ORAL LANGUAGE ACTIVITIES
CLASSROOM DRAMA, PLAYS, AND CHORAL READING
PUBLIC SPEAKING, STORY TELLING, LISTENING, ETC
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Activities
for Oral Language Development by Jodene Lynn Smith. Teacher Created
Resources, 2005. Communication is a skill it's never to early to develop!
This book will help teach children from Grades K-2 to develop their speaking and
listening skills. Some of the activities include storytelling, puppetry,
impromptu speaking, reciting nursery rhymes, mystery object speech, and reciting
a poem speech. Reproducible activities for classroom use are included, as well
as parent letters and mini-posters. 80 pages. BTH-4148. $9.89-D
Character
Education Book of Plays: Elementary Level by Judy Truesdell Mecca.
Incentive Publications, 2001. The plays in this book are intended to be
performed by elementary students. They offer teachers a tool for encouraging
morality in their students. The plays teach the positive values that were once
taken for granted: respect, honesty, responsibility, commitment, love, and
courage. The seven plays included are all original. They are reproducible for
classroom use. 143 pages. BTH-3022. $14.36-D
Choral Reading, by Melissa Burke. A Steck-Vaughn
Series.
Choral Reading, Grades 4-5,
Cat. #SV-13137: Features 42 short reproducible choral readings organized within five
themes: It's America! Courage, Wisdom, and Adventures; All in Fun; Lend an Ear; Earth and
Sky. . $10.76-D
 Classroom
Plays for Social Studies, published by Edupress. Each book contains four
plays on a specific social studies theme to be used in a classroom setting. These plays
make great foundations and stepping-off points for further research and study on the
topics they cover. Each book in the series includes an introduction for teachers and hints
on getting ready: deciding on the type of production to do, assigning parts, setting the
stage, the first read-through, rehearsals, and costumes. Each book is 48 pages and is
reproducible for classroom use.
Classroom Plays for Social Studies: America in the 1800's
includes "Lewis and Clark Expedition: Leading American Westward," "The
Story of American's National Anthem," The Cherokee Trail of Tears," and
"The Underground Railroad: Next Stop Canada!" BTH-239, $7-19-D
Classroom Plays for Social Studies: American Biographies includes
"George Washington: America's Founding Father," "A Lunch Time Visit with
Abraham Lincoln," "Chief Sitting Bull: Life of a Warrior," and
"Taking a Walk for Justice: Martin Luther King, Jr." BTH-484, $7.19-D
Ancient Civilizations includes
"Building the Great Pyramid," "The Code of Hammurabi," "A Child's
Day in Caesar's Rome." and "The Story of the Trojan Horse."BTH-3959.
$7.19-D
Classroom Plays for Social Studies: Early America includes "Saving
the Virginia Colony," "Daily Life in Colonial America," "July 4, 1776:
America's First Birthday," and "Valley Forge: Turning Point of the
Revolution." BTH-237. $7.19-D
 Create-a-Drama: Writing a Script, by Eleanor
Hoomes. Educational Impressions. This book can be used as a creative writing unit or as a
unit on drama. It will develop students' abilities in observing, recalling, applying,
analyzing, interpreting, concluding, synthesizing, and evaluating. It will also encourage
divergent and convergent thinking as it contributes to the development of the students'
oral, written, and imaginative skills. When the students finish the unit they should have
had a wonderful time writing a script and producing a play. Student worksheets are
reproducible. 80 pages. For grades 5-10+.
Cat. #BTH-2411. $10.76-D
Developing
Listening Skills, Intermediate, by Debra Housel. Teacher Created
Materials, 160 pages. Listening skills are important for following directions
and understanding concepts. They correlate closely with reading behaviors such
as auditory memory and reading with expression. Students who learn to be
active listeners will usually also develop their reading comprehension skills as
a byproduct. Helping students become better listeners who understand and
remember what they hear and take adequate notes when appropriate isn't an easy
task. But this book helps by offering a logical and sequential step-by-step
process to help students in grades 3-5 recognize what information is important,
take effective notes, and express their understanding in written responses.
