The North Wind and the Sun: Fables (Building Fluency Through Reader's Theater)

Students will act out this story of a bet between the north wind and the sun. The two argue over who is the most powerful and make a bet to see who can get a traveler to remove his cloak with their power. The harsh north wind tries its best with powerful force, but fails. The sun gently shines down warm beams of light, getting the traveler to remove his cloak quickly and showing the north wind that there is more power and strength in gentleness than in force. This Reader's Theater script features roles written to match multiple reading levels. Teachers can assign specific roles to their readers based on each student's current reading level, allowing all students to get involved in the same activity and feel successful! Students will gain confidence in their reading fluency through performance, regardless of their current reading ability. While performing with others, students will practice performance, interacting cooperatively, reading aloud, and using expressive voices and gestures to better tell the story. These drama scripts for students are a great way to teach literacy and engage all learners!

Dona Herweck Rice is the prolific author of books, stories, and poems for children of all ages. She’s written hundreds of books and more on just about every topic under the sun, from acrobats to zucchini and everything in between. She has also written award-winning books and curriculums for educators, especially on the subjects of writing and language arts. In fact, her first publications were a series for teachers on how to teach writing in the classroom. She spearheaded the development of Write TIME for Kids, which earned the Golden Lamp award for curriculum from the Association of American Publishers. Her writing is featured heavily in such acclaimed series as Focused Phonics, Untold Stories, Fiction Readers, Nonfiction Readers, Learn and Create, and more.

Dona’s best-selling children’s title with more than 13,000 copies is How Plants Grow, and her most recent titles include dozens of books for the Exploration Storytime series, two titles in the Curious Me!™ board book series, and Ride with Rampage in partnership with the Los Angeles Rams. When Dona visits classrooms to talk about being an author, the most requested titles include History’s Mysteries, Bad Guys and Gals of the Wild West, and Oh, Rats!––the latter being one of Dona’s particular favorites.

Dona is the creator of Cam E. Chameleon, the enchanting little reptile featured in her books The Adventures of Cam E. Chameleon and Cam and Sam’s Colorful Adventure. Observant readers can also find Cam singing and dancing throughout the illustrated retelling of If You’re Happy and You Know It.

Writing is Dona’s passion, but she also loves reading, live theater, and handmade arts and crafts, with many artists and creatives in all mediums among her extended family. Dona was a preschool and middle school teacher and is an acting coach for all ages. She lives in southern California with her husband, son, and one cute, silly, and loveable little dog.