Book Description

Unlike most readers theatre titles, the 36 scripts in this book introduce young readers to classic authors like Louisa May Alcott and Mark Twain while they have fun and improve their reading fluency. The use of readers theatre as a classroom tool develops fluency while students are engaged in learning new content and actively participating in their learning. Background information and discussion questions round out the readers theatre experience, providing young readers with an opportunity to increase their reading fluency while inspiring them to read the works of well-known authors. Each of these 36 readers theatre scripts—one for each week of the school year—provides teachers and librarians with an introduction to authors of short stories, chapter books, and poetry. The subject matter includes acclaimed writers such as Charles Dickens and Laura Ingalls Wilder, as well as more contemporary authors like Paula Danzinger and Roald Dahl. Each script is designed to be introduced, read, and discussed in a 30-minute period, and encompasses characters with lines written at grade levels 2, 3, and 4 to accommodate different reading levels (grade levels are indicated on the teacher's page only).