Every November, Catholic teachers look for creative ways to get their students to appreciate and understand the lives of the saints. Do any of these sound familiar?
- saint reports
- a saints wax museum
- saint posters
This November, if you’re looking for something new, consider having your students
perform a reader’s theater. Diana Jenkins’ book Spotlight on Saints! (Pauline Books & Media) contains twelve humorous reader’s theater scripts for students in grades 4-8. In each script, a saint helps a modern student with a real-life problem. In one play, St. Gianna Molla helps a young girl learn to prioritize the activities of her busy life. In another, St. Martin de Porres shows a young man how to find God in everyone.
The featured saints include well-known men and women like St. Therese of Lisieux and St. Paul, as well as lesser known luminaries such as St. Andrew Kim Daegeon and St. Bakhita.
Each play begins with a summary, a list of optional props, a cast of characters and a brief biography of the featured saint. With twelve scripts available, you can even stretch the project out over the year by having students present a new reader’s theater each month.
Parade of Saints
If reader’s theater isn’t quite your thing, here’s yet another creative way of bringing the saints to life in your school:
