The Story of the Cornucopia or the Horn of Plenty - Small Group Reader's Theater

This small group reader's theater was written for 4 students and is used mainly during November for Thanksgiving but - because of its Greek basis - could be used at any time. It is the story of the FIRST cornucopia. In the script, Sam is told that they will be drawing Cornucopias in class today. He tells James and Sonia that he has no idea what one is. So James and Olivia tell him the story. It begins with Kronos, the father of Zeus, who has decided to eat all his children when they are born so that they don’t overthrow him. Rhea, his wife, doesn’t like this and, when Zeus is born, tricks Kronos into eating a rock in a baby blanket so that she can hide Zeus. Zeus spends his childhood in a cave on Crete being tended by a magic goat known as Amalthea. Zeus isn’t a normal baby and, one day, breaks one of Amalthea’s horns off. She continues to take care of him and Rhea fills the horn with fruits, grains, honey, and other good things to eat then uses it to feed Zeus. Who grows up to overthrow his dad and rescue his brothers and sisters. Since it is a magic goat, her horn is magic too and never runs out of food. The horn becomes a symbol of plenty for the Greeks and, 2000 years later, for Americans at Thanksgiving. There is a small writing response piece at the end.

I write reader's theaters because I find them to be an excellent way to motivate all readers, including reluctant ones, to practice fluency. I write small group scripts because the ONLY way reader's theater works is when there is very little wait time. In scripts with lots of characters, students spend time off-task or waiting to read and this does not help them become fluent. Instead it increases behavior issues. My scripts are in black and white with only the occasional color picture on front so that they can be reproduced on a copier easier with less ink.

My name is Melanie Whitesides but my store name is Wonbyone and I hope that your students enjoy this script as much as mine did. If you are looking for more scripts for your groups about Thanksgiving, Greeks, or Aesop tales look up some of my others. In fact, I often sell them in a pack to help save money.Thank you!

The Story of the Cornucopia or the Horn of Plenty - Small Group Reader's Theater by Melanie Whitesides is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.