Benefits of Acting Out a Story

This is a great way to see if the story you have just read has been understood. You get to assess reading comprehension, vocabulary knowledge and sequencing skills while the ‘actor’ gets to have fun! This activity gives the actor the opportunity to make a personal connection with the story.

We read the story together. Then we gathered the main characters; mainly rabbits in this story- yes we have too many stuffed rabbits!  The only props we needed were a tree and a remote control. The clothes horse stood in for a tree and my camera case was a remote.

The story went something like this, as told by Daisy:

Lettuce lived high on a hill. Nibble, nibble, hop, hop, every day was the same.

A small bird flew by.

“I wish I could fly.” said Lettuce.

She dreamed of flying.

She tried jumping and flapping her arms and ears.

“I’ll never be able to fly”.

She heard a hum and saw a beautiful pink airplane.

It landed and Lettuce jumped inside. It took off and went up, up, up into the sky.

“Help” Lettuce squealed and then “I never knew the world was this big!”.

Judder, lank, CRASH. The plane landed in a tree.

Lettuce held onto a branch of the tree.

She fell down, down, down into the arms of a little girl.

“What are you doing here?”

I just wanted to fly and now I’ll never get home” moaned Lettuce.

“I’ll fly you back” and she showed Lettuce the remote control.

“Thank you” said Lettuce.

She flew back home and all the bunnies were excited to see her. When she landed and went to the burrow she told all the bunnies about her trip.

“Sometimes you really can make a dream come true.”

The book we read is “Lettuce The Flying Rabbit” by Mandy Stanley.

She enjoyed the acting and role-played again as I reread the story.

In these photos, you may see a girl playing with stuffies or you may see a wonderful story about a flying rabbit. This activity can be done in many different ways. You can vary the props, characters, method of role-playing, scenery. The options are endless.

Learning Opportunities:

• English LA: sequencing a story, retelling, using learned vocabulary, identifying the characteristics of a story; characters, problem, solution, beginning, middle, end

How have you acted out a story?