Bringing Books to Life: Simple Ways to Add Drama to Reading

Bringing books to life: simple ways to add drama to books & reading

Voices: are there places where different voices will add to the story?

Facial Expressions: consider adding expressions (happy, sad, scary) that might fit the story and add emotion to the reading

Sound effects: try adding sounds for cars, rain, animals or other familiar noises to the story

Actions: create actions for key phrases in the story

Music: choose a song to play in the background as a story is retold

Ask questions:  Talk about what might happen next in the story, asking listeners along with you  Who, what, when, where and why questions about what children see in the pictures

Use Props:  Use puppets, costumes or props to help tell the story

Look for other ways to get children involved:  Ask children to repeat key phrases or help with sound effects  Invite children to become the storytellers: o Retelling the story in their own words to others o Invite children to hold puppets, wear costumes and help tell the story with others o Create word signs for key phrases and say their word when it appears in the story

One more way to add drama to books & reading:  Invite guest readers to your class or contact your public library and ask for a children’s librarian about arranging a visit

http://lfpl.org/teenpages/extensions.htm