Such was the power of those public library visits. The student playing Henry disappears within it during Scene 4 and then discreetly exits while the curtains are closed. Same Difference by Calida Garcia Rawles (Grades 4-6). It shows we have a lot more work to do. Click on the Read Aloud Plays tab to uncover wonderful reader’s theater about Jackie Robinson, Claudette Colvin, the Greensboro Four, and others. All the plays are based on the given event–not it’s paired text (in most cases the play was published before the given book). One would be crazy to think that one single teacher could be the mouth piece for an entire district. We Shall Overcome—the Birmingham Children’s Crusade an incident this past week in Washington D.C. Great Reader’s Theater for Martin Luther King Day. The play is based on an incident from Wright’s youth in which he was denied access to the public library due to his race. All content © Crafting Connections • Template by Georgia Lou Studios • Blog Design by Chalk & Apples Design. When my mom bought me a drafting set one Christmas, I became a master with a t-square and determined to become an architect myself. I originally wrote this script for Storyworks, where it appeared in October of 2001. I won’t... Read Aloud West Virginia has received a sizeable number of Neighborhood Investment Program (NIP) Tax... Read Aloud West Virginia has received a sizeable number of Neighborhood Investment Program (NIP) Tax Credits. They’re in my library all of the time, for my students to read any month of the year, but I pull them out for lessons and read alouds in February to celebrate Black History Month, and all that these men and women did to shape our country. This Black History read aloud introduces children to the first African American woman astronaut, Dr. Mae Jemison. Digital activities are great to further reinforce content you want your students to learn, while keeping them engaged! ( Log Out /  The Girl Who Got Arrested tells the story of Claudette Colvin, the first person to be arrested for refusing to relinquish her seat on a Montgomery city bus. Perhaps that’s what inspired me to produce my latest Read Aloud Play, The Library Card. The speaker suggested people will seek information when they need it. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom is a poetic tribute to the strength and devotion of Harriet Tubman. In all cases, $3.50 gives the original purchaser reproduction rights to copy a full class set each year for use in his or her own classroom. In addition to a new look with original illustrations, Storyworks subscribers get treated to a host of top-notch CCSs comprehension activities via Scholastic’s web-based library, which didn’t exist when many of my plays originally appeared ten to twenty years ago. like to thank our amazing Racial Justice Committee Members for suggesting such Today, I wanted to share some books with y’all that I have come to LOVE having in my classroom. Not sure where to begin? And so for the 21 teaching days of February, I pulled 21 picture books, each featuring, perhaps, a story of someone that my students may not have heard of it. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. I love finding books that appeal to students, while teaching them about different cultures. I’m hoping you find a title or two from this list that you’ve never seen before! Coincidentally, my TpT version of Box Brown, along with many of my other original plays, have also gone through updates that added comprehension activities and improved formatting, so you’re in luck either way. History’s lens caught private school students from Kentucky apparently harassing Native American Nathan Phillips. Learning about figures who look like them, speak like them, feel things they feel, etc – is so important! This one in particular is probably my favorite biography of this inspiring man. Snag my Martin Luther King Jr. Digital Freebie here! Information is at our fingertips, he suggested, so there’s no point in dwelling on it in class. This charming, upbeat books begs to be read aloud! Beyond the positive role modeling and the physical bonding that takes place, we are stimulating imagination, enriching vocabulary, building listening skills, and whetting an appetite for a love of reading." To preview or purchase, just click on a cover and you’ll be taken to my storefront at TeachersPayTeachers. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. Plus, I LOVE narrative biography books so this unit is one of my favorites! Clearly, these folks never developed that library culture. This book encourages children to enact the principles of Dr. King’s legacy into their own lives. They typically come with comprehension activities developed around the CCSs, and they include reproduction and performance rights. Consequently, it’s essential that certain subjects—history especially—be taught explicitly. I consider it my most beautiful play. January and February are traditionally the months in which we teach content related to the Civil Rights Movement and our African-American heritage. and highlight the beauty of the black experience. To preview or purchase, just click on a cover and you’ll be taken to my storefront at TeachersPayTeachers. Read Aloud teamed up with the YWCA Charleston Racial Justice Program to bring you ten children’s books to try for Black History Month. What Color is My World honors the ingenuity and determination shown by these inventors to make our world a better place. Freedom for the First Time—the Day of Jubilee—the end of the Civil War The Library Card, meanwhile, can be paired with original text from Richard Wright’s autobiography Black Boy (for mature students) or the picture book entitled Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller (younger students). Still not sure? But “Box” isn’t the only reader’s theater title suitable for celebrating Black History Month. Even if you’re teaching in the Southern U.S.—where the dialect might not be so unique—there remain many compelling reasons to teach with this play. This book features a local legend Katherine Goble Johnson, a native of West Virginia and a West Virginia State University alumna. There are also sound academic reasons to enact plays such as Box Brown’s Freedom Crate. For ... Here’s a checklist to build — or strengthen — your family’s reading habits By Dawn Miller Charles Du... Here’s a checklist to build — or strengthen — your family’s reading habits By Dawn Miller Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, writes that habits have three parts – a cue, a routine and a rew... At the end of every school year, we ask our volunteer readers to tell us about their experience and ... At the end of every school year, we ask our volunteer readers to tell us about their experience and share some books that worked well in their classrooms. We would also Read Aloud teamed up with the YWCA Charleston Racial Justice Program to bring you ten children’s books to try for Black History Month. Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford (Grades 1-3). And because these plays are based on real events, they’ll also satisfy CCSS Informational Text #6. Other great resources that help me plan and think of what I can explore with students. And don’t underestimate the significance of Jackie’s struggle to the Civil Right Movement. Students, performing a Dr. King inspired school project, learn about the adversity Dr. King faced and his hope for an equal society. The large cardboard box we use as the main prop is one reason It’s painted to look like an old-fashioned shipping crate and is just big enough for a moderately-sized fifth grader to climb inside. And Ruby herself, nearly forty years later, revisited it in her stunning book, Through My Eyes. The brain science behind this repetition suggests it actually forms the neural pathways that make reading possible. This is how it should be every year in my classroom. It tells the story of African-American author Richard Wright’s relationship with the library. The Best Black History Month Read Alouds You May Not Have Read Note: This post contains affiliate links. I also Dewey-decimaled my way into the architecture section upstairs, pouring over books about drafting and design. It provides a detailed look at each of four African-American History plays including the first few pages of each and a glimpse of the accompanying comprehension activities. As they do every year, my fifth graders will be learning and presenting three of these plays over the coming months as they learn about the importance and significance of the Civil Rights Crusade for all of us. ( Log Out /  That means each pairing represents distinctly unique points of view (Literature CCSS #6), making for livelier discussions and quality comparisons (CCSS Lit #7). Celebrate Martin Luther King’s legacy and teach his core values with any of a number of plays available on my storefront at TpT. Note: This post contains affiliate links. Each includes a comprehension activity, too, assuring your students will satisfy numerous other standards as well. And because almost all my plays were originally commission by and published in Scholastic’s Storyworks and Scope magazines, they’ve been professionally vetted, making them the best reader’s theater on the market. Click HERE to download the writing worksheet. We really need to start viewing this as the Age of Disinformation, which means the facts matter more than ever. Consider this picture of a mob beating Freedom Riders in Birmingham in 1961. Like all my plays, they come with detailed teaching notes and comprehension activities.