Here's a stand-alone excerpt from our 3-part free Readers Theater script series "Students Save Shad."  This rap-like rhythm and cheer complement our primary level script "Kids Save Shad"--the two may be used together.  "Shad Rhythm and Cheer", a Choral Readers Theater, briefly covers the environmental story about saving the American shad fish as told in the book, Let the River Run Silver Again by Sandy Burk. 

Complete with extensive annotated curriculum links for easy lesson plans and unit studies, this primary level script (grades 1, 2, 3) is perfect to slip in to a study of fish or the environment.  Use it as part of program for extra fun.

TIME: a little over a minute        CAST: 3+ (choral)      TONE:  light, educational        READABILITY:  grade 1.0

Since this free Readers Theater script is short, here is the complete "Shad Rhythm and Cheer", but if you like it download it from the yellow link at the bottom of the page so you get the extensive annotated curriculum links:

Narrator:  The American Shad’s Story...

Team #1:  Shad needed a safe place to lay their eggs...
        so they’d hatch, so they’d hatch, so they’d hatch.

Team #2:  But it had to be away from the sea...
        where they’d hatched, where they’d hatched,
                where they’d hatched.

Team #3:  Overfishing, over wishing for more shad...
        took some out, took some out, took some out.

Team #4:  River pollution-- not the solution...
        took more out, took more out, took more out.

Team #5:  An extra dam stole the place they swam...
        took them out, took them out, took them out.

Team #6:  When they couldn’t find the place in their minds...
        where they hatched, where they hatched,
                where they hatched...

Team #7:  We stepped in to help them win,
        so they’d hatch, so they’d hatch, so they’d hatch!

All:  (cheers)  Clean the river, save the stream,
               Rescue our waterways.  Yea, shad!

     (louder)   Clean the river, save the stream,
            Rescue our waterways.  Yea, shad!

     (louder)   Clean the river, save the stream,
            Rescue our waterways.  Yea, shad!

All:  (cheer)

(Optional) Narrator:  The End.

***Click on the PDF link below to see the full printable version of the free Choral Readers Theater environmental science script, "Shad Rhythm and Cheer."

Download the PDF "Shad Rhythm and Cheer," a free environmental script for grades 1, 2, 3 and families interested in protecting our environment--especially the waterways (e.g., rivers, streams, Chesapeake Bay).