Students begin with basic listening skill-building activities,
learn to tell the difference between fact and opinion, and learn to recognize
which key words signal that important information is to follow. After
these introductory activities, there are 12 different passages to read from four
different genres: folktales, literature selections, magazine articles, and
newspaper articles. These are read aloud by the teacher, and students respond to
what they hear in writing. The passages progress in difficulty. Student response
worksheets are reproducible for classroom use. BTH-469. $13.49-D
 From
the Page to the Stage: Enhancing Literacy through Puppetry, Drama, and Retelling
by Mary Beth Barr. A Rigby Press publication for teachers of grades K-3. The
author explains why drama is important in the development of oral language
skills and how to incorporate its use into the curriculum you must teach anyway.
She says: "..role-playing, drama, puppetry, and storytelling will not take away
from what you teach. Instead they will provide the tools with which to teach the
concepts you are already required to present. The material will stay with your
students longer and will be more fun for all involved." (p. 14)
I have observed with with my own children while we were home
schooling. I remember one vacation we took to Colorado. We visited Mesa Verde
National Park and observed and walked through many Native America dwellings. We
then camped by a lake for a week. Almost as soon as we got to the lake, my
daughter decided on her own to make a model of one of the dwellings we had seen
out of the mud. It made it more real for her. We did a lot of camping that year,
and we gave my son a Playmobile® camping set for Christmas with an RV and other
camping related items. He spent hours and hours playing with it, reenacting our
trips and others in his imagination, using the toys as tools. After we visited a
local adobe on a living history day, my son began to try making the bricks
himself. He wanted to make a fort with them.
This book covers basic puppetry techniques, making simple
and inexpensive puppets, and making puppet theaters. It also contains
finger plays and action rhymes, using drama to support guided reading, and
scripts and fun recipes for popular fairy tales. Assessment pages are included,
and there are also references and suggestions for further reading. Portions
intended for classroom use are reproducible. 144 pages. BTH-1336.
$13.49-D
How to
Do Plays with Children, an Evan-Moor publication. This is a comprehensive
resource book on doing dramatic productions with children that tells you
absolutely everything you need to know. It covers drama across the curriculum,
planning, organizing, costuming, scenery, and scripts. It includes Readers
Theater short skits and full-length plays. You can use the plays as they are
written, as choral verse, as reading assignments, as the basis of student
rewrites (to fit another time period, culture, or area), or as a model for
writing original plays.
Some of the plays, those in Part 2, can be
performed as "headband plays" where headbands are the only costumes. Directions
are given for making the headbands. These are literature based and it appears
the script is the book being read, with the characters coming to life in time to
recite their parts. Most of the stories will be familiar to children or can be
read and learned in the classroom. They include Henny Penny, The Three Little
Kittens, The City Mouse and the Country Mouse, The Gingerbread man, The Three
Little Pigs, The Lion and the Mouse, Caps for Sale, The Three Billy Goats Gruff,
The Little Red Hen, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. These plays are more
like play activities that can be rather spontaneous and a way to see how well
children have comprehended the story a play is based on.
Part 3 consists of rhyming plays and
take-home practice scripts are provided, as well as a reproducible invitation
and play program. These plays include Mother Goose is Loose, The Little Red Hen,
Goldilocks and the Three Bears, A Flea on Santa's Tree (Christmas), and Spring
Starts Here (for Groundhog's Day).
Part 4 has plays based on favorite folk
tales, and they have enough parts for everyone in the class to have one -- up to
30 students. These include Things Could be Worse, The Magic Pasta Pot, and The
Shoemaker and the Elves.
Part 5 consists of Reader's Theater Scripts
where students can read their parts rather than memorizing them. These include
Cave Pet, Do You Know About Whales?, The Gigantic Rutabaga (folktale of Russia),
The Right Way to Ride a Donkey (folktale of Nigeria), and The Three Brothers and
the Singing Toad (A Folktale of Mexico).
The last page has suggestions for creating your own plays.
