Reader's Theater 1 (Fluency Practice) for Grades 1-3

In this ongoing class, students will have fun improving their reading fluency! Reading fluency is much more than just reading quickly. Reading fluency is about developing accuracy (correct word pronunciation), rate (appropriate speed of reading), and prosody (expression in reading). Added benefits of developing strong fluency are the gains students will make in their reading comprehension. Reader's theater scripts are a wonderful way to engage young readers in developing all three areas of fluency! Students will enjoy bringing a character to life and interacting with peers by practicing expressive reading and enjoying a fun story!

Each class will follow the following format:
1. Warm-up--We will warm up our voices by practicing a tongue twister together as well as a few sentences from the story focusing on our expression and intonation of voice
2. Timed practice -- We will practice some keywords from the script together and time our speed
3. Reader's Theater reading -- We take turns reading a variety of character parts to give all readers even reading time.
4. Review! -- If time allows, we will play a short, interactive quiz or activity to review the script. 

Some learners prefer to read off of a printed script and some learners prefer to read off slides. Each Sunday, the script will be posted in the Outschool classroom. Learners can print the script and practice it ahead of time or use it in class. However, I will also have the script available to read together on slides for those who do not wish to print.

Class Schedule:

Week of March 3 --The Hat by Jan Brett
Week of March 10 -- Hey, Little Ant! by Hannah and Philip Hoose
Week of March 17 -- Leprechauns Looking for Gold by Joanne Gauthier
Week of March 24 -- The King's Wish by Benjamin Elkin
Week of March 31 --The Fox and the Crow (an Aesop's Fable)
Week of April 7 -- The Interrupting Chicken
Week of April 14 -- Caps for Sale based on the book by Esphyr Slobodkina
Week of April 21st -- Mother Bruce based on the book by Ryan T. Higgins
Week of April 28th --The Gruffalo based on the book by Julia Donaldson
Week of May 5th --Two Bad Ants based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg
Week of May 12th --Pirates Don’t Wear Life Jackets by T.P. Jagger
Week of May 19th --Enemy Pie based on the book by Derek Munson
Week of May 26th -- How Will We Get to the Beach? Based on the book by Brigitte Luciani adapted by Sharon Fendrick