Reader's Theater Part 1

To introduce grade 2 students to Reader's Theater, we started with a Read Aloud of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieska and watched an example of how this book was performed as Reader's Theater.

After seeing the first Reader's Theatre example, we co-constructed success criteria. Despite my insistence that Reader's Theatre does not require masks, my students argued that without masks it would be very difficult for the audience to know which character was which. So we included masks. Here is the first iteration of our co-created success criteria. 

 

We then watched a second Reader's Theater version of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs & used our success criteria to evaluate it. Students were not impressed with the performance, but thought about new items to add to our Success Criteria List.

Next came our discussion about scripts. Everyone wanted to play the role of the Wolf, so we decided that we would do several different Reader's Theater plays, ensuring that everyone who wanted to play a wolf could do so. (They did not realize how happy I was to agree to this - more Reader's Theater = more excitement about reading, more willingness to practice at home, more discussion and more opportunity for students to see the pattern of stereotypical 'wolfness' in fairy tales.)

 

Knowing how important the masks were for my students, I did some searching and found this instructional video for creating a wolf mask.

 



Each student (even the reluctant writers) jotted down a materials list while watching the video and every student gave me specific feedback on how I could improve the sample mask that I made.

Here are a few pictures of our mask making in progress (you will also see some bird masks which are for the script is The Wolf and The Seven Birds).

 

Did you notice that the wolf in the middle is eating a bird? !!!!

Now that our masks are almost complete, students are rehearsing on their own and with their groups. Students playing the same part, but in a different group, have become Guided Reading groups (all Mother Birds in one group, etc.)

 

The student's Drama teacher was impressed with the masks and we've started discussing how we can work together to allow the students to move beyond Reader's Theatre by adding movement, props, etc.

 

I will post Part 2 when we have had some run-throughs. Hopefully I will get permission to post some video :)

 

***apologies for the picture formatting - something is not working correctly :(

"This is Boring!"

"This is Boring!!!!"



I didn't expect to hear “This is boring!” shouted this week by a student during my Read Aloud of the novel Pokémon: Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon. I’d chosen it because 80% of my students are boys and they talk about Pokémon and bring their Pokémon cards to school.

I’d planned to follow up by giving students a Pokémon card and have them explain OR find out from someone in the class how to read a Pokémon card, why one card was better than another and how to play the trading card game.  I thought that they would like to create their own Pokémon monster and a trading card for that monster. 

We would be integrating math (Number Sense and Measurement), reading, writing, critical thinking (which card is better and why), visual arts, and hands-on learning through what I thought was an engaging topic.

A brief flash of defensiveness and disbelief at the rudeness of the comment and its delivery were quickly replaced by the memory of another “this is boring!” comment from a usually quiet student last week during a bird watching walk through the woods behind the school.

I had a conversation on the bird walk with the student who seemed more upset and on the verge of tears rather than bored. After some questioning, I found out that the student had expected the birds to come and land on his outstretched hand like he’d seen on television. He was frustrated that his expectations were much different from reality.

So when I heard the comment during the Pokémon Read Aloud, I asked “Why do you think this is boring?” He didn’t have a ready answer. A class vote decided that we would continue with the book, but I later met with the bored student to find out what he was really feeling. I knew that self-regulation was an issue, after all he had shouted out in an angry voice and disrupted the Read Aloud even though we have been over this many times. The first thing that he said when we had our talk was that the book “has too many words” and then he said he would rather watch the Pokemon t.v. show than listen to a “stupid book”. I explained that since he had a great imagination, he should try to use the visualization strategy we have used in class. Together, we came up with a plan to give everyone the choice to draw while they listen to the next chapters. We also discussed more appropriate ways to voice his opinions and ideas.

Yes, sometimes students are bored, but I've heard “I’m bored!” enough now to know that many times my seven-year-old students aren’t bored, but they don’t have the language or the courage to say what they really mean. Often what they mean is “I’m frustrated”. Teachers don’t just teach students to read, to help them build vocabulary and model fluency through Read Alouds – we also help them gain the skills to understand their own feelings, to express themselves appropriately, to problem solve effectively, to self-regulate, and to be responsible and respectful members of our classroom community. 

Bullying, Violence, Pictures Books - Oh My!

This week our school is doing several activities for Bullying Prevention and Awareness Month.

In class today, I read I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen



I thought it would be great because I've been hearing a lot of 'somebody took my.....' and because it might help prompt some discussion about the difference between bullying and conflict and how we can Stand Up rather than Stand By. Our slogan has been Choose Action.

At the point in the book where the bear realizes who has his hat - several students started chanting

"fight, fight, fight"

I was quite taken back. These are seven year olds who thought that the bear should solve his problem with violence - despite the fact that we'd just watched a video and talked about 'choosing nonviolent responses'.

Some of the chanters said "but that's how we solve things in hockey" & "the bear has to make sure that the rabbit doesn't do it again - he has to stand up and not stand by".

Yikes!

