March E-Newsletter for Playbooks Reader's Theater

Celebrate "Read Across America" Out Loud … Instead of Silently!

Instead of celebrating Read Across America with students reading alone and in silence, why not turn the fun up a notch and try Reader’s Theater in small reading groups. Playbooks, Inc. wants to help teachers change it up this year and is providing Dr. Fox and the Nosy Pig free for teachers to download and share with their classes (for the entire month of March). Ideal for grades 1-4, this is a fun and entertaining story sure to capture the imaginations of young readers and entice them to want to read more!

Playbooks captures the spirit of Read Across America by actively engaging students in reading aloud together with excitement and expression.

Make reading fun while building fluency and comprehension! Teachers can follow up the story with free cross-curricular activities that strengthen and reinforce the students’ enjoyable reading experience.

Included with the free downloadable story is a sheet of cut-out badges, one for each character, for your students to wear home as “awards” for participating in Read Across America. Each character badge has a space for the child’s name who played that role, making the reading experience even more personal, meaningful, and memorable for each individual child.

Implementing this fun Group Reader’s Theater Activity is easy:

1) Download and Print the Free Story: Dr. Fox and the Nosy Pig by clicking here.

2) Choose character roles based on students’ reading abilities using the Recommended Reader Assignment chart included with the story.

3) Download the Character Badges, (click here), cut them out, and fill them in with the names of the students who will play each part.

4) Download the follow-up activities by clicking here.

5) WATCH YOUR STUDENTS BRING A STORY TO LIFE!

Adventures Across America:
Two New Social Studies Playbooks® For Grades 5-8

Playbooks, Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of two new Social Studies stories to our growing library of titles. The "Quest for the Eagle" and "Bound for Plymouth" tell the tales of two different groups of people in the Americas, the Aztecs and the Pilgrims, as they faced difficult, exhausting journeys. History is brought into the present as children are invited into the worlds of these fascinating travelers and given a taste of what it would have been like to live in their times. The best part of these stories is that they aren't dry monologues of dead and dusty facts, but living dialogues told with warmth and humor. Children will get their daily dose of history and enjoy it, too! See below for more detail.

This Month's Featured Stories - NEW!

This Month's Special

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during March

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The Quest for the Eagle
and
Bound For Plymouth

Two Playbook® Stories
with Social Studies Content

Content for Grades 5-8
Reading Stages: 4-6

Written by: Patricia Fine

Synopsis: This story is loosely based on the legendary search by the early Aztecs for the site of their homeland, the future city of Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico City. Following prophecy, Huitzilopochtli, the families that are involved here – two brothers and their wives and children – together with the rest of their tribe, have endured life-long hardships in attaining their goal. Their persistence in the face of seemingly endless journeying and constant privation, and their eventual triumph in achieving this promised goal is a tribute to their belief in a supernatural power, and the strength of their desire to provide for a better future for their children. Here again, students are offered the opportunity to portray characters that continued to believe, in spite of physical challenges and personal doubts.

Click here to view summary and image of each character.

Synopsis: Have you ever been on a cruise ship, or seen commercials for one on TV? They really make it look like fun, but when the Pilgrims sailed to America back in the 1600s, their voyage was a far cry from enjoyable. Their ship was cold and damp, as well as smelly and leaky, and the rough motion often made the passengers seasick. Most of the passengers lived together on a lower deck with only blankets to divide the cramped space into doubtful privacy. They used buckets for toilets, their food was wormy and almost inedible, and it wasn’t just the animals that had fleas! But they were willing to undergo such discomfort in order that their dearest wish for freedom could become reality. This story enables students to experience – on a smaller scale – what life was like on that historic sea voyage.

Click here to view summary and image of each character.