US Department of State
Reader's Theater: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing readers to work...
Midland Independent School District
Drama
Ten drama lessons are the perfect addition to your language arts or theater class. With a focus on script elements, plot development, and parts of a dramatic story, the lessons guide young playwrights through the steps of telling a story...
Teacher Created Materials
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
Bring Julius Caesar to life with a reader's theatre approach that engages the entire class. The opening exercises model the importance of reading with expression while choral reading exercises permit class members to practice their...
EngageNY
Drafting Individual Readers Theater Scripts for a Specific Scene: Rephrasing, Narrator Introduction, and Identifying Characters
Read, revise, refine! Scholars refine their readers theater scripts by rephrasing some of the lines. Next, they write drafts of their narrator introductions and share their work with peers to give and receive feedback.
EngageNY
Modeling Entry Task, Reading Notes, and Reading Strategies for Lyddie
Readers understand a text better when they discuss it with someone else. Scholars continue reading the novel Lyddie by Katherine Paterson, engaging in text-related discussions with five classmates. Next, they add to their chapter three...
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Reading Primary Sources: Darwin and Wallace
Take your classes back in time. Learners read real historical texts from both Darwin and Wallace as well as an announcement of their findings. Using guiding questions, they make inferences and draw conclusions from the information in the...
Curated OER
Reading and Responding -- Lesson 15
Fourth graders work independently or in a small group to (1) read a poem, (2) identify unfamiliar words, (3) connect text to real-life situations, and (4) respond to poetry. Reading passage, comprehension questions, and teacher script...
Florida Center for Reading Research
Phonological Awareness: Sentence Segmentation, Sentence Graph
Young scholars segment sentences while they listen to a series of sentences. Using a graph, pupils make a mark for each word they hear. Learners listen to each sentence three times; once to listen, once to mark, and once to check their...
Curated OER
Scripting the Past: Exploring Women's History Through Film
Explore women's history through films and filmmaking. An innovative research project prompts class members to create their own screenplay about a figure in women's history. After outlining their characters, settings, and plots, young...
Curated OER
Dive into Reading During National Book Month!
Cultivate a passion for literature with fun, easy to incorporate reading activities.
Curated OER
Blue Ribbon Readers: Making Connections
Model for young readers how to make the shift from passive to active reading by making text-to-self and text-to-text connections. After a series of activities that provide guided practice, the focus shifts to making text-to-words...
Curated OER
Blue Ribbon Readers: Visualizing
Introduce young readers to the comprehension strategy of visualizing by asking them to think about a place that makes them happy. After illustrating or using words to describe this place, the class moves on to an interactive game using...
Curated OER
"As You Like It" by William Shakespeare
Jacque's soliloquy from Act II, scene ii of As You Like It sets the stage for a close reading exercise that models how to approach difficult, dense text and enables readers to practice reading comprehension and analysis skills. Learners...
Texas Center for Learning Disabilities
Chapter 1 Teacher Guide and Student Log
Designed to be used with the first chapter of Tony Johnston's Any Small Goodness: A Novel of the Barrio, this packet of intervention materials is designed to improve the reading comprehension of learners with special needs. The "Getting...
Texas Center for Learning Disabilities
Chapter 3 Teacher Guide and Student Log
Intended to be used with the third chapter of Francesco D’Adamo’s historical novel, Iqbal this packet of intervention materials is designed to improve the reading comprehension of learners with special needs; however, the strategies are...
Texas Center for Learning Disabilities
Chapter 2 Teacher Guide and Student Log
A reading of the second chapter of Francesco D’Adamo’s historical novel, Iqbal, launches an investigation of child labor and child labor laws. In addition, class members are introduced to Level 3, Making Connections questions.
Texas Center for Learning Disabilities
Chapter 10 Teacher Guide and Student Log
Intended to be used with the 10th chapter of Francesco D’Adamo’s novel, Iqbal, a novel about child labor. The 42-page packet of intervention materials is designed to improve the reading comprehension of learners with special needs. As...
Curated OER
Screen Play
High schoolers examine the New York Times review of the film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and explore the elements of scriptwriting. They read the article about the film adaptation screenplay and examine a sample...
Curated OER
Mythology: Reader's Theater
Build reading fluency and classroom community with a Reader’s Theater activity. Class groups select a myth, or if part of a myth writing unit, select a group member’s myth, craft a script, and perform for the class. Directions for...
Curated OER
Phonological Awareness: Phoneme Manipulating, Name Changes
Set up a listening center, record the provided script, and see how well your class can manipulate phonemes based on the instructions you've provided. This center-based activity builds the phonological awareness and phoneme manipulation...
NWT Literacy Council
How to Kit: Readers Theatre
Immerse your class in a good story with an extensive resource featuring reader's theater techniques. The worksheets are designed for both teacher and student, and carefully explain how to organize, write, and perform stories in a...
TELEC
What's Your School Like?
S1 and S2 language learners practice the skills of predicting and scanning as they examine images and read the script of interviews with two young students.
Curated OER
Comprehension: Identify Story Grammar
This fully scripted lesson could be a big help for someone new to teaching Kindergarten. It outlines what you should do and say as you teach grammar and literary elements such as, main character, setting, and events through reading. The...
EngageNY
Analyzing the Central Ideas, Part 1: “The Border”
What is your strategy? Scholars read "The Border" and work with a partner to practice reading strategies to use while independent reading. They identify difficult parts where they practiced rereading by marking them with sticky notes,...