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Zephyr - The Wreck of the Zephyr

4/30/2014

4 Comments

 
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Chris Van Allsburg's story, The Wreck of the Zephyr, is one of my favorite all time reads. A story within a story, Allsburg expertly leaves the reader asking questions, needing to form opinions on his/her own.  His words and illustrations can not be denied but it would be  nice to tell this story without the book. 

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Telling Someone Else's Story

1. Give credit to the source and respect the copyright. Take steps to notify the author of the book and ask permission to tell his/her story to an audience. Written permission would be nice such as a  letter or a well written email. This way you'll have it on record that you did make the effort to contact the author. Hope for the best by receiving a return letter or email.

2. If the author is deceased, the next best step is to contact the publisher of the book. In most cases, the publishers will grant you permission to tell the story (unless you are wanting to tell it for commercial gain). If this is the case, you'll need to work out an agreement.

3. When telling someone else's story, give credit to it by announcing the title and author.
    A light breeze blew through the trees. The old man looked up. "Wind coming," he said. "I've got some sailing to do." He picked up a cane, and I watched as he limped slowly toward the harbor.
Teachers and Librarians: The Wreck of the Zephyr is a fabulous mentor text to use in your reading and writing workshops. Please check out the link I've provided below to get your juices flowing. One month of school to go - why not apply all of the reading and writing devices you've taught through out the year to this one book - you'll be amazed!
The Wreck of the Zephyr: Summary and writing lessons
As a final note: This is the last post of our Blogging A-Z Challenge. I'd like to thank everyone of you who sponsored and cheered each blogger on! Thank you to all of my visitors to my blog. It meant the world to hear your responses!  Please visit often. My blog remains active and filled with connections to reading, writing, and storytelling. I'm off to visit other blogs.
4 Comments

Yarns: Spinning Yarns = Telling tales

4/28/2014

9 Comments

 
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My name is Yarns. Spinning Yarns. I don't just tell a story but loom it from the ground up using my background knowledge, books I've read, stories I've heard, tales I've written and adapted to create my own versions. Some tales are soft and fuzzy while others are wooly and scratchy - it all depends on you - the listener. I'll sometimes weave in magic threads, scary notions, or simple wisdom that winds throughout. I'll either have you sitting on the edge of your seats in tangled webs or have your stomachs in knots laughing so hard from my comedy. I am a storyteller, a spinner of yarns, and I'm stringing you along with me in this A-Z Blog Challenge. 

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"If you are a dreamer, come in, 
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar, 
A hope-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer… 
If you’re a pretender, come sit by my fire 
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin. 
Come in! 
Come in!”

In honor of National Poetry Month, a quote from Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein

We all have stories to share. Stories connect us. They tell us who we are, where we've come from. Stories beg us to ask questions. They build confidence. They make us realize other points of view. Stories build imagination and color within us. Stories keep our past always present.

You will have listeners who will respond. When they ask to hear the story again, you know you are spinner of tales.

Thank you so much for visiting my blog posts each day. To learn more about storytelling, I encourage you to visit earlier posts.
What questions would you like to ask about storytelling and how to get started? Feel free to let us know how you incorporate storytelling into your business of family life. It could just be simple anecdotes you use as examples in your presentations or stories you makeup each night as you tuck your kids in bed.
9 Comments

X Marks the Spot: Pirates and their Booty

4/27/2014

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Ahoy, me Hearties! Dead men tell no tales so let's find the booty in  pirate stories! Savvy? 
Well, shiver me timbers, storyteller, Karen Chace,
had created a terrific blog post titled "Talk Like a Pirate Day," which includes stories, music, curriculum links, pirate jokes, and crafts. Please check it out or Aaaarrrrgggghhhh - ye be walking the plank.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.
We're beggars and blighters, ne'er-do-well cads,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.
Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads,
Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho.

     - Disney's Pirates of the Carribbean last stanza

Avast Ye Resources

How to talk like a pirate
Stuff for Junior Pirates
Pirate Themed Lessons Plans on Pinterest
Talk Like a Pirate and Book Resources on Pirates (mainly picture books)
How I Became A Pirate Writing lessons - fun activities
TALES:
Pirate Stories from AmericanFolklore.net
Pirate Treasure by Angie Townsend
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Courtesy of Mary Grace Ketner. These are her two pirate grandkids
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Wagon Wheels: Go West!

4/26/2014

9 Comments

 
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The Wagon, as an artifact, was a significant vehicle in its day to transport settlers west toward new hope and new beginnings. When writing and telling stories of the old west, why not place the listeners right in those wagons, eating the food from the wagon train's cook, and repairing one of the wheels when it busts. Here's a few resources to help us all out! Oh, before we get started, we need to get in the talking of the time. Here's a few sayings to help us out:

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"What's the weather like here sir?"
"Well, it's like this: you lay your double barrel shotgun against this here barbed wire fence for 5 minutes and then go check it. One barrel will be filled with dust and the other with water."
"Why, I feel lower than  a snake's belly in a wagon rut."
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Conestoga Wagon
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Prairie Schooner Covered Wagon
Though the term "Conestoga wagon" is sometimes mistakenly used as a synonym for "covered wagon," the name in fact only refers to the specific type of heavy, broad-wheeled covered wagon first manufactured in the Conestoga River region of Pennsylvania's Lancaster County in the mid-18th century.  - www.history.com/topics/conestoga-wagon


