Subject: English-Language Arts
Grade Level: 4th-5th
Note: Plan on this lesson taking several days – to write, practice, & perform.
Objective:
Students will be able to write a Reader’s Theater.
Students will be able to perform/read their character’s lines with expression in front of an audience.
Anticipatory Set:
- Show a few copies of different Reader’s Theater texts.
- Brainstorm a list of noticings about Reader’s Theater texts.
Instruction:
- Explain that a Reader’s Theater is similar to a play but that the characters do not memorize their lines – they read from the script. However, they must read with expression.
- Teach the format of a Reader’s Theater:
- Typically, there is a narrator.
- Characters’ names are written with a colon after and the characters’ lines are written after that – no quotation marks.
- When reading their lines, they only read what comes after the colon…they do not read the name of the character.
- Stage directions are typically written in parenthesis.
Guided Practice:
- Pass out one sports trading card to each student.
- Group students with different sports players together.
- Have students work together to come up with a topic for their Reader’s Theater. The characters in the Reader’s Theater are the players on the trading cards.
Independent Practice:
- Students will work in groups to write a Reader’s Theater with their sports trading card players as the characters.
- Each student must write/type the lines of his/her player on the script.
- Students practice their Reader’s Theater performance several times in their group.
Closure:
- Have the groups perform their Reader’s Theater in front of the class.