Strong Verb List. Use strong verbs to enhance writing. A great revision strategy is to look for ways to make verbs more descriptive. This list of strong action verbs is a handy reference to use when a better word is needed. Students can keep these sheets in their writer's journal or notebook. These words can also make a great word wall. - HappyEdugator

Drama - Play Outline for Play Writing Project. Drama writing activity. If you want your students to write their own play, this is a good way to get them to start thinking. They must write an outline of what their play is about, and they will need to complete the ten steps required for a good outline of their play. Students will have to include information on characters, setting, conflict, plot, etc. Includes brainstorming sheet and easy to grade checklist, for a total of 100 points.Students should write the actual outline on their own sheet of notebook paper or type it, using the checklist as a guide. - HappyEdugator

Pretend to Be an Animal Cards. A fun circle time dramatic play activity. Students come up and draw a card on a stick (or just a card if you do not wish to use sticks) and then act out the animal they selected in the middle of the circle. They may ask for ideas from other students if they do not know how to act like the animal they chose. When finished, the student selects another classmate to select a card. Play continues until all the students have had a turn. There are a total of 32 cards to choose from. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Drama Terms and Test. Elements of Drama. Includes a study guide and a test of common drama terms in a matching format. In addition, you will get a higher level comprehensive list of drama terms, which you can decide to use in a variety of ways, such as independent study, enrichment, etc. Also included is a handout on the Elements of Drama. - HappyEdugator

The Dying Detective Support Materials with Vocabulary and Test. Contains study guides, a vocabulary worksheet with key, a stage directions hand-out, and a TEST with a key to go along with the PLAY adaptation of The Dying Detective by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, in which Sherlock Holmes appears to be dying, quite grumpy with Watson, and surprises everyone by his sudden comeback to catch a killer. - HappyEdugator

The Diary of Anne Frank. - Quarantine Writing Activity. This activity has students imagine they have been in contact with a highly contagious disease and they have to be quarantined. The students will write about how they would feel if they were placed in quarantine or isolation for two months. In a situation similar to the Franks, they would not have human contact. Even though they would not be in hiding like the Franks, they would be forced to think about how they would feel to be isolated. Then the students can write a diary for a week, and finally, reflect on the difference between their life and Anne's. - HappyEdugator

Drama Playbill Project. A printable activity -This assignment gives instructions to students on how to write a playbill (an advertisement for a play) that includes the following: an illustrated cover with information about the performance and a picture illustrating the play's content,a summary of the play written to promote the play, an illustration of the setting, an explanation of the the theme, and a description of the main character. A rubric for evaluation is included. - HappyEdugator

Thanksgiving Reader's Theater - Gobble It Up. A first Thanksgiving play script or Thanksgiving reader's theater; On the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims and the Indians are coming together for a three day feast, and Mr. Turkey Lurkey has to take cover. There are 26 short speaking parts, so everyone can be involved! It takes approximately 20-25 minutes to be performed. No costumes necessary, but you can dress it up. Fun November educational activity based on facts on the history of Thanksgiving! Two versions included - one with a smaller print (4 pages) to save on copies, and one with a larger font for reading ease (8 pages). No need to memorize lines. My students loved reading it, and I am sure yours wil enjoy this Thanksgiving activity, too! Print and go. No prep. Happy Thanksgiving! - HappyEdugator

Drama - Abbott and Costello. This is a version of the famous Abbott and Costello skit "Who's on First?" When doing a drama unit, students love to perform this skit. Some of the words have been modernized from the original. Includes directions. Have students practice in pairs, reversing roles, so that each partner gets a chance to be the straight man. Make sure you give them time to practice. They love this and will want to perform for the class. Often they will bring in their own props from home. Have them watch the actual version, too, which is available on the internet. Includes link to video, teacher directions, follow up, a shortened one page version, and ideas for a baseball themed classroom. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Thanksgiving Play - A Joyful Harvest. A short Thanksgiving play or skit that is quick and easy to perform, and fun! Set on the first Thanksgiving. Four characters - a pilgrim boy and girl, and a native American boy and girl. A fun way to act out the preparations for the first Thanksgiving. Backdrop is forest on one side and grass on the other. The Pilgrim and Indian children talk about the upcoming harvest feast with excitement, play a game of pins, and end up naming the holiday. Based on actual history of Thanksgiving. Fun Thanksgiving activity! Print and go...can be done without props or backdrop as a reader's theater.

