William Shakespeare Unit Study

William Shakespeare was born in a small market town in England in 1564 and grew up to become the most famous writer in the English language. He wrote at least 37 plays and 154 sonnets, acted on the stage, and helped run the company that built the Globe Theatre in London. More than 400 years later, his plays are still performed all over the world, and we still use words and sayings he made popular, like “break the ice” and “wild-goose chase.”

This William Shakespeare Unit Study covers his life in Stratford-upon-Avon and London, the Globe Theatre, Elizabethan England, and his comedies, tragedies, histories, and sonnets. All of his plays are free to read online, children’s retellings make the stories easy to follow, and a paper Globe Theatre, a homemade quill, and a living room stage are all you need to bring his world to life.

Learning Objectives

• Learn about William Shakespeare’s life, family, and work in Stratford-upon-Avon and London.
• Learn how plays were performed in Elizabethan England, from the Globe Theatre to the actors who played every part.
• Understand the difference between a comedy, a tragedy, a history play, and a sonnet.
• Read or listen to at least one Shakespeare story and retell it in your own words.
• Practice reading aloud and memorizing a short speech or sonnet.
• Find words and sayings from Shakespeare that we still use today.

Timeline

Add these dates to a timeline of Shakespeare’s life and the Elizabethan era:

• 1564: Baby William is baptized on April 26 in Stratford-upon-Avon, the English market town where he grew up.
• 1582: Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway.
• 1583: Their daughter Susanna is born.
• 1585: Twins Hamnet and Judith are born.
• 1592: By now Shakespeare is working in London, writing plays and acting in them.
• 1594: He joins the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, an acting company.
• 1596: His son Hamnet dies at age 11.
• 1599: The Globe Theatre opens in London.
• 1603: Queen Elizabeth I dies. King James I becomes the company’s patron, and they are renamed the King’s Men.
• 1609: Shakespeare’s sonnets are published.
• 1613: The Globe burns down when a cannon fired during a play sets the thatched roof on fire. It is rebuilt the next year.
• 1616: Shakespeare dies on April 23 in Stratford-upon-Avon.
• 1623: Two of his fellow actors publish 36 of his plays in a book known as the First Folio.
• 1997: A new Globe Theatre, built to look like the original, opens near the old site in London.

Vocabulary

playwright	bard	sonnet
comedy	tragedy	history play
soliloquy	monologue	prologue
epilogue	verse	iambic pentameter
Elizabethan	playhouse	groundling
folio	quill	patron

• WordWeb: Free downloadable dictionary software.
• Dictionary.com: Online definitions and pronunciation.

Book Resources

• Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb: Twenty of the plays retold as short stories for young readers in 1807, with Arthur Rackham’s illustrations. Free on Project Gutenberg.
• The Folger Shakespeare: Every play, sonnet, and poem free to read online or download from the Folger Shakespeare Library.
• Shakespeare for Kids: His Life and Times, 21 Activities by Colleen Aagesen and Margie Blumberg: Biography and hands-on projects in one book.
• Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare by Diane Stanley and Peter Vennema: A picture book biography for elementary ages.
• William Shakespeare and the Globe by Aliki: The story of the first Globe Theatre and how the new one was built.
• Will’s Quill by Don Freeman: A picture book about a goose who helps young Will Shakespeare in London.
• Shakespeare Stories by Leon Garfield: Retellings for older children that keep much of Shakespeare’s own language.
• Shakespeare Can Be Fun series by Lois Burdett: The plays retold in rhyming verse with drawings by children.

Poetry and Music

• Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. A sonnet has 14 lines and a set rhyme pattern. Read Sonnet 18 (“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”) and try writing your own 14-line poem.
• Shakespeare Monologues (LibriVox): Free recordings of famous speeches from the plays, read by volunteers.
• “Greensleeves” was a popular song in Shakespeare’s day, and he mentions it in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Listen to it and talk about how it sounds different from music today.
• Pick a short speech, like Puck’s last speech in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and memorize it to perform for your family.

