Here’s Help for that Holiday Chaos!

Posted on November 16, 2025 by Mackowiecki

The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas vacation can be real doozies. While thoughts of sugar plums may not derail that lesson you’ve been planning on verb gerunds, knowing there are new gaming systems, cell phones, and hover boards under the tree certainly will. There’s no doubt about it: this time of year the kids are all a twitter, prompting many a teacher to set aside serious content in favor of coloring pages featuring Rudolph, Frosty, or an occasional dreidel. But it needn’t be so. This is a great time to stage a play! In so doing your students will get some quality fluency practice, partake in some interesting literary discussions, and, depending on how far you want to take it, occupy themselves with meaningful work creating sets, props, and costumes. And given that Christmas will be upon you in a flash, now is the time to get started, especially if you’re following our repetitive reading approach. Here are five classroom reader’s theater scripts ideal for the next few weeks.

A Christmas Carol—Our best-selling script! Scrooge in two forms!

The Gift of the Magi—A young couple trades their most precious possessions to celebrate Christmas in O. Henry’s famous story!

Gabriel Grub –When the gravedigger shows an unrepentant disdain for Christmas, he’s put on trial in an underworld court room full of goblins. It’s Dickens’ spookiest Christmas story!

The Shoemaker and the Christmas Elves—Facing ruin, the shoemaker is saved by a Christmas miracle in this Grimm Brothers classic with our unique conclusion.

Christmas in Many Lands— Gnomes and reindeer, trees and piñatas . . . it seems like Christmas everywhere is different yet somehow still the same! Our newest and most adorable little Christmas play about Christmas around the world.

Whether a single play or one of our money-saving bundles, these will be the highlight of your holiday teaching season! Check them out in our TpT store. Happy directing and Merry Christmas!

A Christmas Play Doesn’t Have to be a Christmas Play

Posted on December 1, 2024 by Mackowiecki

We all know it. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, it can be a challenge to keep the kids engaged. My remedy has always been to stage some classroom plays or readers theater, which leads me to our awesome collection of Christmas themed titles that’ll keep even your grinchiest elf content.

But Santa isn’t going to throw coal at you if your Christmas plays aren’t Christmas plays. Take a look at what my 5^th graders did with Hans in Luck, a Brothers Grimm tale that hasn’t a thing to do with wassailing or bread pudding. They used the 1906 illustrations to create a “digital comic book” while simultaneously practicing for a live stage presentation just ahead of the winter break. I can tell you the actors themselves don’t care that the play isn’t about St. Nick. They’re thrilled to be donning costumes regardless whether or not anyone gets to wear a fat suit and a beard. And you can bet my colleagues are happy to commit some otherwise giddy class time to come watch— whether the Ghost of Christmas Present will be there or not.

Ah, but who has time to throw together an entire show now? If that’s the case, grab some scripts and just do some classroom readings! Try splitting the class into two to four groups and give each one a play. Use class time to have the kids practice them until they can read them with fluency and character, and then have them present them to the class as traditional reader’s theater—merely standing up front and reading aloud.

Ready to streamline your holiday surge? Try my Goldilocks, Pied Piper, Peter Rabbit, and Winnie the Pooh plays. If you still want to stick with the holiday theme, check out A Christmas Carol, The Gift of the Magi, The Shoemaker and the Elves, and Gabriel Grub.

Whatever the case, make your December memorable—and easy—with ReadAloudPlays.

Happy directing!