Mother Goose Readers Theatre for Beginning Readers

MOTHER GOOSE READERS

THEATRE FOR BEGINNING

READERS

RE CENT TI TLES IN TEACHER IDEAS PRESS’

READ ERS THEA TRE SE RIES

Sci ence Fic tion Read ers Thea treAn thony D. Fredericks

From the Page to the Stage: The Ed u ca tor’s Com plete Guide to Read ers Thea treShirlee Sloyer

Sim ply Shake speare: Read ers Thea tre for Young Peo pleEd ited by Jennifer L. Kroll

Char ac ter Counts! Pro mot ing Char ac ter Ed u ca tion Through Read ers Thea tre, Grades 2–5Charla Rene Pfeffinger

Sea Songs: Read ers Thea tre from the South Pa cificJames W. Barnes

Judge for Your self: Fa mous Amer i can Tri als for Read ers Thea treSu zanne I. Barchers

Just Deal with It! Funny Read ers Thea tre for Life’s Not-So-Funny Mo mentsDi ana R. Jenkins

How and Why Sto ries for Read ers Thea treJudy Wolfman

Born Sto ry tell ers: Read ers Thea tre Cel e brates the Lives and Lit er a ture of Clas sic Au thorsAnn N. Black

Around the World Through Hol i days: Cross Cur ric u lar Read ers Thea treWrit ten and Il lus trated by Carol Pe ter son

Wings of Fancy: Us ing Read ers Thea tre to Study Fan tasy GenreJoan Gar ner

Non fic tion Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ersAn thony D. Fredericks

MOTHER GOOSE

READERS THEATRE FOR

BEGINNING READERS

An thony D. Fredericks

Read ers Thea tre

An im print of Li brar ies Un lim ited Westport, Con nect i cut • Lon don

Li brary of Con gress Cat a log ing-in-Pub li ca tion Data

Fredericks, An thony D. Mother Goose read ers thea tre for be gin ning read ers / An thony D. Fredericks. p. cm. — (Read ers thea tre) In cludes bib lio graph i cal ref er ences and in dex. ISBN-13: 978-1-59158-500-8 (alk. pa per) ISBN-10: 1-59158-500-7 (alk. pa per) 1. Read ers’ the ater. 2. Drama in ed u ca tion. 3. Chil dren’s plays. 4. Mother Goose. 5. Ac tiv ity pro grams in ed u ca tion. I. Ti tle. PN2081.R4F742 2007 372.66—dc22 2006103023

Brit ish Li brary Cat a logu ing in Pub li ca tion Data is avail able.

Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks

All rights re served. No part of this book may be re pro duced in any form or by any elec tronic or me chan i calmeans, in clud ing in for ma tion stor age and re trieval sys tems, with out per mis sion in writ ing from the pub lisher, ex -cept by a re viewer, who may quote brief pas sages in a re view. An ex cep tion is made for in di vid ual li brar i ans anded u ca tors who may make cop ies of por tions of the scripts for class room use. Re pro duc ible pages may be cop iedfor class room and ed u ca tional pro grams only. Per for mances may be vid eo taped for school or li brary pur poses.

Li brary of Con gress Cat a log Card Num ber: 2006103023ISBN: 978-1-59158-500-8

First pub lished in 2007

Li brar ies Un lim ited/Teacher Ideas Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881A Mem ber of the Green wood Pub lish ing Group, Inc.www.lu.com

Printed in the United States of Amer ica

The pa per used in this book com plies with the Per ma nent Pa per Stan dard is sued by the Na tionalIn for ma tion Stan dards Or ga ni za tion (Z39.48–1984).

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To Judy Wolfman—for all the laugh ter, lit er a ture, and won der ful

Once Upon a Time times!

Con tentsCon tentsCon tents

Pref ace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

Ac knowl edg ments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi

In tro duc tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii

Pre sen ta tion Sug ges tions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Bo nus Fea tures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi

Ref er ences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv

Part IRead ing Level, First Grade

Old Mac don ald. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3El Viejo Mac Don ald

Twin kle, Twin kle Lit tle Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Titila, Titila Pequeña Estrella

Humpty Dumpty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Lit tle Miss Muffet. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

The Cat and the Fid dle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Three Blind Mice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39Uno, Dos, Abrocha Mi Zapato

Pat-a-Cake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Hick ory, Dickory Dock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51Jicori, Dicori, Doc

There Was an Old Woman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Lit tle Jack Hor ner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Rub-a-Dub-Dub . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

vii

Part IIRead ing Level, Sec ond Grade

Baa, Baa, Black Sheep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Ba, Ba, Oveja Negra

Pease Por ridge Hot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

To Mar ket. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

One for the Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Lit tle Boy Blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Pequeño Niño Azul

Sing a Song of Six pence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Here We Go Round the Mul berry Bush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Old King Cole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117El Viejo Rey Col

Lit tle Bo-Peep . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Pe ter Pump kin-Eater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Mary Had a Lit tle Lamb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134María Tenía un Pequeño Cordero

Pe ter Piper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

In ter est ing Facts about Mother Goose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Re sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Teacher Re sources by An thony D. Fredericks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

In dex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

viii Con tents

Pref aceThis Rhymin’ Teacher

(sung to “This Lit tle Piggy”)

This rhymin’ teacher read po etry.This rhymin’ teacher sang a song.This rhymin’ teacher made mu sic.This rhymin’ teacher danced along.

And all their stu dents cried,“Hur ray! Hur ray! Hur ray!”

All the day long!

Mother Goose rhymes have been a sta ple of chil dren’s lit er a ture ever since they were first pub -lished in sev en teenth-cen tury France. For many chil dren they are their ear li est in tro duc tion to theplay ful ness of lan guage—the flow, me ter, and ca dence of words and phrases. Mother Goose rhymesin vite chil dren to ac tively par tic i pate by sing ing, clap ping, or jump ing up and down to the rhythm ofa jin gle:

One, two, buckle my shoe.Three, four, knock at the door.

Five, six, pick up sticks.Seven, eight, lay them straight.

Nine, ten, a good fat hen.

Rhym ing is a fa mil iar as pect of most Mother Goose verses. Of ten the rhyme pat terns aresilly—a fea ture that in di cates to chil dren the fun that can be had with words. Other times the rhym -ing pat terns en cour age lis ten ers to cre ate their own words or end ings to lines—a fur ther in duce mentto be ac tive par tic i pants in the tell ing of a story.

Al lit er a tion is an other fa mil iar fea ture of Mother Goose rhymes. The rep e ti tion of ini tial con so -nant sounds is one of the ear li est pho ne mic aware ness skills chil dren mas ter, and with Mother Goose rhymes they can hear those re pet i tive sounds in ac tion:

Pe ter Piper picked a peck of pick led pep pers;A peck of pick led pep pers Pe ter Piper picked.

If Pe ter Piper picked a peck of pick led pep pers,Where’s the peck of pick led pep pers Pe ter Piper picked?

Cer tainly, one of the most en dear ing qual i ties of Mother Goose rhymes is their overt hu mor.Char ac ters fall down hills, bring farm an i mals to school, stick their thumbs into pastry prod ucts, andleap over ce les tial ob jects. The sit u a tions are ri dic u lous, ex ag ger ated, and sim ply silly—just the kind of hu mor young kids love!

ix

This book of fers be gin ning read ers a par tic i pa tory ap proach to the wide and won der ful world of Mother Goose rhymes. It is based on the idea that when stu dents are pro vided with mean ing ful op -por tu ni ties to make an “in vest ment in self” in their ed u ca tion, that ed u ca tion will be come both rel e -vant and dy namic. Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers pres ents read ers thea trescripts that stim u late chil dren to be come ac tive par tic i pants in pop u lar and fa mil iar rhymes. Stu dents will ex am ine tales, ex plore sto ries, and in ves ti gate cher ished rhymes that are sta ples of their early lit -er ary ex pe ri ences. In short, stu dents will en act Mother Goose rhymes that are en gag ing, de light ful,and full of fun!

Within these pages is a dy namic va ri ety of cre ative learn ing pos si bil i ties for your class room.Here, your stu dents will dis cover an ex cit ing cor nu co pia of mind-ex pand ing and con cept-build ingex pe ri ences—ex pe ri ences that will en gage and ex cite them as be gin ning read ers. Just as im por tant—your stu dents will par tic i pate in pos i tive learn ing ex pe ri ences that can serve as a strong foun da -tion for ad di tional lit er ary ex plo ra tions in pho ne mic aware ness, pho nics, flu ency, vo cab u lary, andcom pre hen sion de vel op ment.

So, be pre pared for lots of ac tion, lots of drama, and lots of fun!

A teacher—Miss MuffetSat on her tuffet,

Watch ing a Mother Goose play.The chil dren were joy ous:

All the girls and the boy-us,And they all had a great learn ing day!

—Tony FredericksPref ace

x Pref ace

Ac knowl edg ments

Through out this ex traor di nary lit er ary ven ture, I have been sup ported and en cour aged by manyin di vid u als. They each de serve a thun der ous round of ap plause, a pleth ora of “high fives,” and ashower of rau cous cheers!

I am es pe cially in debted to Mallori Gillespie, who worked un der an ex tremely tight dead line topro vide the Span ish trans la tions for sev eral des ig nated scripts. Her en thu si asm for this pro ject is sin -cerely ap pre ci ated and val ued. She made sure each and ev ery script main tained its hu mor, theme,and in tent. Thank you, Mallori!

I am equally in debted to Dolka Lugo, who me tic u lously checked and ver i fied the ac cu racy ofthe Span ish trans la tions. Her con tri bu tions are equally val ued!

To my long time friends and col leagues—Paula Gilbert and Judy Wolfman—who were co-part ners with me in an ex traor di nary pro gram of chil dren’s books, sto ry tell ing, and mag i cal in ter ac -tions with underserved ur ban young sters, I am par tic u larly grate ful. Their con tin u ing sup port andenor mous en ergy are al ways trea sured . . . al ways cel e brated. They truly bring life to lit er a ture andlit er a ture to life.

And, to all the teach ers through out Can ada, Mex ico, and the United States who have used mypre vi ous read ers thea tre books in your class rooms—thank you! The en ergy you have shared and thesto ries your stu dents have told are trea sured mem o ries of this fan tas tic lit er ary ven ture—a jour ney of won drous pos si bil i ties and a voy age of in cred i ble imag i na tion.

xi

In tro duc tionIn tro duc tionIn tro duc tion

Once upon a time, in 1997, I wrote a teacher re source book called Tad pole Tales and Other To -tally Ter rific Treats for Read ers Thea tre (Teacher Ideas Press)—a book that was spe cif i cally de -signed for teach ers in grades 1–3 (all of the scripts were con trolled for read abil ity). That book was acol lec tion of “wild and wacky” read ers thea tre scripts that were ad ap ta tions of fa mil iar rhymes andtra di tional fairy tales. Ti tles of some of the scripts in that book included:

v “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe. Three, Four, Mommy Can Snore”

v “Goldilocks and the Three Ham sters”

v “The Big Bad Pig and the Three Lit tle Wolves”

v “Lit tle Bo-Peep Has Lost Her Sheep and All Her Lunch Money, Too”

v “Old King Cole Was a Merry Old Soul Un til He Had to Do His Math Home work”

That book found its way into thou sands of pri mary-level class rooms and li brary pro gramsaround the coun try. Teach ers would use it as a ma jor part of their lan guage arts pro gram. Li brar i answould buy it and use it to in tro duce clas sic sto ries as part of their reg u lar li brary of fer ings. It soon be -came a pop u lar and much-loved part of chil dren’s ini tial in tro duc tions to literature and learning.

Let ters, e-mails, and com ments I re ceived from ed u ca tors across the coun try at tested to the un -be liev able joy that came about when read ers thea tre was made part of class room and li brary ex pe ri -ences. Typ i cally, those mes sages cel e brated three spe cific ben e fits of readers theatre:

1. Flu ency—“I re ally like the way read ers thea tre pro vides my first grade stu dents with pos i tivemod els of lan guage use that help build bridges be tween word rec og ni tion and com pre hen sion.”

2. In te grated lan guage arts—“When chil dren (dur ing li brary time) par tic i pate in read ers thea -tre they can un der stand and ap pre ci ate the in ter re la tion ships be tween read ing, writ ing, lis ten -ing, and speak ing . . . and literature!”

3. Eng lish Lan guage Learn ers—“My ELL stu dents ben e fit from read ers thea tre be cause theycan see and hear lan guage in ac tion as well as the var i ous ways in which Eng lish is used—byme and the other students.”

With the suc cess of Tad pole Tales . . . , it was n’t too long be fore teach ers and li brar i ans wouldap proach me at con fer ences and teacher in-ser vice pre sen ta tions ask ing for a new vol ume of read ersthea tre scripts. They not only re quested scripts that could be used with be gin ning read ers, but wereequally in ter ested in scripts that cel e brated clas sic lit er a ture—spe cif i cally Mother Goose rhymes.Thus was born the idea for this book.

xiii

WHAT IS READERS THEATRE?Read ers thea tre is a sto ry tell ing de vice that stim u lates the imag i na tion and pro motes all of the

lan guage arts. Sim ply stated, it is an oral in ter pre ta tion of a piece of lit er a ture read in a dra maticstyle. Read ers thea tre is an act of in volve ment, an op por tu nity to share, a time to cre atively in ter actwith oth ers, and a per sonal in ter pre ta tion of what can be or could be. Read ers thea tre pro vides nu -mer ous op por tu ni ties for young sters to make sto ries and lit er a ture come alive and pul sate with theirown unique brand of per cep tion and vi sion. In so do ing, lit er a ture be comes per sonal and re flec tive— chil dren have a breadth of opportunities to be authentic users of language.

The magic of sto ry tell ing has been a tra di tion of ev ery cul ture and civ i li za tion since the dawn of lan guage. It binds hu man be ings and cel e brates their her i tage as no other lan guage art can. It is partand par cel of the hu man ex pe ri ence, be cause it un der scores the val ues and ex pe ri ences we cher ish aswell as those we seek to share with each other. No where is this more im por tant than in to day’s class -room. Per haps it is a nat u ral part of who we are—that sto ries com mand our at ten tion and help us ap -pre ci ate the val ues, ideas, and tra di tions we hold dear. So, too, should stu dents have those sameexperiences and those same pleasures.

Sto ry tell ing con jures up all sorts of vi sions and pos si bil i ties—far away lands, mag nif i cent ad -ven tures, en chanted princes, beau ti ful prin cesses, evil wiz ards and wicked witches, a few drag onsand de mons, a cou ple of cas tles and cot tages, per haps a mys te ri ous for est or two, and cer tainly talesof mys tery, in trigue, and ad ven ture. These are sto ries of tra di tion and time less ness, tales that en -chant, mys tify, and ex cite through a mar vel ous weav ing of char ac ters, set tings, and plots . . . talesthat have stood the test of time. Our senses are stim u lated, our men tal im ages are en er gized, and ourex pe ri ences are fortified through the magic of storytelling.

Sto ry tell ing is also a way of shar ing the power and in trigue of lan guage. I sup pose part of mybe lief that sto ry tell ing is the quint es sen tial class room ac tiv ity lies in the fact that it is an op por tu nityto bring life, vi tal ity, and sub stance to the two-di men sional let ters and words on a printed page. So,too, is it an in ter per sonal ac tiv ity—a “never-fail” way to con nect with minds and souls and hearts.

When chil dren are pro vided with reg u lar op por tu ni ties to be come sto ry tell ers, they de velop aper sonal stake in the lit er a ture shared. They also be gin to cul ti vate per sonal in ter pre ta tions of that lit -er a ture—in ter pre ta tions that lead to higher lev els of ap pre ci a tion and com pre hen sion. Prac tic ingand per form ing sto ries is an in volve ment en deavor—one that dem on strates and uti lizes nu mer ouslanguaging ac tiv i ties. So, too, do young sters learn to lis ten to their classmates and appreciate avariety of presentations.

READERS THEATRE AND FLUENCYOf no less im por tance is the sig nif i cance of read ers thea tre as a method to en hance read ing flu -

ency. Read ing re search ers have iden ti fied five pri mary ar eas of read ing in struc tion for all be gin ningread ers: pho ne mic aware ness, pho nics, flu ency, vo cab u lary, and com pre hen sion. When teach ersand li brar i ans in cor po rate read ers thea tre into their re spec tive pro grams, young sters are of fered mul -ti ple op por tu ni ties to, as one first-grade teacher put it, “understand the rhythm and flow oflanguage.”

Flu ency is the abil ity to read text ac cu rately and quickly. It’s read ing in which words are rec og -nized au to mat i cally. When flu ent read ers read, they group words quickly to help them gain mean ingfrom what they read. Their oral read ing sounds nat u ral and their si lent read ing is smooth and un en -cum bered by an over em pha sis on word-by-word anal y sis. Flu ent read ers are those who do not needto con cen trate on the de cod ing of words; rather, they can di rect their at ten tion to their com pre hen -sion of text. In short, flu ent read ers are able to rec og nize words and com pre hend them at the sametime. They are able to make con nec tions be tween their back ground knowl edge and ideas in a book or

xiv In tro duc tion

other piece of writ ing. I of ten like to think of flu ency as the es sen tial step ping stone betweenphonetic ability and comprehension.

It’s im por tant to re mem ber that flu ency is some thing that de vel ops over time. Flu ency in struc -tion must be in te grated into all as pects of the read ing pro gram as the “bridge” that stu dents need to be suc cess ful comprehenders. Flu ency is not an iso lated el e ment of the read ing cur ric u lum—rather, it is an es sen tial com po nent that mod els and pro vides ac tive in volve ment op por tu ni ties for stu dents asthey tran si tion from de cod ing to com pre hen sion. A re cent study by the Na tional As sess ment of Ed u -ca tional Prog ress (2001) found a di rect cor re la tion be tween flu ency and read ing com pre hen sion. Infact, stu dents who score low on mea sures of flu ency also score low on mea sures of com pre hen sion.The im pli ca tion was that ef forts de signed to fos ter flu ency de vel op ment will have a direct impact onstudents’ growth and development in comprehension.

Not sur pris ing, one of the most ef fec tive ways teach ers can pro mote flu ency de vel op -ment—par tic u larly for be gin ning read ers—is through the use of read ers thea tre. Its ad van tages aretwofold:

1. it of fers pos i tive mod els of flu ent read ing as dem on strated by a teacher or other ac com plishedread ers, and

2. it pro vides be gin ning read ers with a le git i mate rea son for re read ing text in an en joy able and en -gag ing format.

Stu dents get to prac tice flu ency in au then tic texts and in au then tic sit u a tions. Read ing is por -trayed as a plea sur able ac tiv ity—it has both pur pose and in ter est. As stu dents take on the roles ofchar ac ters, they also take on the roles of competent readers.

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF READERSTHEATRE?

I like to think of read ers thea tre as a way to in ter pret lit er a ture with out the con straints of skills,rote mem o ri za tion, or as sign ments. Read ers thea tre al lows chil dren to breathe life and sub stance into sto ries—an in ter pre ta tion that is col ored by kids’ unique per spec tives, ex pe ri ences, and vi sion. It is,in fact, the read ers’ in ter pre ta tion of an event that is in trin si cally more valu able than some pre de ter -mined and/or pre or dained “trans la tion” (some thing that might be found in a teacher’s manual orcurriculum guide, for example).

With that in mind, I’d like to share with you some of the many val ues I see in read ers thea tre:

v Read ers thea tre is a par tic i pa tory event. The char ac ters as well as the au di ence are all in ti -mately in volved in the de sign, struc ture, and de liv ery of the story. As such, chil dren be gin to re al ize that learn ing is not a sol i tary ac tiv ity, but one that can be shared and discussed withothers.

v Read ers thea tre stim u lates cu ri os ity and en thu si asm for learn ing. It al lows chil dren to ex pe -ri ence learn ing in a sup port ive and nonthreatening for mat that un der scores their activeinvolvement.

v Since it is the per for mance that drives read ers thea tre, chil dren are given more op por tu ni tiesto in vest them selves and their per son al i ties in the pro duc tion of a read ers thea tre. The samestory may be sub ject to sev eral dif fer ent pre sen ta tions de pend ing on the group or the in di -vid ual young sters in volved. As such, chil dren learn that read ers thea tre can be ex plored in ahost of ways and a host of possibilities.

In tro duc tion xv

v Read ers thea tre is in for mal and re laxed. It does not re quire elab o rate props, scen ery, or cos -tumes. It can be set up in any class room or li brary. It does not re quire large sums of money to “make it hap pen.” And, it can be “put on” in any kind of en vi ron ment—for mal or informal.

v Read ers thea tre stim u lates the imag i na tion and the cre ation of vi sual im ages. It has beensub stan ti ated that when young sters are pro vided with op por tu ni ties to cre ate their own men -tal im ages, their com pre hen sion and ap pre ci a tion of a piece of writ ing will be en hanced con -sid er ably. Since only a mo di cum of for mal props and “set up” are re quired for any read ersthea tre pro duc tion, the par tic i pants and au di ence are en cour aged to cre ate sup ple men tal“props” in their minds—props that may be more elab o rate and ex qui site than those found inthe most lavish of plays.

v Read ers thea tre en hances the de vel op ment of co op er a tive learn ing strat e gies. It re quiresyoung sters to work to gether to ward a com mon goal and sup ports their ef forts in do ing so.Read ers thea tre is not a com pet i tive ac tiv ity, but rather a co op er a tive one in which chil drenshare, dis cuss, and band to gether for the good of the production.

v Teach ers and li brar i ans have also dis cov ered that read ers thea tre is an ex cel lent way inwhich to en hance the de vel op ment of com mu ni ca tion skills. Voice pro jec tion, in to na tion,in flec tion, and pro nun ci a tion skills are all pro moted within and through out any readerstheatre production.

v The de vel op ment and en hance ment of self-con cept is fa cil i tated through read ers thea tre.Since chil dren are work ing in con cert with other chil dren in a sup port ive at mo sphere, theirself-es teem mush rooms ac cord ingly. Again, the em pha sis is on the pre sen ta tion, not nec es -sar ily the per form ers. As such, young sters have op por tu ni ties to de velop lev els of self-con -fi dence and self-as sur ance that would not nor mally be avail able in more traditional classproductions.

v Cre ative and crit i cal think ing are en hanced through the uti li za tion of read ers thea tre. Chil -dren are ac tive par tic i pants in the in ter pre ta tion and de liv ery of a story; as such, they de -velop think ing skills that are di ver gent rather than con ver gent, and in ter pre tive skills that are sup ported rather than directed.

v Read ers thea tre is fun! Chil dren of all ages have de lighted in us ing read ers thea tre for manyyears. It is de light ful and stim u lat ing, en cour ag ing and fas ci nat ing, rel e vant and per sonal.In deed, try as I might, I have not been able to lo cate a sin gle in stance (or group of chil dren)in which (or for whom) read ers thea tre would not be an ap pro pri ate learn ing ac tiv ity. It is astrat egy filled with a cor nu co pia of possibilities and promises.

Read ers thea tre holds the prom ise of “en er giz ing” your class room lan guage arts cur ric u lum,stim u lat ing your li brary pro gram, and fos ter ing an ac tive and deeper en gage ment of stu dents in allthe dy nam ics of books, lit er a ture, and read ing. For both class room teach ers and school li brar i ans, itsben e fits are enor mous and its implications endless.

Please check out the com pan ion book: Non fic tion Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers (Teacher Ideas Press, 2007).

xvi In tro duc tion

Pre sen ta tion Sug ges tionsPre sen ta tion Sug ges tionsPre sen ta tion Sug ges tions

It is im por tant to re mem ber that there is no sin gle way to pres ent read ers thea tre. What fol lowsare some ideas you and the young sters with whom you work may wish to keep in mind as you put onthe pro duc tions in this book—whether in a class room set ting or the school library.

PREPARING SCRIPTSPre par ing Scripts

One of the ad van tages of us ing read ers thea tre in the class room is the lack of ex tra work or prep -a ra tion time nec es sary to get “up and run ning.” By us ing the scripts in this book, your prep a ra tiontime is minimal.

v Af ter a script has been se lected for pre sen ta tion, make suf fi cient cop ies. A copy of the scriptshould be pro vided for each ac tor. In ad di tion, mak ing two or three ex tra cop ies (one for youand “re place ment” cop ies for scripts that are ac ci den tally dam aged or lost) is also a goodidea. Cop ies for the au di ence are un nec es sary and are not suggested.

v Each script can be bound be tween two sheets of col ored con struc tion pa per or poster board.Bound scripts tend to for mal ize the pre sen ta tion a lit tle and lend an air of pro fes sion al ism tothe actors.

v High light each char ac ter’s speak ing parts with dif fer ent color highlighter pens. This helpsyoung sters track their parts with out be ing dis tracted by the di a logue of others.

v Af ter du pli cat ing the nec es sary num ber of Eng lish/Span ish scripts (ac cord ing to the des ig -nated num ber of char ac ters), use a highlighter pen to high light all of the Eng lish lines or allof the Span ish lines (as ap pli ca ble) in each copy of the script. Then in struct the stu dents tofo cus solely on the blue lines (or green lines, or pink lines, etc.) in their read ing of the script.This will help keep them fo cused on just the Eng lish lines or Span ish lines (as appropriate).

