It's Christmas, Charlie Brown! Reader's Theatre Script -Rubric & Questions

Included in the It's Christmas, Charlie Brown! Reader's Theatre Unit:

17 page script

3 major characters + the narrator

6 supporting characters

45 metacognitive questions

Student Reader's Theatre Evaluations based on 4 levels and 5 criteria.

Student Success Criteria

Student Friendly Goals

Reader's Theatre Checklist

It's Christmas, Charlie Brown! Synopsis:

Snoopy’s dog-house blinks on and off with electric lights.

Sally thinks only about the presents she will get.

Lucy likes aluminum trees.

Is this Christmas? Not for Charlie Brown!

In all the glitter and greed, Charlie Brown searches for the true meaning of the Christmas holiday.

Do not fear the reader's theater format. Students love these adapted stories because they are listening to the story and they are a part of the story by playing a character within the story.

Reader's theatre inspires reluctant readers to join in the fun. The strongest and most advanced readers in your class will encourage other students to raise their hand and participate in the story. I also use reader's theatre to add to my drama marks.

If the reader's theatre format did not work for my students and I, then I would have stopped creating and adapting them years ago.

Reluctant readers sometimes feel anxious looking at pages of text, whereas a reader's theater script is broken up into narration and different characters speaking, thus making the story more accessible to those students who have not discovered the incredibly fun activity of reading for entertainment.

I use shorter stories with minimal characters in literature circles.

When can one make time for a reader's theatre story in class?

When I am not reading a reader's theatre unit with my class, I usually reserve Friday's for the reading of a one-off story. It is an event that the class looks forward to, since they do not know which story I will choose. Great for Librarians. I project the stories on the screen and assign characters in class. Some characters only have 1 line. A character like that is perfect for a reluctant reader.

I have read these stories remotely/online and in class/in-person.

I encourage teachers and instructors to allow students to practice their parts at home before they read in front of the class. They can try different voices and tones when they practice.

I hope you, and your students have a fun time reading It's Christmas, Charlie Brown!

Merry Christmas and Excelsior!

Mr. Marvel: The King of Reader's Theatre