This reader's theater script builds fluency through oral reading. The creative script captures students' interest, so they will want to practice and perform. Included is a fluency lesson and approximate reading levels for the script roles.

Nonfiction Literacy: Ideas and Activities

The repeated readings students do while rehearsing these plays help build fluency and comprehension skills."

All your students can shine thanks to the flexible casting options provided in Readers' Theater, Grade 5. To support struggling readers, cast two or more students in each role; the extra support of choral reading can make an important difference for many students. Refer to the Readers' Theater Table of Contents to see how you can connect each of the 15 read-aloud scripts to key content from the Grade 5 curriculum. Some of the scripts included are: - "Demeter and Persephone"--based on the classic Greek myth - "SOS Titanic"--a rescue on the high seas based on true events - "Getting the Scoop on UFOs"--a high school journalist learns a lesson about objective reporting - "The Montgomery Bus Boycott"--Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other historical figures take the stage in this script based on historical events - "All the Rice in India"--this version of a folktale from India involves students in an intriguing mathematical challenge - Many more

A humorous look at five of our country's founding fathers.

Understanding Reading revolutionized reading research and theory when the first edition appeared in 1971 and continues to be a leader in the field. In the sixth edition of this classic text, Smith's purpose remains the same: to shed light on fundamental aspects of the complex human act of reading--linguistic, physiological, psychological, and social--and on what is involved in learning to read. The text critically examines current theories, instructional practices, and controversies, covering a wide range of disciplines but always remaining accessible to students and classroom teachers. Careful attention is given to the ideological clash that continues between whole language and direct instruction and currently permeates every aspect of theory and research into reading and reading instruction. To aid readers in making up their own minds, each chapter concludes with a brief statement of "Issues." Understanding Reading: A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Reading and Learning to Read, Sixth Edition is designed to serve as a handbook for language arts teachers, a college text for basic courses on the psychology of reading, a guide to relevant research on reading, and an introduction to reading as an aspect of thinking and learning. It is matchless in integrating a wide range of topics relative to reading while, at the same time, being highly readable and user-friendly for instructors, students, and practitioners.