Readers Theatre in
Kindergarten
by Terry
We have
done three poems so far. Reader's Theatre is a cooperative or shared
reading of a poem, story or lyrics of a favourite song. Two or more readers can
take part. If a piece is scripted for only two readers, and you want more
than two readers to participate, assign parts to a duet or chorus, or renumber
the parts. I like Reader's Theatre because you do not need to really
memorize lines and speak them and because you do not have to worry
about costumes.
There are two ways I like to organize them. One with two
or three students reading parts alone and another more like poems in two voices,
where the children read together and separately. The poems in two voices
are harder but the children enjoy them, practice them on their own and take them
home to read. They seem to enjoy getting up on the chairs in front of
their classmates. This is a formal time. The children present both rehearsals
and performance level productions. The audience has its part of good and
interested listeners to play, and they do celebrate and clap for the
performances occasionally yelling bravo, bravo, etc.
I work with the two or three children separately. They are
volunteers. I use well known material and we talk about what a performance is,
how to use voices, we have fun experimenting with these. How we need to
sit up , what is means to project your voice, how a performer must practice and
practice and then make it look so easy and fun for the audience etc. We
work on the poem and then they decide whether they want to do a live rehearsal
or wait until performance level and then read the poem. Most want a live rehearsal.
I underline the lines in separate colors on all the children's
sheets. They learn that they need to listen to each other in order to come in at
the right time. I really am pushing this experience for the children for
several reasons. One the poems or stories can be made easier for the more
emerging reader's and harder for the early emergent readers. They enjoy it
they must follow the print in line of direction and they must follow each other.
It works for oral language and performing yet with the support of the group, it
empowers them and again they feel they have done something very worthwhile.
Here are some poems that I have done so far.
Both:
Spin Spider Spin
1st reader: Spin, spider, spin
2nd reader: Spin your web round and wide
2nd reader: Spin your silky web with pride
1st reader: Great the guests who come inside (This line is
said with much feeling)
Both: Spin,
spider, spin
Both: The
Walkingstick
1st:
The Walkingstick is thin, not thick.
2nd:
And has a disappearing trick.
1st
By looking like a twig or stalk,
2nd:
It lives another day to walk.
by Douglas Florian
All:
Jack Be Nimble
chorus: Oh, no, ouch, oh, no, ouch
1st:
Jack be nimble
2nd: Jack be
quick
3rd: Jack jump
over the candlestick
chorus: Oh, no, ouch, oh, no ouch.
1st: If
Jack didn't jump just a little bit higher
all three: He might have caught his pants on fire!
chorus: Oh,no, ouch, oh, no ouch.
1st: Jack was
nimble, Jack was quick,
2nd: Jack jumped
over the candle stick.
3rd: Good job
Jack,
All:
Good job Jack!
Both: Slow Sloth's Slow Song ( read
very slowly lines actually are written like the first one)
1st: I........ am............. a............. sloth.
2nd: A sloth am I.
1st: I live in
trees.
2nd: But I can't fly.
1st: I do not run.
2nd: I am so slow.
Both: But I am where.
Both: I want to go.
I wrote the poems as samples.
Another performance style comes from Vivian Paley.
Here the children become actors and act out their very own stories. They
really love this too. I call this theatre in the round, as we sit in a big
circle. I use the children's stories, the ones they draw and write for
writer's workshop. These are stories like. I went for a walk with my dog,
we went to the park. Does not sound like much but just try turning it into
a play. At first the children are shy but soon they start acting out the
parts by using more movements and varying voices and adding funny extras if they
are encouraged to do so. So for this story I ask the children what parts
are in his story and to choose actors for each part. Students who do not
wish to participate
do not indicate that they want a part and are not forced to take a part. I
usually try to make sure I do their story soon and they again have the choice to
read their story or act in their story. Even my shyest students
eventually participate, I have not had a year when no one ever did a story.
In this case we could have the dog and the child and maybe a tree for the
park. The children act out going to the park etc. and sometimes add to the
story. In this story there is room here for the dog to start to run or
shake himself. I ask them how the dog would behave, and encourage
different interpretations. We do several. We also act out our number
stories, and starting next week we will be acting out their animal drawings/
food chain
stories about how and what their animal is eating. The hunt stories are
always exciting as the grass eater, herbivore, is peacefully eating and along
comes the predator etc. This is another way of making their work real for
them and showing how important their work is. It helps them to better
understand these harder concepts and it gives me another chance to continually
use the words, habitat, carnivore, herbivore, predator, prey, food and food
chain.
Secondly, we act out our number stories.
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