Gingerbread Reader's Theater

When it comes to arts integration, especially in first grade, there is no better way to integrate drama into reading than through reader's theater.  This year we decided to create a unit based on all of the gingerbread story adaptations.  We picked five stories; Gingerbread Boy, Gingerbread Cowboy, Gingerbread Girl, Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers, and Gingerbread Man Loose in School.  We created scripts for each book and assigned roles.  Little did we know the true impact it would have on our students and their parents.

We spent over two week rehearsing the scripts on and off stage.  We spent more than 3 days creating props and collecting costumes.  All of the hard work was worth the excitement in our students eyes on the day of the performance.  The parents were thrilled and our cast party included gingerbread house decorating!

Here is our sample lesson plan for the Gingerbread Reader's Theater we created for our online arts integration graduate course along with a rubric for assessing your students:

And here is a picture of the huge background prop the kids created.  We used refrigerator boxes and unfolded them into screens:

Thanks for reading,

Vicki
Chrissy