If you’re school is anything like mine, you’re probably gearing up for standardized testing. For many of us and our kids, it’s the bane of our existence. So, my proposal to you is to use what little time remains in your schedule to have some fun staging a play! It can be as simple as an in-class reader’s theater presentation or as complex as a full stage production (start now for an end-of-the-school year performance!). Whatever the case, at ReadAloudPlays.com we have gobs of plays perfectly suited for spring, including our latest release, Toad’s Wild Ride.
We’ve narrowed Wind in the Willows down to its best, most humorous elements. It shows how Mr. Toad becomes infatuated with motor cars, how his friends attempt to “cure” him, and how he goes on a maniacal drive through the village. Yes, Scene 7 resembles the Disneyland ride! The whole play is full of pratfalls, subtle humor, and grand entrances, making it as kid-friendly as it gets. Enjoy Mole’s innocence, Badger’s stodginess, and Otter’s “charisma,” but don’t forget Ratty and Toad! The play includes stage directions, making it ideal for a full production.
BADGER: Then you don’t promise to never touch a motor-car again?
TOAD: Certainly not! In fact, I promise that the very first motor car I see, poop-poop, off I go!
Baseball season is underway, so many of your male students—who statistically are more likely to be reluctant readers—will jump at the chance to be in a baseball play. How Jackie Saved the Worlddepicts the circumstances around Jackie Robinson breaking the “color barrier.” As your students portray Jackie, Pee Wee, and others, a radio announcer calls a more modern game between Derek Jeter’s Yankees and Ken Griffey’s Mariners, gently contrasting the two eras. A peanut vendor and the hot dog man lend narration as they walk through the audience hawking ballpark snacks.
HOT DOG MAN: Despite all that pressure, Jackie led the Dodgers to the World Series and was named Rookie of the Year. Some said it was the toughest season any ball player has ever endured. Last chance for hot dogs!
PEANUT VENDOR: No doubt the reason today’s game is so exciting is because Jackie had the courage to turn the other cheek. Peanuts! Get your peanuts here!
ANNOUNCER: We’re in the top of the ninth. Two outs and two on and the score tied two to two. The Yankees are taking no chances. With Ken Griffey, Jr. up to bat, they’ve brought in their closer, Mariano Rivera. Here’s the pitch. . .
Perfect for Earth Day, Nature Talks Back “follows” the madcap adventures of three conifers named Otto, Bill, and Luther as they deal with bark beetle scares, woodpeckers, and centipedes. The story uses campy humor to convey scientific (and non-politicized) facts about the environment.
BILL: It’s not a termite is it? Oh, I hate termites!
LUTHER: No, I don’t think it’s a termite.
BILL: Phew. You had me worried for a minute.
OTTO: Too big for a termite. Looks like some kind of beetle. Does it look like some kind of beetle to you, Luther?
BILL (alarmed): A beetle? Is it a bark beetle?! Oh no. It’s a bark beetle, isn’t it? I just know it! Get it off of me! Get it off of me!
If maniacal drives, spring training, and talking trees don’t entice you, we also have Peter Rabbit (it seems too young for 5th and 6th graders, but they love doing it—especially when they get to perform it for youngers), Winnie the Pooh (and Tigger too!), and on a more serious note, Juneteenth: Freedom for the First Time. Plus we have dozens more: all original, all human-made, and all with teacher notes, writing prompts, comprehension activities, and the license to print a full class set every year for use in one’s own classroom. Other sites charge dramatically more (no pun intended) for plays with far less originality and pizazz!
Plays teach kids to read purposefully and thoughtfully rather than merely for speed. They always have developmentally-appropriate parts for both your advanced readers and your most reluctant ones. And once parts are assigned, you don’t have to prompt kids to chime in. Best of all, plays are fun. They’re the perfect antidote for spring fever and those test-taking blues.
Here are five classroom plays about the American Revolution. Each is politically-neutral, based on well-researched historical accounts, and vetted by professional editors at Scholastic. The first three (four if you count the Liberty Bell) feature strong females, making them perfect for Women’s History Month.
The Secret Soldier tells the story of Deborah Samson, the perseverant young woman who disguised herself as a man in order to enlist in the Continental Army. History remembers her as America’s “first woman soldier.”
Betsy Ross has a lot of doubters these days. This play exploring the creation of America’s first flag, encourages readers to approach history scientifically: to research the facts themselves before drawing conclusions.
Girl, Fighter, Herotells the story of Sybil Ludington, the young woman often called “the female Paul Revere.” Sybil rode 40 miles on a stormy night to muster the militia during the American Revolution battle near Danbury.