BTH-571. $25.92-D
Language and Thinking for Young Children
by Ruth Beechick (with
Jeannie Nelson) An oral language manual for parents and teachers of kindergarten and
primary children. Is ideal for helping children who have not yet learned to read grow in
their language skills to lay the foundation for writing later on. $7.15-D
 Learn
to Listen, Listen to Learn by Jennifer Loughton. Educational
Impressions, 2007. This book is focused on teaching active listening as a
language function: its processes, its importance in communication, its role in
critical thinking and evaluation, and its relationship to speaking. Reproducible
lessons are divided into three sections: Listening and Communicating, Ways of
Listening, and Being a Better Listener. Included in the lessons are such things
as motivation in learning to listen, levels of listening, critical listening,
reflective listening, discerning the feelings behind words, and much more.
Lesson material utilizes many types of materials and methods including
conversations, diagrams, self-quizzes, answering questions, even Shakespeare
quotes. Since answers are open-ended and will vary, there is no answer key.
Intended for grades 5-8 but could also be used with higher grades or even
adults. 56 pages.
BTH- 3878. $10.76-D
 Leveled
Read-Aloud Plays: U.S. Civic Holidays by J.M. Wolf. Scholastic, 2007.
The leveled speaking parts in these fun-to-read plays encourage students with a
range of reading abilities to participate in class and comprehend it all. As
students read, review, and repeat their lines, they practice fluent oral
reading. At the same time, they learn the history and importance of five key
holidays: Independence Day, Labor Day, Presidents' Day, Earth Day, and Memorial
Day. 80 pages. For grades 3-5. BTH-4218. $11.69-D
 Lights,
Camera, Action! A Guide to Video Instruction and Production in the
Classroom , Revised Edition by Bruce Limpus. Prufrock Press, ©2002. This
book offers practical suggestions for those who would like to incorporate video
production into their curriculum. There is a beginning section on organizing and
producing a video project. This is followed by suggestions on making a number of
different kinds of video projects, including television commercials, soap
operas, documentaries, television news, and more. A glossary of helpful terms is
found at the end, along with information on story boards. Over 90 pages. BTH-1465. $17.76-D
 Plays that Teach: Plays, Activities, and Songs with a
Message by Judy Truesdell Mecca. Incentive Publications, 1992. This
resource book of plays offers both flexibility and creative fun. If you want
every member of the class to participate, there are choruses and optional
speaking parts. Or you can have a smaller cast if you prefer. Each original play
has a gentle lesson: "You Can Do It" encourages children to aim for the career
they want, regardless of gender. "It's Not Too Late" encourages conservation and
preservation of the environment. "Rusty the Red Bear" deals gently with the
issue of prejudice. "What a World" encourages children to take pleasure in the
simple magic of each day. "Edward and the Kitemaker" encourages children to
develop their own special talents, regardless of what others think is more
"cool." "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise" teaches health principles and practices as
well as compassion. Each play is about half an hour in length to perform.
Each play has notes for the teacher or director with suggestions
for costumes and props that do not require much in the way of time or money.
There are simple lessons in theatrical terms and staging and original songs to
turn each play into a musical. Along with each play there are activities to help
children develop vocabulary, discussion, and writing skills. 95 pages. BTH-3023.
$10.76-D
Public
Speaking: A Student Guide by Katharine P. O'Neal. This book is ideal for
any 4-8 grade student who needs to present an oral report. It contains the
basics of public speaking in an easy-to-understand format. Topics covered
include getting organized, preparing a great opener, using visual aids, getting
the audience involved, and being confident. This is a book, not a reproducible
teacher book. BTH-572. $9.86-D
 Public
Speaking for Kids, by Charlotte Jaffe and
Barbara Doherty. Published by Educational Impressions. If you've been looking for a
practical way to teach public speaking skills to children in grades 4-8, this is it. The
reproducible activities and lessons presented here teach the basic elements of good
speaking, and how to put them into practice. Students will learn how to use their voices
properly, and how to use eye contact, body language and facial expressions to enhance
their presentations. There are tips for preparing oral presentations, an evaluation
checklist and a chance to practice impromptu speaking with the Pick a Prompt activity.
