Black History Reading Activities with Musical Play and Rap Songs Bundle

Would you like to hook your students using rap songs to teach Black history? What if you could also use those same songs as reading skills activities? And what if those reading activities and songs could also be used as a Black history play to wow your audience for a Black History Month assembly? If that sounds too good to be true, then this is your dream bundle!

This resource features:

- a musical play that connects with students using rap songs,

- and reading activities that use the song lyrics as reading passages for extended student learning.

Based on the songs, this play explores a child's dream where he/she is visited by African-American heroes such as James Armistead Lafayette, a Revolutionary War spy, and Phillis Wheatley, the first published Black American. These heroes of the past explain how they have inspired and made the success of modern Black heroes such as Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama possible.

Kid-friendly, entertaining dialogue with pop-culture references!

This musical mixes pop-culture topics such as superheroes, YouTube, and other engaging themes into the characters' dialogue to keep the performance interesting. (Imagine a comicbook writer giving a 10 year old a lesson in superhero history.) This script works well for school assemblies or as part of a Black History Month program. With a fun and easy-to-use script, you, your cast, and your audience are in for an awesome time!

How to use this musical:

- Assign roles to students from the musical. You may play the songs for students during class and present them with the script to help decide which roles suit them best.

• *Note: the musical only requires that students perform the chorus of each song. However, students may perform more parts of the songs if you choose for them to do so.

- Provide copies of each section of the script for performers.

- Practice the script during class as a readers theater activity while integrating it into the included reading activities. You may also share the songs and instrumental music on YouTube with parents and guardians for them to help students practice.

- Additional roles for students:

• Dancers: assign students to choreograph dances for each song to perform along with the rappers.
• Musicians: have students play instruments to provide a live feel for the performance. We have personally done this best by collaborating with music teachers to have violins, xylophones, and hand drums used in the performance.
• Stagehands: assign students to set up the stage, play music, and manage props and furniture for the production.

Learn it, study it, perform it!

I've always loved using these activities with my students. We would:

- do the activities in class to practice reading skills while learning the songs,

- use the script in class and after school to give students ways to express their talents while improving reading comprehension and fluency,

- perform it on stage for the entire school and invited families and community members!

This is a complete experience from start to finish for students, the school, and the community!

The 12 characters in this musical include:

Child - 10-year-old, African-American student (speaking role)

Mom - Child’s mother who encourages him to study his/her history (speaking role)

Katherine Johnson - NASA mathematician who helped with the success of the Apollo Moon Landing (speaking role)

George Washington Carver - botanist and chemist (rap song role)

Colin Powell - first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the U.S. Army (speaking role)

James Armistead Lafayette - Revolutionary War spy who stole secrets from the British military (rap song role)

Barack Obama - first African-American president of the United States (speaking role)

Douglas Wilder - first elected African-American governor in the United States (rap song role)

Christopher Priest - first Black comicbook editor who made the Black Panther superhero "cool" (speaking role)

Phillis Wheatley - first published African-American and accomplished poet (rap song role)

Oprah Winfrey - first Black female billionaire (speaking role)

Maggie Walker - first Black female bank president and accomplished business owner (rap song role)

This bundle also includes reading activities about the featured Black heroes. See product links above for details.

*BONUS* We've also included our Black Panther Comicbook history reading activities!

Everything in this bundle is listed below. Click the product links above for more details:

- the musical play titled "Black History Heroes: Then and Now" includes:

• a table of contents
• the lyrics for each song
• the characters' dialogue
• tips and ideas on how to use the script
• a simple map of stage directions for understanding the characters' blocking
• a full character list with brief descriptions of each Black hero's notable successes.

- multiple-choice and short response comprehension questions about the musical play with the answer key

- YouTube links to the songs for sharing online with your cast

- downloads of each song (MP3 format)

- downloads of the song instrumentals for practice and performance (MP3 format)

- short-response, comprehension questions with the answer key

- timeline activities with graphic organizer

- sequential paragraph activities that utilize the timeline

- discussion questions

- performance activities that involve students writing their own songs.

The run time for the musical play is ten to fifteen minutes and is a one-act musical.

Email support for your production and performance!

If you ever need help or additional ideas on how to use the script, music, or implement the play with students, email us at RapOperaforKids@gmail.com. We want your production to be a success!

Get this bundle now to keep your students engaged and hook your audience!

*Note: You may record a performance of this musical to display or share digitally. When doing so, you must include "script by Rap Opera for Kids" in the title or description of your uploaded video. Thank you!

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You may also like:

Black History Plays and Rap Musicals

Black History Reading Activities Using Rap Songs

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Copyright © 2022 Rap Opera for Kids. All rights reserved by author. This product is to be used by the original downloader only. Copying for more than one teacher, classroom, department, school, or school system is prohibited. This product may not be distributed or displayed digitally for public view. Failure to comply is a copyright infringement and a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Images and elements found in this PDF are copyrighted and cannot be extracted and used outside of this file without permission or license. Intended for classroom and personal use ONLY.

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