Eagles Over the Battlefieldintroduces students to our national emblem, the American bald eagle. This work of historical fiction imagines how the Founding Fathers might have debated the symbol’s selection, especially given Ben Franklin’s tongue-in-cheek disdain for the eagle.
Finally,A Bell for the Statehouse , which comes as a 2 for 1 with Eagles, reveals how the Liberty Bell came to be a national symbol after being sheltered away with other “patriot leaders” in the basement of a church.
All five plays are dramatic, compelling, and fun for kids to present on stage or perform as reader’s theater.
Thank you, Rachel Scott, M. M., Aram Alexander Barboa-Reidy, Alejandra Alejandra Peña, Laura Franklin, Michelle Gribble, Daniel B. Bennett, William Samples, and Jennifer Theis for your recent 5-star reviews!
Both my parents served in the military. My mom had a short stint as a WAAC in DC before landing in the secretarial pool at the White House. She eventually had a temporary assignment working for Matthew Connelly, Harry Truman’s executive secretary. She liked to tell a story about sneaking around the White House in hopes of catching a glimpse of the presidential swimming pool, only to be caught by a guard and sent back to her post. Despite her brush with security, she was eventually offered a permanent position. Regretfully, she turned it down because the bus commute from her quarters in Virginia was too long. Her days in the Army Air Corps, she would later tell me, were the best years of her life. (Pictured: My Mom at the Fort Belvoir Motion Picture Lab)
My dad, meanwhile, served in both World War II and Korea. I’m told his experiences were vast and extreme, that he piloted a plane, that he commanded a POW camp, that he was at the disastrous Battle of Kasserine. But he himself never spoke of any of it. Not a word. For him it was far too painful—as it is for many veterans. I wish I knew more about my dad’s service. (Pictured: My dad in Korea.)
It was with them in mind that I crafted “War Stories” for Scholastic several years ago. It speaks to the pain of war, the sacrifice of those who’ve served, and the meaning of Veterans’ Day. It also speaks to the importance of recording those memories for posterity, no matter how painful. I encourage you to share it with your students in grades four and up in commemoration of the holiday on November 11.
Thank you, “Adventures in Fifth and Life,” M.M., Summer B., Renae W., Liz M., Shala K., Brittany W., Lee C., and Angela H. for your recent positive reviews of my plays!
Back a hundred years ago, the idea of ghoulishness was captured in short stories rather than comic books. Writers like Poe, Shelley, and Stevenson creeped out their audiences with dark tales of superstition, mystery, and insanity—and the Gothic themes they created have been permeating literature, television, and cinema ever since. Case in point, for the last couple of years I’ve been not-quite-binge watching episodes of Dark Shadows, the Gothic TV show about Barnabas Collins—arguably the world’s second-most famous vampire. (Step aside, Edward.) The show’s witches, werewolves, and headless dudes had me mesmerized when it originally aired back in the 1960’s. Now, viewing the rather campy soap through adult eyes, I’m recognizing that all its creepiness came from classic short stories like The Cask of Amontillado, Frankenstein, and the Headless Horseman. They’re all in there! Go figure!
Your students know these themes, too. They’ve seen them on the Simpsons and Family Guy, in Goosebumps and Marvel Comics. But do they know from whence they come? Though the archaic language and complex structures of these classic tales present barriers for middle grade readers, you can make them more accessible by pairing them with reader’s theater. And what better time to do it than Halloween?
So what if your students are mesmerized by Venom and Doctor Octopus! There are plenty of mangled monsters and the criminally insane in W.W. Jacob’s classic, The Monkey’s Paw, Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, and Hawthorne’s The Birthmark. They’ll also find that familiar ol’ headless horseman in Sleepy Hollow, and a hapless ghost in Twain’s A Ghost Story. No, your kids won’t find them Pennywise-creepy or Slenderman-scary, but chemical concoctions, mad scientists, and sinister psychopaths make them very nearly as engaging.
All these plays are available on my TeachersPayTeachers storefront. They’re critically-acclaimed. They’re cheap. And they each come with a comprehension exercise. Suitable for reader’s theater, podcast radio drama, or full stage production, they’re perfect for fifth graders and up— but get started early to have them well-rehearsed by Halloween.
Thank you “Back at Work,” Rebecca Schwartz., Les Cain, Misha Carlstedt, Carolyn Finch, Jocelyne Matos, Bobbie Kukal, Antonio Costa, Lori Ivy, and Lynn Silvey for your lovely recent reviews of my products.
I strive to publish materials that are kid-centric, easy-to-use, and sustainable. That being the case, the following products will make your school year better than ever.
