Hello friends!
Thanks for sticking with me as I slowly re-enter the world of edu-blogging. I'll be currently aiming for one blog a week, just like back in the old days when I first began this process.
Right now, I'm taking blogging inspiration from the workshops I'm building and running here, there, and everywhere. Today, I'd like to share with you something from a recent workshop I ran with some colleagues called Get Smart With Art. (Who doesn't like a workshop with a rhyming name?)
We were focused on preschoolers (a nice leap for me from my days of teaching high school!). I've always loved the concept of Readers Theatre, but, in my recent exposure to lots and lots of preschool-aged kids (thanks to my toddler son), I've been wondering . . . can the concepts of Readers Theatre apply to pre-K? I've watched my own son at the tender age of 2 act out story after story, leading me to think -- what would Readers Theatre look like for non-readers, or (most) preschool students?
Well, I've researched, ran a few practice classes with kids, and thought and thought and thought about this. I've come up with lots of answers that I'll be sharing with you over the next few weeks.
Today's share is one strategy to incorporate Readers Theatre with preschoolers called Soundtrack. It's fun, and gets kids using the full range of their voices (something most little ones looooove to do). Here's how it works:
Read a story to a group of children, pausing at each picture (or you could just choose to pause at only the "exciting" pictures if the text is rather long). Stop and look at the picture with the students. Ask about what sounds we might hear based on this picture. Students will most likely provide you with the "surface level" sounds they see -- "moo-ing" from a cow in the picture, "vroom vroom" from a car, etc. Encourage them to also dig deeper: "I see a windmill way over here in the background . . . what sound do you think that makes?" or "Hmmmm . . . what does the mother's face tell us in this picture? How does she feel? What kind of sound might go with that?"
Once you've made your way through the entire story in this manner, it's time to read it again from the beginning, this time asking for students to collectively provide the "soundtrack" each time you pause at a picture.
This is an energizing way for students to interact with text, follow along with plot details, go beyond the surface level, build early literacy skills, and develop empathy for characters.
I'm hoping you enjoy my upcoming posts about this whole Readers Theatre for Non-Readers concept as I'm pretty jazzed about it! But, don't fret, my secondary education readers . . . I've got stuff coming your way, too (just a quick preview: I'll be delving into lots of differentiated instruction and classroom management techniques for grades 6-12 in the next couple of months).
Glad to be back to blogging! And Happy Spring (even if the weather doesn't quite feel like it yet)!
