We are entering the third week of work on our Dr. Seuss play. I find myself marveling at how slowly the process is going, but also satisfied that we are taking the time to lay a solid foundation of organization and expectations that will hopefully lead to success further down the line.
As you can see from the first picture, the initial step in our play process was making a list of all of the things that we would need to do to successfully put on a play. It was very interesting to observe the steps that my students believed would be necessary; they offered many very detailed ideas that had to do with parts of their costumes, but struggled with conceptualizing the bigger categories of tasks that we would need to accomplish. (No big surprises there, I suppose, as looking at the big picture is often challenging for second graders!)
In addition to making our to-do list, our first week of work also consisted of reading The Lorax many times to familiarize ourselves with the story, discussing how the book is very different from the animated version that came out a few years ago, and generating a list of characters that would need to appear in our play.
During week two, we looked through various scripts that I found for The Lorax online (I was lucky enough to not have to start from scratch), considered how to adapt the script for our purposes, and applied for roles in the play. The students also started working the music teacher on two musical numbers that we will incorporate into our play, which I am very excited about!
This week, we started by making a set of expectations for play practice and I told the story of how my performances last year were undermined by some goofy behavior from students not involved in the group that was currently on the stage. We also have highlighted our individual speaking parts and stage directions in the scripts. On Thursday, we are going to open discussions about costumes and sets and have our first read-through of the script.
Already, I can see that this experience is going to be very challenging for many of my students. The amount of patience involved in waiting your turn, the degree of teamwork required, and the sheer amount of time it takes to stage a production are not easy things for second graders to handle. I am really looking forward to observing how my students respond to these challenges and (hopefully) watching them grow some essential life skills in the process of putting on our play.
Cultivating Questioners 
A play of this complexity sounds difficult. I used a slightly different approach. I had my students pick their favorite character and do the activity at http://monthbymonth.scholastic.com/teach.html (literacy activities w/Dr. Seuss-Guess Who). I also had them write down and practice speaking their favorite sentences from the character. So when someone guessed who they were they could read/act out their favorite sentences for the audience. Not really a play, but still public speaking, playing with language, and enjoying Dr. Seuss.
Thanks for your comment, Mark. I agree, the complexity of the play has meant an awful lot of heavy lifting for me.
Thanks for sharing the Dr. Seuss link from Scholastic. I think I might also try this activity with my students — what a fun way to approach character analysis while also building oral language skills!