Reading Level Grades 4 to 6, Interest Level Grades 4 to 8

Shakespeare. In most adults, the mention of his name causes a range of reactions, from enthusiasm to confusion as to why we ever bothered to study his works at all. I remember a teacher telling us that learning Shakespeare was "good for us", but I don't ever remember hearing why. Because of this, many have missed out on an appreciation of perhaps the greatest English writer of all time, a writer who understood what it means to be human, a recorder of the vast array of emotions that we all experience - joy, sorrow, love, hate, jealousy, forgiveness, fear, pride, and yet, at the most basic level, a teller of curious, horrifying, sad, and joyous tales that cause us to pause and reflect upon our own experiences and circumstances around us.

Imagine how your appreciation of Shakespeare would have been different if his plays had been introduced to you in simpler forms, much earlier in your school career, letting you experiment with his language, perform as his characters, learn about his historical context, reflect upon the meaning in his plays, and to have, albeit in easy-to-understand terms, an answer to the question "Why do we study Shakespeare?"

This resource attempts to do all of these things through a variety of activities that touch upon the major aspects of a complete Language Arts program: reading, writing, oral language, and drama.

Working with the plays provides students the opportunity to develop confidence with reading, writing, oral language, as well as such drama skills as performing, rehearsing, and using one's voice to convey feelings or a point of view. These activities support literacy in the most basic sense, in that they allow students to make sense of what they are doing (to understand), and allow them to express themselves in a variety of ways (to be understood). Importantly, this resource introduces children to characters and plot-lines that they will encounter time and again, in both higher-grade English classes and in other authors' work. A firm grounding in these enduring themes will allow students to relate one work to another, to find patterns and commonalities, and to construct meaning more effectively.

The six adapted plays in this resource reflect Shakespeare's plays in their entirety, and have been written using both modern and Shakespearean dialogue, and use narrators to tell the bulk of each story. Some changes, such as reorganizing a scene here and there, toning down violence, or rearranging some lines, have been made to enhance the students' grasp of the story lines. Of note is the fact that the setting of many of these plays is in the distant past, in the ancient civilizations of Rome and Greece, and in both medieval and Renaissance Europe, time periods familiar to the students in these grades through their Social Studies classes.

These Shakespeare adapted plays, each between 5 and 25 minutes long, will instill a love of Shakespeare and boost literacy skills!

Background information provided to enrich the plays themselves, a program for easy staging and costumes are included. Character roles are written at easy, moderate, and challenging reading levels.

Arranged in two sections, the teacher section includes ideas for presenting, discussing, and working with the plays in the book. The student section includes the scripts, and a variety of worksheets and activities that allow students to demonstrate their comprehension of the materials at hand, and improve writing skills.

Introduction and Teacher Guide

• At A Glance

• Teacher Assessment Rubric

• Student Self-Assessment Rubric

• Teacher Guide

• Introduction

• How to Use this Book

• Suggestions for Reading-Only Performances

• How to Make Nick Bottom's Donkey Head (A Midsummer Night's Dream)

• Brief Shakespeare Biography

Student Background Pages

• All About William Shakespeare

• A Guide to Shakespearean Vocabulary

The Plays:

Each play includes a synopsis of the play, the performance length and number of parts, and the script. There is a one page comprehension check for the play itself and a generic comprehension check worksheet plus answer key.

• Richard II

• Richard III

• Julius Caesar

• Romeo and Juliet

• Macbeth

• A Midsummer Night's Dream

Creative Thinking & Writing Student Follow-Up Activities

• Activity 1 and 2 – Richard II

• Activity 3 and 4 – Julius Caesar

• Activity 5 and 6 – Romeo and Juliet

• Activity 7 and 8 – Richard III

• Activity 9 and 10 – Macbeth

• Activity 11 and 12 – A Midsummer Night’s Dream

• Activity 13 – Students create a survey to find out how students feel about William Shakespeare and his Plays.

• Activity 14 – Students write a short script for a play in the style of William Shakespeare.

Start saving TIME today!

We give you 100's of NO PREP! lessons to download so you can do what you love! TEACH! 

Take the leap and join today!