STARTING OUTStart ing Out

In tro duc ing the con cept of read ers thea tre to your stu dents for the first time may be as sim ple asshar ing a script with the en tire class and “walk ing” young sters through the de sign and de liv ery ofthat script.

v Em pha size that a read ers thea tre per for mance does not re quire any mem o ri za tion of thescript. It’s the in ter pre ta tion and per for mance that count.

v You may wish to read through an en tire script aloud, tak ing on the var i ous roles. Let stu -dents know how easy and com fort able this pro cess is.

v En cour age se lected vol un teers to read as signed parts of a sam ple script to the en tire class.Read ers should stand or sit in a cir cle so that other class mates can ob serve them.

v Pro vide op por tu ni ties for ad di tional rereadings us ing other vol un teers. Plan time to dis cussthe ease of pre sen ta tion and the dif fer ent in ter pre ta tions of fered by different readers.

xviiFrom Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers by An thony D. Fredericks. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks.

v Read ers should have an op por tu nity to prac tice their script be fore pre sent ing it to an au di -ence. Take some time to dis cuss voice in to na tion, fa cial ges tures, body move ments, andother fea tures that could be used to en hance the presentation.

v Al low chil dren the op por tu nity to sug gest their own mod i fi ca tions, ad ap ta tions, or in ter pre -ta tions of the script. They will un doubt edly be “in tune” with the in ter ests and per cep tions of their peers and can of fer some dis tinc tive and per sonal interpretations.

v En cour age stu dents to se lect nonstereotypical roles within any read ers thea tre script. For ex -am ple, boys can take on fe male roles and girls can take on male roles, the small est per son inthe class can take on the role of a gi ant di no saur, a shy stu dent can take on the role of a boast -ful, brag ging gi ant. Pro vide suf fi cient op por tu ni ties for stu dents to ex pand and ex tend theirap pre ci a tion of read ers thea tre through a va ri ety of “out of character” roles.

STAGINGStag ing

Stag ing in volves the phys i cal lo ca tion of the read ers as well as any nec es sary move ments. Un -like a more for mal play, the move ments are of ten min i mal. The em pha sis is more on pre sen ta tionand less on action.

v For most pre sen ta tions, read ers will stand and/or sit on stools or chairs. The phys i cal lo ca -tion of each reader has been in di cated for each of the scripts in this book.

v If there are many char ac ters in the pre sen ta tion, it may be ad van ta geous to have char ac ters in the rear (up stage) stand ing while those in the front (downstage) are placed on stools orchairs. This en sures that the au di ence will both see and hear each actor.

v Usu ally all of the char ac ters will be on stage through out the du ra tion of the pre sen ta tion. Formost pre sen ta tions it is not nec es sary to have char ac ters en ter and exit the pre sen ta tion. Ifyou place the char ac ters on stools, they can face the au di ence when they are in volved in apar tic u lar scene and then turn around when ever they are not involved in a scene.

v You may wish to make sim ple hand-let tered signs with the name of each char ac ter. Loop apiece of string or yarn through each sign and hang it around the neck of each re spec tive char -ac ter. That way, the au di ence will know the iden tity of each char ac ter through out the pre sen -ta tion.

v Each reader will have her or his own copy of the script in a pa per cover (see above). If pos si -ble, use a mu sic stand for each reader’s script (this al lows read ers to use their hands for dra -matic in ter pre ta tions as nec es sary).

v Sev eral pre sen ta tions have a nar ra tor to set up the story. The nar ra tor serves to es tab lish theplace and time of the story for the au di ence so that the char ac ters can “jump into” their partsfrom the be gin ning of the story. Typ i cally, the nar ra tor is sep a rated from the other “ac tors”and can be iden ti fied by a simple sign.

xviii From Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers by An thony D. Fredericks. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks.

PROPSProps

Two of the pos i tive fea tures of read ers thea tre are its ease of prep a ra tion and its ease of pre sen -ta tion. In for mal ity is a hall mark of any read ers thea tre script.

v Much of the set ting for a story should take place in the au di ence’s mind. Elab o rate scen ery is not nec es sary—sim ple props are of ten the best. For example:

– A branch or pot ted plant can serve as a tree.

– A draw ing on the chalk board can il lus trate a build ing.

– A hand-let tered sign can des ig nate one part of the stag ing area as a par tic u lar scene (e.g.,swamp, cas tle, field, for est).

– Chil dren’s toys can be used for un com pli cated props (e.g., tele phone, ve hi cles, etc.).

– A sheet of alu mi num foil or a rem nant of blue cloth can be used to sim u late a lake or pond.

v Cos tumes for the ac tors are un nec es sary. A few sim ple items may be sug gested by stu dents.For ex am ple:

– Hats, scarves, or aprons can be used by ma jor char ac ters.

– A pa per cut out can serve as a tie, but ton, or badge.

– Old cloth ing (bor rowed from par ents) can be used as war ranted.

v Some teach ers and li brar i ans have dis cov ered that the ad di tion of ap pro pri ate back groundmu sic or sound ef fects can en hance a read ers thea tre presentation.

v It’s im por tant to re mem ber that the em pha sis in read ers thea tre is on the read ing—not on any ac com pa ny ing “fea tures.” The best pre sen ta tions are of ten the simplest.

DELIVERYDe liv ery

I’ve of ten found it ad van ta geous to let stu dents know that the only dif fer ence be tween a read ersthea tre pre sen ta tion and a movie role is the fact that they will have a script in their hands. This al lowsthem to fo cus more on pre sent ing rather than mem o riz ing a script.

v When first in tro duced to read ers thea tre, stu dents of ten have a ten dency to “read into” theirscripts. En cour age stu dents to look up from their scripts and in ter act with other char ac ters or the au di ence as necessary

v Prac tic ing the script be fore hand can elim i nate the prob lem of stu dents bury ing their heads in the pages. In so do ing, chil dren un der stand the need to in volve the au di ence as much as pos -si ble in the de vel op ment of the story.

v Voice pro jec tion and de liv ery are im por tant in al low ing the au di ence to un der stand char ac -ter ac tions. The proper mood and in tent needs to be es tab lished—as pects that are pos si blewhen chil dren are fa mil iar and com fort able with each character’s “style.”

v Again, the em pha sis is on de liv ery, so be sure to sug gest dif fer ent types of voice (e.g., an gry, ir ri tated, calm, frus trated, ex cited, etc.) that chil dren may wish to use for their par tic u larcharacter(s).

xixFrom Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers by An thony D. Fredericks. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS (ELL)Eng lish Lan guage Learn ers (ELL)

Chil dren who are learn ing Eng lish as a sec ond lan guage face nu mer ous chal lenges—chal -lenges that na tive speak ers sel dom en coun ter. For ex am ple, stu dents whose na tive lan guage is Span -ish pro nounce se lected let ters (es pe cially vow els) quite dif fer ently than Eng lish-speak ing chil dren.In Span ish, all the con so nants (with the ex cep tion of h) are sounded, whereas in Eng lish there aresev eral si lent con so nants (e.g., k as in knot, g as in gnu, w as in write).

Read ers thea tre of fers ELL stu dents a prac ti cal model of lan guage use—one that can help themmake the tran si tion from their na tive lan guage to Eng lish. Here are a few points to consider:

v For eight scripts in this book, there are Span ish ver sions. In vite your ELL stu dents to pres ent the Span ish ver sion of a script im me di ately af ter an “Eng lish pre sen ta tion.”

v In vite ELL stu dents to “teach” a Span ish ver sion of a script to non-Span ish-speak ing stu dents.

v Use the Span ish scripts as read-aloud op por tu ni ties for all stu dents. Af ter read ing a Span ishscript, read its Eng lish equiv a lent to students.

v Tape re cord se lected scripts (in Eng lish) and in vite ELL stu dents to fol low along with aprinted ver sion.

v Use words from the Eng lish scripts along with their equiv a lents from the Span ish scripts tocon struct bi lin gual flash cards and word walls for chil dren.

POST-PRESENTATIONPost-Pre sen ta tionPost-Pre sen ta tion

As a wise au thor once said, “The play’s the thing.” So it is with read ers thea tre. In other words, the mere act of pre sent ing a read ers thea tre script is com plete in and of it self. It is not nec es sary, or even re -quired, to do any type of for mal ized eval u a tion af ter read ers thea tre. Once again, the em pha sis is on in -for mal ity. Read ers thea tre should and can be a plea sur able and stim u lat ing ex pe ri ence for chil dren.

What fol lows are a few ideas you may want to share with stu dents. In do ing so, you will be pro -vid ing young sters with im por tant learn ing op por tu ni ties that ex tend and pro mote all as pects of yourlan guage arts program.

v Af ter a pre sen ta tion, dis cuss with stu dents how the script en hanced or al tered the orig i nalstory.

v In vite stu dents to sug gest other char ac ters who could be added to the script.

v In vite stu dents to sug gest new or al ter nate di a logue for var i ous char ac ters

v In vite stu dents to sug gest new or dif fer ent set ting(s) for the script.

v In vite stu dents to talk about their re ac tions to var i ous char ac ters’ ex pres sions, tone of voice,pre sen ta tions, or dialogues.

v Af ter a pre sen ta tion, in vite young sters to sug gest any mod i fi ca tions or changes needed inthe script.

Pre sent ing a read ers thea tre script need not be an elab o rate or ex ten sive pro duc tion. As chil dren be -come more fa mil iar and pol ished in us ing read ers thea tre, they will be able to sug gest a mul ti tude of pre -sen ta tion pos si bil i ties for fu ture scripts. It is im por tant to help chil dren as sume a mea sure of self-ini ti atedre spon si bil ity in the de liv ery of any read ers thea tre. In so do ing, you will be help ing to ensure their per -sonal en gage ment and ac tive par tic i pa tion in this most valu able of lan guage arts ac tiv i ties.

xx From Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers by An thony D. Fredericks. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks.

Bo nus Fea turesBo nus Fea turesBo nus Fea tures

This re source has been es pe cially de signed for class room teach ers, school li brar i ans, or read ing spe cial ists who work with be gin ning read ers; spe cif i cally young sters in grades 1–2. Teach ing chil -dren in these grades has al ways been a chal lenge, yet the op por tu ni ties for lit er acy growth and de vel -op ment are enor mous. Read ers thea tre has proven it self as one way you can help chil dren learnlan guage in con text in ad di tion to en hanc ing your overall reading or language arts program.

To help make your task of teach ing pri mary-level young sters a lit tle eas ier, sev eral bo nus fea -tures have been in cluded through out the book. Please con sider these as im por tant el e ments in the in -tro duc tion and use of read ers thea tre in your class room or library.

READABILITYRead abil ityRead abil ity

Each of the scripts in this book has been as sessed ac cord ing to its read abil ity—or its ap pro pri -ate ness for a spe cific read ing grade level. You will dis cover 12 scripts writ ten at the first-grade read -ing level and 12 scripts at the sec ond-grade level. The pri mary fac tors in de ter min ing the read abil ityof a script were sen tence length and av er age num ber of syl la bles per word. With this in mind, youwill be able to use scripts that are ap pro pri ate for the read ing level of an en tire class or for se lected in -di vid u als within a class. How ever, you should also feel free to use scripts from both levels with yourstudents.

SCRIPTS IN SPANISHScripts in Span ishScripts in Span ish

In each of the two parts of this book there are four Span ish scripts, each an ex act trans la tion ofthe Eng lish script in which it is in te grated (to tal, eight scripts). You are en cour aged to use thesescripts with both your ELL stu dents and your Eng lish-speak ing stu dents. In ad di tion to the sug ges -tions of fered above (in the “Eng lish Lan guage Learn ers (ELL)” sec tion), here are some ad di tionalideas you may wish to con sider re gard ing these specific scripts.

v Use se lected words from the Span ish scripts as “sight words” for your Eng lish-speak ing stu -dents. Post these on an ap pro pri ate bul le tin board.

v Pro vide stu dents with “mini-les sons” in Span ish to help them learn the lan guage of the ELLstu dents in the class.

v In vite Eng lish-speak ing stu dents to pres ent an “Eng lish” script to be fol lowed by the “Span -ish” equiv a lent im me di ately thereafter.

v Re verse the se quence of pre sen ta tion as de scribed above.

v In vite both Eng lish-speak ing and ELL stu dents to pres ent an Eng lish script. Fol low up byask ing se lected par ent vol un teers to pres ent the Span ish equiv a lent to the class.

v Re verse the se quence above by ask ing par ent vol un teers to pres ent an Eng lish script with astu dent fol low-up of the Span ish script.

xxiFrom Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers by An thony D. Fredericks. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks.

v In vite par ent vol un teers to make audiorecordings of both the Eng lish and Span ish scripts.Pro vide op por tu ni ties for stu dents to lis ten to these re cord ings in their free time.

v Pair up Eng lish-speak ing stu dents with ELL “bud dies” for in for mal tu tor ing ses sions us ingthe scripts in this book.

Please note that in trans lat ing the scripts from Eng lish to Span ish, the rhym ing pat terns of theMother Goose sto ries was lost. Please in di cate to your stu dents that the “mes sage” and fun of eachstory has been main tained in the Span ish scripts; how ever, the words used at the end of each line of aMother Goose tale do not rhyme (in Spanish).

PHONEMIC AWARENESSPho ne mic Aware ness

The re la tion ship be tween pho ne mic aware ness and read ing in struc tion is con sid er able. With out pro fi ciency in pho ne mic aware ness, chil dren may not have the nec es sary foun da tion for later read -ing com pe tency. Nu mer ous class room stud ies have con clu sively sup ported the fact that pho ne micaware ness is a nec es sary pre req ui site for learn ing to read. Ex po sure to the oral sounds of lan guagehelps chil dren pre pare for deal ing with the writ ten forms of lan guage. In ter est ingly, chil dren who re -ceive pho ne mic aware ness train ing in kin der gar ten and first grade do sig nif i cantly better on all mea -sures of for mal read ing achieve ment (through out their ed u ca tional careers) when compared withchildren who do not receive such training.

For each script in Part I (First Grade), there is one or more pho ne mic aware ness ac tiv i ties foryou to share with chil dren. They are of fered to help you ex tend learn ing op por tu ni ties for your stu -dents by es tab lish ing a sense of “com fort able ness” with the oral sounds of lan guage. These ac tiv i ties are de signed to en hance chil dren’s ex pe ri ences with spo ken lan guage—hear ing and rec og niz ingcer tain sounds, iden ti fy ing and un der stand ing the way sounds are se quenced in words, and not ingand learn ing about the role of phonemes in word construction.

Please keep in mind that pho ne mic aware ness in struc tion should be but one el e ment in an over -all lit er acy pro gram. The ac tiv i ties in this sec tion of each read ers thea tre script are de signed to of feryou an ar ray of learn ing pos si bil i ties for en gag ing stu dents in the play ful ness of lan guage. Here are afew ideas for your consideration:

• Keep the em pha sis on in for mal ity and play ful ness. Let chil dren know that pho ne mic aware -ness ac tiv i ties, just like the pre sen ta tion of read ers thea tre scripts, are a fun way to play withlanguage.

• Limit any in struc tion in pho ne mic aware ness to 15 min utes per day. There is suf fi cient re -search in di cat ing that any more time is nonproductive.

• Plan to share a wide va ri ety of pho ne mic aware ness ac tiv i ties with stu dents—as part of theirex pe ri ences with read ers thea tre as well as a sep a rate learn ing venture.

• You may choose to in tro duce a par tic u lar ac tiv ity to your stu dents prior to shar ing a read ersthea tre script. Or, you may elect to use a spe cific ac tiv ity at the con clu sion of a par tic u larscript. For best re sults, how ever, use a com bi na tion of pre- and post-script pho ne micawareness activities.

• Lis ten care fully to the lan guage used by chil dren in ev ery day sit u a tions. Take ad van tage ofthat lan guage and in cor po rate it into your own pho ne mic aware ness activities.

• Keep in mind that the ac tiv i ties and sug ges tions through out this book can be viewed as ge -neric in na ture. In short, please feel free to use your own words, the words of chil dren in your

xxii From Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers by An thony D. Fredericks. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks.

class room, or words from a dis trict- or state-man dated list. Even better, plan reg u lar op por tu -ni ties to uti lize words from the sto ries and lit er a ture you share with children each day.

• Just like read ers thea tre, pho ne mic aware ness ac tiv i ties work best when they are pro moted asgroup-based ac tiv i ties. Lots of in ter ac tion among stu dents is the key to their success.

• Don’t just limit pho ne mic aware ness to a spe cific time of the day, but rather take ad van tage of the un planned and in for mal op por tu ni ties that arise nat u rally (those “teach able mo ments”).Times when chil dren line up for lunch, story time, in door re cess, and “Show and Tell” are buta few of the many op por tu ni ties you’ll have to in clude some play ful language activities.

• It’s im por tant for chil dren to hear the sounds of lan guage in nat u ral con texts. Use chil dren’slit er a ture (as well as the scripts in this book) as a way to in tro duce and em pha size pho ne micaware ness in an au then tic way. Read to chil dren reg u larly, stop ping ev ery so of ten to note thesounds in a word, the al lit er a tion of let ters, funny or un usual rhymes, or a dis tinc tive ar range -ment of syl la bles. The trade books you nor mally share with chil dren can be pos i tive com po -nents of your phonemic awareness program.

All of the ac tiv i ties in Part I have been class room-tested and “kid ap proved.” All are de signed to of fer you and your stu dents some won der ful ad ven tures and ex cit ing dis cov er ies about the sounds of language.

COMPREHENSION STRATEGIESCom pre hen sion Strat e gies

Most ed u ca tors hold to the be lief that read ing in volves an ac tive and en er getic re la tion ship be -tween the reader and the text. This is a re cip ro cal re la tion ship—one that in cludes char ac ter is tics ofthe reader as well as the na ture of the ma te ri als. Read ing re search ers of ten re fer to this as thetransactional ap proach to read ing—one in which read ers interact positively with the text.

This view of read ing is based on sev eral crit i cal fea tures, in clud ing the fol low ing:

• All read ers have ex pe ri ences and prior knowl edge that de ter mines how well they will un der -stand a text.

• Read ing is not a pas sive ac tiv ity—it in volves as pects of the text just as much as it in volves as -pects of the reader.

• Be cause read ers all have dif fer ent ex pe ri ences and dif fer ent in ter pre ta tions, there is no sin gleway of in ter pret ing a text.

Transactional read ing places an em pha sis on three crit i cal and in ter re lated stages in the read ingpro cess. These stages work in a co or di nated fash ion to pro mote and en hance com pre hen sion de vel -op ment for all readers:

1. Be fore read ing—Pro cesses de signed to link stu dents’ back ground knowl edge and ex pe ri -ences to the text.

2. Dur ing read ing—Pro cesses de signed to help stu dents read con struc tively and to in ter act withthe text.

3. Af ter read ing—Pro cesses de signed to deepen and ex tend stu dents’ re sponses to text.

xxiiiFrom Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers by An thony D. Fredericks. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks.

The scripts in Part II of this book pro vide you with se lected com pre hen sion ac tiv i ties that en -cour age and stim u late stu dents to take an ac tive role in their own com pre hen sion de vel op ment. Sev -eral strat e gies are pro vided that en gage young sters in think ing about the scripts, link ing the sto rieswith their back grounds or ex pe ri ence, and pre dict ing and in fer ring ac tions and re sults. Spe cif i cally,stu dents are provided with opportunities to

• ac ti vate prior knowl edge be fore, dur ing, and af ter read ing;

• con nect the known with the un known;

• use con crete or past ex pe ri ences to cre ate “mind pic tures” or vi sual im ages;

• make “ed u cated guesses” to form con clu sions, make crit i cal judg ments, and cre ate unique in -ter pre ta tions;

• pre dict fu ture events in text;

• ask ques tions of them selves, the au thors, and the texts they read;

• ob serve teach ers as they model ap pro pri ate ques tion-ask ing strat e gies;

• de ter mine the most im por tant ideas and themes in a text;

• group or clas sify ideas into rec og niz able cat e go ries;

• syn the size and sum ma rize what they read; and

• re think what they en coun ter in text.

The com pre hen sion ac tiv i ties/strat e gies in cluded in this book have been de vel oped in co op er a -tion with teach ers in grades 1 and 2. Al though they are pro vided for the scripts in Part II, you are cer -tainly en cour aged to use them in con junc tion with scripts in Part I, too. In do ing so, you will bepro vid ing stu dents with unique and valu able op por tu ni ties to in ter act with text—spe cif i cally Mother Goose stories.

xxiv From Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers by An thony D. Fredericks. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks.

Ref er encesRef er encesRef er ences

Fredericks, An thony D. 1993. Fran tic Frogs and Other Frankly Frac tured Folk tales for Read ersThea tre. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press.

———. 1997. Tad pole Tales and Other To tally Ter rific Treats for Read ers Thea tre. Westport, CT:Teacher Ideas Press.

———. 2000. Silly Sal a man ders and Other Slightly Stu pid Sto ries for Read ers Thea tre. Westport,CT: Teacher Ideas Press.

———. 2001. Read ers Thea tre for Amer i can His tory. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press.

———. 2002. Sci ence Fic tion Read ers Thea tre. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press.

———. 2007. Non fic tion Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers. Westport, CT: Teacher IdeasPress.

xxv

PART I

READING LEVEL,

FIRST GRADEPart I: Read ing Level, First Grade

Old Mac don aldOld Mac Don ald

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThe six char ac ters can be seated on chairs or stand ing in a loose semi cir cle. The pre sen ta tion is theac tual script for the orig i nal rhyme—no ad di tional words or phrases have been added.

PROPSThis script does not re quire any props. How ever, you may wish to post some il lus tra tions of farmscenes or farm an i mals be hind the play ers for some added ef fect.

DELIVERYThe de liv ery should be up beat and at a quick tempo (some prac tice may be nec es sary).

ORIGINAL VERSIONOld Mac Don ald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O

And on this farm he had some cows, E-I-E-I-OWith a moo-moo here, and a moo-moo there,

Here a moo, there a moo, ev ery where a moo-moo.Old Mac Don ald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O

And on this farm he had some don keys, E-I-E-I-O

3

With a hee-haw here, and a hee-haw there,Here a hee, there a haw, ev ery where a hee-haw.

Old Mac Don ald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.And on this farm he had some pigs, E-I-E-I-O.With an oink-oink here and an oink-oink there,

Here an oink, there an oink, ev ery where an oink-oink.

Old Mac Don ald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.And on this farm he had some ducks, E-I-E-I-O.

With a quack-quack here and a quack-quack there,Here a quack, there a quack, ev ery where a quack-quack.

Old Mac Don ald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Re peat the first four lines of the rhyme and in vite stu dents to clap once af ter you say each word

(or sound). Re peat sev eral times. Change the first four lines to the fol low ing two rhymes, andin vite chil dren to re peat the ac tiv ity by clap ping once af ter each word.

Old Miss Pork Chop had a house, E-I-E-I-OAnd in this house she had a rab bit, E-I-E-I-O

With a chomp-chomp here and a chomp-chomp there.Here a chomp, there a chomp, ev ery where a chomp-chomp.

Old man Parker had a zoo, E-I-E-I-OAnd in this zoo he had a lion, E-I-E-I-O

With a roar-roar here and a roar-roar there.Here a roar, there a roar, ev ery where a roar-roar.

In vite chil dren to note that each word or word part re sulted in a sin gle clap (each word or wordpart was a sin gle syl la ble).

2. Af ter read ing the rhyme sev eral times, use a class room pup pet to say each of the fol low ingwords in parts. In vite chil dren to lis ten care fully and say the word as a whole:

/m/ /a/ /n/ (man)/m/ /i/ /s/ /s/ (miss)

/h/ /a/ /d/ (had)/l/ /i/ /o/ /n/ (lion)

4 Part I: Read ing Level, First Grade

Old Mac Don aldEl Viejo Mac Don ald

STAGING: There is no nar ra tor for this story, nor do any of the char ac ters have a name(they are sim ply des ig nated by num bers). The char ac ters may stand around in a loosecir cle or be seated on chairs in a semi cir cle fac ing the audience.

Num ber 3 Num ber 4 X X

Num ber 2 Num ber 5 X X

Num ber 1 Num ber 6X X

NUMBER 1: Old Mac Don ald

NUMERO 1: El Viejo Mac Don ald

NUMBER 2: Had a farm

NUMERO 2: Tenía una finca

NUMBER 3: E-I-E-I-O

NUMERO 3: E-I-E-I-O

NUMBER 4: And on this farm

NUMERO 4: Y en esta finca

NUMBER 5: He had some cows

NUMERO 5: Él tenía algunas vacas

NUMBER 6: E-I-E-I-O

NUMERO 6: E-I-E-I-O

5From Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers by An thony D. Fredericks. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks.

NUMBER 1: With a moo-moo here

NUMERO 1: Con un mú-mú aquí

NUMBER 2: And a moo-moo there

NUMERO 2: Y un mú-mú allá

NUMBER 3: Here a moo

NUMERO 3: Aquí un mú

NUMBER 4: There a moo

NUMERO 4: Allá un mú

NUMBER 5: Ev ery where a

NUMERO 5: En todas par tes un

NUMBER 6: Moo-moo.

NUMERO 6: Mú-mú.





NUMBER 3: E-I-E-I-O

NUMERO 3: E-I-E-I-O



NUMBER 5: He had some don keys

NUMERO 5: Él tenía algunos bur ros

6 From Mother Goose Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers by An thony D. Fredericks. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press. Copy right © 2007 by An thony D. Fredericks.

NUMBER 6: E-I-E-I-O

NUMERO 6: E-I-E-I-O

NUMBER 1: With a hee-haw here

NUMERO 1: Con un hi-ha aquí

NUMBER 2: And a hee-haw there

NUMERO 2: Y un hi-ha allá

NUMBER 3: Here a hee

NUMERO 3: Aquí un hi

NUMBER 4: There a haw

NUMERO 4: Allá un ha



NUMBER 6: Hee-haw.

NUMERO 6: Hi-ha





NUMBER 3: E-I-E-I-O

NUMERO 3: E-I-E-I-O




NUMBER 5: He had some pigs

NUMERO 5: Él tenía algunos cerdos

NUMBER 6: E-I-E-I-O

NUMERO 6: E-I-E-I-O

NUMBER 1: With an oink-oink here

NUMERO 1: Con un oink-oink aquí

NUMBER 2: And an oink-oink there

NUMERO 2: Y un oink-oink allá

NUMBER 3: Here a oink

NUMERO 3: Aquí un oink

NUMBER 4: There a oink

NUMERO 4: Allá un oink

NUMBER 5: Ev ery where an


NUMBER 6: Oink-oink.

