WILL A READERS THEATER SCRIPT REALLY WORK WITH PRIMARY GRADE STUDENTS?
USING A READERS THEATER PLAY SCRIPT IN THE PRIMARY CLASSROOM
IMAGINE THIS SCENE
A lower primary teacher sits in a large chair and invites the children to gather around to read a readers theater play script on a carpeted area. Teacher hands each child a photocopied script entitled "Ardith Magee and the Christmas Shopping Spree." The children are happy and excited. They love Christmas stories.
Each child opens a play script and, as teacher reads the story aloud, underlines the reader lines marked ALL with colorful marker pens. Teacher frequently stops to help the children identify and mark the lines, then continues reading. The story is repetitious and the ALL lines appear over and over again in a predictable pattern. There is a lot of underlining to be done.
When the reading is finished everyone giggles and talks about Ardith and her pets. All of the pets begin with the letter A and buy Christmas gifts which also begin with the letter A! Teacher wonders if the children would like to help read the readers theater play script story aloud. YES! Rehearsal begins. The children are invited to practice the ALL lines which will be chanted in unison when it is time to share the reading. They have an especially good time with:
ALL: "IT'S CO00000000LD OUTSIDE! MY ALLIGATOR'S NOSE WILL FREEZE!"
The readers practice rounding their lips and moaning "cooooooooold" has they hang on to and elongate the vowel sound. Some of them shiver, hug themselves, and roll their eyes in chilly delight.
Everyone laughs as the words WILL FREEZE are emphasized and shouted in unison. All agree that the line - SO PUT A SOCK ON IT! Must be said in a comical way. Someone suggests hand movements or gestures for the lines WENT HOME and BIGGEST, WIDEST, LONGEST ANGORA SOCKS.
Time to read the readers theater play script aloud. The children wait in anticipation, fingers on the first ALL line, eyes bright. Teacher begins:
NARRATOR: On the Monday before Christmas, Ardith Magee decided to take her pet alligator out for a Christmas shopping spree. She opened her front door and checked the weather. Then Ardith called to her mother.
ALL: IT'S CO000000LD OUTSIDE! MY ALLIGATOR'S NOSE WILL FREEZE!
NARRATOR: And mother said,
ALL: SO PUT A SOCK ON IT!
The enthusiastic readers theater play script reading 'continues as Ardith's pets shop the mall for advent calendars, acoustic guitars, antbrittle, ankle bracelets and airline tickets to Australia.
Christmas morning arrives and the gifts are opened. Someone has forgotten something! Ardith's pet Anatosaurus begins to cry and huge dinosaur tears pound the coffee table. Thankfully, Ardith knows how to set things right. In the end, there is a merry Christmas for all!
The children finish the readers theater play script and want to read it again. They like the script and are proud of their reading. When interest finally wanes, they run off to illustrate the text. Everyone has a favorite part, a favorite animal, a favorite gift, a favorite line. Discussions of the readers theater play script story can be heard all over the room.
Everyone is smiling.
LOWER PRIMARY LEVELS
Many LOWER PRIMARY readers theater play scripts are written to elicit participation by asking for a unison response from the whole class. This means that all students participate verbally in the script reading.
A LOWER PRIMARY readers theater play script format often features:
1. Use of teacher or older reader as major narrator/storyteller.
2. Some selected "easy reader" solo lines.
3. Unison response reading from all students.
4. Highly predictable story structure.
5. Many repeated phrases that are chanted again and again throughout the reading.
ENCOURAGE READING!
Even though repeated chanted lines will be easily memorized, supply each child with a readers theater play script and encourage readers to underline solo lines and the lines marked ALL.
Before the first reading begins, practice any difficult words or phrases, reminding children to read the lines as they appear in sequence. Be certain to make clear that the lines are to be read and that the underlined parts are their "words from the story."
Because "children who believe they can read actually become readers," it is important to refer to the Readers Theater script experience as a reading experience. After the script has been read aloud a few times and confidence is gained, congratulate children on their reading (even though few may actually be reading, word for word).
IN-CLASS STRATEGIES
Although you may wish to stage LOWER PRIMARY readers theater play script readings for performance purposes, LOWER PRIMARY scripts are also useful as viable in-class reading resources. As teacher, you take on the role of story narrator.
Gather students around you, distribute scripts, help readers identify and underline ALL lines. Quickly rehearse difficult words, phrases, or poems which require attention to beat. Then READ. Encourage children to experiment, create, gesture, move, use facial expression, read with gusto, and have fun!
UPPER PRIMARY LEVELS
UPPER PRIMARY readers theater play scripts generally differ from LOWER PRIMARY versions by including more simple solo reading lines for the more advanced primary readers. If you have a script that seems too simple for your reading level, you may wish to turn that script into a usable UPPER PRIMARY adaptation by supplementing the ALL lines (whole class unison responses) with some additional solo lines. Here's how to adapt a script:
1. Carefully read through the script and choose simple words and phrases that could be assigned to solo readers in your classroom.
2. Identify these words and phrases by underlining them. You have now created new Solo reading lines from the basic text.
3. Assign reader numbers to new solo reading lines by printing reader numbers (Reader 1, Reader 2, etc.) in left-hand margin and drawing arrow from reader numbers to underlined sections.
4. Photocopy, distribute, and assign volunteers to new solo parts.
5. Ask each solo reader to underline solo lines in a special color of his/her choice. Ask the rest of the class to underline ALL lines in one color.
(Example: In each script copy, solo lines may be underlined or highlighted in the reader's color choice for easy identification. Lines marked ALL may be underlined or highlighted in one single color (such as yellow or red), again for easy identification. Read, rehearse, exchange parts, and enjoy until interest wanes.
ENCOURAGING OWNERSHIP AT BOTH LEVELS
The act of taking part in a readers theater play script reading promotes ownership of the story, especially if the experience has been positive, energetic, creative, and enjoyable.
You might encourage each child to collect photocopied scripts in a three ring binder and to illustrate the scripts.
You might also suggest that children take these collections home periodically and invite friends and family members to join together in additional oral readings of the stories.
