June 2, 2015
R is for Reader’s Theatre.
I love Reader’s Theatre! This was one of the best things I did with my students all year every year. Once the standardized testing is done, by mid-March, the pressure is off and teachers can start planning projects and activities that are fun and engaging for the students. In the spring I always had my students do a research project on a topic of interest and prepare a Reader’s Theatre production to perform in front of other students. Reader’s Theatre was always on my priority list because first of all, the kids really enjoyed it, and second, it’s a good way to increase English learners’ reading fluency and confidence. I’m not the only one – the last two years I’ve worked as a program assistant and the classroom teachers I work with put on a play with their students each year.
From my first year of teaching on, I did a lot of Reader’s Theatre with my classes. In 2003, my dual language 3rd grade class put on two plays: Caperucita Roja (Little Red Riding Hood) for the dual language first grade class, and Energy (which I wrote – we had been studying about different types of energy and I used each of these as a “character”) was performed on the school’s TV station. Then at the end of that school year, students read for their families during the Academic Celebration, a shortened version of the book, The Great Kapok Tree by Lynn Cherry, which I had adapted for Reader’s Theatre.
I then adapted the same play based on the Spanish version of the book, El gran capoquero. One year my students made colorful and elaborate renditions of the animals in the book, which were used for the background scenery.
At least twice, my classes put on a Mexican version of The Brementown Musicians, which was in English but sprinkled with Spanish phrases and it had great humor!
In 2006, my 3rd grade ESL literacy class premiered my play The Great Chicago Fire. I had five narrators and many other parts, both big and small, so that everyone could participate. Some even got two roles! During this production, we used an overhead projector to show images of the Chicago Fire of 1871 in the background. Later, I reproduced a picture of a horse-drawn fire truck which was used in those days, and that prop became part of future productions.
2009: 3rd grade play (bilingual literacy class)
In late May of this year, the bilingual first grade reading class performed once again for the other first grade classes, and then for their other classmates. This time they did a version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears in Spanish, Ricitos de Oro. The bilingual second grade reading class performed Trabajando juntos, which was about ants working together. I have chosen not to publish these photos, due to their being so recently taken.