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by Vanessa Genova DeSantis
Topics: Fourth Grade, Reading

Lots of fourth plow through their reading without stopping to understand the finer points of character development. Sure, it's fun to be able to zip through a big text, but as an experienced adult reader, you know: the real joy of iterature comes when you can slow down, take it apart, and savor all the pieces.  Here's an activity that will have your child perform a “reader's theater” by reading dialogue aloud for an audience. It's a great way to understand character and practice oral reading skills.

What You Need:
  • Your child’s independent reading book

What You Do:

Step 1:
Ask your child what book she is reading independently. Have her summarize the story by focusing only on the important parts of the plot. Ask your child to speak about the characters in the story. Have her explain which character is her favorite and why.

Step 2:
Ask your child to locate a scene in which their favorite character is speaking to another character in the book. Once your child has located this part, have her read the dialogue to you out loud.

Step 3:
After the initial reading, ask your child to tell you how the characters are feeling. What clues lead her to understand this character better? This is where you can point out ways in which we better understand character: how a character says something and what the character is doing (body language, for example).

Step 4:
Once you’ve pinpointed these clues with your child, practice reading the scene together (your child will read one character’s lines, and you will read the other). As you read, omit the parts that describe how a character is saying something or what they might be doing. Getting rid of this extraneous information will force your child to really think about the text clues and act like the character using her voice and body language to emulate this person.

Step 5:
After practicing your dialogue together, present your reader’s theater to the rest of the family. When you’re finished, have your audience explain how each character was feeling based on your performance. This can lead to a wonderful family book talk. Don't forget to take a bow!