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It's Electrifying!

2nd through 6th grades
25 minutes
$39.95 (2 or more Book/CD sets @ $30 each)

Scroll down to see the list of characters and the first several pages of the script.  (You might want to print it out.)

Listen to samples of the songs!

What do teachers say about this play?

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All you need for one class to do a play:
  It's Electrifying! Book/CD
(Wait! Two of you are planning on doing the play together? You've gotta click here!)

  It's Electrifying! Sheet Music $9.95

If 3 or more teachers are doing a play:
  It's Electrifying! Site License $70.00
(What's the Bad Wolf Super Site License and why would I want one?)

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National Education Standards

Fulfills National Arts Standard 3 for Dance, 1 and 8 for Music, and 2, 3, and 5 for Theater.]

Fulfills National History Standard 1 for K-4.

Fulfills National Social Studies Standard 10.

This show is designed to complement your unit on electricity and magnetism. Historical figures such as Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison guide students through such topics as how electricity was "discovered," how it travels, different forms of production of electricity, and conversation. This play is designed specifically to help teachers match their curriculum to state and national standards.

CHARACTERS:
FLEXIBLE CASTING:     
From 11-40 students.
Use as many Electrons, Capacitors, Televisions,etc. as desired. One student can easily play several roles if needed. Note that all roles can be played by either boys or girls; see our comments on page 31 of the Teacher's Guide.

Narrators (at least three)
Ben Franklin
Student Soloist
Cynthia
Thales
Electrons
Capacitors
Volta Fan Club
Leader of Club
Electromagnets
Televisions
Sun
Bankers
and a CHORUS comprised of all students who are not playing roles on stage at the time

(There is a string attached to a kite (or a picture of kite) on the backdrop. The CLASS is on stage. The NARRATORS step out, approach and address the audience.) 

NARRATOR #1:  Welcome to our story about electricity. We’re very excited about it.

NARRATOR #2:  To get us started, we’ve invited Benjamin Franklin to re-enact his famous kite and lightning experiment.  

NARRATOR #3:  There’s all kinds of things about that story I’ve always wondered about. Like—why did he need all that electricity in the first place?  

(BENJAMIN FRANKLIN enters with an electric guitar strapped around his neck. He walks across the stage, picks up the end of the string from the kite and plugs it into his guitar. He faces the audience, plays big chord, and the CLASS sings. He continues to play guitar throughout the song.) 

CLASS:                               SONG 1

We’re feeling acrobatic
We’re waxing operatic
Just learning ’bout the static
Charges from our comb

We’re charged up we’re not lying
Our circuits keep on frying

Yeah it’s electrifying
We love our ohm sweet ohm.

Amps and joules
Watts and volts
Sparks and arcs
And lots of jolts.
It’s electrifying
It’s electrifying
It’s electrifying
Woh-oh-oh-oh.

          (The following lines are chanted by one student, although different individual students may chant each line)

STUDENT:

It's true we love to shuffle both our feet across the rug
And then we give our brother such a nice big hug.
To do good science someone usually has to take his lumps

It's absolutely shocking just how high he jumps.

CLASS:

We got some great instruction
We’re current on conduction
And how ’lectric production

Affects us in our home

We’re charged up we’re not lying
Our circuits keep on frying

Yeah it’s electrifying
We love our ohm sweet ohm.

Amps and joules
Watts and volts
Sparks and arcs
And lots of jolts.
It’s electrifying
It’s electrifying
It’s electrifying
Woh-oh-oh-oh.

          (FRANKLIN exits.)

NARRATOR #1:  To be honest, that never really happened.

NARRATOR #3:  You mean Ben Franklin didn’t play electric guitar?

NARRATOR #1:  No, he didn’t.

NARRATOR #3:  Electric keyboard?

NARRATOR #1:  No.  

NARRATOR #3:  Drums?

NARRATOR #1:  NO!

NARRATOR #2:  But he did do really important experiments with electricity, and he did use the kite to show that lightning is a form of electricity.

NARRATOR #3:     (pointing to audience)
So we’ve lied to these people already?

NARRATOR #1:  It’s not lying. In the theater we call it “dramatic license.”

NARRATOR #3:  The theater? I thought we worked in a power plant.

NARRATOR #2:  We DO. But we’re always being asked about electricity, so we put together this little musical to inform the public.

NARRATOR #3:  Oh. So these people aren’t actually in our power plant.

NARRATOR #1:  No. They’re the audience.

NARRATOR #3:  The audience? You mean they paid to see us put on this show?

NARRATOR #2:  Actually, they got in free.

