Extension Activities

• Reader's theater provides a means to present literary works in dramatic form. 
• It is a key tool for creating interest in reading. Kids love to do it, and they give it their all -- more so because it's a team effort, and they don't want to let down their friends! And if the script is based on an available book, they of course want to read it.
•  What's more, reader's theater is a great activity for the teacher, since it requires no setup apart from the reproduction of scripts. 

Interactive writing is a great way for your students to respond to read alouds, and is a very natural way to incorporate writing into your language arts activities.  It serves as a bridge between teacher-modeled writing (Shared Writing) and independent student writing.  In addition, it helps students further develop their phonemic awareness , as well as demonstrates how to use resources around the room (word wall, name chart, etc.) 

For much more information on interactive writing, including procedures and resources, see
Interactive Writing: How Language and Literacy Come Together, K-2, Andrea McCarrier, Gay Su Pinnell, & Irene C. Fountas (Heinemann, 1999).

• After reading a tale with your students more than once over several days, engage them in a re-telling of the story.  Obviously, a complete retelling would take more than one day.  Spend several days with your class negotiating and writing the text.
• Invite the students to illustrate the stories:  this could be done as a separate activity in the art center, or during art time.  Student pictures could then be cut out and glued to the appropriate parts of the story.
• Develop a graph using interactive writing so that students can vote on their favorite re-telling of a folk/fairy tale.
• Use interactive writing to create a Venn diagram or table to compare/contrast several re-tellings of folk/fairy tale.
• Leave the interactive writing posted in the room for students to read and re-read, independently or in pairs.
• After completing a re-telling with your class, laminate the pages and bind into a big book.  Your students will love this addition to their classroom library, and will be able to read it independently or with a buddy.
• Use interactive writing to compose a letter to another classroom, inviting them to come see your  reenactment of a folk/fairy tale.