Taking Readers' Theatre On The Road In School!

After many weeks of practice, the class took our three plays on the road last week.  There were 3 different groups of students who performed these 3 plays about:  George Washington, Ben Franklin and Betsy Ross.  Fortunately, there are 3 classes at both first and second grade levels so each group of actors spent approximately 10 minutes in each classroom performing their respective plays and answering questions.  After each performance, the students would rotate to the next class and perform the play again.  In all, each group performed its play 6 different times last week - that is a HUGE amount of reading and performing practice!

My students learned a lot from the experience.  Besides gains in reading fluency, the students made many useful observations about what it means to be a respectful and attentive audience.  For example, they were very overjoyed when the audience clapped for them, listened to them, asked them questions, and appeared interested in the plays.  After performing the plays, we discussed how important it is to be able to listen and pay attention.  Overall, it was a learning and educational experience for all of us.