Now’s the time to start working on classroom activities commemorating Dr. King’s work. This compelling video featuring two inspiring plays from the ReadAloudPlays.com catalogue is a great place to start. The Palace Youth Theater put it together during the pandemic shut down. Share it with your students and then read or act out the plays. The first shows how Ruby Bridges broke the color barrier in New Orleans public schools. The second shows how MLK’s childhood inspired his civil rights leadership. You’ll find both plays, along with many other titles for Black History Month, on our TpT Storefront. Thanks, and happy directing!
Yeah, we know. There’s a ton of research proving reader’s theater is a powerful resource for building fluency. But that doesn’t mean directing a full-blown theater production is easy. Quite the opposite, in fact. Teaching is a tough gig on its own, so it’s no surprise few teachers want to take on a challenge like theater arts. Since retiring, the stage at my school has gone dark. It seems more likely to become a storage room than a theater hub. Cobwebs are already growing over the sound console. Moths are chewing through the curtains. Okay, maybe I’m laying it on a bit thick, but you know how things go in schools: when something isn’t getting used regularly, it tends to get scavenged or it disappears altogether. The idea that the stage might become a black hole is one of many reasons I’m attempting to put together an after-school drama club for our elementary kids.
But I need your help. We need funds for supervision, set building materials, and costuming supplies. Our goal is to raise $1500, so I’m asking you to consider kicking five or ten bucks our way via our GoFundMe campaign. Our PTO has agreed to match donations, so your support will have double the impact toward our musical production of Toad’s Wild Ride, a madcap slapstick play resembling the Disneyland ride as much as Kenneth Graham’s Wind in the Willows classic novel. But it will also give us reason to dust off the soundboard, replace lighting, and claw back our on-stage territory, thus establishing the foundation for continuing the program in future years.
You can click on the Performances tab to see the kind of productions we’ve pulled off in the past: The Newsies, Br’er Rabbit, A Christmas Carol, The Pied Piper, among many others. With a bit of love from all of you, you’ll be able to see Toad’s Wild Ride there this spring. If you’re able to contribute to our GoFundMe, click here. I realize many of you may be begging for funds for your own production, so whether or not a full blown show is in our future or on your own to do list, I encourage you to nonetheless remain committed to using readers theater. Even a simple class reading of scripts like Toad will be immensely rewarding.
Click on the image to check out one of our mini-guides to using readers theater in the classroom, or download the complete guide by clicking here. Happy directing!
We’ve posted four new bundle collections, which offer big savings over single plays. Check them out on our TpT storefront!
Fairy Tales Slightly Twisted–Kids absolutely love performing these plays! Two unique versions of Goldilocks, a wonderful Brothers Grimm tale, and some hysterical Pied Piper action! Perfect for Back-to-School! All include the license to duplicate a full class set, school day performance rights, and comprehension activities. Click on the image to preview or purchase!
Weird Tales for Halloween — a collection of our most popular plays: Sleepy Hollow, The Monkey’s Paw, and a crazy version of Poe’s Tell Tale Heart. Buy now for Halloween!
The American Revolution Bundle — Five exciting reader’s theater scripts covering the American Revolution including The Secret Soldier, one of our most requested plays, and four others. Check our Eagles Over the Battlefield–a kid favorite for sure!
The Explorers Pack — Three reader’s theater scripts covering three eras. Divide the class into thirds and challenge each to present one of the three, then have all your students complete the standards-based compare and contrast activity. Teach history, reading fluency, and reading comprehension while getting your students excited about learning!
When I invited motivational speaker Stan Tucker to drop in to play ball with my basketball group, I didn’t expect him to show up. After all, he’s exceptionally busy traveling around the country with his Leap For Literacy program, getting books in the hands of young readers with his Read’n Roll Book Mobile, and hosting his television show, The Very Airy Library, all while writing inspiring picture books of his own. Stan is a very busy man!
Yet show up he did. That’s the kind of person he is. Stan Tucker shows up.
Stan autographing a shoe after presenting at our Literacy Night.
Despite knowing he’d be spending the next ten hours working with students in our school, he popped his head in our middle school gym. “I haven’t played in at least six years,” he said, “and for shoes, all I’ve got are these Chuck Taylors, but I thought I could come down and shoot around with y’all.”
We quickly pushed him out there, and like the rest of us, he put in his 3 to 5 miles of court time. Then, an hour later, he was at our elementary school impressing and inspiring our staff and students.
I encourage you to check out Stan’s work. I can’t promise he’ll be able to join your for basketball, but I can safely say you love having him at your school. Find out more by clicking here.
Also, thank you Eileen B., Lit with Lyns, Melissa C., Shelby J., Candy M., Heidi P., Nicole W., Sherry D., Jarmese R., Melissa N., and Amanda M. for your recent 5-star reviews of my plays and products! June 19th will be here before you know it, so be sure to download my inspiring Juneteenth play soon!