Then students will move on to a greater variety of speaking experiences, formal and
informal, and they will learn to write speeches and prepare for oral assignments
correctly. As a culminating activity, students will research important sites within their
community and develop talks about these places so they may act as "tour guides,"
taking their audience on a journey "all around the town." This is a great
resource for speech classes and clubs. 64 pages. Cat. #BTH-036. $10.56-D
Read-Aloud
Plays: The Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid Three Classics Adapted Into Engaging
Plays Plus Background and Activities Just for Middle Schoolers by Gwen
Bowers. Scholastic, 2007. Friendship, suffering, betrayal, adventure themes that
motivate middle schoolers to read take center stage in three plays that capture
the most widely read epics by Homer and Virgil. This resource has everything
teachers need to introduce each classic story: a short play written for
middle-school readers, background information, vocabulary, activities, and
quizzes. Each play contains more than twenty speaking parts, giving all students
an opportunity to participate. 80 pages. For grades 5 and up. BTH-4219. $11.69-D
 Readers' Theater: A Steck-Vaughn publication.
For grades 3-6. Contains four plays. Each contains 8-10 student parts per play. There are
multiple reading levels in each play so that all students can participate. There is both a
teacher's guide and a list of extension activities for each play. Here are the plays:
"Joey's Private War": Joey becomes a spy to
get valuable information to American forces.
"The Tomorrow Radio": A radio begins picking
up reports from the next day's events.
"The Disappearing Change": Being invisible
can be a problem.
"The Field Trip": A class field trip becomes
a lesson in Native American History.
Cat. # SV-61753. $10.79-D
 Readers'
Theater II, by Steck Vaughn, for upper elementary and middle grades.
These seven plays (four serious and three humorous) allow students of varying
reading levels to participate together. The plays have parts for eight to
thirteen characters, with reading levels from grades 2-6. No costumes or props
are needed. These plays give students a reason to reread text and practice
fluency. There are also five poems included for choral reading: "Changed" by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, "The Lamplighter" by Robert Louis Stevenson, "Eldorado"
by Edgar Allan Poe, "Invictus" by William Ernest Henley, and "Three Wise
Women" by Elizabeth T. Corbett.
Before each play is a two-page guide for the teacher. It
includes a cast of characters with the reading level for each specified. It also
has a play summary, a vocabulary list with pages indicated where words are used,
and discussion questions for use before the play is performed. A "Thinking it
Over" section offers questions to discuss on the content of the play. There are
hints for minor props and sound effects to be used in two types of presentations
-- radio play and classroom play. There are also extension activities for use
with each play. The book has limited reproduction rights for classroom use.
These plays will help students improve fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary.
BTH-2410. $15.29-D
Reader's Theater and So Much More by Brenda and Tom McGee.
McGee-Keiser Academic Enrichment Programs, 2006. This book is written for grades
2–6, and contains plays, skits, and independent research activities with an
innovative twist for differentiated instruction. This high-interest book of
humorous skits and plays is a jumping-off place for research and creativity for
students of all ability levels.
Each of the plays comes with suggestions for differentiating and extending the
lesson’s content. These plays not only provide a legitimate reason for students
to reread text and practice fluency, but they also promote cooperative
interaction with peers. Subjects of the plays range from Aesop's Fables to pets,
transportation, rain forest ecosystems, biographies, oceanography, tolerance,
fossils, Civil War, and more. A couple of choral readings are also included. 112
pages. BTH-4533. $17.99-D
 Readers'
Theater for Primary Grades, a Steck-Vaughn publication, 2005. For grades
1-3. These 12 plays allow students of varying reading levels to participate
together. Reading levels for parts vary from grades 1.1 to 3.9. These plays give
students a reason to reread text and practice fluency. The themes of the plays
include well-known folktales, realistic stories, and nonfiction selections.
Before each play is a two-page guide for the teacher. It includes a cast of
characters with the reading level for each specified. It also has a play
summary, a vocabulary list with pages indicated where words are used, and
discussion questions for use before the play is performed. There are directions
for minor props. Each play targets a specific verbal skill. There are also
extension activities for use with each play. Three comprehension activities also
follow each play. The book has limited reproduction rights for classroom use.
These plays will help students improve fluency, comprehension, and vocabulary.
