This
popular presentation serves a multi-grade audience and during the first 8
minutes, second graders perform a fun readers theater that I adapted from one
of my books to an audience of K and 1 students.
Over
the years, I have changed and updated many of my school visit programs, but
this one seems to be evergreen. One reason is that every school brings its own
creativity to the way they prepare for and perform the readers theater. In
fact, just last week, I saw three very different versions.
At
Hanlon School in Westwood, MA, students printed out photos of the animal they
were portraying and taped their lines to the back.
At
Hawley School in Newtown, CT, students held their scripts in one hand and
stuffed animals of the creature they were portraying in the other hand.
And
at Middle Gate School in Newtown, CT, the students made masks. Instead of
standing in a line at the front of the room, each child walked across the room
as they read their lines. I’d never seen staging like that before.
Through
the years, I’ve seen everything from animal hats at Hathaway School in Portsmouth,
Rhode Island. . .
.
. . to animal posters at Pownal School in Pownal, Maine.
I’ve
also seen all kinds of creative backdrops, including these fun Under the Snow posters made by students
at McGovern
School in
Medway, MA . . .
.
. . and these incredible painted scenes painted by the art teacher at Ellsworth School in Windsor, CT.
I’ve
even seen what I like to think of the unplugged version, where students remained
seated throughout the performance, at King Open School in Cambridge, MA.
With
so much diversity, this program always seems fresh to me. So as long as
students continue to love it, I’ll keep offering it.