Ten activities to do with building brick blocks. Use the games individually on separate occasions, or make stations with them and have an event. Print out the cards and use to mark each station. Students go from station to station to complete the activities on the card. You can also break them into teams and see which team completes the activities first. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

A Christmas Truce PowerPoint - A Reader’s Theater. 44 slides. You can use this in the classroom or make it into a production for Christmas. This is about the miraculous and spontaneous truce in the trenches during WWI where the British and German soldiers stopped fighting. Listen to the song Christmas in the Trenches, and use it as an introduction. We also connect this to Snoopy and the Red Baron’s Christmas Truce. Play slideshow while students are reading printed cards as a production for parents or visitors. We performed this for parents and invited the VFW to come visit. Includes details on the performance and how to do your own, ideas for backdrop, costumes, suggested music, links, and how to make Snoopy luminaries out of old gallon milk jugs! We ended our performance with everyone singing Snoopy’s Christmas. We did this several years in a row. It turned out to be a great success. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Drama Warm Ups - Fun role playing activities to get students moving, thinking and creating. Whether you are teaching drama in literature, a drama course, or sponsoring a drama club after school, these activities will be engaging and fun, and will lead to higher level thinking and creativity! 15 pages of different activities with examples and suggestions to get started. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Drama - Introduction to Drama PowerPoint. PowerPoint presentation with animations, sounds, and graphics that will engage your student when starting a drama unit. Defines drama, drama terms like playwright, stage directions, set, props, script and much more! Includes staging, dramatization, how plays are produced, the role of the audience and theater etiquette. Also, now includes information on Greek theater, Shakespearian theater, and Modern theater. Enjoy! . - HappyEdugator CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.7 Compare and contrast the experience of reading a story, drama, or poem to listening to or viewing an audio, video, or live version of the text, including contrasting what they “see” and “hear” when reading the text to what they perceive when they listen or watch. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.7 Compare and contrast a written story, drama, or poem to its audio, filmed, staged, or multimedia version, analyzing the effects of techniques unique to each medium (e.g., lighting, sound, color, or camera focus and angles in a film). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.7 Analyze the extent to which a filmed or live production of a story or drama stays faithful to or departs from the text or script, evaluating the choices made by the director or actors.

A Christmas Truce PowerPoint - A Reader’s Theater. 44 slides. You can use this in the classroom or make it into a production for Christmas. This is about the miraculous and spontaneous truce in the trenches during WWI where the British and German soldiers stopped fighting. Listen to the song Christmas in the Trenches, and use it as an introduction. We also connect this to Snoopy and the Red Baron’s Christmas Truce. Play slideshow while students are reading printed cards as a production for parents or visitors. We performed this for parents and invited the VFW to come visit. Includes details on the performance and how to do your own, ideas for backdrop, costumes, suggested music, links, and how to make Snoopy luminaries out of old gallon milk jugs! We ended our performance with everyone singing Snoopy’s Christmas. We did this several years in a row. It turned out to be a great success. Enjoy! - HappyEdugator

Drama Extension Activities PowerPoint. Includes five extension menu choice boards for differentiating instruction for any drama unit. These were developed originally to be used with the plays "A Christmas Carol" and "The Diary of Anne Frank," but can be used with any play or dramatization. There are extension menus or enrichment activities for author, time period, play comprehension, drama terms and an independent study guide and a menu of reading project ideas for multiple intelligences-auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Also included is an oral presentation rubric and a peer evaluation form. Useful for gifted students who need extra independent work. You will also have a color slide for each menu for projection on a white board and printer friendly student handout. Editable for your own classroom use. Enjoy. - HappyEdugator