Your new math facts program:Fact Car Rally Race. Mastery of the math facts is the foundation of all things math, so a program that keeps kids focused on truly memorizing their tables is essential. In Fact Car Rally, students create their race cars during the first week of school and progress around the race route as they pass fact quizzes—addition and subtraction for youngers, multiplication and division for olders. “Way better than Rocket Math,” say kids and teachers alike! And way more effective than gaming apps.
Your new writing program:Super Sentences & Perfect Paragraphs. Don’t be fooled by the expensive textbooks, software licenses, and complicated teacher editions published by the big boys! Everything you need for an entire year’s writing program is right here in one, easy-to-use and engaging package.
Your emergency lesson plans:EZSubPlans. Be prepared for that emergency absence by prepping your plans now, before you’re desperate. It’s easy with EZSubPlans—just click, print, and relax! There are sets for 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades, but they’re largely interchangeable. In fact, I use all four sets at fifth grade, meaning I’m already covered for up to eight emergency absences. Eight!
Your new reading fluency program:Why Use Drama? My free reader’s theater primer outlines ways to make Read Aloud Plays work for you. Take a look, and then download a couple fun plays to hook your students during the first weeks of school. My Tigger play is currently free, and if you’re serious about Halloween, check out titles such as Birthmark, the Money’s Paw, and the Headless Horseman.
You probably know the Brothers Grimm for stories like Rapunzel and the Frog Prince, but there are scores of others that Disney hasn’t yet sanitized and “princessified.” We’ve adapted two of them as readers theater plays—and we think they’re perfect for Back-to-School.
The first is The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage. In typical Brothers Grimm fashion, it’s a cringe-worthy story about contentment, cooperation, and friendship. In the original, the three “roommates” ruin their happy life together when they’re cajoled into altering their routine. The result is Sausage gets eaten, Mouse gets boiled, and Bird drowns. It may be Grimm, but it’s also a bit too gruesome for the classroom!
While our version is no less cringey, we’ve managed to save all their lives while having a blast doing it! All five animal roles demand students willing to sell out on stage: Sausage’s Italian bravado, Mouse’s “death” scene, Bird’s over-baked remorse, Crow’s creepiness, and Dog’s indifference. We’ve tossed in optional “walk-up” music for each of the characters, too, which will help make this play an even bigger hit with your kids!
The second play has none of the gore the Grimm Brothers are known for. Instead, Hans in Luck is a cautionary tale about financial wisdom and good judgment . . . Hans has neither. After having worked seven years as an indentured servant, he’s given a lump of silver “as big as his head,” which he takes and then travels home. He soon tires of lugging it around, so he trades it for a horse, which he eventually trades for a cow, and then a pig, and so on until he has nothing left. All the while, Hans sees himself as incredibly fortunate, which perhaps he is. From his simplistic perspective, arriving home to find his grandmother still living proves he’s the luckiest man alive! Your students will enjoy uncovering the story’s numerous morals about trust, innocence, luck, foolishness, positivity, and money. We’ve added a few other surprises, too, making it another great character-building play to start your school year.
And, if Grimm tales don’t float your boat, at ReadAloudPlays.com we have many other plays to choose from. All come with a comprehension activity, key, teacher notes, and public school performance rights.
Thank you, Felicia A., Annette H., Sarah D., Lynn S., Shawn L., and Janet T. for your recent positive reviews!
Trees and flowers aren’t the only things blossoming right now. Your students, having spent much of the year under your tutelage, have grown and matured and are nearly ready to advance to the next grade—or at least they believe they are. They’re probably getting a bit stir-crazy, too, ready for something more than the same old routine. Perhaps, too, they’re having the life sucked out of them by standardized tests. It sounds like a good time to liven things up with some truly fun reader’s theater or class plays. Here are a few of my favorite antidotes for Spring Fever:
Perfect for Earth Day, Nature Talks Back“follows” the madcap adventures of three conifers names Otto, Bill, and Luther as they deal with bark beetle scares, woodpeckers, and centipedes. The story uses campy humor to convey scientific facts about how trees communicate to fend off danger, about misconceptions around what constitutes a “pest,” and about the danger pesticides are to pollinators.
HONEYBEE:Cough, choke. . . has somebody…cough wheeze . . . been using . . . sputter . . . bug spray?
KID(sheepishly): It was just a couple squirts.
HONEYBEE:Cough, wheeze . . . Good thing I only caught a whiff of it. It sent me into a loop-de-loop!
Nature Talks Back is written in four “acts,” which can be presented by a single cast or as four mini-plays. When my students presented it on stage, they used cardboard sheets to create two-dimensional evergreen trees with cutouts for their faces. Because the trees themselves don’t move, it was a kick teaching kids how to act with their facial expressions. But even of you don’t have time for a full presentation, NTB makes for a great podcast presentation or just a simple classroom reading on April 22nd!