Nature Talks Back is a great play with which to celebrate Earth Day and Arbor Day while teaching your kids about trees, bees, and centipedes. The play’s ecology and conservation themes include that trees communicate, that some perceived pests are considered beneficial insects, and that honeybees are super-important pollinators. The stories center around three oddball conifers named Luther, Otto, and Bill and their hysterical encounters with a host of pests.
It’s aimed specifically at kids in upper 2nd through 4th grade, but it’s also suitable for grade 5 and up for reader’s theater, podcast, or stage— especially when performed for younger kids. (My fifth graders loved preparing a full production!) No time for a big show? Use it instead as in-class reading! It’s a fun way to teach about nature on Earth Day and Arbor Day!
Consider pairing Nature Talks Back with some of my other spring-oriented plays. Peter Rabbit is also aimed at younger students. Use it with 2nd and 3rd graders, or have older students perform it for primary-aged kids. Rikki Tikki Tavi, Kipling’s much-loved story about the heroic mongoose has some spring-time flair, a singing bird, and an important theme about courage. It too can be presented alongside How the Elephant Got Its Trunk, another classic Kipling tale from The Jungle Books. And don’t forget that baseball season is upon us, so it’s a great time for my entertaining and socially important play about Jackie Robinson.
Here are nine compelling paired texts with which to recognize black history month. All the plays are based on the given event–not it’s paired text (in most cases the play was published before the given book). That means each pairing represents distinctly unique points of view (Literature CCSS #6), making for livelier discussions and quality comparisons (CCSS Lit #7). And because these plays are based on real events, they’ll also satisfy CCSS Informational Text #6. Each includes a comprehension activity, too, assuring your students will satisfy numerous other standards as well. And because almost all my plays were originally commission by and published in Scholastic’s Storyworks and Scope magazines, they’ve been professionally vetted, making them the best reader’s theater available. Just click on the image to preview or purchase on my TeachersPayTeachers storefront. Also be sure to check out these recorded performances of “Martin’s Big Dream” and “Ruby Bridges: A Simple Act of Courage” by The Palace Youth Theater. Happy directing!
My work for Scholastic writing black history plays is just a tiny blip on the civil rights radar, a minuscule contribution when compared to real civil rights heroes such as John Lewis and Sheyann Webb. But given Storyworks magazine’s truly cosmic readership, I realize that over my twenty-plus year association with Scholastic, my reader’s theater has influenced—at least in some small way—millions of kids. Millions. I think it’s fair to take some pride in that.
I often ponder, however, how a scrawny white kid from rural Oregon, a kid whose family spent their Sundays watching Hee Haw and Gunsmoke, how does that kid end up writing black history plays?
Well, for that I have to thank Stevie Wonder–and maybe a bit of divine intervention. When I was around ten years old I stumbled across a discount record bin at Payless department store. I’d recently set up my brother’s old Zenith “Stereophonic” record player so I could listen to my dad’s Tijuana Brass record, but I was on the lookout for something more, something of my own. Thumbing through the discs, I came across Stevie Wonder’s 1971 album, Where I’m Coming From. I had no idea who this Wonder guy was, but he had a cool name, and the cover seemed the antithesis of a Tijuana Brass album. So, I asked my mom if she could buy it for me.
My mom was never openly racist. She was generous to a fault and spent many hours volunteering to help less-fortunate people. But looking back, I recall that she’d voted for George Wallace in the 1972 presidential primary, so I suspect had she taken a closer look at the album, she would have nixed the purchase right there. None-the-less, I went home and cued up Stevie on the Zenith. I wonder what she thought when she heard “Do Yourself a Favor” blasting from behind my bedroom door. This was no Clark and Owens. Not the music or the message.
And I was hooked. Thus, Stevie Wonder became one of my most profound influences.
Frankly, Stevie doesn’t get enough credit for his contribution to civil rights. Despite Motown’s determination to mold him as a “black Bing Crosby”—a crooner—Stevie broke free and produced music that called attention to societal inequity, to the plight of minorities, to the struggles that come with poverty. While he wasn’t the first African-American artist to produce music with politically-charged, socially-relevant music, he was among the first to crossover into white culture. If a kid like me could get hooked on Stevie Wonder, then surely, around the country millions of other white kids must have been doing the same.
I never set out to be Scholastic’s black history playwright. I kind of stumbled into it. But it was Stevie Wonder’s music that had prepared me for the task. Without that influence, my poignant plays about MLK, Claudette Colvin, Ruby Bridges, and many others wouldn’t exist. And when I see those same plays presented by organizations such as the Palace Theater and most recently, Crete Monee Middle School in Illinois, I’m amazed at the reach Stevie has had.
If you’re using any of my Black History plays this month, please give a well-deserved nod to Stevie Wonder.
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 5th 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.
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!
ReadAloudPlays.com 