Audio and Videos

• Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare by E. Nesbit: A free LibriVox audiobook of the plays retold for children.
• Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Learning: Short films about Shakespeare’s life and times made for primary school children.
• Shakespeare: The Animated Tales: Half-hour animated versions of the plays, a good first look before reading.
• Renaissance Man (1994, PG-13): Danny DeVito plays a teacher who wins over a class of Army recruits with Hamlet.

Watch a film version of a play after reading a retelling, and compare the two. Which parts are the same? What did the filmmakers change?

• Who Said It?: Read a famous line out loud and have everyone guess which character or play it came from.
• Shakespeare Charades: Act out a scene from one of the stories without words while the others guess the play.
• Everyday Shakespeare Hunt: Make a list of sayings Shakespeare made popular, like “break the ice,” “wild-goose chase,” and “in a pickle,” and keep score as you hear them in books, shows, or conversation.
• Race to the Globe Board Game: Draw a winding path from Stratford-upon-Avon to the Globe Theatre in London on a file folder. Players roll a die and answer a question card to move ahead. The first one to reach the stage wins.

Play Collector Card Game

Make sets of four cards for each play you study. Each set has a title card, a main character card, a setting card, and a famous line card. For example, the Romeo and Juliet set could be Romeo and Juliet, Juliet, Verona, and “Wherefore art thou Romeo?” Shuffle and deal five cards to each player. Like Go Fish, ask another player for a card from a play you are collecting (“Do you have a card from Macbeth?”). If they don’t, draw from the pile. When you collect all four cards from a play, lay them down and name the play. The player with the most complete sets wins.

The same cards can be used as question cards for the Race to the Globe board game.

GeoSafari Card Ideas

• Who’s Who in the Plays: Match characters like Romeo, Juliet, Macbeth, Puck, and Hamlet to their plays.
• Comedy, Tragedy, or History?: Sort each play into the right kind.
• Shakespeare’s Life: Match the events on the timeline to their dates.
• Map of England: Locate Stratford-upon-Avon, London, and the River Thames.
• Theater Vocabulary: Match each vocabulary word to its definition.

Recipes

Archaeologists digging at the sites of London’s early playhouses found nutshells and fruit seeds left behind by audiences, who snacked while they watched. Set out bowls of nuts, apples, pears, and oranges for a family play reading. For a bigger Elizabethan meal, serve bread, cheese, roast chicken, and a gingerbread or fruit tart for dessert.

Field Trips

• See a live Shakespeare play. Many towns have free “Shakespeare in the Park” shows in the summer, and community and college theaters often put on his plays during the school year.
• Michigan families can check the Michigan Shakespeare Festival and the Grand Valley Shakespeare Festival for upcoming shows and student performances, or make the trip to the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario.
• Visit a Renaissance festival, where you can see Elizabethan costumes, music, and street performers.

Art and Craft Ideas

• Globe Theatre Paper Model (Agecroft Hall): Print, color, cut, and tape together a model of the Globe.
• Homemade Quill: Shakespeare wrote with a feather quill and ink. Tape a feather, or a feather cut from paper, to a pen or pencil and use it to write out a favorite line.
• Playbill: Design a poster or playbill for one of the plays, with the title, the actors, and a picture of a scene.
• Living Room Stage: Hang a sheet for a curtain, make simple costumes from clothes you already have, and act out a scene for your family.

Information Web Resources

• Shakespeare Birthplace Trust: Information about Shakespeare’s family homes in Stratford-upon-Avon, including the house where he was born.
• The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (MIT): A simple, ad-free site with every play to read online.
• The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Project Gutenberg): Free to read online or download to an e-reader.

Worksheets

Lapbook Ideas

• Shakespeare’s Life Timeline: A fold-out strip with the main dates of his life.
• Comedy, Tragedy, History Tabbed Book: One tab for each kind of play, with examples under each.
• Globe Theatre Flap: A drawing of the Globe on top, with facts about how plays were performed underneath.
• Family Tree Pocket: Cards for William, Anne, Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith.
• Everyday Shakespeare Mini-Book: Sayings we still use today and what they mean.
• My Sonnet: A mini-book with your own 14-line poem.
• Map of England: Mark Stratford-upon-Avon and London.
• Vocabulary Matchbook: Each vocabulary word outside and its definition inside.

Evaluation Ideas

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