I just can’t believe how fast this school year is flying by! Here we are and it’s somehow 2023! I’ve been trying to work in my annual Dad joke of immediately saying on January 1st that I haven’t done that or seen people since… wait for it… LAST YEAR!!! I still think it’s funny every time I say it, whether or not the other person laughs along, looks confused, or rolls their eyes! But as teachers, it can be very easy to lose track of just how long it has been since we have done something with our class.
For example, when was the last time that you surprised your class with a Readers Theater?
It’s probably been a while. And yet research is consistently supporting the concept that repeated reading boosts fluency, comprehension, and even sight word vocabulary! So why don’t more of us do more of Readers Theater? I’m guessing that it’s that age old Educators’ Albatross of too much to do and not enough time to do it. I totally get it, but I know that Readers Theater has great value in grades k-12, so it’s worth making time for! My niche is elementary, although I know that Speech classes use Readers Theater in middle and high schools. I love to use it in primary grades and upper elementary to practice oral reading, increase reading with expression, and if we’re honest, it’s FUN! It’s a boredom buster for sure! Somehow kids feel like they are getting away with something everytime I bring out a script to do! I love seeing their faces light up and the immediate engagement with the scripts.That kind of enthusiasm means that you have their full attention and they are ready to get started!
But how DO you get started with Readers Theater? Sometimes it’s not knowing where to start or how to find good scripts. (I can save you some time and effort there if you want to check out my selection of great Readers Theater scripts over at my TpT store The Owl Spot!!) But sometimes it’s just not knowing what to do with the script once you have it.
Stay tuned and I’ll walk you through an easy can’t miss approach to Readers Theater over the next couple weeks!
Martha
