CONTACT:  Dianna Cleveland
111 Corporate Drive, Ste 240
Ladera Ranch, CA 92694
(800) 375-2926 Ext. 701
Email:dcleveland@playbooks.com

 

Playbooks Reader’s Theater Approved for U.S. Department of Education's
21st Century Community Learning Centers Conference

Ladera Ranch, CA - (July 8, 2008) - Playbooks, Inc. will be exhibiting Take Center Stage™ - A Hilarious Stage Acting Game with Reader’s Theater - at the 21st Century Community Learning Centers Summer Institute Conference to be held July 15-17 in Dallas, Texas. The 21st Century Community Learning Centers comprise a federally funded program that provide academic enrichment opportunities for children during non-school hours, particularly for students who attend high-poverty and low-performing schools. The upcoming conference will feature presentations by numerous program directors and educational specialists on effective activities for out of school programs, and how these programs can be improved. All conference exhibitors must be approved by the U.S. Department of Education staff and invited to exhibit.

With Reader's Theater, students are engaged in a fun, interactive activity that satisfies academic content standards. This makes it ideal for use in out of school programs, and not surprisingly, its popularity for such programs has grown substantially. Reader's Theater stories are formatted like plays, with character dialogue to be read aloud by a group of readers. Students bring stories to life by portraying assigned character roles. With Playbooks’ patented format, each role is written at a specific reading level and is shown in a different color of text so that students of different ages and abilities can be grouped together to bring a story to life, each reading comfortably at his or her own level. No memorization, props, costumes or stage are required, but expressive voices and gestures enhance the experience.

Playbooks' newly developed stage-acting game featuring Reader's Theater makes dramatic reading even more fun … hilarious, in fact! Take Center Stage™ gives students the opportunity to “over-act” and ham it up with Take the Spotlight™ cards that prompt students to recite scenes from the story with funny emotions and character types. For example, one card challenges two players to read lines from their Playbook® story as if they were a “bashful monster” and a “shivering cold wicked witch!” Students have a blast without even realizing they’re improving their reading and speaking skills making it ideal for out of school programs. The game is available for over 10 different Playbook stories, and information and introductory pricing can be found at www.takecenterstage.com. Take Center Stage™ and Playbook® Reader's Theater stories are particularly easy to implement in out-of-classroom environments; no teacher is necessary to take advantage of these beneficial materials!

Playbooks, Inc., headquartered in Ladera Ranch, CA, is a leading Reader’s Theater specialty children’s book publisher supplying the education and consumer markets.  Playbooks, Inc. owns the patent for story character dialogue printed in multiple colors and written at multiple reading levels.  Information about Playbooks, Inc. and Reader’s Theater titles can be found at www.playbooks.com or by calling 1-800-375-2926.