To begin this class, we were warmly welcomed at the start of the Grade 3 lesson. We observed students as they engaged with the teacher, using their addition skills to work with large numbers. The students are currently in a unit on coins and money; therefore, they demonstrated their progress. Since it was the 114th day of school, students were asked to make change for $1.14. The students actively participated, applying their knowledge of coin values and subtraction to solve the problem. Once the activity was complete, the teacher seamlessly transitioned into assigning books for Reader’s Theatre.
For Reader’s Theatre, students were given a choice of which book they wanted to present. The options included Goldilocks, Town Mouse and Country Mouse, The Ugly Duckling, and Little Red Riding Hood. Once all the students were placed into groups, the student teachers assisted them in preparing for their performances. We explained that we would first read through the book together before and then review the lines. Students selected the part they liked the most. Some roles had very few lines, whereas the Narrator, Country Mouse, and City Mouse had long passages to read.
I chose Town Mouse and Country Mouse as it was a story I had never heard. One thing I noticed right away was that each book was at a different reading level, and the students in my group were not necessarily at that level. A couple of students struggled with their lines, and although we encouraged them to use stage voices and more expression, they found it challenging. However, that was completely fine. When the students presented their play, they performed to the best of their ability and even used more expression than when reading. I was very happy with the final result.
Reflecting on this experience, I would love to incorporate Reader’s Theatre in my own classroom, as it is highly engaging as it is highly engaging and provides an excellent opportunity for students to practice reading fluency, comprehension, and expression. However, I would provide students with more time and possibly ensure that they were learning their lines and growing more confident with the text. Overall, this experience reinforced the value of interactive and performance-based learning in building students’ literacy skills and confidence.
What curricular competencies and content did I connect and witness throughout this learning experience within this third grade classroom:
Curricular Competencies:
- Use developmentally appropriate reading, listening, and viewing strategies to make meaning
- Engage actively as listeners, viewers, and readers, as appropriate, to develop understanding of self, identity, and community
- Recognize the structure and elements of story
Content:
- Strategies and processes
- reading strategies
- oral language strategies
- metacognitive strategies
- Language features, structures, and conventions
- features of oral language