NARRATOR #3:  Free!  Well, come on, let’s give them their money’s worth. What happens next?

NARRATOR #1:  Let’s watch a demonstration of how the existence of electricity was first discovered.  Way back in ancient Greece.

           (CYNTHIA and THALES enter. CYNTHIA holds a rock and a
piece of cloth. )

NARRATOR #3:  Wow! Are those guys really from ancient Greece?
          (NARRATORS # 1 and #2 give #3 a dirty look)
Oh yeah, right. Dramatic license.

CYNTHIA: Hey Thales, check this out.

THALES:  What is it, Cynthia?

CYNTHIA:  If you rub this piece of amber with a piece of wool, it can pick up stuff.

THALES:  Like what?

CYNTHIA:  Like feathers and little sticks and fuzz balls.

THALES:  That’s fantastic.

CYNTHIA:  Isn’t it? It’s my latest discovery. I call it…the vacuum cleaner.

THALES:  Can I try?

CYNTHIA: Sure.

           (THALES rubs it. Suddenly jumps back.)

THALES:  Did you see that?

CYNTHIA:  What?

THALES:  It gave off a little flash of light.

CYNTHIA:  Really? Let me see.

THALES:  No. I want to rub it some more.

CYNTHIA:  It’s MY rock. Give it to me.

THALES:  But I LOVE this rock.

CYNTHIA:  NOW!

THALES:  Okay, okay.

CYNTHIA (rubbing the rock, then): Wow, it’s does give off a spark!

 THALES and CYNTHIA:          SONG 2

There is a spark
There’s a spark in the dark
here’s a spark in the dark when I rub this amber

And if I buff
If I buff it enough
If I buff it enough I can make it pop.

There is a spark in the dark
There is a spark in the dark

Why it is so

Why it’s so I don’t know
Why it’s so I don’t know but I can’t I can’t seem to stop.

It’s thrilling and it’s frightening
Making my own lightning
It glimmers and it crackles
Tickling my hackles
I have great powers
I’ve been doing this for hours!

There is a spark
There’s a spark in the dark
here’s a spark in the dark when I rub this amber

And if I buff
If I buff it enough
If I buff it enough I can make it pop.

There is a spark in the dark
There is a spark in the dark

Why it is so

Why it’s so I don’t know
Why it’s so I don’t know but I can’t I can’t seem to stop.

          (THEY exit)

NARRATOR #3:  So they didn’t know about electrons in ancient Greece?

NARRATOR #2:  No.

NARRATOR #3:  Then how did they make their TVs?

NARRATOR #1:  They didn’t have TVs!

NARRATOR #3:  No TVs!? You mean no _____? No _____? No ______? [Fill in blanks with the name of favorite TV shows, preferably silly ones.]

NARRATOR #1:  No.  

NARRATOR #3 (in disgust):  And they call themselves the cradle of Western civilization.

NARRATOR #2:  The Greek word for amber is “electron,” so around 1600 when it came time to name the force that made things stick to objects like amber, they called it “electricity.”

 NARRATOR #1: In the seventeenth century some really smart folks figured out that this mysterious thing called electricity moved, that it could really zip through certain materials.

          (3 ELECTRONS run onto stage and all around, buzzing and zipping.)

NARRATOR #2:  And here they are!

NARRATOR #3:  Who?

ALL THREE ELECTRONS (stop running around and shout):  We’re electrons!

ELECTRON #1: Put us in a good conductor and us mobile, “free” electrons can race along as electric current.

ALL THREE ELECTRONS:  Free the electrons! Free the electrons!

ELECTRON #2:  But if we’re in an insulator, there’s too much resistance and the electric current can’t flow.

ALL THREE ELECTRONS (with thumbs down):  Resist the resistance! Resist the resistance!

ELECTRON #3:  It’s all about conduction!

ELECTRONS:               SONG 3

I like to move
Get down and groove
Go with the flow and have fun
I like to move
Get down and groove
Find a conductor and run.

I love good conductors
Like silver’s mighty fine

Give me something copper
And I’ll dance down the line.
I can zip through water
I will never tire
Iron can resist me
Yeah I’m a real live wire.

I like to move
Get down and groove
Go with the flow and have fun
I like to move
Get down and groove
Find a conductor and run. 

I hate insulators
They try to box me in
Leather and ceramic
Won’t let me take a spin.

Porcelain and rubber
Feathers hair and glass
They put me in neutral
When I want to hit the gas.

I like to move
Get down and groove
Go with the flow and have fun
I like to move
Get down and groove
Find a conductor and run.

