I am thinking of trying reader's theatre in my class tis year. I was wondering what experience you have had with it as well as your successes and failures. Any suggestions on how to begin?

[amylea77]

This site has information on how this teacher implements reader's theater. I tried it her way last year and it worked out well in third grade.

http://www.mandygregory.com/

[hsteph]

This site also has info and several links regarding implementation of reader's theater

http://www.webenglishteacher.com/rt.html

[isellabrate]

I have done it almost every year in third grade. My kids seem to love it. Try it! It's fun.

[emg123]

I have done it with my second graders and they just love it! I did a whole fairy tale unit and as a culminating activity students did reader's theatre for humorous fairy tales, for example Goldilocks and the Three Bullfrogs. This is how I did it. I first assigned parts. I do consider reading ability. I do not want to give a struggling reader a part that would be too difficult. I know that the purpose is for fluency practice, but I want everyone to feel successful. After I assign the parts the kids read it through a few times at their desks. I have them focus on reading it fluently with feeling. Next I have them make a decorated name tag for their part that they can wear around their neck when they "perform". For example if he/she is a narrator that child would make a name tag that says "Narrator" and would decorate a colorful border around it. The kids then practice their "performance". I realize that reader's theater is not like a real play, but I have found that the kids like to put some sort of action and movement into their play. The students practice over and over again and then finally, I invite other classes into my room to watch my students perform. The kids think this is a hoot and they really ham it up. This whole process could take a week or two, but I can tell you they never got sick of practicing and couldn't wait for other classes to see the performance.

[steach]

My 3rd grade class did The BFG by Roald Dahl. I found the script on the internet - it was one of the best things we did all year!

thanks for the great info! steach, do you know where you found the BFG? Your the second person who has told me about it.

[steach]

Here is the source for The BFG script. We had such great fun with this. I did the book first as a read aloud, of course the kids loved the story and EVERYONE wanted to do the BFG reader's theater. I had about 20 kids so I actually had 2 productions of the BFG. It was neat to see how each group put a different "take" on the story. If you are a Roald Dahl fan, you might also check out the other site. Have fun!

http://bms.westport.k12.ct.us/mccorm...pts/rtsbfg.htm

http://www.roalddahlfans.com/teachers.php#4

We start every year with shel silverstein poems for the students to practice. They are silly and fun and easy ice breakers for the students who are shy and don't like to speak in front of the whole class. By the end of the poetry section they are acting out their parts!