A particular learning strategy that I implement in my classroom is Readers Theatre. In this activity, students are split into groups and are presented with a story or script and then they perform a dramatic presentation. There are numerous Readers Theatre books and scripts for primary and junior grades. It is a great teaching/learning tool and can be used in any grade and in a variety of subject areas. It is engaging and provides a unique context for the material to be explored. Students have the opportunity to improve their reading, working on fluency, expression, and further comprehension of their reading material. For older grades, the activity could be modified and students could write their own scripts and read them out to the class. Students become enthusiastic and excited about reading. What teacher wouldn’t approve?
I have written a few scripts for my teaching practicum and summer school position. My students really enjoy them, as it’s a fun twist on simply reading. They can have fun practicing their lines and acting them out, all while learning the material. I wrote one for a math class about money and giving change, another for the science curriculum about animals and habitats, and I’ve used lots of other literacy plays about fairy tales, and other stories. You can also make them into songs or write your own songs about the subject being taught. They are a great, effective tool and lots of fun for everyone.
The following is an example of a Readers Theatre I performed with my Grade Two class:
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
CHARACTERS: (9) Narrator 1 Narrator 2 Narrator 3 Narrator 4
Narrator 5 Narrator 6 Pig 2 Pig 3 Wolf
WOLF: Everybody knows the story of the Three Little Pigs. Or at least they
think they do. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. Nobody
knows the real story, because nobody has ever heard my side of
the story. I’m the Wolf. Alexander T. Wolf. You can call me A1.
NARRATOR 1: No one knows just how this whole Big Bad Wolf thing got
started, but it’s all wrong.
NARRATOR 2: Maybe it’s because wolves eat cute little animals like
bunnies and sheep and plgs. That’s just the way they are. If
cheeseburgers were cute, folks would probably think people
were Big and Bad, too.
NARRATOR 1: But the whole Big Bad thing is all wrong.
NARRATOR 2: The real story is about a sneeze and a cup of sugar.
NARRATOR 3: Way back in Once Upon a Time time, our friend, the wolf, was
making a birthday cake for his dear granny.
NARRATOR 4: He had a terrible sneezing cold.
NARRATOR 5: He had ran out of sugar.
NARRATOR 6: So he walked down the street to ask his neighbor for a cup of
sugar.
NARRATOR 1: Now this neighbor was a pig.
NARRATOR 2: And he wasn’t too bright, either.
NARRATOR 3: He had built his whole house out of straw.
NARRATOR 4: Can you believe it? Who in his right mind would build a house
of straw?
NARRATOR 5: So of course the minute the wolf knocked on the door, it fell
right in and he didn’t want to just walk into someone else’s
house.
NARRATOR 6: So he called.
WOLF: Little Pig, … Little Pig, are you in?
NARRATOR 1: No answer.
NARRATOR 2: He was just about to go home without the cup of sugar for
his dear old granny’s birthday cake.
NARRATOR 3: That’s when his nose started to itch.
NARRATOR 4: He felt a sneeze coming on.
NARRATORS 1-2-3-4-5-6 (TOGETHER) Well, he huffed. And he snuffed.
NARRATOR 1: And he sneezed a great sneeze.
NARRATOR 2: And you know what? That whole darn straw house fell down.
And right in the middle of the pile of straw was the First
Little Pig-dead as a doornail.
NARRATOR 3: He had been home the whole time.
NARRATOR 4: It seemed like a shame to leave a perfectly good ham dinner
lying there in the straw. So the wolf ate it up.
NARRATOR 5: Think of it as a big cheeseburger just lying there.
NARRATOR 6: He was feeling a little better. But he still didn’t have his cup
of sugar.
NARRATOR 1: So he went to the next neighbor’s house.
NARRATOR 2: This neighbor was the First Little Pig’s brother. He was a
little smarter, but not much. He had built his house of sticks.
NARRATOR 3: He rang the bell on the stick house.
NARRATOR 4: Nobody answered.
NARRATOR 5: He called:
WOLF: Mr. Pig, … Mr. Pig, are you in?
NARRATOR 6: He yelled back:
2ND PIG: Go away wolf. You can’t come in. I’m shaving the hairs on my
chinny chin chin.
NARRATOR 1: He had grabbed the doorknob when he felt another sneeze
coming on.
NARRATORS 1-2-3-4-5-6 : He huffed. And he snuffed.
NARRATOR 2: And he tried to cover his mouth, but he sneezed a great
sneeze.
NARRATOR 3: And you’re not going to believe it, but this guy’s house fell
down just like his brother’s.
NARRATOR 4: When the dust cleared, there was the second Little Pig —
dead as a doornail.
WOLF: Wolf’s honor!
NARRATOR 5: Now you know food will spoil if you leave it out in the open.
NARRATOR 6: So the wolf did the only thing there was to do. He had dinner
again.
NARRATOR 1: Think of it as a second helping.
NARRATOR 2: He was getting awfully full. But his cold was feeling a little
better.
NARRATOR 3: And he still didn’t have that cup of sugar for his dear old
granny’s birthday cake.
NARRATOR 4: So the wolf went to the next house. This guy was the First
and Second Little Pigs’ brother.
NARRATOR 5: He must have been the brains of the family. He had built his
house of bricks.
NARRATOR 6: The wolf knocked on the brick house. No answer.
WOLF: Mr. Pig,. . . Mr. Pig, are you in?
NARRATOR 1: And do you know what that rude little porker answered?
3RD PIG: Get out of here, Wolf. Don’t bother me again.
NARRATOR 2: Talk about impolite!
NARRATOR 3: He probably had a whole sackful of sugar.
NARRATOR 4: And he wouldn’t give the wolf even one little cup for his
dear, sweet old granny’s birthday cake.
NARRATOR 5: What a pig!
NARRATOR 6: The wolf was just about to go home and maybe make a nice
birthday card instead of a cake, when he felt his cold coming
on.
NARRATORS 1-2-3-4-5-6: He huffed. And he snuffed. And he sneezed once
again.
NARRATOR 1: Then the Third Little Pig yelled:
3RD PIG: And your old granny can sit on a pin!
NARRATOR 2: The wolf was usually a pretty calm fellow. But when he
heard somebody talk about his dear, sweet old granny like that,
he went a little crazy.
NARRATOR 3: When the cops drove up, of course he was trying to break
down this Pig’s door. And the whole time the wolf was huffing
and puffing and sneezing and making a real scene.
NARRATOR 4: The rest, as they say, is history.
NARRATOR 5: The news reporters found out about the two pigs he had for
dinner.
NARRATOR 6: They figured a sick guy going to borrow a cup of sugar didn’t
sound very exciting.
NARRATOR 3: So they jazzed up the story with all that “huff and puff” and
“blow your house down” stuff.
NARRATOR 4: And they made him the Big Bad Wolf.
NARRATOR 5: That’s it.
NARRATOR 6: The real story.
WOLF: I WAS FRAMED!
NARRATORS 1-2-3-4-5-6: But maybe you could loan him a cup of sugar.
Special Education Part One 