4 x Readers Theatre Bundle K-4 (reading, drama, poetry)

Bring the joy and fun of reading to your classroom with these four readers theatre scripts. Roald Dahl’s The Enormous Crocodile, Margaret Wild's The Stone Lion and Marcia Vaughan’s Wombat Stew have been summarised and transformed into dramatic scripts which enable all students to participate. Similarly, there are two PPT adaptations of the popular We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. We’re Going on a Treasure Hunt and We’re Going on a Sock Hunt will bring anticipation, suspense and excitement to reading sessions.

Colour coding assists students to read their designated character parts. Choral reading, repetition and rhyme are included to assist students at all levels with reading. We’re Going on a Treasure Hunt also contains picture cues.

These scripts are classroom opportunities to make connections with various curriculum areas as well as reading and drama. Make animal masks or learn about Australian animals (there are snippets of information throughout) when enjoying Wombat Stew. Make a treasure map for your own treasure hunt or write a class Easter Story about an egg hunt. Devise a route or obstacle course using (or following) positional language instructions, with words similar to those in the hunting texts, such as over, under, around and through.

My students usually sit in a semi-circle facing the screen when performing readers theatre, sometimes standing for certain actions. I keep props to a minimum. The more confident speakers usually volunteer for individual parts first, which is great modelling for the others. After the first or second performance, every child wants to have a go. The most popular character so far has been Dingo from Wombat Stew. The children love pretending they have been poisoned by the stew and running away into the ‘bush’.

Try my free Rainbow Fish readers theatre (on TPT) first if you are not sure, based Marcus Pfister’s beautiful story about sharing and friendship. Margaret Wild's The Stone Lion also has a lovely deep message, about empathy and sacrifice, as well as amazing visuals.

I like to read the original stories to the students before I introduce the readers theatre, as they come to know the context and the characters they will be depicting.

Here's hoping you and your children have enjoyable and memorable experiences from these resources.