Hello Hi-Lo: Readers Theatre Math

Readers theatre is well-known as an excellent teaching tool that can be used across the curriculum, even to enhance math skills. But what does a teacher do to avoid the danger of labeling when the classroom includes students of different reading levels and abilities? Hello Hi-Lo: Readers Theatre Math offers a proven way for teachers to build reading fluency in their classrooms, even if students do not all read at the same level. The book offers 15 readers theatre plays, each of which includes various levels of readability within one script. The plays thus provide lower-level readers the opportunity to follow along with accelerated reading parts, building confidence by reading aloud at their own levels.

Each play includes speakers for three different grade levels of readability: 4th grade and lower, 5th-6th grade, and 7th-8th grade. Concepts are presented so that they are fluid among these grade levels. Taking a cross-curricular approach, the scripts reinforce key math concepts and standards-based math skills taught in the middle grades, such as order of operations, fractions, inequalities, positive and negative numbers, and graphing on a coordinate plane. Each play includes extended activities that will help the teacher incorporate the math concept into the classroom.

Jeff Sanders teaches at Fairmont Elementary School in Yorba Linda, CA. He has taught elementary school for over 28 years.

Nancy I. Sanders is the bestselling and award-winning author of over 80 books includingAmerica's Black Founders: Revolutionary Heroes & Early Leaders.