Test scores across the country show American students are far more able to read narrative than nonfiction text. Some research speculates this is due to a great lack in the background knowledge of many children. Librarians are beginning to realize that a unique fit for the school librarian is as a provider of background knowledge materials for…

Choral speaking is one way to introduce elementary students to poetry and the performing arts, providing a quick and easy way to foster precise diction and voice projection. The article explains how to select poems, direct the activity, get started, and be creative. Includes several poems to help teachers get started. (SM)

After more than a decade in print, "Readers Theatre for Beginning Readers" continues to outsell all comparable books on Readers Theatre. "More RTBR" capitalizes on both the popularity of "Readers Theatre for Beginning Readers" and the emphasis on fluency due to the recommendations of the National Reading Panel.…

This state guide to curriculum planning is designed to provide direction to teachers, administrators, and curriculum specialists for developing programs in informal drama and theatre. For each school level (preschool, elementary, middle, and high school) the following topics or concepts are discussed in terms of the student at that level: informal…

Aimed at primary-age children, this book brings William Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" to them, recognizing that children, properly guided, will take to Shakespeare's characters and stories like "ducks to water"; in the process they find their inner voices, they collaborate, they improvise, and they communicate. Illustrated with…

This thematic unit involves kindergarten and 1st grade students in the production of a theatrical performance based on the folktale, "The Little Red Hen." The interdisciplinary unit connects knowledge related to theater arts, art, language arts, music, applied mathematics, social studies, and science. Students visit a local theater and…

Intended for elementary school teachers who wish to implement a lesson on dance theater and dance as an art form to be used in conjunction with live performance, this guide offers classroom and extracurricular activities to teach children about various aspects of dance. Part 1 of the guide includes an introduction to Manhattan's City Center, a…

In this lesson for implementation in Grade 3, students will explore the pioneers' and settlers' ways of life through drama and songs. Crossing the prairie, living in a sod house, and the growth of Abilene, Kansas, will be explored in the lesson using drama games, role playing, written text, and songs. The lesson offers an overview; suggests length…