Mother’s and Father’s Day Reader’s Theater

A holiday is a perfect reason to read a line out loud more than once. This Mother’s and Father’s Day Reader’s Theater gives a second-grade group a short, cheerful play to practice and perform, with a part for every reader and a warm story about two kids who surprise their parents. It builds reading fluency, accuracy and expression while students celebrate the people who care for them.

The two-page script is split into two scenes. In Scene One, Jayce and Vivian sneak into the kitchen on Mother’s Day to make pancakes, pour orange juice and carry a breakfast tray with yellow tulips up to Mom. In Scene Two, they paint a bright blue birdhouse for Father’s Day and hang it in the oak tree with Dad. To use this mother’s and father’s day reader’s theater, hand out the five parts, let each reader highlight their own lines, read it once seated for accuracy, then stand up and perform it with feeling. Swap parts and read it again.

What’s Included

• A two-page printable PDF script sized for standard 8.5 x 11 paper
• Five parts – Narrator, Jayce, Vivian, Mom and Dad – listed in a parts strip
• Two short scenes, one for Mother’s Day and one for Father’s Day
• Twenty-three speaking lines written on a 2nd grade reading level
• A colored-pencil illustration of the breakfast tray and the blue birdhouse

Here are three reasons this play helps kids grow as readers. First, repeated reading is built in, because a group naturally runs a play more than once, and rereading is what builds speed and accuracy. Second, the short lines give every reader, including a struggling one, a real part without a wall of text. Third, acting out the lines turns expression into something students care about, so they listen for question marks, exclamation points and the feeling behind each line.

Teachers and parents can use this 2nd grade holiday play script in lots of ways. Perform it for families at a spring celebration or a Mother’s Day tea. Time a first reading and a third reading so students can see how much smoother they sound. Ask each reader to mark one line that should sound excited or quiet. After the performance, invite students to write or draw a surprise they could plan for someone at home.

Related Resources

• Mother’s Day Reading Comprehension Digital Worksheet
• Fathers Day Reading Comprehension Worksheet
• Three Little Pigs Reader’s Theater
• Story Elements Song