LESSONS: English Language Arts/ Readers' Theater

Please see Aaron Shepard's Readers' Theater Page for instructions and scripting sheets you can download: www.aaronshep.com/rt/index.html

Using the short stories students wrote about their imaginary festivals, the class can explore a number of options.

Students can illustrate their stories by depicting the festive dress of each main character and the ceremonial hangings/textiles used in the environments.

Students can create a readers' theater by following Aaron Shepard's down loaded and photocopied instructions., Students can be divided into small teams of four or five. Or they can be divided by stories with common themes. The students combine elements from their stories, rewrite them, then identify the various roles. Before performing, students read Aaron Shepard's tips on reading, then rehearse and perform.

The Readers' Theater can be combined with a visual arts project where students make their own costumes and headdresses, banners, and other supporting textiles.

The class can select the story they prefer, create costumes, headdresses, and hangings, then perform the play before an audience.