Bring history to life with these five exciting read-aloud plays. You'll find a play, background information, activities, and writing and discussion prompts on five explorers who helped shape our history: Christopher Columbus, Leif Eriksson, Cabeza de Vaca, Hernando de Soto, and Sieur de La Salle. The plays are perfect for struggling readers. For use with Grades 4-8.

It's that special time of evening, when the hours and the possibilities seem endless: Light is fading. A buzz of excitement and wonder takes over the neighborhood....What outdoor adventures await? Join a diverse group of suburban kids as they dash and dodge in classic street games like tag and kick-the-can and reconnect with nature's simple pleasures catching frogs, hunting fireflies, and climbing trees. These explorers play, laugh, and make the most of their own front yards right up until their parents call out that "It's time to come home!" But when the sun begins to set tomorrow, they'll be back for more evening excitement! This ode to the timeless magic of summer evenings spent outside will remind kids of the fun and friends that wait just outside their doors and leave adults smiling with nostalgia for their own dusk explorations.

Boy and Bear both love to explore the outdoors. There are so many neat things to see, and so many strange things to find. These explorers are prepared for anything . . . except each other! When Bear and Boy meet in the woods, they're scared at first. Really scared. But soon these kings of the wild realize that no mountain is too big to conquer if you have a friend to climb it by your side. Praise for Explorers of the Wild "[An] exquisite book . . . [with] ravishing art." -- USA Today Praise for To the Sea "A whale's tale that dives deep and surfaces with useful lessons about making, keeping, and helping friends." -- Kirkus Reviews "An unusual and appealing story about friendship." -- School Library Journal

8 short plays for the classroom with background information, writing prompts, and creative activities.

From Boston Globe–Horn Book Award winner Katherine Rundell comes an exciting new novel about a group of kids who must survive in the Amazon after their plane crashes. Fred, Con, Lila, and Max are on their way back to England from Manaus when the plane they’re on crashes and the pilot dies upon landing. For days they survive alone, until Fred finds a map that leads them to a ruined city, and to a secret.

Love Grows Everywhere is a gentle and lyrical story that connects the love that nurtures plants with the love that nurtures our relationships with one another.

Dora and her friends love the magic and surprises of Christmas. You will, too in this book that is bursting with holiday fun. It’s almost time for the annual Christmas play to begin. But where are all of Dora’s friends? Open the flaps throughout the book to help Dora find them before show time. ¡Vamanos! Dora is waiting!

"Mountaineers, seafarers, astronauts, cyclists, hikers, divers, gliders, aviators--even the most famous and daring explorers of all time began with small-scale adventures that gave them the courage and the ideas to pursue their greatest achievements."--

Inquiry based play; Centers for reading; writing; mathematics and science