This book has won the E.B. White Read Aloud Award and is a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book. I've read it before, but didn't understand the book the same way that some of my grade 2 students did.

After some more discussion, I finished the story. Well, the chanting group loved it and cheered loudly. They were able to infer (because it isn't explicitly stated) that the bear ate the rabbit.

"See Mrs. Axiak - the bear didn't just Stand By - he CHOSE ACTION".

Not only does the bear eat the rabbit - he lies about it.

Once again, the lesson I planned for my students turned into some lessons for me, such as

- read more critically, think critically about the author's message & try to imagine how a group of 7 year olds might understand the book/lesson & many more!

Update: Today we went on a walking trip to the public library. The librarian read the book That is Not a Good Idea by Mo Willems


SPOILER ALERT*** The duck boils the wolf and makes soup for the ducklings.

There is a lot of talk about the violence in video games that kids play 'these days', but now that I'm seeing stories through the eyes of seven-year-old students, I'm noticing a lot of violence used in the service of sending a message.

As an adult, I guess I've been getting the messages without thinking critically about the way that the message is delivered, or the way that younger children might interpret the message differently than I do. I survived the violent stories of my childhood, like Little Red Riding Hood (wolf tries to eat girl but gets chopped to pieces by a huntsman with an axe) and The 3 Little Pigs (who almost get killed by wolf but then they boil him alive), etc. and I 'turned out alright', but I'll definitely be reading children's books more critically from now on.

My Plan for Integrating Read Alouds

If you aren’t already sold on the importance of a daily Read Aloud in classrooms for all ages, just Google it and you’ll find solid evidence to support that reading aloud doesn’t just model fluent reading but also builds community, expands vocabulary, exposes students to texts they wouldn’t read on their own, leads to critical thinking, discussion, and more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Ferdinand

Last year when covering a class and meeting a group of grade 8’s for the first time I showed them the picture book The Story of Ferdinand that I was going to read. There were groans, looks of “does she think we’re babies?” but I continued because I’ve experienced the phenomenon before. After the last page they burst into applause! They were smiling, it sparked their thinking, they discussed the book and how it related to their lives and the world, they asked questions, they argued their points using evidence from the text.  They thanked me and told me that they couldn’t remember the last time someone read aloud to them and that they forgot how great it was. I had used the lesson and the book before with another class so it was ready to go. With a good plan and a well-chosen picture book, novel, or nonfiction text…

“Oh, the places you’ll go!”
Dr. Seuss

I’m planning on taking it a step further this year. I’m borrowing the idea of having a Guest Reader in my class each week. I’m inviting parents and relatives, community members such as police officers and fire fighters, school board personnel and I’m really excited to have other classrooms and students to be our Guest Readers. I’ve already got the thumbs up thanks to @PeelMzYou to have her students, who are older, Skype into our class this year! They will explain why they chose the book, read a short text or passage, and then take a few questions. It won’t be a huge time commitment but I’m betting there will be a huge impact for our class. We’ll have the opportunity to hear other voices and texts, to find out what books or songs or poems that they like, and to meet other people who love to read.

The Guest Reader program will link to a Gratitude initiative. Every day we’re going to think of something that we are grateful for, appreciate, or something that inspires us. We’ll talk about it, Tweet about it using #peelsmile, it will probably turn up in our blogs and we’ll grow in our positive outlook. We will definitely be grateful for our Guest Readers and the time and texts that they share with us.

I’m also going to tie this into our Visual Arts and Math programs. We’ll be making Thank You cards to explore a variety of art techniques, Elements & Principals of Design, the creative process, geometry, patterning, calculating costs, etc.). I’ve been painting some cards to use as examples. The one I goofed up on and made upside down, the one with the smudge due to too much ink on the Thank You stamp and some other ‘mistakes’ along with the 1 or 2 ‘good’ ones will be used as a starting point for co-constructing success criteria and as examples to borrow ideas from. Students always enjoy critiquing my work and offering suggestions for improvement and then find ways to make their own work better, more creative, more interesting than mine ever is. When I’m open to constructive criticism first, it helps others to be more open to peer-assessment, self-assessment, making mistakes and trying again. Maybe we will make videos so students can share their card-making techniques with others. These cards will be signed by everyone in the class and then given to all of the people we are thankful for, including our Guest Readers. We’ll give them in person or we’ll send them in the mail to show our appreciation.

Daily Read Alouds, Guest Readers, Gratitude and Visual Arts integration don’t have to take up a lot of time, but the time they take will be worth it. These ideas will evolve; I’d love to hear suggestions.

ROYGBIV colour lesson sample

 

(Stamp not clear -Thark you? smudges/finger print, blue and indigo not distinct/large enough, not painted all the way to the edges on the right side, BUT a fun process mixing colours using only 3 primary colours and oddly, still kind of cute. Students can learn from my mistakes and notice that quality and care is a goal when making something and then they can make some of their own mistakes - all while learning about colour theory and colour mixing.)