NUMERO 6: Oink-oink





NUMBER 3: E-I-E-I-O

NUMERO 3: E-I-E-I-O




NUMBER 5: He had some ducks

NUMERO 5: Él tenía algunos patos

NUMBER 6: E-I-E-I-O

NUMERO 6: E-I-E-I-O

NUMBER 1: With a quack-quack here

NUMERO 1: Con un quac-quac aquí

NUMBER 2: And a quack-quack there

NUMERO 2: Y un quac-quac allá

NUMBER 3: Here a quack

NUMERO 3: Aquí un quac

NUMBER 4: There a quack

NUMERO 4: Allá un quac



NUMBER 6: Quack-quack.

NUMERO 6: Quac-quac.





ALL: E-I-E-I-O

TODOS: E-I-E-I-O


Twin kle, Twin kleLit tle Star

Twin kle, Twin kle Lit tle Star

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThe four char ac ters can all be stand ing. If pref er a ble, the “Star” can stand while the other char ac terscan be placed on stools.

PROPSThere are no props nec es sary. You may wish to con sider pro vid ing the “Star” with a flash light orlan tern of some sort.

DELIVERYSammy and Tammy should both talk in loud voices (as though they are yell ing up into the sky). Both the nar ra tor and the “Star” should use their “class room voices.”

10

ORIGINAL VERSIONTwin kle, twin kle, lit tle star.How I won der what you are,Up above the world so high,Like a di a mond in the sky.Twin kle, twin kle, lit tle star,How I won der what you are!

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Af ter stu dents have be come fa mil iar with the orig i nal ver sion of this rhyme, say the first line

for them and ask them to re spond with the sec ond line. Then change the word at the end of thefirst line and in vite the stu dents to re spond with the sec ond line. Re peat sev eral times, eachtime re plac ing the word at the end of line 1 with one of the words be low, and then say ing theline aloud to be fol lowed by the stu dents re spond ing with line 2 (tell stu dents that some of thewords are nonsense words).

car bar tar far larmar var gar par sar

2. Re peat the ac tiv ity above us ing lines 3 and 4 in the rhyme. Each time, sub sti tute the word at theend of line 3 with one of the fol low ing words (again, some words will be non sense words).

bye lie my vie kie tiesigh die rye gie pie

Twin kle, Twin kle Lit tle Star 11

Twin kle, Twin kleLit tle Star

Titila, Titila Pequeña Estrella

STAGING: The “Star” should be in the far cor ner of the stag ing area. Sammy andTammy should be stand ing in the mid dle of the stag ing area. The nar ra tor may be seatedor stand ing.

Star X Sammy Tammy X X

Nar ra tor X

NARRATOR: Hello. Once there was a star. He didn’t have a name. Ev ery one called him “Star” [turns to “Star”]. Hi,Star. One day the star said . . . .

NARRADOR(A): Hola. Una vez había una estrella. Que no tenía

nombre. Todos la llamaban “Estrella”

[volteandose a “Estrella”]. Hola, Estrella. Un día

la estrella dijo . . . .

STAR: Hi, I’m a star. I’m up here. Up in the sky. I shine.I’m bright. That’s what I do.

ESTRELLA: Hola, Yo soy una estrella. Estoy arriba. En lo

alto del cielo. Yo brillo. Yo resplandezco. Eso

es lo que hago.

NARRATOR: So, one day a boy and a girl saw the star.

NARRADOR(A): Entonces, un día un niño y una niña vieron la

estrella.


SAMMY: Hey, look up there.

SAMMY: Oye, mira hacia arriba.

TAMMY: Where?

TAMMY: ¿Adónde?

SAMMY: Up there [point ing to “Star”].

SAMMY: Arriba [señalando a la “Estrella”].

TAMMY: Oh, yeah, now I see it.

TAMMY: Ah, sí, ahora la veo.

SAMMY: Yes, it’s a star.

SAMMY: Sí, es una estrella.

TAMMY: Yes, and it is very bright.

TAMMY: Sí, y es muy resplandeciente.

SAMMY: Yes, and it shines a lot.

SAMMY: Sí, y brilla mucho.

TAMMY: What does a star do?

TAMMY: ¿Qué hace una estrella?

SAMMY: I don’t know. Can we ask him?

SAMMY: Yo no sé. ¿Le podemos preguntar?

TAMMY: Let’s ask him.

TAMMY: Vamos a preguntarle.

SAMMY: O.K. Hey, Mr. Star.

SAMMY: Está bien. Oiga, Se ñora Estrella.


STAR: Yes.

ESTRELLA: Sí.

SAMMY: What do you do?

SAMMY: ¿Qué hace usted?

STAR: Thanks for ask ing. I am in the sky. I am far away. Itwin kle. I shine. And, I’m bright.

ESTRELLA: Gracias por preguntar. Estoy en el cielo. Estoy

muy lejos. Yo titilo. Yo brillo. Y, resplandezco.

TAMMY: That’s cool!

TAMMY: ¡Que chévere!

STAR: Yes, it is.

ESTRELLA: Sí, es chévere.

TAMMY: What else do you do?

TAMMY: ¿Qué más hace?

STAR: I make light.

ESTRELLA: Yo destello luz.

SAMMY: Yes, I can see. What else?

SAMMY: Sí, lo puedo ver. ¿Qué más?

STAR: I look like a di a mond.

ESTRELLA: Yo luzco como un dia mante.

TAMMY: I like di a monds. My mother has di a monds.

TAMMY: Me gustan los dia man tes. Mi mamá tiene

dia man tes.


STAR: Are they as bright as me?

ESTRELLA: ¿Son tan brillantes como yo?

TAMMY: No. You are re ally bright!

TAMMY: No. ¡Usted es muy bril lan te!

STAR: Why, thank you.

ESTRELLA: Pues, gracias.

TAMMY: You’re wel come.

TAMMY: De nada.

SAMMY: How long have you been there?

SAMMY: ¿Cuánto hace que está allí?

STAR: I’ve been here for a long time.

ESTRELLA: Yo he estado aquí por mucho tiempo.

TAMMY: How long?

TAMMY: ¿Cuanto tiempo?

STAR: Mil lions of years!

ESTRELLA: ¡Millones de años!

SAMMY: Wow! That’s a long time.

SAMMY: ¡Caramba! Eso es mucho tiempo.

STAR: Yes, it is. I will be here for an other mil lion years.

ESTRELLA: Sí, lo es. Yo estaré aquí por otros millónes de

años.


TAMMY: You must be re ally old.

TAMMY: Usted debe ser muy vieja.

STAR: Yes, I am. But peo ple still like me.

ESTRELLA: Sí, soy vieja. Pero todavía le gusto a la gente.

SAMMY: They like you be cause you are bright.

SAMMY: Les gusta porque usted es resplandeciente.

STAR: Yes, and peo ple like to make wishes.

ESTRELLA: Sí, y a la gente le gusta pedir deseos.

TAMMY: What kind of wishes?

TAMMY: ¿Qué tipos de deseos?

STAR: Peo ple like to wish for horses. They wish for cars.And they wish for money.

ESTRELLA: A la gente le gusta pedir por caballos. Pedir por

au tos. Y pedir por dinero.

SAMMY: Why do they do that?

SAMMY: ¿Por qué lo hacen?

STAR: I don’t know. Maybe they just want stuff.

ESTRELLA: Yo no sé. Quizás solo quieren cosas.

TAMMY: Well, I like you be cause you are so bright.

TAMMY: Bueno, usted a mi me gusta porque es

resplandeciente.

STAR: Thank you, again.

ESTRELLA: Gracias, de nuevo.


TAMMY: You’re wel come, again.

TAMMY: De nada.

NARRATOR: So, look up. You can see lots of stars. Maybe youcan make a wish.

NARRADOR(A): Entonces, miren hacia arriba. Pueden ver

muchas estrellas. Quizás puedan pedir un

deseo.

STAR: I hope to see you soon. Good-bye!

ESTRELLA: Espero verlos pronto. ¡Adiós!


Humpty DumptyHumpty Dumpty

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThis script uses the fa mil iar Mother Goose rhyme em bed ded in an other story. Be sure your stu dentsare fa mil iar with the Big Bad Wolf char ac ter and some of the sto ries in which he ap pears (e.g., “Lit tle Red Rid ing Hood,” “The Three Lit tle Pigs,” etc.).

PROPSNo props are nec es sary for this pro duc tion.

DELIVERYThe char ac ters should all be hav ing a com fort able and friendly con ver sa tion—sim i lar to what theywould have on the play ground or dur ing re cess. The Big Bad Wolf should act con fused and un sure of his role in the story.

18

ORIGINAL VERSIONHumpty Dumpty sat on a wall;

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!All the king’s horses

And all the king’s menCould n’t put Humpty to gether again.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Re place “Humpty Dumpty” with the names of stu dents in the class and re read the rhyme out

loud to stu dents. For ex am ple, “Sally Rally sat on a wall. Sally Rally had a great fall . . . .” Or,“Tony Ba lo ney sat on a wall. Tony Ba lo ney had a great fall . . . .” In vite stu dents to con trib uteimag i na tive names for each per son in the room. In vite stu dents to re peat the rhyme along withyou for each new name.

2. Af ter stu dents are fa mil iar with this Mother Goose rhyme, in vite them to con trib ute their ownrhymes. For ex am ple, say the first three lines and in vite stu dents to add a fourth line of theirown choos ing. (“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty . . . . What sen tence could weadd to the end that would make this rhyme?”)

Humpty Dumpty 19

Humpty DumptySTAGING: The char ac ters may be seated on stools or chairs. They may also be stand -ing or po si tioned at in di vid ual lec terns.

Girl 1 Girl 2 Boy 1 Boy 2 Big Bad WolfX X X X X

GIRL 1: Hello, Au di ence [waves to the au di ence].

GIRL 2: Yes, hello Au di ence [waves to au di ence].

BOY 1: We are happy to be here!

BOY 2: Yes, we have a funny story to share.

BIG BAD WOLF: Grum ble, grum ble, grum ble

GIRL 1: Hey, why is the Big Bad Wolf in this story?

GIRL 2: I don’t know. Do you know [points to Boy 1]?

BOY 1: I don’t know. Do you know [points to Boy 2]?

BOY 2: I don’t know why he is here. He sure looks strange.

BIG BAD WOLF: Yeah, why am I here? I think the au thor made a bigmis take.

GIRL 1: What do you mean?

BIG BAD WOLF: I don’t think the writer of this story is very smart.

GIRL 2: Yeah, you’re right. Isn’t this a story about a bigegg?

BOY 1: Yes, it is. It’s a story about a big egg, not a big badwolf.

BIG BAD WOLF: Yeah, I don’t get it. Maybe the au thor went to sleepwhen he was writ ing this story.

BOY 2: Yeah, I don’t think the writer was pay ing at ten tion.


BIG BAD WOLF: So, is it O.K. if I leave?

GIRL 1: I guess so.

GIRL 2: I think it’s O.K.

BOY 1: What about the writer?

BIG BAD WOLF: I would n’t lis ten to him any more. He doesn’t knowwhat he is do ing.

BOY 2: I think you’re right.

GIRL 1: So, I guess you can leave.

BIG BAD WOLF: I think I’ll go over to an other story.

GIRL 2: Which one?

BIG BAD WOLF: I think there’s a story about some pigs. I think theytry to build houses. One of the pigs isn’t very smart.

BOY 1: Oh, you mean like the writer of this story.

BIG BAD WOLF: Yeah, just like the writer.

BOY 2: O.K., we’ll see you later.

BIG BAD WOLF: Yeah. See you later. [The “Wolf” ex its off stage.]

GIRL 1: Now, we can do our story. Is ev ery body ready?

ALL: Yes.

GIRL 1: Then, let’s go. Humpty Dumpty . . .

GIRL 2: . . . sat on a wall.

BOY 1: Humpty Dumpty . . .

BOY 2: . . . had a great fall

GIRL 1: All the . . .

GIRL 2: . . . king’s horses

BOY 1: And all . . .

BOY 2: . . . the king’s men

GIRL 1: Could n’t . . .


GIRL 2: . . . put Humpty . . .

BOY 1: . . . to gether . . .

BOY 2: . . . again.

GIRL 1: Hey, that was very good.

GIRL 2: Yes, you’re right.

BOY 1: And, you know what?

BOY 2: What?

BOY 1: We didn’t need that old Big Bad Wolf.

GIRL 1: Yeah, we didn’t need the wolf at all.

GIRL 2: I hope he found an other story.

BOY 1: I hope he did, too.

BOY 2: I think he did. But I’m a lit tle wor ried about thosepigs.


Lit tle Miss MuffetLit tle Miss Muffet

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThere are some un fa mil iar words in this pop u lar Mother Goose rhyme. How ever, this script pro vides stu dents with the def i ni tions for those words, so no vo cab u lary prep a ra tion is nec es sary be fore hand.You may wish to tell stu dents that this rhyme is more than 300 years old. There ac tu ally was a MissMuffet (her first name was “Pa tience”).

PROPSA large pil low (for Miss Muffet). Op tional: If sev eral stu dents have never tasted cot tage cheese, youmay wish to bring in small sam ples for them (please be aware of any dairy al ler gies).

DELIVERYThe nar ra tors should all sound in quis i tive, as should the Spi der. Miss Muffet should sound “allknow ing.” The nar ra tors should pause slightly af ter their read ing of the orig i nal rhyme in the firstpart of the script.

23

ORIGINAL VERSIONLit tle Miss Muffet

Sat on a tuffet,Eat ing her curds and whey.

There came a big spi der,Who sat down be side her

And fright ened Miss Muffet away.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Af ter the stu dents are fa mil iar with this rhyme, ask them to lis ten to the fol low ing words:

muffet, sat, tuffet. Point out that all of these words end in the same sound (/t/). Tell stu dents thatyou want them to lis ten to the fol low ing words from the rhyme and tell you the sound at the endof each word:

– miss /s/

– on /n/

– her /r/

– came /m/

– big /g/

– spi der /r/

– down /n/

– be side /d/

– and /d/


Lit tle Miss MuffetSTAGING: The three nar ra tors may sit on tall stools or chairs in the rear of the stag ingarea. The two main char ac ters (Miss Muffet, Spi der) should be in the mid dle of the stag -ing area. Miss Muffet should be seated on a large pil low and the Spi der on the floor.

Nar ra tor 1 Nar ra tor 2 Nar ra tor 3X X X

Miss Muffet Spi der X X

NARRATOR 1: Lit tle Miss Muffet

NARRATOR 2: Sat on a tuffet,

NARRATOR 3: Eat ing her curds and whey.

NARRATOR 1: There came a big spi der,

NARRATOR 2: Who sat down be side her

NARRATOR 3: And fright ened Miss Muffet away.

NARRATOR 1: Well, that’s the story.

NARRATOR 2: Yes, a girl was eat ing . . . a spi der came along . . .

NARRATOR 3: . . . she got scared . . .

NARRATOR 1: . . . and she ran away.

NARRATOR 2: There are some strange words in this story.

NARRATOR 3: Yes, you’re right.

NARRATOR 1: Yeah, what is a tuffet?

MISS MUFFET: Maybe I can an swer that.

NARRATOR 1: Well, thank you. And who are you?

MISS MUFFET: My name is Miss Muffet. I’m in the story.

NARRATOR 2: Oh, yes. I have heard about you.


MISS MUFFET: I hope so. You just told my story.

NARRATOR 3: So, what is a tuffet?

MISS MUFFET: Well, a tuffet is like a small chair.

NARRATOR 1: Is it like a small stool?

MISS MUFFET: Yes, it is also a low seat.

NARRATOR 2: So, it could be a very small chair.

MISS MUFFET: That’s right.

SPIDER: Hey, now I have a ques tion.

NARRATOR 3: What’s that?

SPIDER: It says that she [points to Miss Muffet] eats somecurds and whey.

NARRATOR 1: I know. You want to know what curds and wheyare?

SPIDER: That’s right. Ev ery time we do the story, some onetalks about curds and whey.

NARRATOR 2: I was won der ing about that, too.

NARRATOR 3: So was I.

MISS MUFFET: Maybe I can help.

SPIDER: Please do.

MISS MUFFET: Well curds and whey is the same thing as cot tagecheese.

NARRATOR 1: Oh, I get it. I eat that for lunch some times.

NARRATOR 2: So do I

NARRATOR 3: And, I do too. It’s re ally very good.

SPIDER: So curds and whey must be an old way of say ingcot tage cheese.

MISS MUFFET: You’re right.


SPIDER: Thank you, now I know. But I still have oneques tion.

MISS MUFFET: What’s that?

SPIDER: Why do you run away in the story?

MISS MUFFET: I guess I’m scared of you.

SPIDER: Why?

MISS MUFFET: I don’t know. Maybe lit tle girls are scared ofspi ders.

SPIDER: But, I’m very nice when you get to know me.

MISS MUFFET: You’re right. You aren’t scary at all.

SPIDER: So, can we be friends?

MISS MUFFET: I think we can.

SPIDER: And, maybe we can live hap pily ever af ter.

MISS MUFFET: Maybe we can.

ALL NARRATORS: The End!


The Cat and the Fid dleThe Cat and the Fid dle

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSStu dents may ben e fit by see ing il lus tra tions of this Mother Goose rhyme be fore hand. There aremany an thol o gies of Mother Goose rhymes (check in your school li brary) that con tain il lus tra tionsof the char ac ters and their re spec tive ac tions. A fa mil iar ity with those ac tions helps set the stage forthis pro duc tion.

PROPSNo props are nec es sary.

DELIVERYThe char ac ters should all read their lines in an up beat and light hearted way. This script ex ploressome of the sil li ness in this pop u lar rhyme, and the read ing should con vey a sense of fun and joy.

28

ORIGINAL VERSIONHey, did dle, did dle,

The cat and the fid dle,The cow jumpedOver the moon.

The lit tle dog laughedTo see such sport,

And the dish ran awayWith the spoon.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Re peat the first two lines sev eral times. Write the word did dle in large let ters on the chalk -

board. Tell your stu dents that you are go ing to re place the first let ter in that word with an otherlet ter. Say the new word for them and then in vite them to re peat the first two lines us ing the new word. You may wish to use the fol low ing words, and then en cour age stu dents to invent theirown:

biddle mid dle viddlehiddle niddle wid dlejiddle rid dle yiddlekiddle siddle ziddleliddle tiddle

The Cat and the Fid dle 29

The Cat and the Fid dleSTAGING: The nar ra tor stands in back of or to the side of the char ac ters. The char ac -ters may be stand ing or seated on tall stools.

Nar ra torX

CowX

Cat DogX X

Dish Spoon X X

Fid dleX

NARRATOR: Hey, did dle, did dle,

The cat and the fid dle,

The cow jumped

Over the moon.

The lit tle dog laughed

To see such sport,

And the dish ran away

With the spoon.

COW: This is a good story.

CAT: Why do you say that?

COW: Be cause I get to jump over the moon.

DOG: How do you do that?

COW: Well, I guess I’m pretty strong.

DISH: You must be. I’ve never seen a cow jump that highbe fore.


SPOON: I have n’t ei ther.

COW: Well, I’ve been do ing a lot of ex er cises.

FIDDLE: You must have. I can’t jump that high.

CAT: I can’t ei ther

DOG: But you [points to Cat] still can jump.

DISH: That’s right. Cat is a very good jumper.

SPOON: Yes, I’ve seen him jump re ally high.

FIDDLE: But, in this story Cat doesn’t jump.

COW: You’re right

CAT: Yes, me and my friend Fid dle just sing.

DOG: Right. You sing “Hey, did dle, did dle.”

DISH: I wish I could sing.

SPOON: Well, there’s one thing you can do.

FIDDLE: That’s right. You two [points to Dish and Spoon]get to run away.

COW: Where do you go?

CAT: Yeah, where do you two go?

DISH: I don’t know.

SPOON: I don’t know, ei ther. The per son who wrote thestory didn’t tell us.

DOG: Maybe you ran over to an other story.

DISH: Maybe we did.

SPOON: And, maybe we didn’t.

CAT: But, let’s not for get our friend here [points to Dog].

FIDDLE: You’re right. Our friend gets to laugh dur ing thewhole story.

DOG: Ha, ha, ha!


COW: I guess this is a re ally funny story.

CAT: Yes, it is. Look at all the funny things we do.

DISH: We do funny things . . .

SPOON: . . . and silly things . . .

FIDDLE: . . . and strange things!

COW: I guess that’s why this is such a great story.

ALL: YEAH!!!

NARRATOR: Hey, did dle, did dle,

The cat and the fid dle,

The cow jumped

Over the moon.

The lit tle dog laughed

To see such sport,

And the dish ran away

With the spoon.


Three Blind MiceThree Blind Mice

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThis is a some what grue some tale that orig i nally chron i cled a time in Eng lish his tory when peo plewere burned at the stake for read ing the Bi ble in Eng lish (so much for “merry old Eng land”). How -ever, this script takes a fun and light hearted ap proach to this hor rific time. Be sure to em pha size tostu dents that ev ery thing in this script is sym bolic and that it is just an imag i nary story—a play ful in -ter ac tion be tween an i mals and hu mans.

PROPSIf pos si ble, pro vide each of the mice with a set of sun glasses. Pro vide the Farmer’s Wife with a plas -tic ruler (to sym bol ize the carv ing knife).

DELIVERYThe de liv ery should be fun and light. Note that the nar ra tor gets frus trated with the mice at sev eralspots dur ing the story. The mice should be play ful and silly.

33

ORIGINAL VERSIONThree blind mice,Three blind mice.See how they run!See how they run!

They all ran af ter the farmer’s wife,Who cut off their tails with a carv ing knife,Did you ever see such a thing in your life?

As three blind mice.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Say one of the fol low ing word pairs to stu dents. Tell the stu dents that the first word in each pair

is a word from the rhyme and that the sec ond word in each pair is a word that you added. In vitestu dents to sug gest a third word that rhymes with the first two:

three—tree—__________ run—fun—__________blind—mind—__________ ran—fan—__________mice—rice—__________ cut—nut—__________see—me—__________ seen—mean—__________they—play—__________ life—knife—__________


Three Blind MiceSTAGING: The nar ra tor should be seated on a tall stool or a chair to the side of the stag -ing area. The other char ac ters should all be stand ing. They may wish to move around thestag ing area as they say their lines.

Nar ra torX

Mouse 1 Mouse 2 Mouse 3X X X

Farmer’s WifeX

NARRATOR: Wel come to our story. This is an old story. It co mesfrom Eng land. It is the story of three mice . . . .

MOUSE 1: That’s me.

MOUSE 2: And me.

MOUSE 3: And me, too.

NARRATOR: Any way, as I was say ing. There were these threemice [points to the three mice]. There is some thingelse you must know about them. They are all blind.

MOUSE 1: Yes, we can’t see.

MOUSE 2: Right, we can’t see any thing.

MOUSE 3: Yeah, like the nar ra tor said . . . we’re blind!

NARRATOR: [some what frus trated] Like I was say ing . . . . Therewere these three mice. Well, as you know, mice likecheese.

MOUSE 1: Yes, we like cheese.

MOUSE 2: Yeah, we re ally like cheese.

MOUSE 3: Yum, Yum, C-H-E-E-S-E!


NARRATOR: [frus trated] Hey, you guys, I’m the nar ra tor. Allright. Please let me do my job and tell the story.

MOUSE 1: That’s O.K. with me.

MOUSE 2: Me, too.

MOUSE 3: Me, too.

NARRATOR: Any way, there were three mice. And they lovedcheese. They also lived on a farm. They lived in sidea farm house. In side the house there was a mean oldlady.

FARMER’S WIFE: Hey, wait a min ute. I’m not mean. And, I’m not old.

NARRATOR: Well, that’s what it says right here [points to script].

FARMER’S WIFE: Well, let’s change that right now.

NARRATOR: What should we do?

FARMER’S WIFE: Well, let’s make me young.

NARRATOR: O.K.

FARMER’S WIFE: And, let’s make me pretty.

NARRATOR: O.K.

FARMER’S WIFE: So, now I’m the pretty young woman who lives inthe farm house.

NARRATOR: O.K. So, in side the house was a pretty young lady.But some times she was an gry. She was an grybe cause the mice ate her cheese.

MOUSE 1: That’s right, we ate her cheese.

MOUSE 2: Yum, Yum, cheese.

MOUSE 3: Yeah, yummy cheese.

NARRATOR: [frus trated] As I was say ing . . . AGAIN! The micewould eat the pretty young lady’s cheese. She wasvery mad when they did that. She was very, verymad.


FARMER’S WIFE: Yes, I was very, VERY mad!

NARRATOR: That’s right. And, when she got mad she wouldchase the mice.

FARMER’S WIFE: Yes, I would chase those three blind mice [points]around the house. I didn’t like them eat ing mycheese.

MOUSE 1: She was a fast run ner.

MOUSE 2: Yes, she could run real fast.

MOUSE 3: She was a good run ner.

NARRATOR: Well, one day she caught the mice. Then, she didsome thing ter ri ble.

MOUSE 1: Yes, it was ter ri ble.

MOUSE 2: It was real ter ri ble.

MOUSE 3: It was re ally bad.

FARMER’S WIFE: I had this knife [points to ruler in her hand]. I wascut ting some bread. So, I caught the mice who weresteal ing my cheese. And, I cut off their tails.

MOUSE 1: Yes, she cut off our tails.

MOUSE 2: Yeah, that re ally hurt.

MOUSE 3: OUCH!!

NARRATOR: Well, there was a sto ry teller nearby. He heard thestory of the three mice. He heard about the prettyyoung lady. So he made up a rhyme.

MOUSE 1: It was a story about us.

MOUSE 2: And, about the lady with the knife.

MOUSE 3: It’s been around for a long time.

NARRATOR: That’s right. So now our play ers [points to all thechar ac ters] will tell you the Mother Goose rhymeabout the Three Blind Mice.


MOUSE 1: Three blind mice,

MOUSE 2: Three blind mice;

MOUSE 3: See how they run,

FARMER’S WIFE: See how they run!

