bringing stories to life & strengthening literacy skills
In Reader's Theater, the children create their own dialogues and then act out the story using their own words. They become co-authors who use their imaginations and voices to interact with literature.
For example, sometimes the children write dialogue for characters that are depicted in the illustrations, but don’t have dialogue in the text. Other times, the children might write dialogue that answers questions they have about the events in the story.
The Ghost and Lone Warrior
When we read The Ghost and Lone Warrior, the children wrote dialogue to answer their question about why the Ghost chose to appear to the Warrior and not to the Warrior’s friends.
Dr. DeSoto
The children may write dialogue that solves problems in the story, as they did when we read Doctor DeSoto, and they generated different solutions for how Doctor DeSoto, a mouse dentist could help the dangerous fox while keeping himself and his wife safe.
