Hameray Classroom Literacy Blog

[Classic Post] Making Comics Based on Readers' Theater Scripts

This is a guest blog post from fifth-grade teacher Diane Roethler that originally ran in June 2014. If you like what you read here,   check out her blog at this link !

The books in   the SuperScripts series   are great high-interest, low-reading-level scripts that are perfect for small-group work.   Each character is color-coded to make following along much easier. The topics cover activities and interests that my fifth graders love. This activity allows them to exercise their creativity as well as show that they are following the story line.

Since my students love to draw, one activity that I will be trying is to have the students create a comic strip to go with a portion of the script.   The plan is to have each student choose an exciting/important part of the story to illustrate in a comic strip format. They dialogue is provided, so they just need to map it out and add the pictures.

Students will create four to five panels to illustrate the portion of the script they choose.   It will be important that they include details in the pictures that have been stated in the script, such as character appearance, location etc. While the series of books does have illustrations in each book, there is plenty of opportunity for students to imagine what has not been included. In order to be successful with this activity, students will need to be able to comprehend the events in order to draw the accurately.

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Diane has been teaching fifth grade in Iowa since 1999. She has her masters in Educational Technology and loves finding ways to integrate technology into her curriculum. She blogs about organization, classroom management, DIY projects, and more at  fifthinthemiddle.blogspot.com .  

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To download an information sheet with more information about the   SuperScripts   series, which contains the books show in this post, click the image below.