A Peek into the Lives
of the Pilgrims
This month we are featuring Bound For Plymouth, one of a two-book historically based series entitled Journeys of Discovery. The story offers a peek into the lives of the Pilgrims as they traveled on the Mayflower to America. With Thanksgiving on its way, teachers are sure to be looking for engaging ways to teach students about both the hard times and triumphs experienced by the Pilgrims as they established their new home.
Reader's Theater is a favorite activity of teachers and students for improving reading and teaching history or other content areas in a way students will both enjoy and remember.
This Playbook® story showcases the point of view of children who endured the long trip across the ocean with impatience and yet a sense of humor. Students will relate to these characters, based on passengers who were really on the Mayflower, and understand the hardships faced by travelers to the New World. A free excerpt of Bound For Plymouth is available for use in the classroom and as an educator preview of the book.
Get the free story excerpt here.
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Reader's Theater as a Tool for
Second Language Learning
The Playbook® format of Reader’s Theater is one of the best ways to enhance second language acquisition. With their multi-leveled roles and color-coded dialogue text, Playbooks® dramatically improve fluency and comprehension for all readers, especially struggling readers and English language learners. Non-native speakers will also gain insight into cultural norms and customs while assuming the roles of native speakers in authentic situations.
The Reader's Theater format is conversational, with each reader following dialogue to interact with other readers, making it an ideal learning tool for ESL students. Using realistic contexts and sentence patterns that mimic every day speech, Playbooks® actively engage students in the rich literary experiences needed to attain proficiency in English. In addition, Playbooks® provide ample opportunities for repeated reading, choral reading and pronunciation practice.
Playbooks® even prints some of their titles in Spanish. For students who have little to no English skills, following along in their own native language while listening to a story in English will help those students make connections between vocabulary words and letter sounds. With this type of exposure to English, students can listen and understand more than they can read on their own.
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Doing the Dinosaur Dip, available in all Spanish and dual English and
Spanish versions. |
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Reader's Theater Exercise 23:
Paired Reading For Early Stages of Literacy
Last month's Reader's Theater exercise helped you expose your students to the fun test-taking strategy taught in the new Playbook®, Questionella and the Perfect Prince. This month's exercise will help even your youngest, most struggling, and near non-readers to experience the benefits of Reader's Theater with paired reading. This technique is also useful with English language learners.
Because children generally have a higher “listening comprehension” than “reading comprehension,” students benefit tremendously from reading in multi-leveled groups. With Playbooks®, teachers are able to privately group lower level readers with higher level readers together to read the same story, which provides a “safe” environment for students to discover language and learn from one another. However, some teachers or afterschool program educators fear that this teaching model will not help their Kindergarten aged students or those barely able to read. The solution to help these students in the very early stages of literacy achievement is to pair them with a more able reader to share a Reader's Theater role.
Instead of having just one student take each part, have two students read the same character role in unison. The less able reader may not be able to read the whole part aloud, but instead may follow along and contribute just the words he or she recognizes. At the same time, he or she will receive guidance from the more fluent reader in decoding and committing words to memory.
Get this month's exercise for helping your ESL students, beginning readers, and
non-readers
experience the benefits of Reader's Theater! |
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Conference Share Kit Includes....
1 Table Top Display shown (48" x 36")
1 RT Classroom Implementation DVD
1 Catalog
25 Mini Catalogs
25 Full Title/Price List by Grade Level
25 Topic Theme/Character Education Title Summaries
1 or 2 Door Prizes of Small Group Sets*
(1 each for Grades K-3, and 4-8)
Additional conference raffle drawing and prize sign-up sheet.
(*Upon special approval based on conference type)
Great for....
District-wide Principal Meetings
Regional Director Meetings
Teacher Workshops
Literacy/Reading Conferences
After-School/Summer School Conferences
Curriculum Seminars
Reading Specialist Seminars
Staff Development Seminars
Vendor Fairs
Free to facilitators of posted conferences with reasonable attendance levels and upon special permission by Playbooks, Inc. Call or use form link on the left for special approval or to purchase the share kit at a low cost. |
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This Month's Featured Story |
This Month's Special
For Grades K-3:
Get a free Playbook® in Powerpoint format for choral reading when you buy a
Small Group Set of the same story.
Use Code Nov-3446-PP on your PO
and indicate your story choice.
*Limit 2 per customer.
For Grades 4-12:
Get a free Download Print
story to use in your classroom when you buy a Small Group Set
of the same story.
Use Code Nov-5798-DP on your PO
and indicate your story choice.
*Limit 2 per customer.
All-Inclusive
Reader's Theater Kits
Grade Level Kits
After School Kits
Camp Reader's Theater Kits
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Bound For Plymouth
(Journeys of Discovery Series)
A Playbook® Story based on the Journey of the Mayflower
Content for Grades 5 - 8
Reading Stages 4 - 6
Written by: Pat Fine
Illustrated by: Liliane Grenier |
Story 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. |
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