Reader's Theater for Fluency and Prosody
First, I want to share something one of my sweetest students said, that nearly made me cry. He is always making other people feel good, telling them they did a great job, and he never expects anything in return. He just exited his silent period this year, and has been making so much progress. I am so proud of him every day.
Student: "I think you are genius."
Me: "That is so sweet. I think you are a genius too."
Student: "Do you know 8 x 3?"
Me: "Why, yes. It's 24."
Student: "See? I told you you are genius."
All together now- awwwww.
One of the staples of my teaching is always holiday or seasonal Reader's Theaters. I did my Master's Thesis on the benefits of Reader's Theater to increase ELL fluency, and my kids gobble up scripts like candy! I write all of our scripts to be suitable for my varied proficiency levels- you can find them all at my TPT store. This week, 2nd grade did a culminating Reader's Theater to end their Aesop's Fables unit, and 3rd and 4th grade did a Reader's Theater because we felt like it!
Here are some videos of my students performing!
- 3rd and 4th grade performing the Frog Prince, Continued: http://youtu.be/S7t-Ispb14A
- 2nd grade performing Fox and Grapes: http://youtu.be/SiA9Yz0nJE8
Do you do Reader's Theater with your students? How do you run it? I read the story, pass out scripts, we highlight parts, and then practice for 3 or 4 days for about 10 minutes a day.
-Maria