How Jackie Saved the World is another great play for Spring. Our Jackie Robinson play depicts the circumstances around Jackie breaking the “color barrier” in the major leagues. As your students portray Jackie, Pee Wee, and others, a radio announcer calls a more modern game between Derek Jeter’s Yankees and Ken Griffey’s Mariners, which gently contrast the two eras. A peanut vendor and the hot dog man lend narration as they walk through the crowd–your audience.
HOT DOG MAN: Despite all that pressure, Jackie led the Dodgers to the World Series and was named Rookie of the Year. Some said it was the toughest season any ball player has ever endured. Last chance for hot dogs!
PEANUT VENDOR: No doubt the reason today’s game is so exciting is because Jackie had the courage to turn the other cheek. Peanuts! Get your peanuts here!
ANNOUNCER: We’re in the top of the ninth. Two outs and two on and the score tied two to two. The Yankees are taking no chances. With Ken Griffey, Jr. up to bat, they’ve brought in their closer, Mariano Rivera. Here’s the pitch. . .
Baseball season is underway all over the globe, so many of your male students—who statistically are more likely to be reluctant readers—will jump at the chance to be in a baseball play.
And then there’s Pooh. Who doesn’t love aWinnie-the-Pooh story? Our RT set includes the best of A.A. Milne’s 1926 collection, all familiar tales such as Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Tree:
BEES: Buzz.
CHRISTOPHER ROBIN: Perhaps they think that you’re after their honey.
POOH: It may be that. You never can tell with bees.
BEES: Buzz. Buzz.
POOH: Christopher Robin, have you an umbrella?
CHRISTOPHER ROBIN: I think so.
POOH: I wish you would get it, and walk up and down with it, and look up at me every now and then, and say ‘Tut-tut, it looks like rain.’ I think, if you did that, it would help with the deception we are using on the bees.
Well-suited to reader’s theater or full stage production in third grade and up, these are great for emphasizing delivery and enunciation: nervous Piglet, droll Pooh, gloomy Eeyore, and temperamental Rabbit, for example. The set includes five short plays, each with just a handful of characters. You can split your elementary-aged class into five groups and have each group present one of the plays, or have older students stage a presentation for younger grades.
Of course, we have many other plays with “fun” themes. The Pied Piper, Goldilocks, Barbed Wire, The Nose, Rikki Tikki Tavi, Peter Rabbit, and How the Elephant Got its Trunk are all wonderfully silly yet still build reading fluency while teaching important lessons. And don’t forget, when you buy one of our plays, you’re not merely buying a set of worksheets; you’re getting an original piece of literature—a professionally written play and the rights to use it year after year. It’s like getting a full class set of your favorite novel along with the other stuff most TpT products provide.
1. Don’t bother! Just ignore that cough. Cancel that meeting. Show up to class with a box of Kleenex and a bottle of DayQuil.
2. Don’t bother. Let the sub fend for him- or herself.
3. Don’t bother. Put a kid in charge instead. Your students can tell the sub where to find all the “worksheets,” the tempera paints, the science chemicals….
4. Stay up late. Use the night before to get all those sub notes written out. Why not? You’re gonna sleep all day tomorrow, right?
5. Go in early. You’ll probably already be up and retching at 4 a.m. anyway.
6. Give ’em more screen time. Plug the kids into to computerized programs that pacify them just like their devices do at home. Or leave a collection of Disney movies and Bill Nye videos on your desk.
7. Copy. Leave the same sub plans your neighboring teacher used last week and hope the sub can adjust.
8. Hope for a snow day.
9. Or, download EZSubPlans. It’s the easiest and most professional way to prepare for a sub. We all know preparing for a sub is tedious and time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. Just click, print, and relax! Rather than staying up late, showing up sick, or throwing your sub under the bus, give our emergency lesson plans a try. Because they provide your students with quality, standards-based lessons that don’t interfere with your regular instruction or require special materials, EZSubPlans represent good practice. And they’re just a click away. Download your EZSubPlanstoday so you’re prepared tomorrow!
Whether a classroom teacher, substitute, or administrator, EZSubPlans will provide you with inexpensive, kid-tested plans at the touch of a button. Each EZSubPlans package includes at least seven hours of grade-specific lessons designed to make your next absence easy and worry-free. Classroom teachers wanting to avoid the frustrating and time-consuming process of preparing for an absence and substitute teachers needing back-up material will find everything they need with EZSubPlans. Days are labeled by grade level, but each can be easily adapted to suit one grade level up or down. A fifth grade teacher, for example, could use the lesson plans for grades 4, 5, and 6–that’s six days in all. Each set includes a reading text and comprehension exercise, a spiraling math activity with extensions, a grammar lesson, an art project, a writing task, and even opening and closing activities. Teachers need only to download and print–the sub does everything else.