MOUSE 1: They all ran af ter the farmer’s wife,

MOUSE 2: Who cut off their tails with a carv ing knife.

MOUSE 3: Have you ever seen such a sight

FARMER’S WIFE: In your life as three blind mice?

NARRATOR: And that’s our story. Thank you and good night!


One, Two,Buckle My Shoe

One, Two, Buckle My Shoe

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThis should be a fa mil iar Mother Goose rhyme for most chil dren. You may wish to have stu dents re -peat the script a sec ond time—im me di ately af ter the first tell ing. For the sec ond go-round, in vite stu -dents (the au di ence) to use dif fer ent words that rhyme with “show,” “door,” “sticks,” “gate,” and“hen.”

PROPSNo props are nec es sary for this script.

DELIVERYThe de liv ery should be quick and perky. En cour age stu dents to keep the pace flow ing smoothly.

39

ORIGINAL VERSIONOne, two, buckle my shoe.

Three, four, knock at the door.Five, six, pick up sticks.

Seven, eight, lay them straight.Nine, ten, a good fat hen.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. For lots of sil li ness (and just plain fun), in vite stu dents to sug gest new rhym ing sen tences for

each pair of num bers. For ex am ple:

– One, two, eat some stew;

– Three, four, daddy can snore;

– Five, six, my dog eats sticks;

– Seven, eight, my nose is straight;

– Nine, ten, let’s do it again.

You may want to post some of these silly sen tences on a class room bul le tin board.


One, Two,Buckle My Shoe

Uno, Dos, Abrocha Mi Zapato

STAGING: The char ac ters may be seated on chairs or stools. The nar ra tors should beoff to the side and may be at in di vid ual po di ums.

Tim Kim Roy JoyX X X X

Nar ra tor 1 Nar ra tor 2X X

NARRATOR 1: This is a count ing story.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Este es un cuento de contar.

NARRATOR 2: We will use num bers.

NARRADOR(A) 2: Nosotros usarémos los números.

NARRATOR 1: And we will use words that rhyme.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Y nosotros usarémos palabras que rimen.

NARRATOR 2: Maybe you [points to au di ence] can help us.

NARRADOR(A) 2: Tal vez ustedes [señalando a la audiencia] nos

puedan ayudar.

NARRATOR 1: So lis ten care fully . . .

NARRADOR(A) 1: Entonces escuchen cuidadosamente . . .

NARRATOR 2: . . . and we will tell you a story.

NARRADOR(A) 2: . . . y nosotros les contarémos un cuento.


NARRATOR 1: Here goes.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Aquí va.

TIM: One, two,

TIM: Uno, dos,

KIM: Buckle my shoe.

KIM: Abrocha mi zapato.

ROY: Three, four,

ROY: Tres, cuatro,

JOY: Knock at the door.

JOY: Toca a la puerta.

TIM: Five, six,

TIM: Cinco, seis,

KIM: Pick up sticks

KIM: Recoge las ramitas

ROY: Seven, eight,

ROY: Siete, ocho,

JOY: Lay them straight.

JOY: Pon las derechas.

TIM: Nine, ten,

TIM: Nueve, diez,

KIM: A good fat hen.

KIM: Una buena gallina gorda.


NARRATOR 2: O.K. [points to au di ence], are you ready?

NARRADOR(A) 2: ¿Está bien [señalando a la audiencia], están

listos?

AUDIENCE: YES!

AUDIENCIA: ¡SÍ!

NARRATOR 1: One per son [points to four char ac ters] will say thefirst line . . .

NARRADOR(A) 1: Una per sona [señalando a los cuatro

personajes] dirá la primera linea . . .

NARRATOR 2: Then, a sec ond per son will be gin the next line . . .

NARRADOR(A) 2: Luego, una segunda per sona empezará la

proxima linea . . .

NARRATOR 1: . . . and you [points to au di ence] will say the lastword.

NARRADOR(A) 1: . . . y ustedes [señalando a la audiencia] dirán

la última palabra.

NARRATOR 2: Re mem ber, the last word . . .

NARRADOR(A) 2: Recuerden, la última palabra . . .

NARRATOR 1: . . . must rhyme with the word in the first sen tence.

NARRADOR(A) 1: . . . deberá rimar con la palabra en la primera

oración.

NARRATOR 2: O.K.? Here we go.

NARRADOR(A) 2: ¿Está bien? Aquí vamos.

TIM: One, two,

TIM: Uno, dos,


KIM: Buckle my __________.

KIM: Abrocha mi __________.

AUDIENCE: [The au di ence may use the word “shoe” or any other word that rhymes with “two.”]

AUDIENCIA: [La audiencia puede usar la palabra “zapato” o

cualquier otra palabra que rime con “dos.”]

ROY: Three, four,

ROY: Tres, cuatro,

JOY: Knock at the __________.

JOY: Toca la __________.

AUDIENCE: [The au di ence may use any word that rhymes with“four.”]

AUDIENCIA: [La audiencia puede usar cualquier palabra

que rime con “cuatro.”]

TIM: Five, six,

TIM: Cinco, seis,

KIM: Pick up __________.

KIM: Recoge __________.

AUDIENCE: [The au di ence may use any word that rhymes with“six.”]


que rime con “seis.”]

ROY: Seven, eight

ROY: Siete, ocho


JOY: Lay them __________.

JOY: Pon los __________.

AUDIENCE: [The au di ence may use any word that rhymes with“eight.”]


que rime con “ocho.”]

TIM: Nine, ten,

TIM: Nueve, diez,

KIM: A good fat __________.

KIM: Un bueno _________ gordo.

AUDIENCE: [The au di ence may use any word that rhymes with“ten.”]


que rime con “diez.”]

NARRATOR 1: You all [points to au di ence] did a very good job.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Ustedes [señalando a la audiencia] hicieron un

buen trabajo.

NARRATOR 2: And you [points to play ers) did a very good job, too.

NARRADOR(A) 2: Y ustedes [señalando a los personajes]

hicieron un buen trabajo, también.

AUDIENCE: YEAH!

AUDIENCIA: ¡SÍ!

PLAYERS: YEAH!

PERSONAJES: ¡SÍ!


Pat-a-CakePat-a-Cake

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSPoint out to stu dents that this script has a few parts for the au di ence. Mem bers of the au di ence willhave to lis ten care fully to the play ers. If they do, they will be able to pres ent or re peat their partswith out any dif fi culty.

PROPSNo props are nec es sary for this script. You may, how ever, wish to put a cup cake on a ta ble in themid dle of the five char ac ters. Each of the char ac ters can then point to the cup cake as they say theirparts.

DELIVERYThe de liv ery should be smooth. Char ac ters may wish to prac tice their parts be fore per form ing themin front of a group.

46

ORIGINAL VERSIONPat-a-cake, pat-a-cake,

Baker’s man!Bake me a cake,

As fast as you can.Pat it and prick it,

And mark it with a B.Put it in the ovenFor Baby and me.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Re peat this rhyme sev eral times, each time chang ing the let ter at the end of line 6 to each of the

fol low ing:

C D E G P T V Z

In vite stu dents to re peat the sixth line each time you sub sti tute a new let ter.

2. Re peat the ac tiv ity above and change the let ter at the end of line 6 to each of the fol low ing let -ters. Each time, com plete the last two lines of the rhyme and in vite stu dents to sug gest an ap -pro pri ate rhym ing word. For example:

A (kay, may, lay, say)I (pie, sky, rye, tie)O (crow, moe, flow, bow, toe)U (you, crew, lou, stew)

Pat-a-Cake 47

Pat-a-CakeSTAGING: The char ac ters may be seated in a semi cir cle on tall stools or on chairs.There is no nar ra tor for this script.

CX

B DX X

A EX X

A: Pat-a-cake,

B: Pat-a-cake

C: Baker’s man!

D: Bake me a cake,

E: As fast as you can.

A: Pat it,

B: And prick it,

C: And mark it with a B.

D: Put it in the oven

E: For baby and me.

A: This time, you [points to B] start. O.K.

B: O.K. Here goes. Pat-a-cake,

C: Pat-a-cake

D: Baker’s man!

E: Bake me a cake,

A: As fast as you can.


B: Pat it,

C: And prick it,

D: And mark it with a B.

E: Put it in the oven

A: For baby and me.

B: Hey, that was fun. This time, you [points to C] start. O.K.?

C: O.K. Here goes. Pat-a-cake,

D: Pat-a-cake

E: Baker’s man!

A: Bake me a cake,

B: As fast as you can.

C: Pat it,

D: And prick it,

E: And mark it with a B.

A: Put it in the oven

B: For baby and me.

C: That was neat. Let’s do it one more time!

D: O.K. Here goes. Pat-a-cake,

E: Pat-a-cake

A: Baker’s man!

B: Bake me a cake,

C: As fast as you can.

D: Pat it,

E: And prick it,

A: And mark it with a B.


B: Put it in the oven

C: For baby and me.

D: Now, you [points to au di ence] can help us out.O.K.?

AUDIENCE: O.K.

E: Here we go. Pat-a-cake,

AUDIENCE: Pat-a-cake,

A: Baker’s man!

AUDIENCE: Bake me a cake,

B: As fast as you can.

AUDIENCE: Pat it,

C: And prick it,

AUDIENCE: And mark it with a B.

D: Put it in the oven

AUDIENCE: For baby and me.

E: For baby and me!

ALL: For baby and me!


Hick ory, Dickory DockHick ory, Dickory Dock

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSIn form stu dents that this is a non sense rhyme. It’s silly and doesn’t have any real pur pose other thanto show the fun that can be had with words and lan guage. With only four parts, the script can be re -peated sev eral times with sev eral dif fer ent chil dren tak ing over each part.

PROPSYou may wish to have a pho to graph or sketch of a grand fa ther clock posted on a wall in back of theplay ers. If pre ferred, you may wish to put a set of con struc tion pa per ears on the “mouse.”

DELIVERYStu dents may wish to slow down the de liv ery of this script due to the al lit er a tive na ture of the words.Af ter suf fi cient prac tice, they can speed up the pro cess.

51

ORIGINAL VERSIONHick ory, dickory, dock,

The mouse ran up the clock.The clock struck one,The mouse ran down,

Hick ory, dickory, dock.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. En cour age stu dents to sug gest new al lit er a tive let ters for each of the first three words and last

three words of the rhyme. For ex am ple: “Hick ory, hick ory, hock . . . ” or “Sickory, sickory,sock . . . .”

2. In vite stu dents to sub sti tute a new con so nant sound in the mid dle of each of the first threewords and last three words in the rhyme. For ex am ple: “Himmory, dimmory, domm . . . ” or“Hittory, dittory, dott . . . .”


Hick ory, Dickory, DockJicori, Dicori, Doc

STAGING: There is no nar ra tor for this script. The “mouse” should be stand ing and can move around the stag ing area. The other char ac ters may be seated on chairs or stools.

Per son 1 Per son 2 Per son 3X X X

MouseX

MOUSE: Hi, I’m a mouse.

RATÓN: Hola, yo soy un ratón.

PERSON 1: You look cute.

PERSONA 1: Me pareces lindo.

MOUSE: Why, thank you.

RATÓN: Pues, gracias.

PERSON 2: You look fast.

PERSONA 2: Me pareces rápido.

MOUSE: Yes, I am. I can run fast.

RATÓN: Sí, lo soy. Puedo correr rápido.

PERSON 3: And, you look smart.

PERSONA 3: Y, me pareces listo.

MOUSE: Yes, I am smart.

RATÓN: Sí, yo soy listo.


PERSON 1: So, let’s tell a story about you.

PERSONA 1: Entonces, vamos a contar un cuento sobre ti.

PERSON 2: Yes, a story.

PERSONA 2: Sí, un cuento.

PERSON 3: It’s a story called “Hick ory, Dickory, Dock.”

PERSONA 3: Es un cuento llamado “Jicori, Dicori, Doc.”

MOUSE: I’m ready.

RATÓN: Estoy listo.

PERSON 1: Hick ory, Dickory

PERSONA 1: Jicori, Dicori

PERSON 2: Dock

PERSONA 2: Doc

PERSON 3: The Mouse

PERSONA 3: El Ratón

MOUSE: That’s me!

RATÓN: ¡Ese soy yo!

PERSON 1: Ran up the clock.

PERSONA 1: Se subió al reloj.

PERSON 2: The clock struck one.

PERSONA 2: El reloj marcó la una.

PERSON 3: The mouse ran down

PERSONA 3: El ratón se bajó


MOUSE: That’s me, again.

RATÓN: Ese soy yo, otra vez.

PERSON 1: Hick ory,

PERSONA 1: Jicori,

PERSON 2: Dickory,

PERSONA 2: Dicori,

PERSON 3: Dock.

PERSONA 3: Doc.

MOUSE: I don’t like loud sounds.

RATÓN: No me gustan los ruidos al tos.

PERSON 1: He doesn’t like loud sounds.

PERSONA 1: A él no le gustan los ruidos al tos.

PERSON 2: Like a loud clock . . .

PERSONA 2: Como el ruidoso reloj . . .

PERSON 3: Or a Dickory, Dock!

PERSONA 3: ¡O un Dicori, Doc!

MOUSE: That’s right. A clock is loud. But, what is a Dickory, Dock?

RATÓN: Así es. Un reloj es ruidoso. ¿Pero, qué es un

Dicori, Doc?

PERSON 1: I don’t know!

PERSONA 1: ¡Yo no sé!






MOUSE: HMMMM. That’s funny. I know what a clock is.But, I don’t know what a “Dickory Dock” is.

RATÓN: HMMMM. Eso es gracioso. Yo sé que es un

reloj. Pero, no sé que es un “Dicori Doc”.

PERSON 1: It’s a funny word.

PERSONA 1: Es una palabra cu ri osa.

PERSON 2: Yes, it’s a real funny word.

PERSONA 2: Sí, es una palabra realmente cu ri osa.

PERSON 3: Yes, It’s funny. But I don’t know what it means.

PERSONA 3: Sí, es cu ri osa. Pero yo no sé que significa.

MOUSE: Well, that’s O.K. Let’s Do it again.

RATÓN: Bueno, está bien. Vamos a hacerlo otra vez.

PERSON 1: O.K.

PERSONA 1: Está bien.

PERSON 2: O.K.

PERSONA 2: Está bien.

PERSON 3: O.K., here goes.

PERSONA 1: Está bien, aquí vamos.


PERSON 1: Hick ory, Dickory

PERSONA 1: Jicori, Dicori

PERSON 2: Dock

PERSONA 2: Doc

PERSON 3: The Mouse

PERSONA 3: El Ratón

MOUSE: That’s me!

RATÓN: ¡Ese soy yo!

PERSON 1: Ran up the clock.

PERSONA 1: Se subió al reloj.

PERSON 2: The clock struck one.

PERSONA 2: El reloj marcó la una.

PERSON 3: The mouse ran down

PERSONA 3: El ratón se bajó

MOUSE: That’s me, again.

RATÓN: Ese soy yo, otra vez.

PERSON 1: Hick ory,

PERSONA 1: Jicori,

PERSON 2: Dickory,

PERSONA 2: Dicori,

PERSON 3: Dock.

PERSONA 3: Doc.


There Was an Old WomanThere Was an Old Woman

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSNear the end of this script the char ac ters will all need to read their parts to gether. You may wish tohave stu dents prac tice read ing in uni son be fore per form ing this play.

PROPSYou may wish to place an old boot (one of yours or one ob tained at your lo cal Sal va tion Army orGood will store) on a ta ble in front of all the char ac ters.

DELIVERYThe char ac ters ask many ques tions through out this script. Be sure stu dents use their “ques tion-ask ing” voices when pos ing a query.

58

ORIGINAL VERSIONThere was an old woman

Who lived in a shoe.She had so many chil dren,

She didn’t know what to do.She gave them some broth

With out any bread.She kissed them all sweetly

And sent them to bed.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Af ter stu dents are fa mil iar with this Mother Goose rhyme, tell them that you will say the first

two lines of the rhyme to them, but you will change the word at the end of line 2. You’ll thensay the third line and the first word of the fourth line—in vit ing them to com plete the fourth linewith some thing that will rhyme with the new word in serted into line 2. You may wish to sharethe ex am ples below:

There was an old womanWho lived in a store

She had so many chil drenShe didn’t want more.

There was an old womanWho lived in a tree

She had so many chil drenMore than one hun dred three.

This ac tiv ity works best if you keep it fun and silly. Here are some ad di tional sub sti tu tions forthe last word in line 2:

hat sock dress car train store box shirt

There Was an Old Woman 59

There Was an Old WomanSTAGING: The nar ra tor should stand off to one side of the stag ing area. The char ac tersmay be seated on chairs or tall stools.

Num ber 1 Num ber 2 Num ber 3 Num ber 4X X X X

Nar ra torX

NARRATOR: There was an old woman . . . .

NUMBER 1: So, there was this old per son.

NARRATOR: Yes, she was a very old lady.

NUMBER 2: What did she do?

NARRATOR: Well she lived in a shoe.

NUMBER 3: Why did she live in a shoe?

NARRATOR: I don’t know!

NUMBER 4: That’s strange—an old lady who lives in an oldshoe.

NARRATOR: Yes, I know.

NUMBER 1: How did she get into the shoe?

NUMBER 2: A shoe can be re ally stinky.

NARRATOR: You’re right. I just don’t know.

NUMBER 3: Why would she live in a stinky shoe?

NUMBER 4: Maybe she didn’t have a house.

NUMBER 1: Maybe she didn’t have an apart ment.

NUMBER 2: Maybe she didn’t even have a tent.

NARRATOR: You could all be right.


NUMBER 3: Well, tell us more about this old lady.

NARRATOR: Well she had a lot of chil dren.

NUMBER 4: How many chil dren did she have?

NARRATOR: I don’t know. I’m just tell ing the story.

NUMBER 1: Maybe she had a mil lion chil dren.

NUMBER 2: Wow! That would be a lot of kids!

NUMBER 3: Yeah, that would be a lot of broth ers . . .

NUMBER 4: . . . and a lot of sis ters!

NUMBER 1: I don’t think I would want all those broth ers . . .

NUMBER 2: . . . or sis ters.

NUMBER 3: Well, tell us more.

NARRATOR: The old lady didn’t know what to do with all thosechil dren.

NUMBER 4: I would n’t know what to do.

NUMBER 1: I would n’t know what to do.

NUMBER 2: Me, too.

NUMBER 3: She must have done some thing.

NARRATOR: She gave them some broth.

NUMBER 4: What is broth?

NARRATOR: It’s just like soup. But there are no veg e ta bles.

NUMBER 1: That’s O.K. I don’t like veg e ta bles.

NUMBER 2: Then, you might like broth.

NUMBER 3: So, what did she do then?

NARRATOR: She didn’t give them any bread.

NUMBER 4: Why was that?

NARRATOR: Be cause she didn’t have any.


NUMBER 1: O.K. Then what?

NARRATOR: She sent them all to bed.

NUMBER 2: They must have been very tired . . .

NUMBER 3: . . . and very hun gry.

NUMBER 4: She was tired and hun gry, too.

NUMBER 1: I think you’re right.

NUMBER 2: This isn’t a happy story.

NUMBER 3: No, it’s not.

NUMBER 4: But, let’s hear the whole story . . .

NUMBER 1: . . . about the old woman . . .

NUMBER 2: . . . and all her kids . . .

NUMBER 3: . . . and what they ate . . .

NUMBER 4: . . . and how they all went to bed.

NARRATOR: O.K., I’ll start and you all [points to char ac ters] canhelp me out.

ALL: O.K.

NARRATOR: Here we go! There was an old woman

ALL: Who lived in a shoe,

NARRATOR: She had so many chil dren,

ALL: She didn’t know what to do.

NARRATOR: She gave them some broth

ALL: With out any bread.

NARRATOR: She kissed them all sweetly

ALL: And sent them to bed.

NARRATOR: You did a great job. Thank you very much.

ALL: You’re wel come.


Lit tle Jack Hor nerLit tle Jack Hor ner

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSYou may wish to share the Mother Goose rhyme with your stu dents be fore hand (par tic u larly if thereare sev eral in di vid u als not fa mil iar with this rhyme). Let stu dents know that a story has been builtaround the rhyme to add some in ter est.

PROPSNo props are nec es sary. How ever, if you can get a make-be lieve pie (or even a pie plate), that wouldadd to the story’s ef fect.

DELIVERYThe de liv ery should be slow and mea sured (this script does not re quire a rapid pace). En cour age thechar ac ters to speak to each other (rather than into their scripts).

63

ORIGINAL VERSIONLit tle Jack Hor ner

Sat in a cor nerEat ing his Christ mas pie.

He stuck in his thumb,Pulled out a plum,

And said, “What a good boy am I!”

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Re peat the first five lines of the rhyme for your stu dents, but change the body part at the end of

line 4 (see sam ples be low). In vite stu dents to sug gest a rhym ing word for the end of line 5. Forex am ple:

– Leg: keg, peg

– Head: sled, bread

– Hand: band, land

– Arm: charm, farm

– Nose: hose, rose, toes

– Chest: best, rest, nest


Lit tle Jack Hor nerSTAGING: The char ac ters may be seated on stools or may be stand ing. Note that thisscript does not have a nar ra tor.

Cat Dog MouseX X X

JackX

CAT: Hey, look, there’s Jack.

DOG: What is he do ing?

MOUSE: I don’t know. Let’s ask him. Hey, Jack. What areyou do ing?

JACK: Oh, noth ing. I’m just walk ing around.

CAT: You look lost.

DOG: Yeah, you look lost.

MOUSE: Hey, Jack, are you lost?

JACK: No, I’m not lost. I’m just hun gry.

CAT: Did you have any break fast?

JACK: No.

DOG: Did you have any lunch?

JACK: No.

MOUSE: Did you have any din ner?

JACK: No.

CAT: Wow, you must be re ally hun gry.

DOG: Yeah, you must be very hun gry.

MOUSE: Hmmm, I won der how we can help you.


JACK: I don’t know. But I’m re ally re ally hun gry.

CAT: I won der if some one could give us some food.

DOG: That would be a good idea.

MOUSE: But, who would give us some food?

CAT: Let’s look around.

DOG: Hey, look over there [points].

MOUSE: Hey, look at that. It’s a pie. Some body left itout side.

JACK: Boy, that sure looks good. What kind of pie is it?

CAT: It looks like a cherry pie.

DOG: No, it looks like a berry pie.

MOUSE: I think you are wrong. I think it’s a plum pie.

CAT: How do you know?

DOG: Yeah, how do you know?

MOUSE: Well, it smells like a plum pie.

JACK: I know how I could find out.

CAT: How?

DOG: How?

MOUSE: Yeah, how?

JACK: Well, I could stick my thumb in the pie.

CAT: What would that do?

DOG: Yeah, what would that do?

MOUSE: What do you think you would find?

JACK: Well, if I found a plum, then I would know whatkind of pie it was.

[Jack sits down and pre tends to stick his thumb intoa plum pie.]


CAT: I guess that means we should fin ish this story.

DOG: Yeah, I guess we should fin ish this story.

MOUSE: I think you’re right. So, here goes.

CAT: Lit tle Jack Hor ner

DOG: Sat in a cor ner

MOUSE: Eat ing his Christ mas pie;

CAT: He put in his thumb,

DOG: And pulled out a plum,

MOUSE: And cried, “What a good boy am I!”

JACK: The End.


Rub-a-Dub-DubRub-a-Dub-Dub

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThis par tic u lar Eng lish rhyme has a naughty gen e sis (see “In ter est ing Facts about Mother Goose” atthe end of this book). Nev er the less, for chil dren it is a play ful and silly story about three men whojust hap pen to climb into a big tub for a jour ney across wa ter. Their rea sons for sail ing in a tub arenever known, but that just adds to the sil li ness. Keep the em pha sis on fun and fri vol ity for this script.

PROPSIf you can ob tain a large tub, you may wish to place it in the cen ter of the stag ing area. This is op -tional, how ever.

DELIVERYThe Can dle stick Maker should de liver his lines in a sing-song man ner. The Butcher and Bakershould de liver their lines with a some what puz zled ex pres sion on their faces. The nar ra tor should bethe “straight man” in this script.

68

ORIGINAL VERSIONRub-a-dub-dub,

Three men in a tub,And how do you think they got there?

The butcher, the baker, the can dle stick maker,They all jumped out of a rot ten po tato,

’Twas enough to make a man stare.

PHONEMIC AWARENESS ACTIVITY(IES) 1. You may wish to cre ate a chant with stu dents us ing se lected words from the rhyme. For ex am ple:

It be gins with /r/And ends with /ub/.Put them to gether

And they say __________ (rub)

In vite stu dents to blend the sounds to gether and cho rus the cor rect an swer. Re peat the chantsev eral times us ing some of the fol low ing words from the rhyme:

dub: /d/ /ub/three: /th/ /ree/

tub: /t/ /ub/think: /th/ /ink/they: /th/ /ey/

There: /th/ /ere/

Rub-a-Dub-Dub 69

Rub-a-Dub-DubSTAGING: The nar ra tor should be placed in the rear of the stag ing area. She or he maysit on a tall stool or be stand ing in front of a mu sic stand or lec tern. The other char ac tersshould all be stand ing in the mid dle of the stag ing area.

Nar ra torX

BakerX

Butcher Can dle stick Maker (C.M.)X X

NARRATOR: Long ago there were three men.

BUTCHER: That’s me!

BAKER: And me!

CANDLESTICKMAKER (C.M.): And, me! And, me!

NARRATOR: One day they went for a walk.

BUTCHER: Yes, a walk.

BAKER: A walk!

C.M.: A walk, a walk!

NARRATOR: They walked in the park. But that was n’t very fun.

BUTCHER: No, it was n’t fun.

BAKER: It was n’t fun at all.

C.M.: No fun, no fun!

NARRATOR: So, they de cided to fly a kite. But there was nowind.

BUTCHER: There was n’t any wind.

BAKER: There was no wind.


C.M.: No wind, no wind.

