National Storytelling Festival

On September 30th I rode with two friends to Jonesborough, TN to attend my first National Storytelling Festival. I had wanted to go for many years but there had been conflicts of time available.

I enjoyed visiting the oldest town in Tennessee. We were fortunate to stay at the Febuary(yes, without the "r") Hill Bed and Breakfast. It was centrally located and easy to access all the events.

Each day events occurred in five large tents that probably seated 500 people each. Even though a 30 minute break was scheduled after each telling session, unless a person moved quickly, you could be sitting on the ground at the next session in another tent.

I recognized quickly that the tellers told mainly stories from their life experiences. Some stories were sad and others funny. The storyteller does have the privilege to embellish. Tragedies were mixed by point of view. The fact of the matter is rain will fall on all of us, deserved and undeserved, it all depends on learning to dance in the rain.

Story has the power to change our lives. Placing a mental picture in the mind and touching the heart strings with emotion far outweigh the words in and of themselves.
I see there is a story behind every face.

M.U.W. Discovery Camp

The M.U.W. Discovery Camp is a wonderful week of learning, exploring new things and loads of fun and that is just what last week was as my team teacher Shannon Ingram and I worked with Kindergarten at the 2010 camp. We chose two different themes to learn about- circus and pirates. I started the week at the Ring Master and talked about the history of the circus, people in the circus, animals in the circus, and clowning. Alternating half days Shannon introduced pirates of the past and their pirate gear. We made catapults and aimed and fired marshmellows down the hall. No one had to walk the plank and the week ended with all smiles!

M.U.W. Discovery Camp

MAC Performing Artist Roster

On July 1, 2010 the Mississippi Arts Commission announced those accepted for the new year. I was accepted for the Performing Artist Roster. This allows groups who would like to have a storyteller present for an event the opportunity to apply for a mini-grant. The application can be downloaded from their website. For more information see www.arts.state.ms.us or call 601-359-6030.

When the new online catalog is published, please note that all the artists selected are the cream of the crop. All applicants go through a lengthy application process and must be approved by a review panel.

Hawaii

June 16th my husband and I made the long trip to beautiful Hawaii. We flew from Birmingham, AL to Denver and from Denver to Honolulu. There is a 5 hour time difference and when we arrived at 4:30 in the afternoon it was 9:30 p.m. our time. Our stay was six glorious days.

I had the privilege of telling stories at 4 public libraries and presenting a workshop for the Hawaii Children's Literature Conference at the University of Hawaii.

Hawaii is a beautiful state. The residents are the most gracious people I have ever met. The beauty of the mountains and the water takes your breath away. We stayed in Waikiki Beach at the Outrigger Reef on the Beach. It was a great location for walking to see local sites. The Shore Bird Restaurant in the hotel was marvelous for the great food not to mention it sits on the beach allowing you to watch the water and surfers and boats while you eat.

We were able to attend a luau and enjoy the history about the local culture. We visited the International Market Place and found souvenirs for ourselves and family.

I felt sadness when it was time to leave. You can really lose tract of time and days in such a place. Words are just not enough to describe it.

How we learn

I'm, sure that you have heard this before (It's not original by me.) but it bears repeating:

We remember only 10% of what we read.
We remember only 20% of what we hear.
We remember only 30% of what we see.
We remember 50% of what we both hear and see.
We remember 70% of what we see, hear, and discuss with others.
We remember 80% of what we experience personally.
We remember 90% of what we see, hear, discuss, and experience.

If children are going to learn, then we as teachers need to involve them in the process. Research indicates that asking questions before and after reading a story increases learning.

Sight Words

If 25 words make up 33% of the words that we read, don't you think we need to be sure that beginning readers know these?
They are: the, and, a, to, of, I, in, was, that, it, he, you, for, with, is, had, her, she, his, as, on, at, have, but, me.

USM Children's Book Festival/Telling Stories to Children

The USM Children's Book Festival was held April 7-9, 2010.This conference was inspiring and informative. Outstanding authors and storytellers spoke and entertained us.
I led a workshop about different ways to share stories with children. Often teachers and librarians are locked in to using picture books with their students but there are many other fun ways to hold their attention and enjoy stories together.

I recommend the following:
Telling stories using mime or sign language
Telling stories with an echo, chant, or call and response
Telling stories using a storytelling apron or flannelgraph board
Telling stories that you draw or cut out
Telling stories using puppets

Interactive storytelling is always engaging and fun!

Rabbits & Turtles - Using Poetry with Young Children

Rhyme is a great language builder for young children. Not only do they enjoy the sing song beat but they are learning about word families. Two fun and popular poems:

The Turtle
There was a little turtle who lived in a box.
He swam in a puddle and climbed on the rocks.
He snapped at a mosquito. He snapped at a flea.
He snapped at a minnow and he snapped at me.
He caught the mosquito. He caught the flea.
He caught the minnow, but he didn't catch me!

