CONTACT:  Krista Lawson
27702 Crown Valley D-4 #165
Ladera Ranch, CA 92694
(800) 375-2926
Email: kristal@readerstheater.net

Playbooks® Reader’s Theater Offers Staff Development Opportunities at National After School Conference

Ladera Ranch, CA (April 8, 2011) – The National After School Association Annual Convention is April 16-18 in Orlando, FL at the Gaylord Palms Resort, and Playbooks® Reader’s Theater company will be taking an active role. Playbooks® will be exhibiting in Booths 103-105 and also providing a variety of professional development presentations and workshops to train after school educators on implementing a successful and measurable reader’s theater program in their curriculum. Learn more about the conference at www.naaweb.org.

Playbooks® founder and reader’s theater expert, Dianna Cleveland, will be hosting mini in-booth workshops in the Playbooks® Booth (#103-105) during every “exhibitor break.” Participants will see Playbooks® in action and learn why reader’s theater is so fun and effective for reading enrichment. Dianna will also teach her well known and highly rated interactive full length reader’s theater workshop for a more in-depth staff development opportunity, in the Gainesville room on Sunday, April 17 from 11:00 – 12:30. Attendees will learn easy step-by-step implementation, best practices, and even read a script in small groups and practice the role assignment techniques they just learned in the workshop. A 20-minute Playbooks® Demo will also be held in the back of the exhibit hall on Saturday, April 16 at 12:00. For those who may not be able to make it to these valuable events, Playbooks® reader’s theater staff training webinars are also available regularly, with information and registration at www.playbooks.com/webinars.

Playbooks, Inc.’s highly rated reader’s theater workshop has been extremely popular among some of the largest districts in the country and has been seen at numerous regional and national educational conferences. To inquire about purchasing an on-site workshop for your program, visit www.playbooks.com/RTWorkshop.shtml.

Reader’s theater is a leading method of building reading fluency and confidence in students in After School and other educational settings. This engaging type of story is written like a play, but no memorization, props, costumes, or stage are required. With well balanced roles, every student gets to shine and be “in the spotlight,” instead of only a few students as with traditional school plays.

Playbooks® reader’s theater stories come in a patented color-coded and multi-leveled format and are designed for reading in small, non-threatening groups. Varying reading levels allow higher level readers to model fluent reading and vocabulary for lower level readers, while at the same time, less fluent readers often show a greater aptitude for creative expression and will encourage their classmates to get into character as well. Color-coded dialogue text helps students to recognize when they will be reading next with ease and take ownership of their roles. Breaking down social barriers to make way for progress and even helping students overcome disadvantaged backgrounds, reader’s theater is truly a powerful edu-tainment experience.

About Playbooks® Reader’s Theater
Playbooks® Reader’s Theater company is located in Ladera Ranch, CA and is the leading supplier of reader’s theater scripts and classroom story sets to schools and families across the country. For more information, call 1-800-375-2926 or visit http://playbooks.com