Reader's Theater comes to school

With a fake microphone in hand and construction-paper turntables behind him, Scotty Atchian, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from Carson Middle School, rapped a tale to elementary school students Friday.

"Three pigs are hidin', their time they are bidin', safe in a house of brick with aluminum sidin'," Atchian said using text from author David Vozar's children's book, "Yo, Hungry Wolf."

Fourth-graders at Bordewich-Bray Elementary school enjoyed the tale of a wolf that chases three pigs, tries to trick a girl in a red cape and refuses to help a boy who keeps calling his name.

"It was fun," Atchian said. "I like performing for the kids. They were really funny. There were kids in the background raising their hands (while we rapped).

Shalina Chavez, 12, a seventh-grader at Carson Middle School, also rapped some of the rhyme with Atchian while classmates Erik Roberson, McKenna Bacon and Nicole Hironaka danced and bebopped in their Reader's Theater project.

In Reader's Theater, students pick a book, make a script out of it and turn it into a play.

"I really believe in Reader's Theater," said Tedra Cook, English teacher at Carson Middle School. "It covers critical reading, writing and thinking when you convert from text to dialogue. ... It kind of covers all of Language Arts."

This is the first year Cook, a teacher new to the Carson City School District, is using Reader's Theater. Only students with a C or better grade-point average in her English classes get to participate.

In addition to "Yo, Hungry Wolf,' students performed "The Stinky Cheeseman" and "Salt in His Shoes" as well as portions from "The Frog Prince Continued" and "Pandora."

"This takes a lot of group cooperation," Cook said. "Students help each other. They suggest 'Maybe you could say this that way or maybe you do this motion.' A lot of group dynamics go on."

Students practiced their scripts for about two weeks and created background props to illustrate their stories.

Fourth-graders paid attention through them all. Many said they liked the story of "The Stinky Cheeseman," who hops out of the oven, is chased by an old man and then disintegrates when a fox helping him across a river drops him.

"That's sad about the Cheeseman," said Deyera Baker-Jones, 9, who claims she is addicted to cheese. "He fell apart."

"I thought it was funny," said McKena Young, sitting next to her.

Wherever there's a theater, there's a peanut gallery not far behind.

- Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.