NARRATOR: So, then they went on the swings. But the swingswere bro ken.

BUTCHER: They were bro ken.

BAKER: They would n’t work.

C.M.: Not work ing. Not work ing.

NARRATOR: So they thought some more. They de cided to climba tree.

BUTCHER: Yes, climb a tree.

BAKER: We can climb a tree.

C.M.: A tree. A tree.

NARRATOR: But, the tree was too high. “What shall we do?” they asked.

BUTCHER: Yes, what shall we do?

BAKER: What will we do?

C.M.: To do. To do.

NARRATOR: So they de cided to row a boat. They de cided to rowa boat across the lake.

BUTCHER: Yes, let’s row a boat.

BAKER: We can row a boat.

C.M.: A boat. A boat.

NARRATOR: But there was no boat. All they could find was anold tub.

BUTCHER: All we could find was a tub.

BAKER: We found a tub.

C.M.: A tub. A tub.

NARRATOR: So they said, “Let’s try the tub. It should be fine.”

BUTCHER: That’s what we said.


BAKER: Yes, that’s what we said.

C.M.: We said. We said.

NARRATOR: So, they all climbed into the tub. They floated outon the lake.

BUTCHER: We went out on the lake.

BAKER: Way out on the lake.

C.M.: The lake. The lake.

NARRATOR: I don’t know what hap pened af ter that. They mightstill be there.

BUTCHER: Yes, we might still be there.

BAKER: We could still be on the lake.

C.M.: The lake. The lake.

NARRATOR: But, that’s not the end. There is a rhyme that goeswith this story. It’s about these three men [points tothe char ac ters].

BUTCHER: It’s about me, the butcher.

BAKER: And me, the baker.

C.M.: [points to self] Can dle stick maker. Can dle stickmaker.

NARRATOR: And, here’s that story.

BUTCHER: Rub-a-dub-dub

BAKER: Three men in a tub,

C.M.: And how do you think they got there?

BUTCHER: The butcher [points to self],

BAKER: The baker [points to self],

C.M.: The can dle stick maker [points to self],

BUTCHER: They all

BAKER: Jumped out


C.M.: Of a rot ten po tato,

NARRATOR: ’Twas enough to make a man stare.

ALL: The end.

C.M.: The end. The end!


PART II

READING LEVEL,

SECOND GRADEPart II: Read ing Level, Sec ond Grade

Baa, Baa, Black SheepBaa, Baa, Black Sheep

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThe Mother Goose rhyme is part of a larger script. You may wish to ex plain to stu dents the mean ingof the word “dame” (older woman) be fore a pre sen ta tion. De pend ing on the back ground knowl edgeof your stu dents, it may be nec es sary to ex plain that wool is the white fluffy stuff on sheep.

PROPSYou may wish to have a large gro cery bag filled with scraps of pa per and taped closed. The bag maybe on the floor in front of the char ac ters.

DELIVERY“Sally” should have a quiz zi cal ex pres sion on her face. The nar ra tor should keep the pace of thestory mov ing at a good clip.

77

ORIGINAL VERSIONBaa, baa, black sheep,Have you any wool?

Yes, sir, yes, sir,Three bags full:

One for the mas ter,One for the dame,

And one for the lit tle boyWho lives down the lane.

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES)1. Model for stu dents some of the ques tions you would ask your self as you read this book. Do a

think-aloud for stu dents us ing some of the fol low ing ex am ples:

– “Do I have any ques tions about the ti tle be fore I read?”

– “What do I like about the ti tle?”

– “What can I do if I don’t un der stand some thing?”

– “Am I en joy ing the story so far?”

– “Can I re tell this story to some one else?”

– “Would I want to read an other Mother Goose rhyme like this?”

As you do an ini tial read-aloud, slip some of the ques tions above into the sto ry tell ing.Pause each time and al low stu dents to “see in side your head” as you model each ques tion andas you think about how you might re spond to each one. For ex am ple, if you asked your self (in a talk-aloud), “What can I do if I don’t un der stand some thing?”, you could make up the fol low -ing re sponse: “Well, I guess if I didn’t un der stand some thing, I could con tinue read ing andhope that the au thor gives me some new in for ma tion. Or maybe, I could ask a friend to help mefig ure out what is go ing on in the story.” The sce nar ios don’t have to be long, just il lus tra tive ofthe think ing you might do as you ask and an swer your own ques tions.

78 Part II: Read ing Level, Sec ond Grade

Baa, Baa, Black SheepBa, Ba, Oveja Negra

STAGING: The char ac ters should be stand ing. They may hold the scripts in their handsor the scripts may be placed on mu sic stands placed in front of each char ac ter.

Nar ra torX Sally

X Sa rahX Seth

X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time . . .

NARRADOR(A): Una vez había . . .

SALLY: There was a boy.

SALLY: Un niño.

NARRATOR: Hey, wait a min ute.

NARRADOR(A): Oye, espera un minuto.

SALLY: What?

SALLY: ¿Qué?

NARRATOR: I’m the nar ra tor. I should tell the story.

NARRADOR(A): Yo soy el narrador. Yo debo contar el cuento.

SALLY: O.K. you’re right.

SALLY: Está bien, tienes razón.


SARAH: Yes, let’s let the nar ra tor tell the story.

SARA: Sí, vamos a permitirle al narrador contar el

cuento.

SETH: Yes, I agree. The nar ra tor should tell the story.

SETH: Sí, estoy de acuerdo. El narrador debe contar

el cuento.

SALLY: Then what do we do?

SALLY: ¿Qué harémos luego?

SARAH: We lis ten.

SARA: Nosotros escucharémos.

SETH: And, we help the nar ra tor.

SETH: Y, ayudarémos al narrador.

SALLY: How do we help?

SALLY: ¿Cómo ayudarémos?

SARAH: We have things to say.

SARA: Nosotros tenemos cosas que decir.

SALLY: When do we say them?

SALLY: ¿Cuándo decirlas?

SETH: When the nar ra tor is done talk ing.

SETH: Cuando el narrador termine de hablar.

SALLY: O.K.

SALLY: Está bien.


NARRATOR: Can I start now?

NARRADOR(A): ¿Puedo empezar ahora?

SETH: Yes, you can start.

SETH: Sí, puedes empezar.

NARRATOR: Is ev ery one ready?

NARRADOR(A): ¿Todos están listos?

SARAH: Yes, we are all ready.

SARA: Sí, estamos todos listos.

NARRATOR: O.K. here we go. Once upon a time . . .

NARRADOR(A): Está bien, aquí vamos. Había una vez . . .

SALLY: Baa, baa

SALLY: Ba, ba

SARAH: Black sheep,

SARA: Una oveja negra,

SETH: Have you

SETH: ¿Tienes

SALLY: Any wool?

SALLY: Lana?

SARAH: Yes, sir

SARA: Sí, señor

SETH: Yes, sir

SETH: Sí, señor


SALLY: Three bags full:

SALLY: Tres bolsas llenas:

SARAH: One for the mas ter,

SARA: Una para el dueño,

SETH: One for the dame,

SETH: Una para la dama,

SALLY: And one for . . .

SALLY: Y una para . . .

SARAH: The lit tle boy

SARA: El pequeño niño

SETH: Who lives

SETH: Quien vive

ALL: Down the lane.

TODOS: Más abajo del camino.

NARRATOR: That was a good job.

NARRADOR(A): Eso fue un buen trabajo.

SALLY: Thank you. But I have a ques tion.

SALLY: Gracias. Pero tengo una pregunta.

NARRATOR: What is it?

NARRADOR(A): ¿Qué es?

SALLY: What will the lit tle boy do with the wool?

SALLY: ¿Qué hará el pequeño niño con la lana?


SARAH: He could make a shirt.

SARA: Él podría hacer una camisa.

SETH: He could make a sweater.

SETH: Él podría hacer un sueter.

NARRATOR: Or, he could make a jacket.

NARRADOR(A): O, él podría hacer una chaqueta.

SALLY: Oh, I see. Wool can be used for many things.

SALLY: Ah, yo entiendo. La lana puede ser usada para

muchas cosas.

NARRATOR: You’re right. Wool is very use ful.

NARRADOR(A): Tienes razón. La lana es muy útil.

SARAH: So that’s our story or the sheep and the wool.

SARA: Entonces ese es nuestro cuento de la oveja y

la lana.

SETH: And, they all lived hap pily ever af ter.

SETH: Y, todos vivieron felices.

NARRATOR: That’s right, hap pily ever af ter.

NARRADOR(A): Tiene razón, y fueron muy felices.


Pease Por ridge HotPease Por ridge Hot

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSYou may wish to ex plain to stu dents that “pease por ridge” is an old Eng lish term for thick pea soup.If stu dents have never seen pea soup be fore, you may wish to bring in a can, open it, and pour it into a bowl for them to taste (please be aware of any food al ler gies).

PROPSThere should be some sort of ta ble in the mid dle of the four Bears. If pos si ble, place a pot or ket tle inthe mid dle of the ta ble for added ef fect. Sev eral wooden spoons could be placed in side the pot.

DELIVERYThe de liv ery should be light and fun. A lit tle bit of sil li ness is also ap pro pri ate.

84

ORIGINAL VERSIONPease por ridge hot,Pease por ridge cold,

Pease por ridge in the potNine days old.

Some like it hot,Some like it cold,

Some like it in the pot,Nine days old.

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Be fore shar ing the rhyme with stu dents, say the fol low ing to them:

Close your eyes and cre ate a pic ture in your head of a din ner ta ble. In your pic ture,put a bright ta ble cloth on the ta ble. Put a bas ket of flow ers in the mid dle of the ta ble.Put some bowls on the ta ble. Put some spoons on the ta ble. Place four chairs aroundthe ta ble. On one side of the ta ble put a big pot. Look at the pot. There is steam com -ing from the top of the pot. Look at the steam com ing from the top of the pot. There issome thing very hot in side the pot. Look down into the pot and see some soup. Seesome hot soup in side the pot. Look care fully at the soup. The soup is very thick. And,the soup is green. You are look ing at thick green soup. Look at the thick green soupbub bling in the pot. You can al most smell the thick green soup bub bling in the pot. Itsmells so good. Now, slowly open your eyes and lis ten to this Mother Goose rhymeabout thick soup.

2. Read the first four lines of this Mother Goose rhyme to stu dents and then ask them some of thefol low ing pre dict ing and in fer ring ques tions:

“How did the por ridge get hot?” “How did the por ridge get cold?” “Why would some one let the por ridge be nine days old?”

Pease Por ridge Hot 85

Pease Por ridge HotSTAGING: The char ac ters should all be seated around a ta ble—pref er a bly a round ta -ble. They may be on stools or chairs. The nar ra tor should be off to one side and seated ona tall stool.

Bear 2X

Bear 1 (ta ble) Bear 3X X

Bear 4X

Nar ra torX

NARRATOR: This story opens in side the cabin of the Bear fam ily.

BEAR 1: That’s us.

BEAR 2: That’s right. We’re the Bears. The Big Bad Bears.

BEAR 3: Well, we aren’t so big.

BEAR 4: And, we aren’t so bad.

NARRATOR: They are re ally very nice bears. Peo ple just thinkthat all bears are big and bad. But not these bears.This fam ily of bears is re ally re ally nice.

BEAR 1: That’s right, we’re re ally re ally nice!

NARRATOR: O.K., now that the au di ence knows you are re allynice, let’s tell them a story.

BEAR 2: Yes, let’s tell them a story.

BEAR 3: Yes, let’s tell them a story about us.

BEAR 4: What a great idea!

NARRATOR: Hey, wait a min ute. I’m the nar ra tor. You guys aretak ing all my lines.

BEAR 1: We’re sorry. We won’t do it again!


BEAR 2: Yeah, we won’t do it again.

BEAR 3: We prom ise.

BEAR 4: Yeah, we prom ise.

NARRATOR: [frus trated] O.K., O.K. Let’s get started.

BEAR 1: We’re all lis ten ing.

NARRATOR: Fi nally! Any way, as I was say ing, there was thisfam ily of bears. There was Papa Bear.

BEAR 1: That’s me!

NARRATOR: There was Mama Bear.


NARRATOR: There was Big Brother Bear.


NARRATOR: And, there was Baby Sis ter Bear.


NARRATOR: One eve ning they all sat around the din ner ta ble.

ALL BEARS: That’s this [point ing to the ta ble]!

NARRATOR: They were all hun gry.

ALL BEARS: We were hun gry.

NARRATOR: Well, Mama Bear made some thick pea soup fordin ner. In the old days it was n’t called pea soup. Itwas called pease por ridge.

BEAR 2: Yeah, some peo ple thought it was ce real. But itwas n’t.

BEAR 3: Some peo ple thought it was yuck. But it was n’t.

BEAR 4: It was just re ally re ally thick soup.

NARRATOR: The soup was re ally thick. And it was cold. Re allyre ally cold.

BEAR 1: Yes, and it was some thing else.


NARRATOR: You’re right. It was re ally re ally old.

BEAR 2: Yes, it had been sit ting around for a long time.

BEAR 3: It was more than one week old.

BEAR 4: Yes, it was re ally about nine days old.

BEAR 3: EWWW! NINE DAYS OLD!!

NARRATOR: Any way, the bears sat down to eat their nine day old soup. Then they had an idea.

BEAR 1: Yes, we had an idea.

BEAR 2: Hey, we said. Let’s heat up the old soup. And, while it is heat ing we can sing a song.

BEAR 3: Yes, we can sing a song.

BEAR 4: Yes, the soup can heat and we can sing.

NARRATOR: And, so, the bears made up a song about their soup.They would now like to sing the song for you.

ALL BEARS: Yes, we would.

NARRATOR: So, here’s the song about soup. Or the Bear’s soupsong. Or the soupy Bear’s song about . . . .

ALL BEARS: LET’S GO!

NARRATOR: O.K., here they are.

BEAR 1: Pease por ridge hot,

BEAR 2: Pease por ridge cold,

BEAR 3: Pease por ridge in the pot

BEAR 4: Nine days old.

BEAR 1: Some like it hot,

BEAR 2: Some like it cold,

BEAR 3: Some like it in the pot,

BEAR 4: Nine days old.

NARRATOR: And, that’s the story about a pot of cold soup andfour bears. The end.


To Mar ketTo Mar ket

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThe pre sen ta tion of this script should be in for mal. Each of the char ac ter’s parts is rel a tively brief andfriendly.

PROPSIf pos si ble, you may wish to pro vide each of the girls in this play with a small bas ket. The bas ketsmay be real or may be crafted out of con struc tion pa per. If pos si ble, put an apron on each girl.

DELIVERYIn vite young sters to talk in their con ver sa tional voices, much as they would if they were talk ing outon the play ground.

89

ORIGINAL VERSIONTo mar ket, to mar ket, to buy a fat pig,Home again, home again, jiggety-jig.

To mar ket, to mar ket, to buy a fat hog,Home again, home again, jiggety-jog.

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. In vite stu dents to brain storm all they know about shop ping at a gro cery store. As each sug ges -

tion is made, you may wish to re cord it on the chalk board. Help stu dents stay fo cused di rectlyon gro cery store shop ping (items that can be pur chased, what a gro cery store looks like, etc.).Af ter stu dents have gen er ated a list of about six to eight items, pres ent them with some pho to -graphs of dif fer ent types of gro cery stores—from mega-stores to lit tle coun try mar kets. Plansome time to dis cuss some of the sim i lar i ties among these stores (they all use money; there areshelves) as well as some of the dif fer ences (some are very large, oth ers small; some have neonsigns, others hand-lettered signs).

2. Say the fol low ing to your stu dents,

Close your eyes. Now paint a pic ture of your self. You are walk ing down a dirt path.In your hand you are hold ing a bas ket. The bas ket is red and white. There is noth ingin the bas ket. The bas ket is empty. The sun over head is bright. It is a sunny, warmsum mer day. You are walk ing down the path. Look ahead. There in the dis tance is atown. There are lots of build ings in the town. You look hard and see one build ing. It is a store. There are peo ple go ing in and com ing out of the store. Some have boxes fullof gro cer ies. Oth ers have small bags with gro cer ies. Still other peo ple are load ingtheir cars with lots and lots of gro cer ies. To day, ev ery body is shop ping at the store.They are all buy ing food. You get closer to the store. You are about to walk into thestore. Then you see some one com ing out of the store. The per son you see has a big fatpig in her arms. Yes, she is car ry ing a big fat pig in her arms. “Why does she have apig?” you ask your self. But, there she is. She is walk ing out of the store with a big fatpig. A big, big fat pig. Now, slowly open your eyes and let’s have some fun with aread ers thea tre story about three girls who went shopping for a big fat pig.


To Mar ketSTAGING: The nar ra tor should be off to the side of the stag ing area and may be seatedor stand ing. The other char ac ters should be stand ing in a loose semi cir cle.

Girl1Nar ra tor Boy X Girl 2

X X X

Girl 3X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time there were three girls.

GIRL 1: There’s me . . .

GIRL 2: . . . and me . . .

GIRL 3: . . . and me!

NARRATOR: One day they went to the store. On the way to thestore they met a boy.

BOY: That’s me!

NARRATOR: I guess I should let the char ac ters [points to theplay ers] tell you the rest of their story. O.K.?

BOY: Like the nar ra tor was say ing . . . . I was just walk ing along when these three girls came along. Hey, threegirls, where are you go ing?

GIRL 1: We’re go ing to the store.

BOY: What are you go ing to buy there?

GIRL 2: We want to but a pig.

BOY: Why do you want to buy a pig?

GIRL 3: Well, it’s not just any pig. It’s a fat pig!

BOY: O.K. Why do you want to buy a fat pig?

GIRL 1: Well, I guess we’re very hun gry.


BOY: Are the three of you go ing to eat one big fat pig?

GIRL 2: No, we might share the pig with our fam ily.

BOY: Oh, so you must have a large fam ily.

GIRL 3: Yes we do. We have lots of broth ers and sis ters andaunts and un cles and . . . .

BOY: O.K., you can stop there. I get the point.

GIRL 1: Any way, there are a lot of peo ple to feed at home.So we wanted to get some thing big.

GIRL 2: Some thing big that would feed all those peo ple.

BOY: O.K., so you are go ing to the mar ket to get a big fatpig. Then what?

GIRL 3: Well, then we’re go ing to go home and fix the pig.

BOY: Is that all?

GIRL 1: Well, no. Be cause af ter we get the pig and take it home and fix it, then we have to go back to the mar ket.

BOY: Why do you have to go back to the mar ket again.

GIRL 2: Be cause then we have to get a hog.

BOY: You have to get a hog?

GIRL 3: That’s right, a hog.

BOY: Let me guess. It’s go ing to be a . . . a . . . a . . . fathog! Right?

GIRL 1: That’s right. Af ter we get a fat pig, then we get a fat hog.

BOY: It seems like you like big fat an i mals.

GIRL 2: That’s right. The fat ter, the better.

BOY: So, let me get this straight. First you go to mar ket.

GIRL 3: That’s right.

BOY: And then you buy a fat pig?

GIRL 1: Right!

BOY: And then you take it home and fix it. Right?


GIRL 2: Right!

BOY: Then, you go back to the mar ket?

GIRL 3: That’s right!

BOY: And, now you buy a fat hog.

GIRL 1: You got it!

BOY: Af ter you get this fat hog, you take it home, too.

GIRL 2: You’re right!

BOY: And you fix the fat hog.

GIRL 3: That’s the whole story.

BOY: Wow! It sounds like you girls have a very busy day.

GIRL 1: Yes, we do.

GIRL 2: But, there’s one more thing we must do.

BOY: What’s that?

GIRL 3: We must sing you the Mother Goose rhyme. O.K.?

BOY: O.K. I’m ready.

GIRL 1: To mar ket,

GIRL 2: To mar ket,

GIRL 3: To buy a fat pig,

GIRL 1: Home again,

GIRL 2: Home again,

GIRL 3: Jiggety-jig.

GIRL 1: To mar ket,

GIRL 2: To mar ket,

GIRL 3: To but a fat hog,

GIRL 1: Home again,

GIRL 2: Home again,

GIRL 3: Jiggety-jog.

NARRATOR: The end.


One for the MoneyOne for the Money

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThis pop u lar Mother Goose rhyme is short and sweet. You may wish to teach it to stu dents ahead oftime and at the ap pro pri ate place in the script in vite the en tire au di ence to say the rhyme along withthe char ac ters.


DELIVERYAll the char ac ters should as sume their “silly voices.” En cour age stu dents to play this script forlaughs—make silly faces, use silly lan guage, cre ate silly move ments.

94

ORIGINAL VERSIONOne for the money,

And two for the show,Three to get ready,

And four to go.

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. In vite stu dents to talk about some of the pre dic tions that they may make dur ing the course of

the day (e.g., what the weather will be like, what they will be hav ing for din ner, etc.). Sharewith them the value of mak ing pre dic tions be fore lis ten ing to any story. Re flect on the pre dic -tions you may have made be fore read ing the Mother Goose rhyme “One for the Money.” Forex am ple: “When I heard the ti tle I thought that this was go ing to be a story about some one find -ing lots and lots of money,” or “When I saw the ti tle I thought that this was a story about wordsthat rhyme with ‘money’.” In vite stu dents to talk about some other pre dic tions that could bemade for this rhyme.

One for the Money 95

One for the MoneySTAGING: The char ac ters may all be seated on tall stools or on chairs. The nar ra tormay be placed be hind a lec tern or mu sic stand.

KerryX

Mary LarryX X

Terry JerryX X

Nar ra torX

NARRATOR: Good morn ing. To day we have a short script foryou. It’s a silly story about num bers.

TERRY: I didn’t know that num bers could be silly.

MARY: Well, I didn’t know that ei ther.

KERRY: I heard once that num bers could be silly.

LARRY: You know what? I think ev ery body here is silly!Who ever heard of silly num bers?

JERRY: I did.

TERRY: Well, guess what. Not only are num bers silly, but Ithink we are too.

MARY: What do you mean?

KERRY: I think she means that we all have silly names.

LARRY: Yeah, who gave us these names any way.

JERRY: Just look at them [points to the signs around eachplayer’s neck].

TERRY: Hey, you’re right. They are silly!

MARY: Yeah, they all rhyme.


KERRY: You’re right. Look [points to each one]. There’sTerry. There’s Mary. There’s Kerry . . . that’s me!

LARRY: There’s Larry . . . that’s me. And, there’s Jerry.

JERRY: Hey, let’s say them all to gether.

TERRY: O.K., is ev ery body ready?

ALL: Yes.

TERRY: Then, let’s go.

ALL: Terry, Mary, Kerry, Larry, Jerry!

MARY: That’s cool. Let’s do it again.

ALL: [faster] Terry, Mary, Kerry, Larry, Jerry!

KERRY: One more time!

ALL: [faster] Terry, Mary, Kerry, Larry, Jerry!

NARRATOR: Hey, can we get back to the story? It’s re ally short.And, re mem ber, just like your names, it’s silly, too.

LARRY: O.K., I guess we can. What’s the name of the story.

NARRATOR: The ti tle of the story is “One for the Money.”

JERRY: I won der what that means.

NARRATOR: All I know is that it came from the coun try ofEng land.

TERRY: O.K. So, are we ready to tell the story.

MARY: I think we are.

KERRY: So do I.

LARRY: Then, let’s go.

JERRY: Yeah, let’s go.

NARRATOR: And, now la dies and gen tle men, we pres ent our silly short story called “One for the Money.”

TERRY: One for the money,


MARY: And two for the show,

KERRY: Three to get ready,

LARRY: And four to go.

JERRY: Hey, you’re right. That was a short story.

TERRY: Yup, that’s all there is. There isn’t any more.

MARY: Yes, we’re all done.

KERRY: We’re fin ished.

LARRY: The story is over.

JERRY: The end.

NARRATOR: [to au di ence] Thanks for lis ten ing. See you nexttime.


Lit tle Boy BlueLit tle Boy Blue

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThere is a touch of hu mor at the end of the script. You may wish to in form the play ers that somephys i cal move ment will be nec es sary at the end of the play (they will need to get off their chairs andlie down on the floor).

PROPSYou may wish to have a make-be lieve hay stack for this script. This could be a pile of pil lows on thefloor or an il lus tra tion of a hay stack pro jected on the wall with an over head pro jec tor.

DELIVERYThe de liv ery should be lively and an i mated. You may wish to en cour age stu dents to do a lit tle bit ofover-act ing for this script (to em pha size the hu mor).

99

ORIGINAL VERSIONLit tle Boy Blue,

Come blow your horn.The sheep’s in the meadow,

The cow’s in the corn.But where’s the boy

Who looks af ter the sheep?Un der the hay stack.

Fast asleep.Will you wake him?

No, not I,For if I do

He’s sure to cry.

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Tell stu dents that you would like to have some of them re tell the story. But be fore they re tell

what hap pened in the story, you are go ing to ask them a few ques tions. They should lis ten care -fully to the ques tions and try to in clude an swers to these ques tions in their retellings. Here are afew open-ended ques tions to get you started:

– “What was the most in ter est ing part of the story?”

– “What did you en joy most about this story?”

– “What made you laugh?”

– “Tell me how this story turned out.”

– “Is this story sim i lar to other sto ries you have heard?”

These open-ended que ries are de signed to help stu dents fo cus on the es sen tial el e ments thatshould be part of their retellings.


Lit tle Boy BluePequeño Niño Azul

STAGING: The char ac ters may all be seated on stools. “Lit tle Boy Blue” (who has anonspeaking role) may be ly ing on the floor, pre tend ing to be asleep.

Katy Karl Kathy Kristen Lit tle Boy BlueX X X X X

Nar ra torX

NARRATOR: Wel come to our story.

NARRADOR(A): Bienvenidos a nuestro cuento.

KATY: It’s a fun story.

KATY: Es un cuento divertido.

KARL: It’s a story about a boy.

KARL: Es un cuento acerca de un niño.

KATHY: A boy all dressed in blue.

KATHY: Un niño vestido todo de azul.

KRISTEN: Why is he in blue?