           (THEY exit)

NARRATOR #1:  Of course, it was a long time before people knew anything  about electrons.

NARRATOR #2:  But by the eighteenth century they had discovered all sorts of ways of rubbing and spinning things to make an electric charge. Now they needed a way to store an electric charge.

NARRATOR #3:  That’s easy! I always keep an extra electric charge in my pants.

NARRATOR #1:  You do not.

NARRATOR #3:  Yes I do.

NARRATOR #2:  No one can store electricity in his pants.

NARRATOR #3:  Yes they can. Just a minute, let me look.
          (She/he searches through pockets, and eventually finds a jar.)
See, here it is.

NARRATOR #1:  And you have an electric charge in there?

NARRATOR #3:  A big one. A giant one. Huge, even.

NARRATOR #2:  Let me see that.
          (She/he takes can. Opening it carefully, some of those springy snakes bounce out. NARRATOR #2 jumps in fright.)

That’s not funny. And it’s not electricity.

NARRATOR #3: Oh no? Then how come it gave you a shock?
          (to audience)
I love that one. I got a million of them.
           (hands out business card to audience members)
Here’s my card. I do birthdays, weddings, bar mitzvahs.

NARRATOR #1:  Enough of that! What we’re talking about here are capacitors or condensers. Things that keep an electric charge stored up and then release it when you want it.
          (shouts to side)
Bring in the capacitors!

           (CAPACITORS enter)

CAPACITOR #1:  Here we are! And look how far we’ve come from the Leyden jar of the eighteenth century.

CAPACITOR #2:  You bet. We’re sleek, smooth, and everywhere now, from washing machines to computers.

CAPACITOR #1:  Oh yeah, baby, we’re charge-a-licious!

CAPACITOR #1:            SONG 4

I’m a capacitor
I snatch and catch the juice
Oh whoa, oh whoa
And I will not let it loose.

CAPACITOR #2:

I’m a capacitor
And though I’m not so large
Oh whoa, oh whoa
And I can take a charge.

CAPACITORS:

Ben Franklin was quite odd
With his lightening rod
Set up to catch the lightening all around

But when he caught a bolt
He didn’t save one volt
But let it all escape into the ground.

          (Spoken:  Such a waste!)

We’re a capacitor
We’re ev’rywhere you are
In your appliances
And riding in your car.

We’re storing energy
Yeah that’s our claim to fame
Oh whoa, oh whoa
And farads are our game.

We really have come far
From that Leyden jar
That folks once used to store ’lectricity
Now in this modern age
Condensers are the rage
And there is nothing I would rather be.

          (Spoken:  Our mothers are so proud!)

 I’m a capacitor
I snatch and catch the juice
Oh whoa, oh whoa
And I will not let it loose.

I’m a capacitor
And though I’m not so large
Oh whoa, oh whoa
And I can take a charge.

          (THEY exit. VOLTA’s FAN CLUB enters.)

 LEADER:  Gather ’round, gather ’round. Welcome to the annual meeting of the Alessandro Volta fan club.

ALL:  Volta, Volta, I’m your fan...Galvani isn’t half the man.

 LEADER:  Okay, settle down. It’s time for the reading of the scroll.
          (Some one hands him a bowl.)
What’s this?

FAN CLUB MEMBER:  It’s the bowl.

LEADER:  Not the BOWL. The SCROLL! Where’s the scroll?

          (Another FAN CLUB MEMBER hands the leader a scroll, which she/he unrolls and reads from it in a serious voice, one filled increasingly with emotion.)

FAN CLUB MEMBER: Let us now recall the dark days, the bleak days before 1800, the dim days when there was no way to produce a constant electric current.

MEMBERS:  Whoa, whoa to the dark days.

FAN CLUB MEMBER:  Then there came a man who put two different metal plates in salty water and lo, there was a mighty change. A powerful change. A chemical change!

MEMBERS:  It was magic!

FAN CLUB MEMBER:(stops reading):  Not magic, my friends, but anodes, cathodes, and electrolytes.

 MEMBERS:  It was magic!

 LEADER: Close enough.
            (continues reading)
From this chemistry he brought to us the cherished electric cell. And cell to cell did our brave Volta connect, cell upon cell did he heap. Until, at last, he produced the original…the unprecedented…the wonder of the first practical battery, called the Voltaic Pile.

MEMBERS:  Hail the Voltaic Pile!

LEADER:. And so, my fellow Voltarians, as folk tales the world over now relate, the modern unit of electric potential was named after our beloved Volta.

MEMBERS:  Volta! Volta! Volta!

LEADER:  Now, sing with me.

