All About Reader's Theater Exercise 13:
Combine Singing and Reading for the Holidays

Last month's Reader's Theater Exercise focused on the benefits of using rhyme in Reader's Theater. This month's Reader's Theater activity coincides with the winter holidays, often a musical time of year, and focuses on using song in Reader's Theater!

Music and song have long been employed as tools for learning everything from the letters of the alphabet to the 50 states! The rhythm and melody of music helps students remember what comes next in the lyrics. The added associations of melody and rhythm help to consolidate the student's memories of the words or information they are learning.

Some studies show superior reading fluency gains when students read passages of song lyrics repeatedly (Patel and Laud, 2007). The students' CWPM (correct words read per minute) rates increased more when the passages were song lyrics than when the passages were prose.

In addition, the simple fact that children enjoy music and singing will multiply the productivity of the reading activity! Mini, the Super Watermelon is an example of a popular Playbook® story featuring several song sections for students to sing to well-known tunes.

This month's activity provides scenario suggestions and familiar musical melodies and asks students in groups to make up their own words for the tunes. The final result will be a short Reader's Theater scene with each character's dialogue forming the lyrics to a song. Groups may then perform their song scenes for the rest of the class. The stories can be silly and students will be glad for a chance to celebrate their creative sides!

Click here to get this month's activityfor helping your students
improve their reading fluency with music and song.