I designed this Reader’s Theater unit for a small group of 2nd grade ESL students, to build vocabulary, increase reading fluency, and introduce story elements.  I found the script on Reading A-Z as well as a set of three YouTube videos showing an animated version of the story.   I used Canvas to house and sequence the learning activities for the students.  There unit was divided into three units:  Watching the Story, Practicing the Script, and Illustrating the Story.

Watching the Story

Before watching the YouTube clips, we went over the vocabulary from the story together.  I created a set of illustrated flashcards in Quizlet so the students could practice and play games with the new words.  Then students moved on to the video clips.  After watching each clip, students took a brief comprehension quiz about the story.  They also took a vocabulary quiz at the end of this module.

Comprehension Quiz #3

Practicing the Script

In the next module, I introduced the script to the students and let them listen to a recording of me reading the script.  Next, the students chose their parts, and we did a series of recordings.  Students practiced their individual parts, recording them on the computers, and used a rubric to assess their own reading fluency.  Based on this rubric, they chose a goal to focus on for the next day’s recording.  We also read through the script together each day.  After several days of practice and self-assessment, we made a final group recording.

Self-Assessment Rubric (adapted from Marg D’s Oral Reading Rubric on her Oral Language Page)

Illustrating the Story

Next we identified the characters and setting in the story, and students created cutout characters and helped make the background for the scene.  Once these were ready, I showed them how to use the Stop Motion Pro app and we recreated the story frame by frame using our characters and backdrop.  I used Camtasia to combine the narration with the stop-motion video and added speech bubbles to the final product.