KRISTEN: ¿Por qué está vestido de azul?

KATY: Maybe he likes blue.

KATY: Quizás le guste el azul.

KARL: I like blue.

KARL: A mi me gusta el azul.


KATHY: I like blue, too

KATHY: A mi me gusta el azul, también.

KRISTEN: Well, so do I.

KRISTEN: Bueno, a mi también.

KATY: I guess we all like blue.

KATY: Yo supongo que a todos nos gusta el azul.

NARRATOR: There’s some thing else they [points to au di ence]need to know.

NARRADOR(A): Hay algo más que ellos [señalando a la

audiencia] necesitan sa ber.

KARL: What’s that?

KARL: ¿Qué?

NARRATOR: Well, our blue boy lives on a farm.

NARRADOR(A): Bueno, nuestro niño azul vive en una finca.

KATHY: How do you know that?

KATHY: ¿Cómo tú sabes eso?

NARRATOR: Well. I’m the nar ra tor. I’m sup posed to knowev ery thing.

NARRADOR(A): Bueno. Yo soy el narrador. Yo supuestamente

debo saberlo todo.

KRISTEN: Oh, now I get it. You’re the nar ra tor be cause youknow a lot of stuff.

KRISTEN: Ah, ahora yo entiendo. Tú eres el narrador

porque sabes muchas cosas.


NARRATOR: Well, not re ally! I just know a lot of stuff about thisstory.

NARRADOR(A): ¡Bueno, realmente no! Yo sólo sé muchas

cosas de este cuento.

KATY: Like the boy all dressed in blue.

KATY: Como el niño todo vestido de azul.

NARRATOR: Yes.

NARRADOR(A): Sí.

KARL: And the fact that he lives on a farm.

KARL: Y el hecho de que él vive en una finca.

NARRATOR: That’s right.

NARRADOR(A): Así es.

KATHY: So, does that mean we can start the story?

KATHY: ¿Entonces, este significa que podemos

empezar el cuento?

NARRATOR: I guess so. Is ev ery body ready?

NARRADOR(A): Yo supongo que sí. ¿Están listos todos?

KRISTEN: I think we are.

KRISTEN: Pienso que estamos listos.

NARRATOR: All right. La dies and gen tle men, we now pres ent the story about a lit tle boy. He was all dressed in blue.And he lived on a farm. Let’s go!

NARRADOR(A): Muy bien. Damas y Ca bal le ros, ahora le

presentamos el cuento acerca del niño. Todo

vestido de azul. Y él vivía en una finca. ¡Vamos!


KATY: Lit tle boy blue,

KATY: Pequeño niño azul,

KARL: Come, blow your horn.

KARL: Ven, toca tu trompeta.

KATHY: The sheep’s in the meadow,

KATHY: Las ovejas en el prado,

KRISTEN: The cow’s in the corn.

KRISTEN: La vaca en el cam po de maíz.

KATY: Where’s the lit tle boy

KATY: ¿Dónde está el pequeño niño . . .

KARL: Who looks af ter the sheep?

KARL: . . . el cual cuida la oveja?

KATHY: [points to Lit tle Boy Blue] He’s un der the hay stack

KATHY: [señalando a Pequeño Niño Azul] Él está

debajo del heno

KRISTEN: Fast asleep.

KRISTEN: Durmiendo.

NARRATOR: That was a good story. You did a good job.

NARRADOR(A): Ese fue un cuento bueno. Ustedes hicieron un

buen trabajo.

KATY: I’m tired from that story.

KATY: Estoy cansada con ese cuento.


KARL: So am I.

KARL: Yo también.

KATHY: I’m tired, too.

KATY: Yo estoy cansada, también.

KRISTEN: And so am I.

KRISTEN: Y yo también.

[The four main char ac ters get off their stools orchairs and go over to Lit tle Boy Blue. They all liedown on the floor and pre tend to go to sleep. Theymay be gin snor ing qui etly.]

[Los cuatro personajes principales dejan las

sillas y van al Pequeño Niño Azul. Ellos se

acuestan en el suelo y finjen estar dormidos.

Ellos pueden empezar a roncar con

suavemente.]

NARRATOR: Well, our story’s done. Ev ery body worked hard.Now they are all tired. Good night ev ery one.

NARRADOR(A): Bueno, nuestro cuento se acabó. Todos

trabajaron duro. Ahora todos están cansados.

Buenas noches a todos.


Sing a Song of Six penceSing a Song of Six pence

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSYou may wish to ex plain to stu dents that in merry old Eng land it was per fectly ac cept able to eatsong birds (in fact, it still is in parts of It aly). Pies to day are con sid ered des serts, but in the “old days”all sorts of meats and other food items were put into pastry shells and served as the main course.

PROPSYou may wish to place a fake pie on a small ta ble in the mid dle of the stag ing area.

DELIVERYThe king should be boast ful and de mand ing. The ser vant should be con de scend ing. The three black -birds should be perky and happy.

106

ORIGINAL VERSIONSing a song of six pence,

A pocket full of rye;Four and twenty black birds

Baked in a pie!When the pie was opened,The birds be gan to sing!Was n’t that a dainty dishTo set be fore the king.

The king was in his count ing house,Count ing out his money.

The Queen was in the parlour,Eat ing bread and honey.

The maid was in the gar den,Hang ing out the clothes

When along came a black bird,And snipped off her nose!

(NOTE: Most col lec tions of Mother Goose rhymes de lete the sec ond stanza. The maid hang ingout the wash is a ref er ence to Anne Boleyn, one of the wives of Henry VIII who, as you will re call,lost her head [“ . . . snipped off her nose!”]. The “black bird” re fers to her ex e cu tioner.)

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. In vite a se lected stu dent to re tell the rhyme (first stanza only). Ask other stu dents to lis ten care -

fully. When the re tell ing is com plete, prompt the stu dents with some of the fol low ingquestions:

– “What did he or she in clude in the re tell ing?”

– “What did he or she in clude in the in tro duc tion?”

– “What else could we add to the re tell ing?”

– “What hap pens next?”

– “What should we in clude in the end of the re tell ing?”

– “What do you think might hap pen next?”

2. In vite stu dents to par tic i pate in a dis cus sion about all the dif fer ent kinds of pies that they knowabout. Ask stu dents to brain storm for all the var i ous pies they can re mem ber eat ing or see ing ina res tau rant or gro cery store. They may also wish to talk with their par ents about var i ous typesof pies. Make a run ning list on the chalk board of the var i ous pies they sug gest. You may wishto pro vide stu dents with some old mag a zines (e.g., Good House keep ing, etc.) that have pie rec -i pes. In vite stu dents to cut out pic tures of var i ous pies and cre ate a “Pie Col lage” to be postedon a bul le tin board. You may wish to chal lenge stu dents to ob tain at least 20 dif fer ent pies fortheir dis play. Plan some time to talk about the wide va ri ety of pies (des sert and main course)that are eaten in this country as well as around the world.

Sing a Song of Six pence 107

Sing a Song of Six penceSTAGING: The char ac ters may all be seated on tall stools or on chairs. The nar ra torshould be off to the side and may be seated at a lec tern or in front of a mu sic stand.

KingX

Black bird 1 Black bird 2 Black bird 3X X X

Ser vantX

Nar ra torX

NARRATOR: Once upon a time there was a king. He was a veryhun gry king. He al ways liked to eat. His ser vantswere al ways bring ing him food. But, one day therewas n’t enough food in the cas tle. That is how ourstory be gins.

KING: Hey, I’m hun gry. Bring me some food!

SERVANT: I’m sorry, Mr. King, there is not food!

KING: What do you mean?

SERVANT: There is no food in the cas tle.

KING: I can’t be lieve that! Why is there no food in thecas tle?

SERVANT: Well, Mr. King, some body for got to go to the storeand get some food this week.

KING: I want that per son fired.

SERVANT: It was me, sir.

KING: Oh, well in that case, you can stay. You are a goodser vant.

SERVANT: Thank you, Mr. King.


KING: But, I’m still hun gry. What will I do?

SERVANT: I can go and ask the cook. Maybe he knows what todo.

KING: O.K. I’ll wait un til you get back.

NARRATOR: So, the ser vant went to talk to the cook. The cookthought and thought. Then he had a bril liant idea.He would bake the king a pie. It would n’t be justany pie. It would be a spe cial pie. It would be a piefilled with birds. That’s right—a pie filled withbirds. Let’s watch and see.

SERVANT: Hey, Mr. King, I’ve come back from the kitchen.The cook has made some thing spe cial for you. It’s a pie.

KING: Yum, yum. I love to eat pie.

SERVANT: I think you’ll like this one. It’s a bird pie.

KING: A BIRD PIE!!!

BLACKBIRD 1: Yes, we are all in the pie.

BLACKBIRD 2: Yes, the pie is jammed packed with lots and lots ofbirds.

BLACKBIRD 3: Yes, there are 24 black birds jammed into thisde li cious pie.

KING: Why would I want to eat 24 black birds? What dothey taste like?

BLACKBIRD 1: We taste good.

BLACKBIRD 2: Yes, we are the best tast ing birds in the world.

BLACKBIRD 3: You bet! We are re ally de li cious.

KING: I don’t know. I’ve never eaten black birds be fore.What do they taste like.

BLACKBIRD 1: Some peo ple say we taste like chicken.

BLACKBIRD 2: Some peo ple say we taste like roast beef.


BLACKBIRD 3: And, some peo ple say we taste like . . . well, like . . . like black bird.

KING: I’m not so sure.

SERVANT: I think you’ll re ally en joy this pie. It’s not a cherrypie. Or, an ap ple pie. Or, even a choc o late pie. It’s ablack bird pie.

BLACKBIRD 1: Yum, Yum!

BLACKBIRD 2: Yum, Yum!

BLACKBIRD 3: Yes, Yum, Yum!

NARRATOR: And, so it was. The hun gry king de cided to eat theblack bird pie. He ate all 24 of the black birds in thepie. He said that he liked it. Do you think you[points to au di ence] would like to eat someblack bird pie?

AUDIENCE: NO!!!

NARRATOR: I didn’t think so. But, I think you would like to hearthe rhyme that was writ ten for this story. Here goes.

BLACKBIRD 1: Sing a song of six pence,

BLACKBIRD 2: A pocket full of rye;

BLACKBIRD 3: Four and twenty black birds

KING: Baked in a pie!

BLACKBIRD 1: When the pie was opened,

BLACKBIRD 2: The birds be gan to sing!

BLACKBIRD 3: Was n’t that a dainty dish

KING: To set be fore the king?


Here We Go Roundthe Mul berry Bush

Here We Go Round the Mul berry Bush

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThis script is light and fun. The char ac ters make fun of their abil i ties (talk ing) in ad di tion to mak ingfun of the au thor (me). A lit tle prac tice be fore the ac tual pre sen ta tion will help char ac ters be comecom fort able with their lines and keep the em pha sis on fun.

PROPSPlace some sort of pot ted plant in the mid dle of the stag ing area. A bush is pre ferred, but is not ab so -lutely nec es sary.

DELIVERYThe char ac ters should have a some what per plexed ex pres sion on their faces as they de liver theirlines. They should be ques tion ing their parts as well as the mo tives of the writer. They are, af ter all,talk ing an i mals.

111

ORIGINAL VERSIONHere we go round the mul berry bush,

The mul berry bush, the mul berry bush,Here we go round the mul berry bush,

On a cold and frosty morn ing.

This is the way we wash our hands,Wash our hands, wash our hands,

This is the way we wash our hands,On a cold and frosty morn ing.

This is the way we wash our clothes,Wash our clothes, wash our clothes,This is the way we wash our clothes,

On a cold and frosty morn ing.

(NOTE: Most col lec tions of Mother Goose rhymes elim i nate the last two stan zas. How ever,over the years this rhyme has lent it self to many dif fer ent ad di tions of ev ery day ac tiv i ties. It is anideal rhyme for stu dents to con trib ute their own ideas about fa mil iar tasks. [“This is the way we skipour rope,” “This is the way we clean and sweep.”])

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. In vite stu dents, in small groups, to draw an il lus tra tion to ac com pany the rhyme. Be sure to en -

cour age them to use some of the de tails from the rhyme in their il lus tra tions. Plan some time todis cuss the il lus tra tions and the spe cific de tails that were in cluded. Help chil dren see the con -nec tions be tween the de tails of the rhyme and the de tails in their illustrations.

2. As an ex ten sion of the ac tiv ity above, in vite stu dents to cre ate their own verses for this rhyme(see the Note above). In vite the class to se lect four brand new verses. Di vide the class into fourgroups. Af ter sing ing the ad di tional verses of the rhyme, in vite each group to work to gether tode sign an il lus tra tion of a se lected verse that dis plays the im por tant de tails. Plan time for eachgroup to de scribe its illustration.


Here We Go Roundthe Mul berry Bush

STAGING: The char ac ters should be stand ing dur ing this script. They may choose tomove around the stag ing area as they are speak ing or may wish to stand in a loose semi -cir cle around a pot ted bush. The nar ra tor should stand off to the side and in back of theplayers.

Nar ra torX

Dog 2 Cat 1X X

Dog 1 Cat 2X (bush) X

NARRATOR: Once upon a time, in Eng land, there were lots ofmul berry bushes. A mul berry bush is both green and red. It’s a very pretty bush. Some times peo plewould dry their clothes on these bushes. Then, theirclothes would have a very nice smell. To day, therearen’t many mul berry bushes in Eng land. Butpeo ple still like them. So do an i mals.

DOG 1: Hey, look. It’s a mul berry bush [points].

DOG 2: Hey, you’re right. I have n’t seen one of those in along time.

CAT 1: I have n’t ei ther.

CAT 2: It sure smells nice.

DOG 1: Yes, it does. It has a pretty smell.

DOG 2: I won der what why it’s here.

CAT 1: Maybe the writer did that.

CAT 2: Why would he do that?

DOG 1: Writ ers are strange like that.


DOG 2: They sure are!

CAT 1: Yes, I think the writer is very strange. He put all ofus around a mul berry bush.

CAT 2: Then he did some thing that was re ally strange.

DOG 1: What’s that?

CAT 2: He made all of us talk.

DOG 2: Hey, you’re right. We’re talk ing an i mals!

CAT 1: Yes, we are. Now, you know [points to au di ence]that an i mals can’t talk.

DOG 1: Right. Some of us just bark and woof all day long.

CAT 2: And some of us just meow and purr all day long.

DOG 2: So this must be a re ally strange au thor. Be cause hegave us words to say.

CAT 1: And, we re ally can’t say words.

DOG 1: But, this is make-be lieve.

CAT 2: And, this is a make-be lieve story.

DOG 2: And the writer is re ally re ally strange. So guesswhat?

CAT 1: That’s right. We’re talk ing an i mals.

DOG 1: Yeah, we’re talk ing an i mals stand ing around amul berry bush.

CAT 2: So, what do we do now?

DOG 2: I guess we should ask the nar ra tor. The nar ra toral ways knows ev ery thing.

CAT 1: Hey, nar ra tor per son. What do we do next?

NARRATOR: Well, it says here [points to script] that you fourchar ac ters should dance around the mul berry bushand sing a song.


DOG 1: Dance around a mul berry bush. Why would we dothat?

CAT 2: Maybe the writer of this story thinks that we are ascrazy as he is.

DOG 2: That must be very crazy! What else do we have todo?

CAT 1: We have to sing.

DOG 1: Boy, that is very strange. First we talk. Then, wehave to dance.

CAT 2: . . . and then, we have to sing a song.

DOG 2: This is the strang est story I’ve ever been in.

CAT 1: Me too. But, I’m get ting hun gry, so what do you say we do our story, and then we can go and get somelunch?

DOG 1: Sounds good to me.

CAT 2: Me, too.

DOG 2: And, me too.

NARRATOR: So the four an i mals stood around the mul berry bush. They all held hands and be gan to dance around thebush. And, they be gan to sing.

[The char ac ters hold hands and move around thepot ted bush while they say their lines.]

DOG 1: Here we go round the mul berry bush,

DOG 2: The mul berry bush, the mul berry bush,

CAT 1: Here we go round the mul berry bush,

CAT 2: On a cold and frosty morn ing.

NARRATOR: One more time.

[The char ac ters again hold hands and move aroundthe pot ted bush while they say their lines.]


DOG 1: Here we go round the mul berry bush,

DOG 2: The mul berry bush, the mul berry bush,

CAT 1: Here we go round the mul berry bush,

CAT 2: On a cold and frosty morn ing.

DOG 1: Yes, you’re right. The writer sure is a strangeper son!


Old King ColeOld King Cole

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSYour may wish to read this rhyme to stu dents be fore they pro duce it as a read ers thea tre pro duc tion.Men tion to them that the in for ma tion about the pipe, bowl, and fid dlers three is true. The pipe wasprob a bly some kind of wind in stru ment pop u lar in the Mid dle Ages. The bowl was most likely an in -stru ment sim i lar to the Irish bodhran drum.

PROPSYou may wish to pro vide the fid dlers with make-be lieve fid dles (one stick for a bow and an otherstick for a fid dle). Pro vide the king with a bowl and a make-be lieve pipe (an other stick).

DELIVERYThe king should be happy and proud. The fid dlers should be happy and merry. The nar ra tor shouldap pear knowl edge able and learned.

117

ORIGINAL VERSIONOld King Cole

Was a merry old soul,And a merry old soul was he.

He called for his pipe,And he called for his bowl,

And he called for his fid dlers three.

Ev ery fid dler he had a fid dle,And a very fine fid dle had he.

Oh there’s none so rare,As can com pare,

With King Cole and his fid dlers three.

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. In vite stu dents to pro vide a re tell ing of the story (first stanza). You may wish to use some of the

fol low ing prompts:

– “What should we in clude in a re tell ing of this story?”

– “What should we in clude in an in tro duc tion?”

– “Can you be a lit tle more spe cific?”

– “How can we con tinue re tell ing?”

– “What hap pened next?”

– “If we could keep go ing, what would hap pen next in the story?”

2. As ap pro pri ate, you may wish to en gage young sters in a vari a tion of the game show Jeop -ardy!®. Ini tially, you can dem on strate this by pro vid ing an “an swer” for young sters (e.g.,“bowl”) and then pro vid ing an ap pro pri ate ques tion for that “an swer” (“What was the sec ondthing Old King Cole asked for?”). Re peat this sev eral times. As chil dren be come more prac -ticed, in vite them to of fer ques tions for some “an swers” that you pro vide. In this ac tiv ity, chil -dren learn the art of ques tion ask ing by watch ing you as you model ap pro pri ate an swers as wellas ap pro pri ate ques tions.


Old King ColeEl Viejo Rey Col

STAGING: The nar ra tor is seated on a tall stool. The speak ing char ac ters (Jack and Jill) may also be seated on tall stools. The nonspeaking char ac ters (three fid dlers) should bestand ing. King Cole should be seated on a chair.

King Cole Three Fid dlersX X X X

Jack JillX X

Nar ra torX

NARRATOR: This is an in ter est ing story from long ago.

NARRADOR(A): Este es un cuento interesante de hace mucho

tiempo.

JACK: How long ago did this story hap pen?

JUAN: ¿Cuánto hace que pasó este cuento?

NARRATOR: It hap pened many years ago in Eng land.

NARRADOR(A): Pasó hace muchos años en Inglaterra.

JILL: I know where Eng land is. It’s a coun try on the otherside of the At lan tic Ocean.

JUANA: Yo sé donde está Inglaterra. Es un país en el

otro lado del océano Atlántico.

NARRATOR: You’re right. Any way, this is a story about a kingwho lived many years ago.

NARRADOR(A): Tienes razón. En todo caso, esto es un cuento

sobre un rey quien vivió hace mucho tiempo.


JACK: What was his name again, I for got?

JUAN: ¿Cómo se llamaba, otra vez, se me olvidó?

NARRATOR: His name was Cole. Ev ery body called him Old King Cole.

NARRADOR(A): Su nombre era Col. Todo el mundo le llamaba

el Viejo Rey Col.

JILL: Did ev ery body like him?

JUANA: ¿Le caía bien él a todo el mundo?

NARRATOR: I think so. If they didn’t like him, they would n’thave made up this story about him.

NARRADOR(A): Pienso que sí. Si no le hubiese caido bien,

ellos no hubiesen hecho un cuento sobre él.

JACK: I guess you’re right. What else should we knowabout King Cole?

JUAN: Yo supongo que tienes razón. ¿Qué más

debemos sa ber sobre el Rey Col?

NARRATOR: He re ally liked his mu sic.

NARRADOR(A): A él le gustaba la música.

JILL: How do you know that?

JUANA: ¿Cómo sabes eso?

NARRATOR: Well, why don’t the two of you [points to Jack andJill] tell the story? When you’re done, I’ll tell yousome more about this old king.

NARRADOR(A): Bueno, ¿por qué no ustedes dos [señalando a

Juan y Juana] cuentan el cuento? Cuando

terminen, les diré un poco más sobre este viejo

rey.


JACK: O.K., I’m ready. What about you, Jill?

JUAN: Está bien, estoy listo. ¿Qué tal tú, Juana?

JILL: I’m ready. Let’s go.

JUANA: Estoy lista. Vamos.

JACK: Old King Cole [points to King Cole]

JUAN: El Viejo Rey Col [señalando al Rey Col]

[King Cole smiles and waves to the au di ence.]

[El Rey Col sonrie y saluda a la audiencia.]

JILL: Was a merry old soul,

JUANA: Era un alma vieja y alegre,

[King Cole laughs out loud.]

[El Rey Col se rie en voz alta.]

JACK: And a merry old soul was he;

JUAN: Y un alma vieja y alegre;

[King Cole laughs again.]

[El Rey Col se rie otra vez.]

JILL: He called for his pipe,

JUANA: Él llamó por su pipa,

[King Cole waves to some one off stage.]

[El Rey Col saluda a alguien fuera de la

tarima.]


JACK: And he called for his bowl,

JUAN: Y él llamó por su vasija,

[King Cole waves to some one else off stage.]

[El Rey Col saluda a alguien más fuera de la

tarima.]

JILL: And he called for his fid dlers three.

JUANA: Y él llamó a sus tres violinistas.

KING COLE: Hey, fid dlers, come here and play.

REY COL: Oigan, violinistas, vengan aquí y toquen.

[The fid dlers come over to the King and pre tend toplay fid dles.]

[Los violinistas vienen donde el Rey y fingen

tocar los violines.]

NARRATOR: So, what do you think?

NARRADOR(A): ¿Entonces, qué piensan?

JACK: I like the way it rhymes.

JUAN: Me gusta la manera en que rima.

JILL: Me, too.

JUANA: A mi, también.

NARRATOR: Well let me tell you some thing else.

NARRADOR(A): Bueno, permítanme decirles algo más.

JACK: What’s that?

JUAN: ¿Qué?


NARRATOR: Well, since this is an old story there are words thatdon’t mean the same thing as the words we useto day.

NARRADOR(A): Bueno, porque este es un cuento viejo hay

palabras que no tienen el mismo sentido como

las palabras que usamos hoy en día.

JILL: What do you mean?

JUANA: ¿Qué quieres decir con eso?

NARRATOR: Well, the pipe is some kind of mu si cal in stru ment.It’s not some thing he used to smoke.

NARRADOR(A): Bueno, la pipa es una clase de instrumento. No

es algo que se usa para fumar.

JACK: That’s in ter est ing. So, the old king played a mu si calin stru ment.

JUAN: Eso es interesante. Entonces, el viejo rey

tocaba un instrumento mu si cal.

NARRATOR: That’s right. And, some thing else.

NARRADOR(A): Así es. Y, algo más.

JILL: What’s that?

JUANA: ¿Qué?

NARRATOR: The bowl was prob a bly a drum, not some thing toput food in.

NARRADOR(A): La vasija era probablemente un tambor, no

algo para poner comida.

JACK: So the old king played a pipe in stru ment . . .

JUAN: Entonces, el viejo rey tocaba un instrumento . . .


JILL: . . . and a drum . . .

JUANA: . . . y un tambor . . .

NARRATOR: . . . and he had three fid dlers to play mu sic for him,too.

NARRADOR(A): . . . y él tenía tres violinistas para tocar música

para él, también.

JACK: So, there was a lot of mu sic in the old days inEng land.

JUAN: Entonces, había mucha música en el pasado

en Inglaterra.

JILL: Yes, I guess there was.

JUANA: Sí, supongo que la había.

NARRATOR: Maybe that’s why he was a “merry old soul.”

NARRADOR(A): Quizás por eso él era un “alma vieja y alegre.”


Lit tle Bo-PeepLit tle Bo-Peep

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThe pre sen ta tion should be light and airy. There is no heavy mes sage in this script and the char ac terscan all play their parts for fun.


DELIVERYBo-Peep can be some what con fused and un know ing. The four nar ra tors should be con cerned andin quis i tive.

125

ORIGINAL VERSIONLit tle Bo-Peep has lost her sheep,And can’t tell where to find them.

Leave them alone,And they’ll come home,

Wag ging their tails be hind them.

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Model for the stu dents some of the types of ques tions you might ask your self as you read this

rhyme. Fo cus on those ques tions that es tab lish a “con nec tion” be tween prior ex pe ri ences andthe ex pe ri ences of Bo-Peep in the story. For ex am ple, you might ask (out loud) these questions:

– “I won der if Bo-Peep al ways loses things like I do some times?”

– “Will she look in a hun dred dif fer ent places like I do when I lose my car keys?”

– “Will she worry about the sheep like I some times worry about my chil dren?”


Lit tle Bo-PeepSTAGING: This script has four nar ra tors and a sin gle char ac ter (Bo-Peep). Bo-Peepshould be seated on a tall stool or a chair. The nar ra tors can be walk ing around the stag -ing area or can be formed into a loose semi cir cle.

Nar ra tor 2Bo-Peep X

X Nar ra tor 1 Nar ra tor 3X X

Nar ra tor 4X

NARRATOR 1: Once there was this lit tle girl.

NARRATOR 2: There she is over there [points to Bo-Peep].

