Theater - “A Mixed-Up Bedtime Story – Winnie the Pooh”

Theater - “A Mixed-Up Bedtime Story – Winnie the Pooh” is an original play written for younger grades. It could also be read as a Readers’ Theater or performed in front of an audience. There are eleven characters: a narrator, two children, Mother, Pooh, Christopher Robin, Rabbit, Tigger, Owl, Piglet, and Eeyore.

Additional students in your class could help with the play in many other capacities from making the play sets to staging, creating costumes, and prompting.

Synopsis: Winnie the Pooh treats his stuffed friend, Christopher Robin, to a birthday party. Rabbit, Tigger, Owl, Piglet, and Eeyore all join in to make Christopher Robin’s 8th birthday special.

Your students can join in the celebration!

The play opens with the children begging their mother to read another story. Mother reads the mixed-up bedtime story (which is the play). The bear is named Winnie the Pooh and he has a stuffed friend, Christopher Robin. The two run off to find some honey in the forest. Pooh realizes it is Christopher’s birthday and thinks of a plan.

If you want to know the plan and how Pooh surprised Christopher Robin, you will need to read the play!

The Parent/Teacher Guide at the end of the play includes class activities: questions to ask before reading the play, words to preview, and a series of questions to ask after reading the play. There are tips to perform the play and lots of extension activities to boost student interest and overall understanding of the play. Among them are to make a Venn diagram to compare the original story to the play’s mixed-up version, design a shadow box of the surprise party, draw 3-5 pictures to tell the story, or write and share their own mixed-up story of a fairy tale. The final set of student activities includes higher-level critical and creative thinking questions for students to think and reason, and adequate space to write their answers.

What’s Included in Theater - “A Mixed-Up Bedtime Story – Winnie the Pooh”

11 pages with the Parent/Teacher Guide and Activities.

Some Common Core Standards Aligned with This Resource

Key Ideas and Details (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R1-3)

Includes “read closely to determine what the text says explicitly...,” “Determine central themes...summarize the key supporting details...,” “analyze...”

Comprehension and Collaboration (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL1-3)

Includes “Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners...,” “integrate and evaluate information...,” “evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.”

Conventions of Standard English (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L1-3)

Includes “demonstrate command of...standard English when writing or speaking,” “demonstrate command of...standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling...”

Knowledge of Language (CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.L3)

Includes “apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts...”