Reader's Theater Teacher Resources

Readers' theater is a fun way to get kids reading with expression and improve their fluency! There is a full script here for The Three Bears with five characters to assign.

Breathe life into a reading of the children's story Clever Jack Takes the Cake with this Reader's Theater script. Offering speaking roles for nine students plus a sound effects chorus, this is a great activity that engages the whole...

Encourage class members to add expression and put themselves back in time during the Civil War with a reader's theater activity. The scripts include dialogue on what it was like for the Union and Confederate sides during this time.

If you are reading Judy Freeman's Oh No! or your class loves animals, use a reader's theater exercise to bring the story to life. After assigning 12 parts to your young actors, have them act out the story with a script that will be...

Here's a great idea for your Parent/Family Night—host a Reader's Theater! Everything you need to organize the night, as well as a K-3 and a 4-7 script, is provided in the packet. 

Yes, Virginia, there really is a reader's theater script for "The Night Before Christmas." The exercise is a great way to productively channel pre-holiday energy.

Discover the exciting world of readers theater! Scholars learn all about the reading strategy, reading a script about American heroes and completing an I Notice/I Wonder chart. Next, pupils participate in readers theater using the script. 

Read, revise, refine! Scholars refine their readers theater scripts by rephrasing some of the lines. Next, they write drafts of their narrator introductions and share their work with peers to give and receive feedback. 

Conduct a Reader's Theater. Third, fourth, and fifth graders rewrite books with a baseball theme to a Reader's Theater format. They form groups of four or five, practice reading the script, and then perform it for an audience.

Students practice fluency. In this reader's theater lesson, students practice their fluency by rehearsing a script with their group. Once the group is ready, they create a background and props and are videotaped performing their script.

The opening chapters of Mark Twain's masterpiece, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, can be daunting for some readers. A reader's theater assignment divides the second chapter of the novel into a seven-role script, allowing readers to work...

How much do your learners know about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.? Set up an opportunity for kids to learn about Dr. King while practicing reading fluency with a reader's theater activity. The script is for four voices and includes...

Let's focus. In small groups, writers narrow text selections to produce a narrative script based on the novel Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Next, pupils plan their reader's theater scripts based on the text.

It's show time! Scholars finalize their learning by performing their Reader's Theater script of To Kill A Mockingbird. As groups of actors perform, the remaining pupils give feedback using a rubric. After all groups finish, each person...

Prepare, practice, perform. Using the resource, actors first revise their conclusions for their readers theater scripts. Then, groups perform their scripts in front of the class, while peers evaluate each performance using a rubric. 

Revision is the key to great writing. Individuals revise their readers theater scripts and write a group conclusion. Scholars then perform their scripts for another group and receive feedback.

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Working in small groups, class members combine their independent readers theater scripts into part of a larger group script. They complete a storyboard to determine the best sequence for...

Let's play! Pupils create titles for their readers theater scripts and act them out in a fun game of charades. Next, as part of their end of unit assessment, they write final copies of their individual scripts.

Let's make connections! Using the resource, class members make connections between the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and their readers theater scripts. To finish, they complete a worksheet to evaluate the role of narration in...

It's time to put on a show! Scholars participate in a Pygmalion Readers Theater. They discuss the text-dependent questions from the previous lesson and revisit the Eliza Character Tracker. To end the lesson, individuals reflect on their...

Lights, camera, action. Scholars use page 33 of The Most Beautiful Roof in the World to create a readers theater. They work in triads and use sticky notes to mark and create their own speaking parts from sections of the text. They then...

Young scholars create and perform folktale plays. In this reader's theater and Asian literature lesson, students work in groups to rewrite Asian folktales into scripts and perform the folktales for their class in a Reader's Theater. ...