Readers' Theater

I feel like I start the majority of my posts here with the phrase "I love".  I love second grade science.  I love the penguins unit.  I love engineering challenges.  I count myself very lucky to have the opportunity to do what I love.  It is amazing to walk into a space every morning and actively WANT to be there.

(maybe not on a rainy and cold Monday morning.  But seriously - that's it.  All other times:  I WANT to be here.)


Here's my latest love:  readers' theater.  It is the messier and unrefined sibling of Library Theater, put on by our fabulous librarian, Mrs. Powers.  Readers' Theater in our classroom is quick, collaborative, and like improv with skits.  Forget Upright Citizens Brigade - second graders are young little stars, capable of humor, creativity, and inventiveness when acting out scripts.


I love readers' theater because a play can be read, practiced, and performed in under an hour.  No, seriously.  We even have a few minutes to construct a simple set and develop some primitive props.  Under an hour of time, and the value of reading a script together, collaborating, and then acting it out for one's peers.


So much fun.  And I'll admit to being a little jealous about not having a role in any of these plays.  I'll have to write myself into one of them, one of these days...

Pre production... highlighting scripts, assigning parts, dreaming big...

The Superstars keep their play a mystery as they choose to practice in the hallway!

Are mermaids real or make-believe?  This play will let us know (Mariana does appear to be a legitimate mermaid sitting on her "rocks"!  Brooke is a main character and Julia narrates the action.

James play Ki, a boy who loves to paint cats.  Kevin plays his stern father (note the mustache, please).  Gabe is another excellent narrator!

Grace, Brooke, Julia, and Natalie act the story out masterfully.

Trevor had to divide his time between playing two roles:  Ki's mother and an angry rat!

Blurry, but I just loved this picture:  Ben, Mia, and Teddy conferring "backstage"  (a.k.a. my closet)

The Sweetheart Heist

For Valentine's Day, we had to solve a mighty caper...

Channeling Sherlock Holmes, Poirot, even Nate the Great himself, we had to act as literary sleuths.  A mystery crook with a powerful sweet tooth had lifted all of the sweetheart candies from our classroom.  This fellow left behind only some powdery crumbs and some rhyming clues.  Our search started in the classroom and took us to exotic locales like the library, nurse's room, gymnasium, kitchen, Coach's office, guidance office, admissions office, and finally to the office of Mr. Powers himself!

(Mr. Powers assures us that he was not part of the heist:  the mystery crook merely placed them in his room.)

I love this type of learning because it's active, collaborative, and downright fun.  The clues grew increasingly more difficult.  Armed with clipboards, we speculated about each answer and put our inference skills to the test.

Mariana finds and reads the first clue aloud.

James looked inside a reference book to find a new clue.

How many second graders can you fit into the nurse's office?

Here we are at the gym.  Mr. Parker promises that he had no part in it.

Natalie reads to our gang in the admissions office.

After we found our sweethearts, there was work to be done!  We estimated, measured, and composed a silly short story about the Sweetheart Snatcher.