NARRATOR 1: Now, this lit tle girl was al ways los ing things.

BO-PEEP: Yes, I al ways lose things. I would lose my head if itwas n’t on tight.

NARRATOR 3: That’s true.

BO-PEEP: I some times lose my car keys.

NARRATOR 4: Hey, wait a min ute. You’re Lit tle Bo-Peep. Youdon’t have a car!

BO-PEEP: You’re right. I al most for get!

NARRATOR 1: Any way, this lit tle girl al ways for got things.

NARRATOR 2: One day she lost her hat.

NARRATOR 3: An other day she lost her shoes.

NARRATOR 4: And, one day she lost her li brary book and had topay a fine.

BO-PEEP: That’s right. I lose a lot of things. And, some times, I have to pay for them.


NARRATOR 1: Any way, as I was say ing. This lit tle girl al ways lost stuff.

NARRATOR 2: Yes, she al ways lost stuff.

NARRATOR 3: Well, one day, she lost her sheep. I mean, can you[points to au di ence] be lieve that. SHE LOST HERSHEEP!!!

NARRATOR 4: Hey, wait a min ute. Why did this lit tle girl [points to Bo-Peep] have sheep in the first place?

NARRATOR 1: I don’t know. Do you know [looks at Nar ra tor 2]?

NARRATOR 2: I don’t know ei ther [turns to Nar ra tor 3]. Do youknow why this lit tle girl [points to Bo-Peep] hadsome sheep?

NARRATOR 3: I sure don’t know. Let’s ask her. Hey, Bo-Peep girl,why did you have some sheep in the first place?

BO-PEEP: I can’t re mem ber. I think I was tak ing care of themfor my farmer friend.

NARRATOR 4: Well, O.K. But how did you lose them?

BO-PEEP: I just don’t know. One day I was just mind ing mybusi ness walk ing down the road with my sheep. The next thing I know the po lice were ask ing me someques tions about the miss ing sheep.

NARRATOR 1: Where did the po lice come from?

BO-PEEP: I don’t know. They just show up in these mys ter iesall the time.

NARRATOR 2: Then, what hap pened?

BO-PEEP: Well, the po lice asked me lots of ques tions. Theywanted to know how some one could lose about 347sheep in the mid dle of the day.

NARRATOR 3: So, what did you tell them?


BO-PEEP: I told them the truth. I said, “I didn’t know. I saidthat I was walk ing down the road with my 347sheep and the next thing I knew the sheep were allgone. Just like that, they dis ap peared.”

NARRATOR 4: Well, maybe they’ll come back all on their own.

BO-PEEP: Do you re ally think so?

NARRATOR 1: That’s what al ways hap pens in these Mother Goosesto ries.

BO-PEEP: Gosh, I didn’t know that. Hmmmmm.

NARRATOR 2: But, there’s one more mys tery still left to solve.

BO-PEEP: What’s that?

NARRATOR 2: How did you get that funny name? I’ve never heardany one called Bo-Peep be fore. That’s a weird name.

BO-PEEP: Yes, it is. I think that Old Mother Goose gave methe name.

NARRATOR 3: She sure is a strange duck.

NARRATOR 4: Or, goose!

BO-PEEP: So, how would you all [points to the 4 nar ra tors]like to do the rhyme? O.K.

NARRATOR 1: O.K., here we go! Lit tle Bo-Peep . . .

NARRATOR 2: . . . has lost her sheep,

NARRATOR 3: And can’t tell . . .

NARRATOR 4: . . . where to find them.

NARRATOR 1: Leave them alone,

NARRATOR 2: And they’ll come home,

NARRATOR 3: Wag ging their tails . . .

NARRATOR 4: . . . be hind them.


Pe ter Pump kin-EaterPe ter Pump kin-Eater

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSIn form stu dents in ad vance that this script will give them an op por tu nity to prac tice their speed ofread ing. Af ter one group of four stu dents pres ents their ver sion, in vite an other group of four to trytheir hand at this script.

PROPSNo props are nec es sary.

DELIVERYThe em pha sis in this script is on speed. The first read ing should be at a nor mal rate; the sec ond read -ing a lit tle faster; the third read ing even faster; and the fourth read ing the fast est of all. Let stu dentsknow that mak ing mis takes is O.K.—the em pha sis is on the fun that can be had with a rapid de liv ery.

130

ORIGINAL VERSIONPe ter, Pe ter, pump kin-eater,

Had a wife and could n’t keep her.He put her in a pump kin shell,

And there he kept her very well.

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. As part of a fol low-up dis cus sion about this Mother Goose rhyme, you may wish to ask stu -

dents some se lected “What if” ques tions. Here are a few to get you started:

– “What if Pe ter had to live in side the pump kin?”

– “What if Pe ter’s whole fam ily had to live in side the pump kin?”

– “What if your fam ily had to live in side a pump kin?”

– “What if Pe ter’s wife had to live in side a lemon?”

– “What if Pe ter’s wife had to live in side a wa ter melon?”

Pe ter Pump kin-Eater 131

Pe ter Pump kin-EaterSTAGING: There is no nar ra tor for this story. The four char ac ters do not have names,only num bers. They should be stand ing around in ei ther a loose cir cle or a straight linefac ing the au di ence.

Num ber 2X

Num ber 1 Num ber 3X X

Num ber 4X

NUMBER 1: Pe ter, Pe ter

NUMBER 2: Pump kin-eater,

NUMBER 3: Had a wife . . .

NUMBER 4: . . . and could n’t keep her.

NUMBER 1: He put her in . . .

NUMBER 2: . . . a pump kin shell,

NUMBER 3: And there he kept her . . .

NUMBER 4: . . . very well.

[faster]










[faster]









[faster]









ALL: The end.


Mary Had a Lit tle LambMary Had a Lit tle Lamb

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSYou may wish to dis cuss the mean ing of the word “fleece” (a coat of wool, as on a sheep) be forestart ing this script. You may wish to play some pas to ral mu sic in the back ground for added ef fect.

PROPSIf pos si ble, pro vide the De tec tive with an over coat or some type of spe cial cos tume. You may wishto pro ject an il lus tra tion of Mary and the lamb on a wall in back of the play ers.

DELIVERYThe De tec tive should be self-as sured and bold. The two nar ra tors should have per plexed ex pres sions on their faces—this will add to the hu mor.

134

ORIGINAL VERSIONMary had a lit tle lamb,

Its fleece was white as snow.And ev ery where that Mary went,

The lamb was sure to go

It fol lowed her to school one day,Which was against the rule.

It made the chil dren laugh and playTo see a lamb at school.

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. Be fore read ing this rhyme or per form ing the script, you may wish to use the fol low ing im ag ery

ac tiv ity:

I want ev ery body to close their eyes. Now, I want you to paint a pic ture in your head.Make a farm. It’s a big farm. There is a house. There is a barn. There is a gar den.There is a field. Look care fully and you will see some an i mals on the farm. You willsee some cows. The cows are munch ing grass. Look again and you will see somesheep. The sheep are in a field. They are also munch ing some grass. There are bigsheep and there are small sheep. The small sheep are called lambs. They are walk ingaround. The lambs are eat ing and mak ing noises. The lambs are look ing for theirmoth ers. Oh, look. Over there is a lit tle girl. She is dressed in a blue dress. She iswalk ing over to the sheep. She sees one of the lambs. She walks up to the lamb. Shereaches out and pets the lamb. The lamb makes a sound. The girl pets the lamb again.The girl starts to walk away. The lit tle lamb starts to fol low the girl. The girl walks.The lamb fol lows her. The girl goes to the house. The lamb goes to the house. Thelamb is fol low ing the girl. Wher ever the girl goes, the lamb goes, too. Now, I wantyou to slowly open your eyes. Think about the pic ture you made in your head. Thinkabout that pic ture as I share this rhyme [or as we share this read ers thea tre script]. The name of the rhyme [script] is “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”

Mary Had a Lit tle Lamb 135

Mary Had a Lit tle LambMaría Tenía un Pequeño Cordero

STAGING: The char ac ters should all be stand ing. They may be placed at in di vid uallec terns or may hold the scripts in their hands.

Nar ra tor 1 De tec tive Nar ra tor 2X X X

NARRATOR 1: La dies and gen tle men. We have a mys tery. Be causewe have a mys tery, we’ve called a world fa mousde tec tive.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Damas y Ca bal le ros. Tenemos un misterio. Y

porque tenemos un misterio, llamamos un

famoso de tec tive del mundo.

DETECTIVE: That’s me!

DETECTIVE: ¡Ese soy yo!

NARRATOR 1: Yes, that’s [points to De tec tive] the world fa mousde tec tive. He (she) can solve any case. Even a caseof a lit tle lamb.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Sí, ese es [señalando al De tec tive] el famoso

de tec tive del mundo. Él (ella) puede re solver

cualquier caso. In clu sive el caso sobre el

pequeño cordero.

DETECTIVE: Wait a min ute! You told me this was a big rob bery .. . not a story about a cute lit tle lamb.

DETECTIVE: ¡Espérate un minuto! Tú me dijiste que esto fue

un robo grande . . . no un cuento sobre un

lindo pequeño cordero!


NARRATOR 1: Well, we didn’t tell you ev ery thing. But we re allyneed your help.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Bueno, nosotros no te dijimos todo. Pero

nosotros necesitamos realmente tu ayuda.

DETECTIVE: Well, I guess I can help you. I’m not do ing any thing right now.

DETECTIVE: Bueno, yo supongo que puedo ayudarte. Yo no

estoy haciendo nada ahora mismo.

NARRATOR 1: That’s good. Now here’s the deal. My friend overthere [points to Nar ra tor 2] will tell the story.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Está bien. Ahora este es el trato. Mi amigo allá

[señalando al Narrador 2] va a con tra el

cuento.

DETECTIVE: Let me see if I have this right. Your friend overthere [points to Nar ra tor 2] . . . .

DETECTIVE: Déjame ver si entiendo todo. Tu amigo allá

[señalando al Narrador 2] . . . .

NARRATOR 1: Yes, my friend over there [points to Nar ra tor 2] . . . .

NARRADOR(A) 1: Sí, mi amigo allá [señalando al Narrador 2] . . .

.

DETECTIVE: HMMM, I think I have solved the case.

DETECTIVE: HMMM, yo pienso que he resuelto el caso.

NARRATOR 1: Wait a min ute. I have n’t even fin ished my part.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Esperate un minuto. Ni siquiera he terminado

mi parte.


DETECTIVE: Oh, I’m sorry.

DETECTIVE: Oh, lo siento.

NARRATOR 1: O.K., my friend over there [points] will tell you thestory. You can ask ques tions. We’ll an swer theques tions. Then, you can solve the case.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Está bien, mi amigo allá [señalando] va a

contarte el cuento. Tú puedes hacer preguntas.

Nosotros contestarémos las preguntas. Luego,

tú puedes re solver el caso.

DETECTIVE: I’m pretty smart, so this should n’t take long.

DETECTIVE: Soy bastante listo, entonces esto no debe

tomar mucho tiempo.

NARRATOR 1: Are you ready [points], world fa mous de tec tive?

NARRADOR(A) 1: ¿Estás listo [señalando], famoso de tec tive del

mundo?

DETECTIVE: I’m ready.

DETECTIVE: Estoy listo.

NARRATOR 1: Are you ready [points], Nar ra tor 2?

NARRADOR(A) 1: ¿Estás listo [señalando], Narrador 2?

NARRATOR 2: Yes, I’m ready.

NARRADOR(A) 2: Sí, estoy listo.

NARRATOR 1: Well, tell the world fa mous de tec tive the story.

NARRADOR(A) 1: Bueno, cuéntale el famoso de tec tive del mundo

el cuento.


NARRATOR 2: O.K., here goes. Mary had a lit tle lamb.

NARRADOR(A) 2: Está bien, aquí va. María tenía un pequeño

cordero.

DETECTIVE: Let’s see if I got that right. This lit tle girl had a petlamb in stead of a pet dog or a pet cat.

DETECTIVE: Déjame ver si lo tengo correcto. Esta pequeña

niña tenía un cordero de mascota en vez de un

perro o un gato.

NARRATOR 2: Its fleece was white as snow.

NARRADOR(A) 2: Su lana era blanca como la nieve.

DETECTIVE: O.K., so it has a lot of white wool all over its body.It looked just like a walk ing cloud.

DETECTIVE: Está bien, entonces tiene much lana blanca en

todo su cuerpo. Me parece como una nube que

camina.

NARRATOR 2: And ev ery where that Mary went . . . .

NARRADOR(A) 2: Y a todos los lugares que María iba . . . .

DETECTIVE: So, this Mary per son would go to lots of places likethe mall, the video store, McDonalds®, and placeslike that.

DETECTIVE: Entonces, esta María iba a muchos lugares

como al centro com mer cial, la tienda de

vid eos, McDonalds®, y lugares como estos.

NARRATOR 2: The lamb was sure to go.

NARRADOR(A) 2: El cordero iba también.


DETECTIVE: So, the lamb would tag along with this Mary per son. It would go where she would go. It liked to getaround a lot.

DETECTIVE: Entonces, el cordero iba con esta María. Iba

adonde ella iba. Al cordero le gustaba viajar.

NARRATOR 2: It fol lowed her to school one day.

NARRADOR(A) 2: La siguió a la escuela un día.

DETECTIVE: The lamb wanted to be as smart as Mary so it wentto her school. Cool!

DETECTIVE: El cordero quería ser tan listo como María y

por eso fue a la escuela de ella. ¡Que chévere!

NARRATOR 2: Which was against the rule . . . .

NARRADOR(A) 2: Lo cual era encontra de las reglas . . . .

DETECTIVE: Hey, the school didn’t like lambs. I guess theydidn’t want the lambs mak ing a big mess all overthe place.

DETECTIVE: Oye, a la escuela no le gustan los corderos.

Supongo que ellos no querían corderos

haciendo desorden por todos lados.

NARRATOR 2: It made the chil dren laugh and sing . . . .

NARRADOR(A) 2: Hicieron reir y cantar los niños . . . .

DETECTIVE: Hey, all the kids liked the cute lit tle lamb.

DETECTIVE: Oye, a todos los niños les gustó el lindo

pequeño cordero.

NARRATOR 2: Which was against the rule.

NARRADOR(A) 2: Lo cual era encontra de las reglas.


DETECTIVE: Yeah, this Mary per son and the lamb an i mal brokethe rule. No an i mals at school.

DETECTIVE: Sí, esta María y su cordero rompieron la regla.

No animales en la escuela.

NARRATOR 1: So, what do you think?

NARRADOR(A) 1: ¿Entonces, qué piensas?

DETECTIVE: I think that Mary should not take any more an i malsto school. She could take her lit tle brother. Shecould take her older sis ter. But she can’t takean i mals.

DETECTIVE: Yo pienso que María no debe llevar más

animales a la escuela. Ella llevaría su hermano

pequeño. Ella llevaría su hermana mayor. Pero

ella no puede llevar animales.

NARRATOR 1: So, now what?

NARRADOR(A) 1: ¿Entonces, qué haces?

DETECTIVE: The case is closed. Mary was bad. The lamb wasbad. And, now Mary has to do a lot of home work.

DETECTIVE: El caso está cerrado. María estuvo mal. El

cordero estuvo mal. Y, ahora María tiene que

hacer mucha tarea.

NARRATOR 1: What kind of home work?

NARRADOR(A) 1: ¿Qué tipo de tarea?

DETECTIVE: She has to clean up af ter her lamb. Oh, yuck!

DETECTIVE: Ella tiene que limpiar el desorden que hizo el

cordero. ¡Qué sucio!


Pe ter PiperPe ter Piper

PRESENTATION SUGGESTIONSThis can be a chal leng ing script for stu dents to read, sim ply be cause of all the al lit er a tive words.How ever, with suf fi cient prac tice, it can also be a script filled with fun and laugh ter. Pro vide suf fi -cient op por tu ni ties for stu dents to prac tice their lines in ad vance of a pre sen ta tion. Note that thenames of the play ers were cho sen for al lit er a tive rea sons. Feel free to sub sti tute other al lit er a tivenames ac cord ing to the stu dents in your class room or li brary pro gram.


DELIVERYThe first read ing of the script should be done at a com fort able rate. The sec ond read ing should be atan up beat and rapid rate. Let stu dents know that they will need to main tain con ti nu ity from line toline and from char ac ter to char ac ter.

142

ORIGINAL VERSIONPe ter Piper picked a peck

Of pick led pep pers;A peck of pick led pep pers

Pe ter Piper picked.

If Pe ter Piper picked a peckOf pick led pep pers,

Where’s the peck of pick led pep persPe ter Piper picked?

COMPREHENSION ACTIVITY(IES) 1. In vite stu dents to cre ate their own il lus tra tions of lots of pep pers. These il lus tra tions can be

posted on a spe cial bul le tin board. In the cen ter of the board can be an il lus tra tion of Pe terPiper. Take time to dis cuss the two ma jor points of this Mother Goose rhyme:

– There were lots and lots of pep pers.

– Pe ter Piper picked all the pep pers.

2. Ob tain a large pep per (a bell pep per works best) from your lo cal gro cery store. In vite stu dentsto ob serve the pep per as you turn it around and around in your hands. Now, lead them in the fol -low ing men tal im ag ery activity:

Close your eyes and imag ine your self stand ing in a gar den. There are lots of veg e ta -bles in the gar den. Look care fully and you will see rows of corn in the gar den. Lookover there and you will see some bean plants in the gar den. Look and see some wa ter -mel ons on the ground. Ummmm, wa ter mel ons! And if you look very care fully youwill see some tall plants along one side of the gar den. Those tall plants are pep perplants. There are many pep pers on each plant. The pep pers are green. See your selfreach ing out and pick ing a pep per from one of the plants. See your self pick ing all thepep pers from that plant. You are putt ing all your pep pers into a bag. The bag is get -ting big ger and big ger. The bag is get ting heavier and heavier. The bag is filled withlots and lots of pep pers. Now, slowly open your eyes and we will lis ten to a MotherGoose rhyme [or watch a read ers thea tre play] about a boy named Pe ter. Like you didin your gar den, Peter picks lots and lots of peppers.

Pe ter Piper 143

Pe ter PiperSTAGING: The four play ers should be seated on chairs or tall stools. The nar ra torshould be stand ing. Note that the au di ence has a small part at the end.

Larry Lin coln Laura LaToyaX X X X

Nar ra torX

NARRATOR: Hi, folks. We have an ex cit ing read ers thea tre foryou to day. Our four play ers [points to the fourplay ers] will share a pop u lar Mother Goose rhymewith you. But this is a tricky story. That’s be causethere are many words in the story that be gin with the same let ter. That makes them hard to say. In fact,al most all the words start with the let ter “P.” So,let’s lis ten care fully and see how they do.

LARRY: Hey, don’t for get about their part [points toau di ence].

NARRATOR: Thanks, I al most DID for get. We have a part for you [points to au di ence] in this script. When I point toyou, all of you will say “Pe ter Piper picked.” Here is what you will say, again—“Pe ter Piper picked.”O.K.? Are you ready play ers [points to play ers]?

ALL PLAYERS: Yes.

NARRATOR: Are you ready au di ence [points to au di ence]?

AUDIENCE: Yes.

NARRATOR: Then, let’s go. Larry, start us off.

LARRY: Pe ter Piper

LINCOLN: Picked a peck

LAURA: Of pick led . . .


LaTOYA: pep pers;

LARRY: A peck

LINCOLN: of pick led pep pers

LAURA: Pe ter Piper

LaTOYA: picked.

LARRY: If Pe ter Piper

LINCOLN: picked a peck

LAURA: Of pick led

LaTOYA: pep pers

LARRY: Where’s

LINCOLN: the peck

LAURA: of pick led

LaTOYA: pep pers

[The Nar ra tor points to the au di ence.]

AUDIENCE: Pe ter Piper picked?

NARRATOR: O.K., very good. Now, let’s do it again. But thistime we’ll do it re ally, re ally fast. Are you ready?O.K., let’s go!

[The play ers will read their parts at a faster clip than in the first round.]

LARRY: Pe ter Piper

LINCOLN: Picked a peck

LAURA: Of pick led . . .

LaTOYA: pep pers;

LARRY: A peck

LINCOLN: of pick led pep pers

LAURA: Pe ter Piper


LaTOYA: picked.

LARRY: If Pe ter Piper

LINCOLN: picked a peck

LAURA: Of pick led

LaTOYA: pep pers

LARRY: Where’s

LINCOLN: the peck

LAURA: of pick led

LaTOYA: pep pers

[The nar ra tor points to the au di ence.]

AUDIENCE: Pe ter Piper picked?

NARRATOR: Con grat u la tions. You did a great job.


In ter est ing Facts aboutMother Goose

In ter est ing Facts about Mother GooseIn ter est ing Facts about Mother Goose

Most Mother Goose rhymes were writ ten in Eng land and have been around for hun dreds ofyears. (All the rhymes in this book are the orig i nal Eng lish ver sions.) Some were crafted in re sponseto the ac tions (or in ac tions) of Eng lish kings and queens. Oth ers were de vel oped as bed time sto riesfor chil dren. Still oth ers were writ ten as a way to pro test the in jus tices (e.g., high taxes) of theEnglish monarchy.

Suf fice it to say, these rhymes have not al ways been “child like” in their gen e sis or in their in -tent. In my re search for this book I learned that many Mother Goose rhymes have mul ti ple in ter pre -ta tions de pend ing on who’s be ing talked about, the so cial con di tions of the time, or thepsy cho log i cal in cli na tions of the in ter preter. I thought that you might en joy the “his tory” be hindsome of the more pop u lar and com mon rhymes. I will leave to your dis cre tion which of the fol low ing tid bits you will want to share with students.

• The term “Mother Goose” has been traced to Loret’s 1650 La Muse Historique, in which ap -peared the line, Comme un conte de la Mere Oye (“Like a Mother Goose Story”).

• “Lon don Bridge” re fers to a bridge con structed in the thir teenth cen tury—one that lasted for600 years. Un for tu nately the bridge re quired con stant main te nance and was con tin u ously re -built. The cur rent “Lon don Bridge” is now pre served (and main tained) in Arizona.

• In the rhyme “Pop Goes the Wea sel,” the wea sel is a ref er ence to the sound of a spin ning ma -chine at the end of its cy cle.

• In 1697 Charles Perrault pub lished a col lec tion of eight fairy tales (Tales of Mother Goose).The fairy tales in cluded “Cinderella,” “Sleep ing Beauty,” and “Lit tle Red Rid ing Hood.”

• In “This Old Man” a “knick-knack” re fers to an in sig nif i cant piece of fur ni ture or a mi norar ti fact.

• Lit tle “Jack” Hor ner was ac tu ally Thomas Hor ner, who lived dur ing the reign of KingHenry VIII. The rhyme re fers to the way in which he ac quired the deed to a “plum” piece ofreal es tate—Mells Manor—in 1536.

• The sin gle most im por tant pro moter of the des ig na tion of Mother Goose as writer of chil -dren’s rhymes was John Newbery (af ter whom the Newbery Award is named).

• One in ter pre ta tion of “Ring-a-Ring o’ Roses” spec u lated that “we all fall down” is a ref er ence to the high death rate dur ing the time of the Black Death (bu bonic plague).

• A much ear lier ver sion of “Mary, Mary, Quite Con trary” had the fol low ing as its last line:“Sing! Cuck olds all in a row.”

• “La dy bird, La dy bird” has sev eral vary ing in ter pre ta tions—all re li giously based. Suf fice it tosay, it is one of the most vi o lent Mother Goose rhymes ever.

• May 1 is Mother Goose Day.

147

• “Yan kee Doo dle” was a ref er ence to the in ep ti tude of Amer i can sol diers dur ing the Rev o lu -tion ary War. How ever, the Amer i cans en joyed the ac com pa ny ing mu sic so much that theyadopted it as a marching song.

• There are sev eral in ter pre ta tions of “Jack and Jill.” One rib ald ex pla na tion is that “up the hillto fetch a pail of wa ter” is an old Eng lish eu phe mism for “a roll in the hay.”

• In the orig i nal ver sion, “Georgy Porgy” was “Rowly Powley”—a ref er ence to an ex tremelyobese child (roly-poly).

• “Curds and whey” is an old term for cot tage cheese.

• “Rub-a-dub dub, three men in a tub” was orig i nally “Hey! Rub-a-dub! Ho! Rub-a-dub! Threemaids in a tub.” The ear lier ver sion was in spired by a fair ground peep show.

• The or i gins of “Ding Dong Bell” have been traced back to 1580. The toll ing of the bell is aref er ence to the death of a cat.

• The orig i nal “Tweedledum and Tweedledee” pre dated the Lewis Carroll ver sion in “Through the Look ing Glass” by over a cen tury.

• “Pease por ridge” is thick pea soup.

• “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” is an early di a tribe against high taxes.

• “Jack Be Nim ble” has over tones of for tune-tell ing. In Buckinghamshire, Eng land, it was con -sid ered good luck to be able to leap over a can dle stick with out ex tin guish ing the flame. Itmeant one was a healthy in di vid ual able to meet the chal lenges of the year ahead.

• Miss Muffet is said to de pict the daugh ter (“Pa tience”) of noted sev en teenth-cen tury en to -mol o gist Dr. Thomas Muffet.

• De spite what some peo ple would like to be lieve, “ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross” is not a ref er ence to Lady Godiva.

• “Lit tle Boy Blue” is a ref er ence to Charles II and all the good times he en joyed (“un der thehay stack”) while in ex ile in Eu rope.

• The of fi cial home of The Mother Goose So ci ety is www.librarysupport.net/mothergoosesociety/in dex.html.

• “Humpty Dumpty” used to be a can non mounted on the walls of a church in Colchester, Eng -land. It was blown up dur ing the Eng lish Civil War (1642–1649).

148 In ter est ing Facts about Mother Goose

Re sourcesRe sourcesRe sources

READERS THEATRE BOOKSBarchers, S. Fifty Fab u lous Fa bles: Be gin ning Read ers Thea tre. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press,

1997.