The Rabbit
Hop little rabbit, hop, hop, hop!
Hop little rabbit - don't you stop!
Hop little rabbit 1, 2, 3.
Hop little rabbit just like me.
(Use two fingers of your hand to present a little rabbit.)

Florida Storytelling Association Story Camp

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30588977&l=d68533872e&id=1419480468

March 25-28, 2010 was an exciting time for me as I attended and presented two workshops at the Florida Story Camp near Leesburg, FL. Approximately 137 folks participated in workshops, concerts, and networking. Workshops and outstanding concerts in the evenings kept my mind awake reviewing the day when I finally laid down at night.

In my workshop Without Skipping a Beat: Incorporating Music into your Storytelling, we discussed several of the benefits of including music as a part of your stories.
Research says:
1. Music teaches concentration - children are waiting and watching for their turn.
2. Music teaches coordination - children learn eye and hand coordination using instruments. This is valuable for writing.
3. Music teaches self confidence - children can participate in group activities without feeling like they are being put in the spotlight.
4. Music enhances abstract reasoning skills and is reported highly superior to computer training.
5. Music effects children emotionally teaching patience and perserverance through practice. Also, music can spin us up and calm us down.

We sang simple songs that we already knew and discussed how to change the words to meet your needs. We finished out session using homemade kazoos and sang On Top of Spaghetti with the story by Paul Brett Johnson.

What's in the red box?

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032163&id=1419480468&l=fc9c8bbeee

The Cat in the Hat finds a red box. Do you remember from the story what was in the box?

Dr. Seuss's Birthday

Read Across America is a giant birthday bash to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Seuss. More than 300 students at Heritage Elementary enjoyed the Cat in the Hat's antics. On March 2, our stories included Green Eggs and Ham, Mr Brown Can Moo, and the Thinks You Can Think. The audience enjoyed a Cat Quizzer Game where a student outwitted the teacher with knowledge about Dr. Seuss.

Take the quiz and see how you do: True or False

1. Dr. Seuss's real name is Richard Seuss Geisel.
2. Dr. Seuss would be 106 years old if he were alive today.
3. Dr. Seuss won the Caldecott Book Award twice.
4. The first book published by Dr. Seuss is Green Eggs and Ham.
5. Dr. Seuss was a real doctor.

Answers:
1. F His real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel.
2 T He was born March 2, 1904.
3. F He did receive 3 Honor Book Awards but never the Medal for best book of the year.
4. F The first book published was To Think I Saw It On Mulberry Street.
5. F Dr. Seuss's father had wanted him to become a college professor but he never did.

The Diary of a Worm

(This story time video ia 30 minutes in length....I will have to learn how to edit with my new camera.)

Third graders listened to the Diary of a Worm. We identified vocabulary words and talked about how they were used in the story. Ways to figure out unknown words in a story include looking for clues in the pictures or the sentences around the word. Students can also look it up in the dictionary or ask someone else.

Good readers also ask questions before starting a story. Then they think about the story while reading. Teachers call this monitoring as you read. At the end we played a "Remembering Game" with stop signs. Everytime Mrs. Peabody became mixed up while retelling the story, the students raised their stop signs to help her get back on tract. Lastly, we reviewed the elements of a story with the display board called "Dancing with the Stars of the Story". Children each had their own stars and placed their thumbs on the Who-What-When-Where-Why as we discussed these parts.

Talking about reading aloud.....

I had the best time today sharing with future teachers about the importance of reading aloud.

Reading Aloud: Did you know?

Mem Fox said in her book READING MAGIC that children who can recite nursery rhymes at age 4 are lead readers at age 8. Rhyming words teach children about word families. If I can spell "cat", then I can spell "hat". If I can read "feet", then I can read "meet". Children must be able to identify the alphabet letters and know their sounds to be a reader.

The sad part is that 65% of Mississippi's children arrive at school not ready to learn. If it takes a child 150 to 450 repetitions to learn and know a concept, where is that going to place that child in the classroom if they have no prior knowledge?
You are right- at the back of the class.

One of the most valuable gifts a parent can give their children is to read aloud to them. It builds their vocabulary, teaches them fluency, introduces them to knowledge they may not experience any other way (such as riding the subway in New York - for children in the South, the only Subway they know is a sandwich). Reading aloud stretches their attention span and stretches their imagination. Pass it on~

Christmas stories with Mrs. Peabody video

This is my promotional video created by Sarah Wilson. It was filmed at Barnes & Noble, Starkville, Mississippi, and Annunciation Catholic School, Columbus, Mississippi, in December 2009.

Christmas stories video