- Reader’s Theatre Scripts and Plays
- Aaron’s Reader’s Theatre
- The Best Class – Dr. Chase Young
- Free Readers Theater Play Scripts and Performance Notes for Kids (storiestogrowby.org)
- Weebly – close to 800 pages!
- Free Scripts All Year
- Free Readers’ Theater PDFs (thewiseowlfactory.com)
- TP Jagger
- Free Scripts on TPT
- Education.com
- NWT Literacy Council
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Check out the reader’s theater lesson plans! There is a fee after the trial period, however.
Why Reader’s Theater?
- Improves fluency—proper speed, accuracy, and expression. One of the best ways to improve reading fluency is to read a text multiple times. With reader’s theater, students enjoy reading their parts and working on their accuracy, speed, and expression. Students do not memorize their lines. Instead, they follow the script intently, waiting for their parts to be read with great fluency and expression.
- Encourages cooperative learning. Children often accept feedback from peers more quickly than they do from teachers. In addition, students need to listen to each other, respond with feelings, and work together.
- Easy to differentiate. Some scripts have different leveled parts, or a teacher can edit certain parts.
- Fun and engaging.
- Develops listening and speaking skills. Students have to listen to their classmates to know when it’s their turn to speak, and the “theater” part of reader’s theater forces students to use their voices more dynamically than they typically do when reading aloud.
Reader’s Theater Tips
- Keep it simple. Costumes and props are not necessary.
- Do NOT have students memorize their parts.
- Practice, practice, practice. Redo the script several times.
- Have students highlight their parts.
- Keep students accountable for their reading and reader’s theater behavior via a reader’s theater rubric. free reader’s theater scripts
P.S. “Whether you use the spelling theatre or theater will depend on where you hail from. In American English, the spelling is theater; in Britain and the rest of the English-speaking world, theatre is used. The spelling you choose—theater vs. theatre—should align with your audience’s preference” (Grammarly).
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