———. Judge for Your self. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2004.

———. Multi cul tural Folk tales: Read ers Thea tre for El e men tary Stu dents. Westport, CT: TeacherIdeas Press, 2000.

———. Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 1993.

———. Scary Read ers Thea tre. Westport, CT: Teach ers Ideas Press, 1994.

Barchers, S., and C. R. Pfeffinger. More Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers. Westport, CT:Teacher Ideas Press, 2006.

Barnes, J. W. Sea Songs. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2004.

Black, A. N. Born Sto ry tell ers. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2005.

Criscoe, B. L., and P. J. Lanasa. Fairy Tales for Two Read ers. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press,1995.

Dixon, N., A. Davies, and C. Politano. Learn ing with Read ers Thea tre: Build ing Con nec tions. Win -ni peg, Can ada: Peguis Pub lish ers, 1996.

Fredericks, A. D. Fran tic Frogs and Other Frankly Frac tured Folk tales for Read ers Thea tre.Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 1993.

———. Non fic tion Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press,2007.

———. Read ers Thea tre for Amer i can His tory. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2001.

———. Sci ence Fic tion Read ers Thea tre. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2002.

———. Silly Sal a man ders and Other Slightly Stu pid Sto ries for Read ers Thea tre. Westport, CT:Teacher Ideas Press, 2000.

———. Tad pole Tales and Other To tally Ter rific Treats for Read ers Thea tre. Westport, CT:Teacher Ideas Press, 1997.

Gar ner, J. Wings of Fancy: Us ing Read ers Thea tre to Study Fan tasy Genre. Westport, CT: TeacherIdeas Press, 2006.

Geor ges, C., and C. Cornett. Reader’s Thea tre. Buf falo, NY: D.O.K. Pub lish ers, 1990.

Ha ven, K. Great Mo ments in Sci ence: Ex per i ments and Read ers Thea tre. Westport, CT: TeacherIdeas Press, 1996.

Jenkins, D. R. Just Deal with It. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2004.

John son, T. D., and D. R. Louis. Bring ing It All To gether: A Pro gram for Lit er acy. Portsmouth, NH:Heinemann, 1990.

149

Latrobe, K. H., C. Casey, and L. A. Gann. So cial Stud ies Read ers Thea tre for Young Adults.Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 1991.

Laughlin, M. K., P. T. Black, and K. H. Latrobe. So cial Stud ies Read ers Thea tre for Chil dren.Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 1991.

Laughlin, M. K., and K. H. Latrobe. Read ers Thea tre for Chil dren. Westport, CT: Teacher IdeasPress, 1990.

Mar tin, J. M. 12 Fab u lously Funny Fairy Tale Plays. New York: In struc tor Books, 2002.

Pe ter son, C. Around the World Through Hol i days. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2005.

Pfeffinger, C. R. Char ac ter Counts. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2003.

———. Hol i day Read ers Thea tre. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 1994.

Pugliano-Mar tin, C. 25 Just-Right Plays for Emer gent Read ers (Grades K–1). New York: Scho las -tic, 1999.

Shepard, A. Folk tales on Stage: Chil dren’s Plays for Read ers Thea tre. Olym pia, WA: Shepard Pub -li ca tions, 2003.

———. Read ers on Stage: Re sources for Read ers Thea tre. Olym pia, WA: Shepard Pub li ca tions,2004.

———. Sto ries on Stage: Chil dren’s Plays for Read ers Thea tre. Olym pia, WA: Shepard Pub li ca -tions, 2005.

Sloyer, S. From the Page to the Stage. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2003.

Wolf, J. M. Cinderella Out grows the Glass Slip per and Other Zany Frac tured Fairy Tale Plays.New York: Scho las tic, 2002.

Wolfman, J. How and Why Sto ries for Read ers Thea tre. Westport, CT: Teacher Ideas Press, 2004.

Wor thy, J. Read ers Thea tre for Build ing Flu ency: Strat e gies and Scripts for Mak ing the Most of This Highly Ef fec tive, Mo ti vat ing, and Re search-Based Ap proach to Oral Read ing. New York:Scho las tic, 2005.

WEB SITEShttp://www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE.html

How to use read ers thea tre, sam ple scripts from a chil dren’s au thor who spe cial izes in read ersthea tre, and an ex ten sive list of re sources.

http://www.cdli.ca/CITE/langrt.htmThis site has lots of in for ma tion, in clud ing What Is Read ers Thea tre, Read ers Thea tre Scripts,Writ ing Scripts, Rec om mended Print Re sources, and Rec om mended On-line Re sources.

http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htmHere you’ll dis cover lots of plays and lots of scripts to print and read in your class room orli brary.

http://literacyconnections.com/readerstheaterThere is an in cred i ble num ber of re sources and scripts at this all-in clu sive site.

150 Re sources

http://www.proteacher.com/070173.shmtlThis site is a grow ing col lec tion of tens of thou sands of ideas shared by teach ers across theUnited States and around the world.

http://www.readerstheatredigest.comThis is an on line mag a zine of ideas, scripts, and teach ing strat e gies.

http://www.readerstheatre.escd.netThis site has over 150 short po ems, sto ries, and chants for read ers thea tre.

http://www.storycart.comStorycart Press’s sub scrip tion ser vice pro vides an in ex pen sive op por tu nity to have timelyscripts de liv ered to teach ers or li brar i ans each month. Each script is cre ated or adapted bywell-known writer Su zanne Barchers, au thor of sev eral read ers thea tre books (see above).

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONIn sti tute for Read ers Thea treP.O. Box 421262San Diego, CA 92142(858) 277-4274http://www.readerstheatreinstitute.com

Re sources 151

Teacher Re sourcesTeacher Re sourcesTeacher Re sources

by

An thony D. Fredericks

The fol low ing books are avail able from Teacher Ideas Press (88 Post Road West, Westport, CT06881); 1-800-225-5800; http://www.teacherideaspress.com.

Fran tic Frogs and Other Frankly Frac tured Folk tales for Read ers Thea tre. ISBN1-56308-174-1. (123pp.; $19.50).

Have you heard “Don’t Kiss Sleep ing Beauty, She’s Got Re ally Bad Breath” or “TheBrussels Sprouts Man (The Gin ger bread Man’s Un be liev ably Strange Cousin)”? This re -source (grades 4–8) of fers 30 re pro duc ible sa tir i cal scripts for rip-roar ing dra mat ics in any class room or li brary.

The In te grated Cur ric u lum: Books for Re luc tant Read ers, Grades 2–5. 2nd ed. ISBN0-87287-994-1. (220pp.; $22.50).

This book pres ents guide lines for mo ti vat ing and us ing lit er a ture with re luc tant read -ers. The book con tains more than 40 book units on ti tles care fully se lected to mo ti vate themost re luc tant read ers.

In ves ti gat ing Nat u ral Di sas ters Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: An In te grated Ap proach. ISBN1-56308-861-4. (193pp.; $28.00).

Tap into stu dents’ in her ent awe of storms, vol ca nic erup tions, hur ri canes, earth -quakes, tor na does, floods, av a lanches, land slides, and tsu na mis to open their minds to thewon ders and power of the nat u ral world. .

In volv ing Par ents Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: P–K. ISBN 1-56308-022-2. (86pp.; $15.00).

In volv ing Par ents Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: Grades 1–2. ISBN 1-56308-012-5. (95pp.;$14.50).



This se ries of four books of fers en gag ing ac tiv i ties for adults and chil dren that stim u latecom pre hen sion and pro mote read ing en joy ment. Re pro duc ible ac tiv ity sheets based uponhigh-qual ity chil dren’s books are de signed in a con ve nient for mat so that chil dren can takethem home.

The Li brar ian’s Com plete Guide to In volv ing Par ents Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: GradesK–6. ISBN 1-56308-538-0. (137pp.; $24.50).

Ac tiv i ties for 101 chil dren’s books are pre sented in a re pro duc ible for mat, so li brar i -ans can dis trib ute them to stu dents to take home and share with par ents.

153

MORE So cial Stud ies Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: An In te grated Ap proach. ISBN1-56308-761-8. (225pp.; $27.50).

En er gize your so cial stud ies cur ric u lum with dy namic, “hands-on, minds-on” pro -jects based on such great chil dren’s books as Amaz ing Grace, Fly Away Home, and Lon Po Po. This books is filled with an ar ray of ac tiv i ties and pro jects sure to “en er gize” any so -cial stud ies cur ric u lum.

Much More So cial Stud ies Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: A Col lab o ra tive Ap proach. ISBN1-59158-445-0. (278pp.; $35.00).

Non fic tion Read ers Thea tre for Be gin ning Read ers. ISBN 1-59158-499-X. (220pp.; $25.00).This col lec tion of sci ence and so cial stud ies non fic tion scripts for be gin ning read ers

is sure to “jazz up” any lan guage arts pro gram in grades 1–3. Teach ers and li brar i ans willdis cover a wealth of cre ative op por tu ni ties to en hance flu ency, com pre hen sion, and ap pre -ci ate of non fic tion lit er a ture.

Read ers Thea tre for Amer i can His tory. ISBN 1-56308-860-6. (173pp.; $30.00). This book of fers a par tic i pa tory ap proach to Amer i can his tory in which stu dents be -

come ac tive par tic i pants in sev eral his tor i cal events. These 24 scripts give stu dents a “youare there” per spec tive on crit i cal mile stones and col or ful mo ments that have shaped theAmer i can ex pe ri ence.

Sci ence Ad ven tures with Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: A The matic Ap proach. ISBN 1-56308-417-1.(190pp.; $24.50).

Fo cus ing on the Na tional Sci ence Ed u ca tion Stan dards, this ac tiv ity-cen tered re -source uses a wide va ri ety of chil dren’s lit er a ture to in te grate sci ence across the el e men -tary cur ric u lum. With a the matic ap proach, it fea tures the best in sci ence trade books along with stim u lat ing hands-on, minds on ac tiv i ties in all the sci ences.

Sci ence Dis cov er ies on the Net: An In te grated Ap proach. ISBN 1-56308-823-1. (315pp.;$27.50).

This book is de signed to help teach ers in te grate the Internet into their sci enceprograms and en hance the sci en tific dis cov er ies of stu dents. The 88 units em pha sizekey con cepts—based on na tional and state stan dards—through out the sci ence cur ric u lum.

Silly Sal a man ders and Other Slightly Stu pid Stuff for Read ers Thea tre. ISBN1-56308-825-8. (161pp.; $23.50).

The third en try in the “wild and wacky” read ers thea tre tril ogy is just as crazy and just as weird as the first two. This un be liev able re source of fers stu dents in grades 3–6 doz ensof silly send-ups of well-known fairy tales, leg ends and orig i nal sto ries.

So cial Stud ies Dis cov er ies on the Net: An In te grated Ap proach. ISBN 1-56308-824-X.(276pp.; $26.00).

This book is de signed to help teach ers in te grate the Internet into their so cial stud iespro grams and en hance the class room dis cov er ies of stu dents. The 75 units em pha size keycon cepts – based on na tional and state stan dards – through out the so cial stud ies cur ric u lum.

So cial Stud ies Through Chil dren’s Lit er a ture: An In te grated Ap proach. ISBN 1-87287-970-4.(192pp.; $24.00).

Each of the 32 in struc tional units con tained in this re source uti lizes an ac tiv ity-cen -tered ap proach to el e men tary so cial stud ies, fea tur ing chil dren’s pic ture books such asOx-Cart Man, In Coal Coun try, and Jambo Means Hello.

154 Teacher Re sources

Tad pole Tales and Other To tally Ter rific Ti tles for Read ers Thea tre. ISBN 1-56308-547-X.(115pp.; $18.50)

A fol low-up vol ume to the best sell ing Fran tic Frogs and Other Frankly Frac turedFolk tales for Read ers Thea tre, this book pro vides pri mary level read ers (grades 1–4) with ahu mor ous as sort ment of wacky tales based on well-known Mother Goose rhymes. More than30 scripts and doz ens of ex ten sions will keep stu dents roll ing in the aisles.

Teacher Re sources 155

In dexIn dexIn dex

Ac tiv i ties. See Com pre hen sion ac tiv i ties;Pho ne mic ac tiv i ties

Al lit er a tion, prac tic ing with, 142Au di ence, in volve ment of, xix, 39, 46, 94Audiorecording of scripts, xx, xxii

“Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,” 148comprehension activity for, 78delivery of, 77interesting fact about, 148original version of, 78presentation suggestions for, 77props for, 77script, 79–83staging of, 79

Back ground mu sic, xix, 134Be gin ning read ers

benefit of readers theatre for, xiiiBen e fits of read ers thea tre, xiii, xv–xviBig Bad Wolf, 18Bi lin gual flash cards, xxBi lin gual stu dents. See Eng lish lan guage learn ersBi lin gual word walls, xxBind ing for scripts, xvii, xviiiBody move ments, xviiiBo nus fea tures, xxi–xxiv

“Cat and the Fid dle, The”delivery of, 28original version of, 29phonemic activity for, 29presentation suggestions for, 28props for, 28script, 30–32staging of, 30

Changes in scriptsencouraging suggestions from students, xviii,

xx“Cinderella”

interesting fact about, 147Com mu ni ca tion skills, de vel op ment of, xviCom pre hen sion, xiii, xiv, xv

activities for development of. SeeComprehension activities

as reading instruction area, xivstrategies for development of, xxiii–xxiv. See

also Comprehension activities;Transactional reading

Com pre hen sion ac tiv i tiesfor “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep,” 78for “Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush,”

112for “Little Bo-Peep,” 126for “Little Boy Blue,” 100for “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” 135for “Old King Cole,” 118for “One for the Money,” 95for “Pease Porridge Hot,” 85for “Peter Piper,” 143for “Peter Pumpkin-Eater,” 131for “Sing a Song of Sixpence,” 107for “To Market,” 90

Co op er a tive learn ing strat e gies, de vel op ment of,xvi

Cop ies of scripts, xviiCos tumes, xvi, xix

examples of simple items to use, xixCount ing, 41–45Cover for scripts, xvii, xviiiCre ative think ing, xviCrit i cal think ing, xvi

De cod ing of words, xiv, xvDe liv ery of lines, xix“Ding Dong Bell”

interesting fact about, 148Downstage (front), xviiiDra matic in ter pre ta tion, xviii

Eng lish lan guage learn ers (ELLs)benefits of readers theatre for, xiiibilingual flash cards, xxbilingual word walls, xxchallenges for, xxexercises to use, xxpronunciation differences, xxSpanish-language scripts. See Spanish scripts

157

Fa cial ges tures, xviiiFairy tales, xiiiFlash cards, use of, xxFlu ency

as benefit of readers theatre, xiii, xiv–xvdefined, xiv–xvas reading instruction area, xiv

“Georgy Porgy”in ter est ing fact about, 148

“Here We Go Round the Mul berry Bush”comprehension activities for, 112delivery of, 111original version of, 112presentation suggestions for, 111props for, 111script, 113–116staging of, 113

“Hick ory, Dickory Dock”delivery of, 51original version of, 52phonemic activities for, 52presentation suggestions for, 51props for, 51script, 53–57staging of, 53

High light ing of scripts, xvii“Humpty Dumpty”

delivery of, 18interesting fact about, 148original version of, 19phonemic activities for, 19presentation suggestions for, 18props for, 18script, 20–22staging of, 20

Iden ti fi ca tion of char ac ters, xviiiImag i na tion, stim u la tion of, xviIn flec tion, xviIn for mal ity

emphasis on, xixas value of readers theatre, xvi, xviii

In te grated lan guage artsas benefit of readers theatre, xiii

In tentestablishing proper intent, xix

In ter per sonal ac tiv ity, sto ry tell ing as, xivIn to na tion, xvi

“Jack and Jill”interesting fact about, 148

“Jack Be Nim ble”interesting fact about, 148

“La dy bird, La dy bird”interesting fact about, 147

Lan guage arts, xiii, xvi, xx, xxi“Lit tle Bo-Peep”

comprehension activity for, 126delivery of, 125original version of, 126presentation suggestions for, 125props for, 125script, 127–129staging of, 127

“Lit tle Boy Blue”comprehension activity for, 100delivery of, 99interesting fact about, 148original version of, 100presentation suggestions for, 99props for, 99script, 101–105staging of, 101

“Lit tle Jack Hor ner”delivery of, 63interesting fact about, 147original version of, 64phonemic activity for, 64presentation suggestions for, 63props for, 63script, 65–67staging of, 65

“Lit tle Miss Muffet”delivery of, 23original version of, 24phonemic activity for, 24presentation suggestions for, 23props for, 23script, 25–27staging of, 25

“Lit tle Red Rid ing Hood,” 18interesting fact about, 147

Lo ca tion of read ers, xviiiLon don Bridge, 147

“Mary Had a Lit tle Lamb”comprehension activity for, 135delivery of, 134original version of, 135

158 In dex

presentation suggestions for, 134props for, 134script, 136–141staging of, 136

“Mary, Mary, Quite Con trary”interesting fact about, 147

Mem o ri za tion, no re quire ment of, xv, xviiMod i fi ca tions to script

suggestions from students, xviii, xxMood

establishing proper mood, xixMother Goose rhymes, gen er ally, xiii

interesting facts about, 147–148multiple interpretations of, 147

Move ment of read ers, xviiiMu sic in back ground, xix, 134

NAEP. See Na tional As sess ment of Ed u ca tionalProg ress (NAEP)

Names of char ac terson signs, xviii

Nar ra toridentification of, xviiiuse of, xviii

Na tional As sess ment of Ed u ca tional Prog ress(NAEP), xv

Nonstereotypical roles, tak ing on, xviiiNum bers, count ing, 41–45

“Old King Cole”comprehension activities for, 118delivery of, 117original version of, 118presentation suggestions for, 117props for, 117script, 119–124staging of, 119

“Old Mac Don ald”delivery of, 3original version of, 3–4phonemic activities for, 4presentation suggestions for, 3props for, 3script, 5–9staging of, 5

“One for the Money”comprehension activity for, 95delivery of, 94original version of, 95presentation suggestions for, 94props for, 94

script, 96–98staging of, 96

“One, Two, Buckle My Shoe”delivery of, 39original version of, 40phonemic activity for, 40presentation suggestions for, 39props for, 39script, 41–45staging of, 41

Par ent vol un teers, use of, xxi, xxii“Pat-a-Cake”

delivery of, 46original version of, 47phonemic activities for, 47presentation suggestions for, 46props for, 46script, 48–50staging of, 48

“Pease Por ridge Hot”comprehension activities for, 85delivery of, 84original version of, 85presentation suggestions for, 84props for, 84script, 86–88staging of, 86

“Pe ter Piper”comprehension activities for, 143delivery of, 142original version of, 143presentation suggestions for, 142props for, 142script, 144–146staging of, 144

“Pe ter Pump kin-Eater”comprehension activity for, 131delivery of, 130original version of, 131presentation suggestions for, 130props for, 130script, 132–133staging of, 132

Pho ne mic ac tiv i tiesfor “Cat and the Fiddle, The,” 29for “Hickory, Dickory Dock,” 52for “Humpty Dumpty,” 19for “Little Jack Horner,” 64for “Little Miss Muffet,” 24for “Old MacDonald,” 4

In dex 159

Pho ne mic ac tiv i ties (Cont.)for “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe,” 40for “Pat-a-Cake,” 47for “Rub-a-Dub-Dub,” 69for “There Was an Old Woman,” 59for “Three Blind Mice,” 34for “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” 11

Pho ne mic aware ness, xxii–xxiiiactivities, suggestions for, xxii–xxiii. See also

Phonemic activitiescomponents of effective program, xxii–xxiiigroups, advantages of working in, xiiias reading instruction area, xiv, xxii–xxiiitime limit on activities, xxii

Pho netic abil ity, xvPho nics

as reading instruction area, xiv“Pop Goes the Wea sel”

interesting fact about, 147Post-pre sen ta tion, xxPrac tic ing scripts, xviii, xixPrep a ra tion of scripts, xviiPre sen ta tion of plays, xvii–xxPro nun ci a tion skills, xviProps

generally, xvi, xixexamples of simple props, xix

Read abil ity of scripts, xxifactors used, xxisentence length, xxisyllables per word, xxi

Read ers thea trebenefits of, xiii, xiv–xvi, xviidefined, xivinformality of, xvi, xviii, xxlanguage arts program, as part of, xiiimovie role compared, xixas participatory, xv

Read ing com pre hen sion. See Com pre hen sion;Com pre hen sion ac tiv i ties; Transactionalreading

Read ing in struc tion, ar eas of, xivRead ing pro cess, stages in, xxiiiRead ing speed, 130, 142Ref er ences, xxvRe place ment cop ies of scripts, xviiRe read ing of scripts, xvii“Ring-a-Ring o’ Roses”

interesting fact about, 147

Roles for stu dentsnonstereotypical roles, selection of, xviii

“Rub-a-Dub-Dub”delivery of, 68interesting facts about, 148original version of, 69phonemic activity for, 69presentation suggestions for, 68props for, 68script, 70–73staging of, 70

Scen ery, xviScripts, prep a ra tion of, xviiSelf-con cept, de vel op ment and en hance ment of,

xviself-assurance, xviself-confidence, xviself-esteem, xvi

Set ting for plays, xixSi lent read ing, xiv“Sing a Song of Six pence”

comprehension activities for, 107delivery of, 106original version of, 107presentation suggestions for, 106props for, 106script, 108–110staging of, 108

“Sleep ing Beauty”interesting fact about, 147

Sound ef fects, xixSpan ish scripts, xx, xxi–xxii. See also Eng lish

lan guage learn ers (ELLs)Baa, Baa, Black Sheep (Ba, Ba, Oveja Negra),

79–83Hickory, Dickory, Dock (Jicori, Dicori, Doc),

53–57highlighting of, xviiLittle Boy Blue (Pequeño Niño Azul),

101–105Mary Had a Little Lamb (María Tenía un

Pequeña Cordero), 136–141mini-lessons in Spanish, xxiOld King Cole (El Viejo Rey Col), 119–124Old MacDonald (El Viejo MacDonald), 5–9One, Two, Buckle My Shoe (Uno, Dos,

Abrocha Mi Zapato), 41–45parent volunteers, use of, xxi, xxiisight words, use of, xxi

160 In dex

suggested uses of, xxi–xxiitape recording of, xxtutoring sessions, xxiiTwinkle, Twinkle Little Star (Titila, Titila,

Pequeña Estrella), 12–17Speed of read ing, 130, 142Stag ing of play, gen er ally, xviiiStart ing out, xvii–xviiiSto ry tell ing

benefits of, xivas interpersonal activity, xivmagic of, xiv

Tad pole Tales and Other To tally Ter rific Treatsfor Read ers Thea tre, xiii

Tape re cord ing of scripts, xx, xxii“There Was an Old Woman”

delivery of, 58original version of, 59phonemic activity for, 59presentation suggestions for, 58props for, 58script, 60–62staging of, 60

“This Old Man”interesting fact about, 147

“Three Blind Mice”delivery of, 33original version of, 34phonemic activity for, 34presentation suggestions for, 33props for, 33script, 35–38staging of, 35

“Three Lit tle Pigs, The,” 18“Through the Look ing Glass”

interesting fact about, 148“To Mar ket”

comprehension activities for, 90delivery of, 89original version of, 90

presentation suggestions for, 89props for, 89script, 91–93staging of, 91

Transactional read ing, xxiii–xxivduring-reading processes/strategies,

xxiii–xxivpost-reading processes/strategies, xxiii–xxivpre-reading processes/strategies, xxiii–xxivstages in reading process, xxiii

“Tweedledum and Tweedledee”interesting fact about, 148

“Twin kle, Twin kle Lit tle Star”delivery of, 10original version of, 11phonemic activities for, 11presentation suggestions for, 10props for, 10script, 12–17staging of, 12

Up stage (rear), xviii

Val ues in read ers thea tre, xv–xviVo cab u lary

as reading instruction area, xivVoice

inflection, xviintonation, xvi, xviiiprojection, xvi, xixtypes of, xix

Vol un teers, use of, xviiparent, xxi, xxii

Word rec og ni tion, xiiiWord walls

bilingual, xxuse of, xx

“Yan kee Doo dle”interesting fact about, 148

In dex 161

About the Au thor

Tony ([email protected]) is a na tion ally rec og nized chil dren’s lit er a ture ex pert wellknown for his en er getic, hu mor ous, and highly in for ma tive school vis its through out North Amer ica. His dy namic au thor pre sen ta tions have cap ti vated thou sands of stu dents in Can ada, Mex ico, andacross the United States – all with rave re views!

Tony is a for mer el e men tary teacher and read ing spe cial ist. He is the au thor of more than 100books, in clud ing over 65 teacher re source books and more than three-dozen award-win ning chil -dren’s books. His ed u ca tion ti tles in clude the best-sell ing Sci ence Fair Hand book (3rd Ed.), whichhe co-authored with Isaac Asimov (Good year), the hugely pop u lar Fran tic Frogs and Other Frankly Frac tured Folk tales for Read ers Thea tre (Teacher Ideas Press), the highly praised Guided Read ingin Grades 3-6 (Har court Achieve), and the cel e brated Much More So cial Stud ies Through Chil -dren’s Lit er a ture (Teacher Ideas Press).

His award-win ning chil dren’s ti tles in clude Un der One Rock (2002 Na ture and Ecol ogyAward); Slugs (2000 Out stand ing Sci ence Trade Book), Around One Cac tus (2004 Teacher’sChoice Award), Near One Cat tail (2006 Green Earth Book Award), and The Tsu nami Quilt: Grand -fa ther’s Story among oth ers.

Fredericks is the au thor of sev eral trade books in clud ing the pe ren nial fa vor ite The Com pleteId iot’s Guide to Suc cess as a Teacher (Al pha). Tony cur rently teaches el e men tary meth ods coursesand chil dren’s lit er a ture at York Col lege in York, Penn syl va nia.

Documents

Mother Goose Readers Theatre for Beginning Readers