Earth Day Readers Theater Script | Holiday Origins Series

This Earth Day Readers Theater Script explores the origins of this holiday. Students read an interactive narrative instead of reading a dry textbook or passively listen to a video or lecture. This activity will help develop listening and speaking skills as students practice expressive voice acting.

Script Summary:

This script explores the inspiring history of Earth Day, celebrated every April 22 to protect our planet. It starts in a 1960s classroom where a Teacher and Student explore why Earth needed saving. The journey goes back to 1962, when Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring warned about pesticides, then to 1969, when Senator Gaylord Nelson dreamed up Earth Day after an oil spill. Denis Hayes plans the first event in 1970, with 20 million joining, helped by Walter Reuther’s workers. The script leaps to 1990, when Hayes takes Earth Day global with a Mount Everest cleanup, and to 2016, when world leaders sign the Paris Agreement on April 22. It ends with a modern Earth Day party, showing how we plant trees and fight pollution today. The story highlights Earth Day’s growth from a U.S. protest to a worldwide movement.

The scripts includes an editable DOCX format (12 pages) which contains:

1) Teacher Tips & Answer Key

• CCSS Alignment
• Teacher Tips for use as both RT and Play/Skit
• Answer Keys for Worksheet
• Themes & Discussion Question Prompts

2) Readers Theater Script

• ~8 Characters, 1500 words

3) Script Worksheet

• 10 Vocabulary Words
• 10 Short-Answer Comprehension Questions: Comprehension and recall questions based solely on the script

Teaching Tips for Using the Script:

• For digital classrooms, upload the DOCX Script and convert to Google docs
• For More Students: Main character can be read by multiple students.
• For Less Students: Minor characters can be read by just one student.
• This script should take about ~20 minutes and depending on your classroom's level it may be suitable for other grade levels.
• An extra ~25 minutes for prep, discussion, vocabulary or short answer comprehension questions should also be planned.

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