Welcome to Playbooks, Inc., the ONLY Multi-Leveled and Colorized Dialogue Reader's Theater company.

WHY READER’S THEATER

Strong reading and comprehension skills are the cornerstone for a successful educational experience. Reader’s Theater is a well-known fluency building strategy and moreover, it engages and entertains students while they learn and improve their skills. Reader’s Theater is "Research-Based Instruction in Reading” as listed on the on the ed.gov website.

Click here for some great research information on building reading fluency with Reader's Theater.

Most of the Reader's Theater materials currently available are not multi-leveled, or well balanced, designed for too many readers, and can require too much preparation by the teacher.

OUR UNIQUE FORMAT


The patented Playbooks, Inc. format provides an enhanced and multi-leveled form of Reader's Theater with each character's role written for specific and different reading levels and presented in a different color. The colorized dialogue helps students follow along and take ownership of their roles. Character dialogue is well balanced throughout the story and designed for small, non-threatening reading groups giving students the opportunity to shine.

Playbooks® are edited and leveled by credentialed teachers, providing dynamic and effective integration with today’s classroom that meet numerous state and federal standards.

Modeling is a key component to building fluency, so the best way to increase children’s reading ability is through listening to more advanced text than they can read on their own. This is because children have higher "listening comprehension" than "reading comprehension." Therefore, in order to increase their reading ability and fluency, they should be "listening" to richer vocabulary and more advanced text than they are able to read independently.

The unique Playbook® format provides struggling readers with opportunities to practice reading their own level of text while being exposed to the modeling of higher level reading. Teachers can privately assign roles according to the reader’s ability (see Level Correlations) and put low level readers with high level readers for the group activity. This allows all students to read together, each at their own level, with confidence and enthusiasm while building fluency.

Each school set of Playbooks® includes tools to assist teachers and ensure successful implementation of your Reader's Theater program. View the classroom implementation video.

 


Our Feature Story

 

picture of rhyme travel book


Mini, the Super Watermelon

An Original PlaybooStory

Content for Grades 2-5
Reading Stages 2-5

Written by: Dianna Cleveland
Illustrated by: Liliane Grenier

 

Story Synopsis: What comes to mind when you think of watermelons? You might think how sweet and delicious they are, or how large and heavy they are. But did you know watermelons are also super foods packed with vitamins, and they contain Lycopene, an anti-oxidant that helps rid the body of damaging substances? There are also miniature watermelons that are just as delicious and nutritious, but grow to a much more practical size? Well, this is just what Mini, the only miniature watermelon in her patch, learns when she decides to wander away from the vine all by herself. Even though the large, oval-shaped watermelons make fun of her for being so little and round, Mini learns at a nearby Farmer's Market that small watermelons are what everyone wants! Discover Mini's superpowers and some interesting facts about watermelon in this adorable story about a powerful little heroine.

 
character summary

 


Edu-tainment: a form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse.

Playbooks® Reader's Theater is a great example of "edutainment," a popular way to engage children in learning. The Playbook® format, appealing stories, colorful, pages and optional costume kits make learning fun! Why not invite readaing fluency into your classroom through the "ed
utainment" of Reader's Theater by Playbooks®!

Kids- multi-leveled and colorized Reader's Theater group


All Stories are Available in
Small Group School Sets

Multi-leveled and color coded Reader's theater sets

School Sets include a book copy for each reader, a copy for the teacher, a Teacher's Guide, 2 Reader Assignment Charts, and 2 Award Certificates, and a Cross-curricular Activities Supplement with multiple activity sheets.

Helpful Tip: Ask your IT department to "White List" our email server for emails from "@playbooks.com" so that you can receive emails from us when you sign up for our E-newsletter.

 

Playbook, Playbook Format, StageBook, Bringing Stories to Life by Reading Together, and Being a Star Makes Reading Fun are all trademarks of Playbooks, Inc. The unique Playbook® Format with character colorization and specialized readability levels is a proprietary method of book structure, writing, format, construction, re-construction, displaying and printing that is protected under U.S. Patent Nos. 6,683,611 and 6,859,206 with additional patents pending.

Watch our Implementation DVD.

Image of Implementation DVD for using color coded and multi-leveled reader's theater

NEW OFFERING 11 GRADE LEVEL KITS
Playbooks® are now available in
2 different formats and 11 different kits.

We offer the most choices of any publisher!
We usually ship within 72 hours!
Immediate invoicing available for
meeting order deadlines.

colorized and multi-leveled Reader's Theater Grade Kits- Picture

You can accommodate any budget with our Saddle Stitch format which offers the lowest pricing. This format makes Classroom Sets, which provide a copy for every student in the classroom, economically feasible for all programs.

Click here for a Master Price List to see the new pricing and options for each story (all titles K-12).

We can provide a complimentary customized title recommendation that fits your budget. Keep this recommendation on hand so it's available for all your current and future budget opportunities to start or expand your Fluency and Reader's Theater programs. Contact us for a customized recommendation.

 

This Month's Special

$25 Off Any Order
of $150 or More

Coupon Image

Use Coupon Code:
July-Special-64342


 

Playbooks are ideal for these Federal and State programs.

  · Reading First
· Title One
· 21st Century
· Summer School
· Before School
· After School
· ESL/ELD
· Special Education
  · Accelerated Classes
· Magnet Schools
· Charter Schools
· Alternative Schools
· Family Literacy
· Reading Improvement
· Block Grants
· Reading Initiatives
       


Grade Level Kits and After- School/Summer School Kits

11 Kits Available!

Grade Level Kits for multi-leveled and color coded Reader's Theater

Each Kit includes....
 6 book copies of each story
 6 Cross-Curricular Supplemental Activity
    Workbooks for each story
 Teacher’s Guide
 Classroom Implementation Video on DVD
 Character Role Assignment Guides
 Performance Award Certificates
 Mini Costume Kits can be purchased
    separately.
 
Priced from $189 to $449 each



New Supplemental Worksheets


Image of Supplemental Activities

Playbooks, Inc. provides classroom activity suggestions and worksheets to reinforce concepts from the story and go beyond the story into the content areas of Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Art, Health, etc., as well as Character Education.  Activities range in skill level and age appropriateness, so the teacher or parent can choose activities that best suit the readers. 

Activities include: assessment worksheets, comprehension quizzes, crossword puzzles, word search, vocabulary, flash cards, discussion and writing prompts, story mapping, word problems, etc. To download FREE supplemental activity sheets currently available, please go to:   www.playbooks.com/supplements.  Visit our website frequently as we are continually updating it with new story specific supplements.

 

 


Playbooks Reader's Theater logo