If you look at the picture on the right, you might recognize the Readers Theaters that my kiddos are holding.
They are from the very talented Kristin Oldham from A Teeny Tiny Teacher. I follow her blog (if you don't, you should- she is hysterical) and I was fortunate enough to be in her session at the Southern California Kindergarten Conference last February.
She presented her Readers Theaters and it was a "make and take" session. Who doesn't love a "make and take"?? I sure do!!
Anyway, after hearing how her kiddos love these and how she uses them as a center during her literacy block, I knew that I had chosen the right session! I happily cut and glued and made 10- yes 10!- readers theater plays. I was in teacher heaven when I left.
I must confess... I initially attended her session just to see her in person, so you can imagine my happiness when her session turned out to be so valuable!
I almost asked for a photo with her, but then I thought about how celebrities are always getting asked to take pictures with fans and I didn't want to be "one of those fans," so I didn't... Maybe next time.
So far, my kids are using the easier levels, but I've purchased the more advanced levels to challenge my higher readers.
What I love about these readers theaters is that they are for two kids- and only two kids. Each child is engaged because they aren't sitting around forever waiting for their part.
I stress that when they read it, they should sound like they are having a conversation with the other person. It should sound natural, not like they are reading from a script. The kids practice reading it over and over until it is time to perform for the class.
So, the bottom line is this... if you want to build fluency and work on reading with expression, then hop on over to her TpT store and grab some of these AMAZING readers theaters. She has them in all different levels and is always adding more.
Thank you Kristin!! You can be sure that I'll be back for more!
And no, she did not ask me to endorse this product. This is a 100% genuine endorsement (as are all my posts).
Another, simple way for parents to help their children build fluency is to make sure subtitles and closed captioning are always turned on. A 5-year study in India found that children who watched one show a week with same language subtitles were twice as likely to be good readers and half as likely to be illiterate as children who did not watch the show with same language subtitles. I have more about how CC can help build fluency on my blog:
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