Exploding on to the Stage!!

One of my favorite Reader's Workshop activities is to have my students act out a book. It's a great way to have children actively involved in a story and thus remembering not only the beginning, middle, and ending of it but also story elements such as the characters and setting and the problem and solution in a fun way!! A book I love to start out our re-enactments with is called, "Lucy's Boot." It's by Janie Spaht Gill. A fun-loving Kindergarten teacher who presented at a workshop I attended a few years ago. The story goes like this: Lucy had pair of boots on that she wanted to get off. Her father kept saying, "It's stuck," "It won't come off." "I don't know what to do." Then the mother pulled on the father and the father pulled on the boot. It didn't budge. The brother, the baby, and even the dog tried to get the boot off (all tugging at the same time.) Then Lucy shouted, "Wait, what's this?" She found a buckle and the boot slipped off! This story has the students laughing every time. It's already a classroom favorite and will be acted out again tomorrow, I'm sure!!