lesson plan

Family Reunion Readers Theater

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Readers Theater is always a fun time, and even more so with my melodramatic stories which are short and funny. But, they are even funnier with a family reunion. As we all know who the hams are in our families, don’t we?

This past holiday season, when our family came together for Thanksgiving as well as Christmas, we did a readers theater three different times (it’s officially a family tradition now!)  What a BLAST! My son made sure he was the director, and he gave out 3-4 books that we all shared. Then he made impromptu costumes that we all put on and read our parts (or multiple parts in some cases). I never thought about using my books for a large team building get-together. However, doing readers theater at a family reunion is fantastic for building new and cherished memories.family reunion

What a wonderful way to hang out and make great new memories with the family!  We performed Jungle Book for Kids two different times at Thanksgiving, and then did Treasure Island for Kids at Christmas (one would think we would do A Christmas Carol for Kids, but nooooo). This was great for all our ages, from 6 to 96!

Next year we have already planned to do Macbeth (the nieces want to be witches!) and Julius Caesar (can’t wait to kill of Uncle Louie!) What fun to do a family readers theater during our family reunion.

Another rendition a friend of mine is doing at their family reunion, since they have over 50 family members, is a family competition. They are going to break them up into random teams, and then all perform.  Best performance gets to eat first! When m
y plays are only 15 minutes, it’ goes by quick and with much laughter!

I hope you enjoy the same!

Family Reunion Readers Theater was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

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Shakespeare Word Challenge

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Thanks to mentalfloss.com, for helping us see another list of 20 words we wouldn’t be able to iterate today without the help of The Bard. Words such as assassination, bedazzled, cold–blooded, fashionable, scuffle, swagger, and more… It’s amazing what this guy brought to the table. So, because of this, I thought of the Shakespeare Word…

Shakespeare Word Challenge was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Lesson Idea: The Top Ten Shakespeare List

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Here is a clever idea that may engage your students in a short lesson plan, as well as open their eyes and minds to what Shakespeare has brought to the table.  Create a top ten Shakespeare list.  Here are some top ten Shakespeare ideas you can work with:

  • Characters (Puck, Hamlet, Othello… Who’s #1?)
  • Re-written story lines (i.e. Lion King or West Side Story, etc)
  • Speeches (To be, or not to be)
  • Quotes (Out, damn spot, out!)
  • Phrases (Method to his Madness)
  • Words (i.e. Alligator, Minds-eye, Dalmation, etc)

Let me know if you think of more, so I can share with other educators!

Here is a short Top Ten Shakespeare phrases video to kick it off for your class – bet ya didn’t know all these:

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Lesson Idea: The Top Ten Shakespeare List was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Can Shakespeare’s Henry V be done in 30 tweets? #ShakesTweet

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Fellow blogger and Shakespeare fan, Alan Peat, (@alanpeat) was a bit bored one day and decided for his 50th birthday to tweet all of Shakespeare’s plays in 50 tweets or less (not in one day, cuz, that’d be a bit crazy).  So, he knocked out his first “Shakestweet”, Henry V.

twitterThat leads to my thoughts on another Shakespeare lesson plan, the ShakesTweet.  What a great way to engage technology with Shakespeare.  As I’ve said before, probably half your kids already have a twitter account, and what a great way to get the basic storyline across?  140 characters can actually go a long way.

When I write my books, I start by making the play as short as possible, with as few characters as possible.  Only then do I have the basic core of the story, the frame.  From that frame, I can scaffold on more characters, details, and subplots of the play that I deem fit for the kids and the level of melodramatic nonsense I want to incorporate.  (It’s pretty fun!)  I’m no Shakespeare aficionado, I just love engaging kids and seeing them grow from learning through excitement and passion.

So, get your kids engaged with the ShakesTweet lesson plan, and be sure to mention me in the process, so I can follow along: @Shakespeare4kid #ShakesTweet

See you in the matrix…

Brendan

Can Shakespeare’s Henry V be done in 30 tweets? #ShakesTweet was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books

Lesson idea: Kids take over Shakespeare’s Home

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What a great “day in the life” experience!  Being a kid and working at Shakespeare’s home for the day!!!  I recently came across this a great little article out of the UK about some kids learning about the world of “work and decision making”.  But, what really hit my mind, was that they were in charge…

Lesson idea: Kids take over Shakespeare’s Home was originally published on Shakespeare for Kids Books