MEMBERS:               SONG 5

Who made the first electric cell?
Who made the current flow?
Who made the first real battery
Two hundred years ago?

Who worked with copper, lead, and tin?
Who figured out a way
To father all our batteries
From D to triple A?

Alessandro Volta

CLASS:

Volta, Volta, Volta!

MEMBERS:

He was sure no dolta

CLASS:

Dolta, dolta, dolta!

MEMBERS:

He made elect current run much faster than a colta
Alessandro Volta
He was sure no dolta
Next time you touch a battery and get a little jolta
Thank Alessandro Volta.

Whoever had his brilliant mind?
Whoever had his style?
Who wouldn’t give his foot to be
A nice Voltaic pile?

Who worked with copper, lead, and tin?
Who figured out a way
To father all our batteries
From D to triple A?

Alessandro Volta

CLASS:

Volta, Volta, Volta!

MEMBERS:

He was sure no dolta

CLASS:

Dolta, dolta, dolta!

MEMBERS:

He made elect current run much faster than a colta
Alessandro Volta
He was sure no dolta
Next time you touch a battery and get a little jolta
Thank Alessandro Volta.

          (THEY exit)


Song List

Click on the song name to hear samples in mp3 format. Please note that internet song samples have low fidelity and rest assured that the CDs we sell sound much better. Problems hearing the music? Visit our Audio Help page.

1. Electricity
2. Spark in the Dark
3. Find a Conductor
4. I'm a Capacitor
5. Allesandro Volta
6. Turn Me On
7. We All Need to Communicate
8. Coal, Wind, and Glass
9. Save a Little
10. Electricity (reprise)

 

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Teacher Reviews:

"I loved it! The songs were catchy and easy to learn and sing. I cut a couple songs and parts out, though, cause it was a bit too long. I feel that my students learned a lot and still refer to the songs when we review."
---Andrea Riley, 4th grade teacher, Lady's Iland Elementary, Beaufort, SC

"I loved it! The performance was a great way to extend the unit and allowed students to share what they've learned in an artistic way. The parents absolutely loved the performance. The play was aligned with our science standards. My students will still ask to listen to the catchy songs!"
---Jody Caudle, 4th grade teacher, Scottsdale, AZ

"Great songs---lyrics teach/reinforce concepts, and the music is fun! They loved it!
---Beth Riggs, 3rd grade teacher, Orchard School, Rio Linda, CA

"Excellent. Kids loved it!"
---Elizabeth Meyer, 2nd grade teacher, Stone Ranch School, San Diego, CA

"All grade levels enjoyed seeiing 'It's Electrifying.' Your plays are so easy to use that I gave over the production of 'It's Electrifying' to a student teacher."
---Deborah Hullings-Le, 3rd grade teacher, Sinnott School, Milpitas, CA

To submit your own review, just e-mail it to ron@badwolfpress.com   Be sure to include your school name and what grade you teach.


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Two of You are Planning to
Put the Play on Together??

If you ask us, we always suggest having just one class put on a play. We think each kid is more involved, and we think it's easier for you to deal with a smaller number of students.

But lots of teachers disagree with us. They've been happily doing the plays together for years.

In fact, Amy Anderson, the teacher who does four musicals a year (and she talks about this on our home page) thinks two classes together is the way to go.

Then what do I need to purchase? Think of a musical play like a library book. Only one teacher may "check out" (i.e. put on) the play at a time. If another teacher wants to produce the music play that you purchased in a separate production and at a later date, you may loan out your original plan and student copies.

Your "library" needs two copies of the play for two teachers to put on the play at the same time. If a teacher wants her class to put on the play with your class, she needs to buy her own copy of the play. For three or more teachers to produce a play together, purchase three copies for your "library" and Bad Wolf extends a Site License  for all the teachers and classes at your school.

But why can't I just make extra copies of the play? If copies are made for a class other than the purchasing teacher's, it's an infringement of U.S. copyright law. Yikes! Bad Wolf likes to toe the line where Uncle Sam is concerned, so we offer a discount on the purchase of multiple copies of the play.

If you are 2 teachers putting on the play together......................$60
     * Includes 2 copies of the book and CD (save almost $20 off of buying
        them separately) so each of you has a CD and book to work with.

     *  Free bonus: We'll throw in our famed "Earthworms on Parade" CD.
        Y'know, that's the one with the six goofiest songs about earthworms          ever written ($9.95 value.)         

     *  Includes the right to reproduce the script for the students in both of
         your individual classes.

Questions? Call or email Ron Fink at (888) 827-8661 or ron@badwolfpress.com
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