Following the George Floyd protests, heightened concern about cultural sensitivity and traumatic events led TeachersPayTeachers to ban pretty much any reader’s theater or history lesson in which students were challenged to see the event through the eyes of a minority figure. Though well-intended (after all, it’s pretty obvious we shouldn’t be simulating slave auctions in class), TpT’s policy essentially silenced Ruby Bridges, Claudette Colvin, Sheyann Webb, MLK, and other heroes of the Civil Rights Movement. The basis behind the ban was that today’s children shouldn’t be forced to relive the verbal abuse Ruby experienced, or the emotional abuse felt by Sacagawea, or the violence Sheyann witnessed. Never mind that all good literature and historical accounts requires the reader to see it from such a perspective. For example, if Claudette Colvin’s story shouldn’t be shared via my play, “The Girl Who Got Arrested,” it also shouldn’t be shared using Phllip Hoose’s National Book Award-winning biography, Twice Toward Justice.
Yet it must be shared. It’s by seeing Claudette’s story through her eyes that it becomes more than just a blurb and a date in a history book. Claudette’s first-hand account is the primary source that makes the event relevant today.
When TpT deactivated all my plays, I sought help from a friend who serves as the director of the local university’s Center for Cultural Diversity, as well as from Dr. Geneva Craig, someone who actually experienced the tear gas in Selma. These are crazy times, they both lamented, but they helped me re-evaluate my content to make sure I was indeed being sensitive. I made a handful of subtle changes and then re-posted my plays on TpT.
Only to have them deactivated all over again.
I tried re-posting them as JPEG sheets so that TpT’s content bots couldn’t recognize the text. I removed words like “drama” and “scripts” from my headings and changed “reader’s theater” to RT. To further disguise them, I rebranded them as “Paired Texts.” Nothing worked. TpT deactivated them every time. Ironically, it was during this time that The Palace Youth Theater in New Hampshire, with the help of its local BLM chapter, enacted two of the plays TpT had just banned.
Fortunately, less-reactionary ideals have prevailed and the new ownership at TpT has since reversed the censorship. I suspect they recognize that educators have school district policies, parent input, and professional training to guide us as to the appropriateness of material. We don’t need TpT to do it for us.
Though I lost hundreds of favorable reviews and thousands of clicks, I’m pleased to say that all my civil rights and American history plays are back on TpT. But given the “crazy times” in which we live, I think it’s important for educators to consider how to appropriately use reader’s theater to teach marginalized voices and traumatic events. Here are a few tips:
Community – Consult with the cultural community associated with the events depicted, bringing in guest speakers where appropriate. If you have students from that particular marginalized culture, seek input from their families before introducing the play.
Sensitivity – Characters in a play should not do anything demeaning toward their culture. While every story—whether in a play format or otherwise—has to have conflict, violent acts should only be referenced by narrators or other characters rather than explicitly acted out. If unsure about how a scene plays out, change it. If you’re still unsure how the content will be received, consider using it only for a discussion-based classroom reading or podcast rather than enacting it “on stage.”
Casting – Don’t let race be the basis for casting parts. Dr. King said he dreamed of a day when we would all be “color blind.” A reader’s theater performance is a good place to practice it.
Policy – It’s important to check your school board’s policy before embarking on any content that might be controversial. Some districts restrict subject matter not explicitly identified within a given grade level’s standards.
Paired Texts – It’s a good idea to pair reader’s theater content with professionally-published texts. For example, read Ruby Bridge’s book, Through My Eyes while working on the play, A Simple Act of Courage. Not only does the text serve as a vetting agent, it provides material to compare and contrast.
Discussion – No book, play, or video should stand alone. By discussing the content and events depicted, you facilitate understanding. Discussion should happen when introducing a play, while reading specific scenes, and after presenting. Utilizing expert guests enhances those discussions.
Repetition – One of the best reasons to use RT is that if there’s to be a presentation or performance, kids are willing to read plays repetitively. Even a simple reading in front of the class is enough to get kids to read and re-read a script multiple times. The brain science behind repetitive reading suggests students build their fluency at a far greater rate. It holds true with the students’ grasp on the historical events depicted and as well as their ability to empathize with marginalized voices.
Thank you for teaching Black history. Happy directing!
ReadAloudPlays.com 