Reader’s Theater Available in Braille for the Visually Impaired

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Krista

The following Playbook® stories will soon be available in Braille:

Save Your Smile
Sam’s Secret
Surprise! Uh-Oh! Oh, No!
Doing the Dinosaur Dip
Ick’ I’m Sick
The Coopersville Capers
The Ice Cream Dream
The Me the Hardly See
Stone Soup
The Great Rhyme Travel Machine

These stories are being translated through a special grant for after school program in Miami, a provider for The Children’s Trust, who use Playbooks® in their programs. Please contact us for information and pricing at 1-800-375-2926.

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Summer Camp Webinar Earns Seal of Approval From the American Camp Association

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Krista

(Image) Educational Endorsement Program Seal

Adding social interactive reading in small peer groups is one of the best things your camp or summer program can do to help lessen summer learning loss. Find out more by investing the time to watch this free one-hour webinar with host and national reader’s theater expert, Dianna Cleveland, and national camp and education expert, Lance Ozier.

This webinar has been granted educational endorsement by the American Camp Association’s Educational Endorsement Review Committee. Educational Endorsement means that the program has been reviewed by a qualified panel to verify the goals, learner outcomes, presenter qualifications, and evaluation requirements are relevant for this educational program. Continuing education credits (CECs) are available for this endorsed program.

Camp Reader’s Theater™ Kits work perfectly with the instruction provided, and come in 4-Week, 6-Week, or 8-Week versions, for Grades K-2, 3-5, or 6-8. (10-Week version also available upon request.)

(Image) Camp Reader's Theater Kit Boxes

Find out about Camp Reader’s Theater™!

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Posted in Education, Expert, Dianna Cleveland, Playbooks, RT for After School Programs, RT for Summer School, RT Staff Development, Videos About or of Reader's Theater | Leave a comment

Preserve the Arts with “STEAM” After School

Posted on March 26, 2013 by Dianna, Reader's Theater Expert

As limited budgets see arts programs quickly disappearing from regular school curriculums, After School programs must step up and make sure students do not lose this important family of subjects by observing an “A” for Arts Education as part of the popular STEM acronym. Research shows that participation in and learning through the arts is associated with better outcomes in academics and helps children overcome disadvantaged backgrounds. After School is positioned to reach students of varying socioeconomic status and help them gain experiences in the arts that would otherwise be unlikely.

Students need to be exposed to a wide range of arts activities, including performing arts, to personalize their development to their own interests and personalities and find what will best help them excel overall. Performing arts is often neglected behind typical arts and crafts that staff may be more comfortable assigning. With some minimal, simple guidance, staff can be easily prepared to implement a powerful, ongoing performing arts program that nurtures reading fluency, confidence, creativity, motivation, empathy and more with roleplay reading through reader’s theater. Playbooks® Roleplay Reader™ kits provide all the instruction necessary to carry out a highly effective and valuable performing arts program that is equally rooted in the reading enrichment category, ensuring it will be time well spent for efficiency and all-around growth.

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Geoffrey Canada, International Speaker, Presents at The Children’s Trust Special Event

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Dianna, Reader's Theater Expert

We are proud of our customer, The Children’s Trust, and their involvement in helping to celebrate Black History Month last month. As a multi-site Playbooks® customer who has approved our materials for its 200+ providers, they must be honored to have hosted Geoffrey Canada, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Harlem Children’s Zone, as their featured speaker. Children and youth from cultural and school organizations also showcased their talents with live performances. Keep up the good work, TCT!

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Ensure a Fair Learning Environment for All Students with StopBullying.gov

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Dianna, Reader's Theater Expert

(Image) stopbullying.gov logo

This official federal web site provides many tips and tools for preventing bullying in schools and beyond, including how to respond to bullying when it happens and how to prevent it from happening in the first place.

The site highlights the amazing power of the bystander to change bullying outcomes and stop future incidents from occurring!

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Teacher Feature: “The Most Dangerous Game”

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Dianna, Reader's Theater Expert

Attention, teachers of Grades 8-10! Try this reader’s theater script for Jr. High and High School students, submitted to us by a teacher. You can download this rhyming adaptation of “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell by visiting http://www.requiredrhyming.com/free-scripts-form/ and logging in with your name and email address.

Resource contributed by….

Jill Craddock

 Have a resource you would like to share with other teachers and educators? Send it to info@readerstheater.com and your link could be posted on freereaderstheater.com as a Teacher Feature!

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Summer Learning Association Publishes Guide to Summer Funding

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Krista

The National Summer Learning Association has published a guide to navigating funding options during difficult economic times. While enhancing your summer reading programs may seem to present a strain on budgets, there is ample opportunity when you know where to look!

“Developed by NSLA with the support of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Moving Summer Learning Forward: A Strategic Roadmap for Funding in Tough Times is designed to help state and local leaders identify the most promising funding streams to support summer learning….” (National Summer Learning Association).

Visit the National Summer Learning Association to access this fantastic resource that can help you find funding to add reader’s theater to your summer program.

Research by the National Summer Learning Association shows that Repeated Guided Oral Reading (RGOR) is the only proven method of avoiding summer reading loss. Roleplay reading with multi-leveled reader’s theater is an approved form of RGOR that can create summer reading gain for most students!

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Teacher Feature: Reader’s Theater Resource

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Krista

Teachers and After School staff/coordinators may find the following web page about reader’s theater useful in their lesson plans: “A Guide to Reader’s Theater.” The page includes links to free scripts, information about the benefits of reader’s theater, and teaching strategies.

Resource contributed by….

Education graduate student, Andrea Lincoln, recommends this link to assist other teachers in planning their class curriculum. In addition to her studies and student teaching, Andrea currently works as a Language Arts tutor and plans to become an elementary teacher upon graduation this year.

Have a resource you would like to share with other teachers and educators? Send it to info@readerstheater.com and your link could be posted on freereaderstheater.com as a Teacher Feature!

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Watch a Free Webinar About Reader’s Theater, Jr.

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Krista

Created for Pre-K to First Grade – Early Childhood Education

(Image) Reader's Theater, Jr. Set

The unique step-by-step format of this early childhood reading module is ideal for building skills and confidence in young emerging readers. This webinar explains how the Mini Transition Book and Easel Book system functions to provide a new approach to reading development, allowing very early readers to participate in a complete roleplay reading story.

Watch the webinar!

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Download a Playbook® Script For Thanksgiving and Christmas to Use With Students in Grades 3-5!

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Krista

(Image) Story Illustration of Theo Turkey Pulling Santa's Sleigh on Christmas Eve

This downloadable Playbook® will help your students have fun with Thanksgiving and Christmas … all in one twist of a tale! The story is designed for 6 readers and covers an atypically wide span of reading levels (Stages 2-5) to allow multiple classes and grades to enjoy this script together and even take part in a performance! Remember that easier parts can also be read by older or higher level readers!

In this wacky script, A Turkey’s Christmas Wish, Timmy the pet turkey is jealous that the Christmas holiday gets so much attention compared to Thanksgiving. In an attempt to prove that turkeys are important, too, he writes a letter to Santa Claus. Through a crazy chain of events and pure motivation, he learns to fly like his wild turkey cousins, and actually becomes the first turkey to pull Santa’s sleigh alongside flying reindeer! Along for the adventure are Tessa and Jacob, who share their home with Timmy, and Birdie, the lovable, flying-obsessed reindeer. Students will love chanting along with all of Santa’s reindeer about the “real turkey” who learns to fly!

Purchase the Story to Download and Print For Only $7.95!

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