Use of props:

Pts.​ /5 .

Accurate portrayal of the

event:

Pts.​ / 15 .

Correctly placed these events

in order.

Pts.​ / 10

Pts. Total:​ / 30