176 pages. BTH-2567. $15.29-D
 Reading,
Writing, and Workshopping Plays by Susan Battye. Educational
Impressions, 2007. This resource for grades 5-8 is valuable for any teacher who
wants to introduce his students to reading, writing, and performing plays. it
could probably be effectively used with even higher grades. First it encourages
the class reading of a student-selected one-act play which is then discussed.
Then a wide reading of other plays is suggested. Then the conventions of
playwriting and the theater are reviewed. Students are then encouraged to write
their own plays and they are taught how. They learn about text and sub-text,
theme, style and genre, staging, character, plot, theatrical conventions, and
preparing the script. Many helpful worksheets are provided, including a Play
Overview and a Playwriting Self-Assessment Sheet. 52 pages. Reproducible for
classroom use. BTH-3856. $10.56-D
 Real-Life Drama
for Real, Live Students: A Collection of Monologues, Duet Acting Scenes, and a
Full-Length Play by Judy Truesdell Mecca. Incentive, 1997. For
middle grades, Some might even be used with older students in a drama class.
Among the selection are a historical monologue for a girl on Susan B. Anthony, a
historical duet about Coretta Scott King and Martin Luther King, a historical
monologue for a boy on Watergate, a historical duet for a boy and girl on
Pocahontas and John Smith, a full-length play on Cinderella to perform for
younger children, and a variety of other humorous and dramatic selections. All
selections will be of interest to middle school students and add a bit of fun to
English, history, speech, and drama classes. 111 pages. BTH- 3158. $11.66
Short Plays, a Steck-Vaughn series featuring
two-page plays for two students. There are 25 plays in all, and they are reproducible for
classroom use.$7.16-D each
Short Plays, Grades 2-3: Each
of the six units has several plays. Here are the unit themes: Adventures; The Flying
Saucer; Lost in the Woods; Friends and Food; Detectives; and How Strange. Cat # SV-83927
Smart Speaking: 60-Scond Strategies for More Than 100
Speaking Problems and Fears by Laurie Schloff and Marcia Yudkin.
Penguin, 1992. This book will help you handle all the problems you have in
communicating orally with others, whether it be talking on the phone,
interacting at meetings, making a presentation, being nervous before giving a
speech, not liking how your voice sounds, handling and giving criticism,
breaking dates, knowing what to say during an awkward moment, working though
communication problems, and much more. You will find solutions to over 100 oral
communication problems that almost everyone has to face at one time or another
at home, at work, and in personal relationships. This book has a remainder mark
(black marker line on bottom edge). 242 pages. BTH-3881. $5.93-B
 So
to Speak: Storytelling, Improvization [sic], Role-Playing, and More! by
Peter Alford. Educational Impressions, 2007. The aim of the activities in this
book is to develop students' ability to think creatively and critically using
verbal language. The exercises promote growth in the following areas: formal or
conventional speech; improvised and impromptu speech; questioning; reporting and
describing; directing; and reasoning. A number of techniques are provided for
teaching the skills; roleplay and dramatization; problem solving;
improvisations; story telling; group discussion and working in pairs;
announcements; commentary; viewing; broadcasting; instructing; conversations;
prepared talks; arguments and debates; interviews; describing; listing; and
embellishing. Poster pages show (1)How to be an effective speaker and (2) How to
be an effective listener. There are 45 exercises in all. Each has four parts:
the activity focus, preparation, activity instructions, and activity extensions.
Student pages are reproducible for classroom use. 112 pages. BTH-3857. $14.36-D
 Speakers' Club: A complete
developmental program from Dandy Lion which prepares young people to become confident
speakers. It includes lessons, student information, and evaluation forms for making
introductions, doing oral reports, writing a speech, mastering speaking techniques, and
delivering a polished presentation. Reproducible. Cat.# BTH-585. $9.86-D
 Using
Drama in the Classroom by Susan Battye. Educational Impressions,
2007. This book is designed to help beginning drama students in grades 5-8 build
confidence. The book contains instructions for presenting nine skill-building
workshops in the following skill areas: improvisation, characterization, using
music, making an entrance and accepting applause, working with a script,
movement and dance, and performing for an audience. Student evaluation sheets
are included, as are teacher objectives and lesson plans. Student pages may be
reproduced for classroom use. 48 pages. $10.76-D |
