I have fond childhood memories of putting on plays with my neighborhood pals. Our
front steps provided the stage, the rickety lawn chairs -- seating for our audience of
parents and siblings, and stories with lots of dialogue for our scripts! Our March Family
Night will feature community adults and families performing short skits of Readers
Theater. We invite everyone to join us for our “home-grown” productions!
In addition to just being fun, Readers Theater is a great way to help kids improve
their literacy skills. It is a novel and entertaining way to encourage reading and to
build important skills like comprehension, expression, cadence, pronunciation and
vocabulary.
In Linda Cornwell’s article, “What Is Readers Theater?” available on the Scholastic
website, the author categorizes the benefits this way:
Readers Theater…
- Develops fluency through repeated exposure to text.
- Increases comprehension.
- Integrates reading, writing, speaking, listening in an authentic context.
- Engages kids.
- Increases reading motivation.
- Creates confidence provides a real purpose for reading.
- Provides opportunities for cooperative learning.
With all this and fun, too, when will your family be “putting on a play?” Published
Readers Theater scripts for kids are readily available today and are created to satisfy
a wide range of reading levels. The Library and the library system offer a good
selection of these scripts. Let us help you find just the right stories for your kids’ Great
Performances!