Scholastic Greek Myth Plays (Best Practices in Action)

I used this for summer camp and it worked really well. We filled three hours for each play by previewing the text, assigning parts, each child making a prop, performing, posing for photos, then completing the extension activity. I doubt much of this could be done during a traditional school day.For example: The Gods and Goddesses Bake OffThe student who read Zeus drew a throne background on large paper behind his chair and Hades decorated a covered cereal box as a burnt up cake. After we performed, everyone gathered around Zeus to show off their poses and props for a picture. We wore our previously-made crowns and jewelry while we prepared ambrosia dessert (the suggested extension activity in the book).The scripts are shorter than I would prefer to perform as readers theater around a table, but they worked for my lesson plan. I wish Scholastic would come out with more books like this for other ancient cultures but also for classic American myths.

Every year, our students read myths and then create an illustrated myth. As a reading specialist, I wanted to take this unit a step further and include activities that build reading skills. This book does the trick!Although it is labeled for grades 3-5, I think it is a great tool for building reading comprehension skills in older kids because you want easy materials when you are teaching strategic reading. This book has rewritten many of the popular myths such as Arachne and Daedalus and Icharus into easy-to-follow and understand plays which allows students to understand the ideas behind the myths while building fluency.My seventh-grade students enjoyed these myths so much and really got into them. They were using inflection, pausinig dramatically, integrating hand gestures and working as groups. This is something that I have always struggled to get them to do, so I was pleased.If you want to take it a step farther, there are other activities that you can do with the kids. For example, the first myth has a recipe for ambrosia fruit salad that you can serve when the kids present the myths. Although I did not choose to do this, I think it would be something the kids would enjoy.

This is the second year I have used these plays for my 4th and 3rd grade students. Last year I did Pandora's Box and it was a hit. This year, I did 3 plays: Pandora's Box, Narcissus and Echo, and the Gods and Goddess Bake-Off (very cute way to introduce most of the Gods/Goddess). We created costumes and props and performed in front of their parents. The plays were an absolute hit and the kids improved in fluency and comprehension. They were also able to work on acting and improvisation.

I think it is a little too much for my fifth graders. Better suited for 7th & 8th graders.I will use it with something else.

I used it with my third grade class. A wide variety of myth plays

I was a little disappointed that the plays are so short, but then, so are some of the myths. We will probably use 2-3 of them for fill-ins on our readers' group.

I bought book for my daughter's greek project for school. Book was easy to read and understand and gave ideas for putting on the plays. There were lots of scripts to choose from. I would recommend this book. My daughter got an A+ on her project thanks to this book.

My 8th grade students loved this collection of Greek Myth Plays. The myths captured their interest and met instructional reading level. I will use this often.

My colleagues and I used it as an end-of-unit activity with our mixed-ability ESL groups (grade 6). It was a hit with all of them. They were so into and readaloud performances were above what we expected! So much fun and it helped improve reafing fluency and most importantly to help them read with more emotion.

Excellent- used it in my classroom for year 5s to do some drama. They loved it. Nice simple short plays that they could act out and organise pretty independently.

Used for my drama class. Excellent resource. Would definitely recommend.