Drama Activities

We are highlighting how Humanities, Engineering, and Drama fit together through a Reader's Theater challenge. Reader's Theater invites children to read familiar books - often fairy tales - and then to put on their own performance of the tale. Choose one Reader's Theater activity from the options below and put on a show at your house! Bear in mind that, as you know, plays often have:

-Characters with costumes

-A set

-A script

-A program

Steps to putting on Reader's Theater at home:

1. Choose a story from the options below and watch it read-aloud or read it at home (if you have access to the book). Then, retell the story using props, characters, and a set.

2. Be creative as you design and build finger puppets or create costumes using items you have at home so that you and other family members can be characters.

3. Create at least one "set" that provides a backdrop for your play.

4. Write a brief script of the dialogue for your characters. Practice using quotation marks to show dialogue and practice acting it out. Use emotions and inflection in your voice to show the effects of punctuation (!?.). Try to use phrases from the actual book as well.

5. Create a poster or program to advertise your show and invite your family to a performance. Consider that most programs include a date, time, slogan, and list of characters/actors.

If you are able, have an adult film or take photos of your play in action and share this with your teachers. You can email aradeva@mttam.org or post it directly to our K-3 Reader's Theater Padlet: https://padlet.com/aradeva1/readerstheaterMTS