Wagon Resources

1. History.com has accurate and very interesting information for us to grasp - many misconceptions are cleared up here!

2. Chuck Wagon History and Cooking - This website is fun to read and utilize the facts in your stories!

3. History of the Chuck Wagon - Provisions for the 1000 mile cattle drive is very interesting!

4. Basic facts about the Covered wagon (or Prairie Schooner)

5. History of the Oregon Trail for Kids

6. Facts about the Pioneer Life

7. Songs of the Westward Movement

8. Nostalgic Songs of the Westward Movement
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Violins: Stories That Pull at Your Heart Strings

4/24/2014

5 Comments

 
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Artifacts connected to storytelling and writing is my theme for our Blogging A-Z Challenge. Letter V was going to be my biggest challenge but has turned out to be my treasure. We are musicians in my family  and music appreciation flows through our veins. I decided to uncover what ever I could find of interest related to violins but what I discovered were rich, heart wrenching stories related to violins and their players. It is my hope that storytellers utilize music in any fashion into their tales. I know that in our Texas elementary schools, we introduce the recorder, a musical instrument to 4th and 5th graders and then invite 5th graders to join our youth orchestras. This alone tells me that our youth are multitalented and should share their talents as often as possible - not just in concert performances. 
 I invite you to hear the violin's melodic sounds through these stories. 

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WWII and the Prison Camp Violin
The Violin: A True Story from the Holocaust
Father's Business by Victor Walter
A Violin With Three Strings
Wonderful Bibliography of a range of books that include violin playing (Kinder through adult)
Titanic violin authenticated as genuine - Here's a springboard to get your story written about the band members who played to the very end on the sinking Titanic!
All that's there is varnish and glue
On a box of wood and strings.
Yet with hairs on a stick, a select few
Manipulate these ordinary things,
For composers beyond compare.
Both impelled by an inner goal
To pluck sounds from the air,
And give voice to the human soul.

Sandy Marcus

5 Comments

Uniforms: War Stories

4/24/2014

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Artifact for today is Uniform - stories from the soldiers.  As you know, social studies text books and encyclopedias deal out the facts as concisely as possible but don't come close to telling the rich, emotional stories of these soldiers or breathing life into the battles they fought in. One would have to read between the lines to know their fears, their thoughts, their hopes and aspirations. Storytelling allows the listeners to hear various points of view about the same subject and self evaluate, discuss and create much deeper connections to their learning. 

I've always been fascinated and entralled with a Civil War quiet hero - Joshua Chamberlain. The movie, "Gettysburg", shared a glimpse into his life. I've included resources below so you can see how much fun it would be to create a story. He was well educated when entering the Union Army, able to speak 9 languages. He learned quickly how to lead and  be a trusted soldier and friend. There was a point where he was killed, was revived, and served for many more years.
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A Young Chamberlain in the Union Army
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Chamberlain in full uniform displaying all of his medals
"It was a cold night. Bitter, raw north winds swept the stark slopes. The men, heated by their energetic and exciting work, felt keenly the chilling change. Many of them had neither overcoat nor blanket, having left them with the discarded knapsacks. They roamed about to find some garment not needed by the dead. Mounted officers all lacked outer covering. This had gone back with the horses, strapped to the saddles. So we joined the uncanny quest. Necessity compels strange uses. For myself it seemed best to bestow my body between two dead men among the many left there by earlier assaults, and to draw another crosswise for a pillow out of the trampled, blood-soaked sod, pulling the flap of his coat over my face to fend off the chilling winds..."



Check out the following resources to learn more about Joshua Chamberlain:

Early Life
American Civil War Story of Joshua Chamberlain
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Storytelling Resources: 
American History

Many Voices: True Tales from America's Past (National Storytelling Association) 1995.

Voices of the American Revolution by Kendall haven. 2000.

Tales as Tools: The Power of Story in the Classroom (National Storytelling Association)

Making Social Studies Come Alive! 65 Classroom-Tested Activities and Projects
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Tiki Torches and Tropical Tales

4/23/2014

3 Comments

 
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Just imagine lighted tiki torches leaning slightly in the sand, flickering brightly against the night sky filled with stars. Beach chairs sitting storytellers and listeners -facing each other in a circle with distant waves, and palm trees swaying in the trade winds telling those tales from the islands of the world.

OK, we live in the hill country of Texas made up of oaks, cedar, cactus, and limestone with a pinch of soil to hold it all together. These tropical dreams come often to me and the tales just make it happen! We lived on the island of Oahu, Hawaii for almost three years when Dad was stationed at Hickam AFB. I was a preteen enjoying the island life. We loved visiting the Polynesian Cultural Center mainly because of the Hawaiian Tutus (grandmothers)  telling stories of Pele, the Volcano Goddess, Kama Pa'a, the Pig God, the Menehunes of Hawaii (little people), and Maui the Fisherman. 

Islands in the tropics are also known for their spooky tales. It's been said that telling frightening stories causes those goose bumps to rise on your skin, actually cooling your body - helpful if you live where it's hot.

Hawaiian and other tropical Favorites for Storytelling

The tiki torches are lit, ocean waves in the distance, toes in the sand, stories waiting to be told! Mahalo.
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Storytelling with Strings Attached

4/21/2014

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String figures have fascinated both children and adults alike.  Remember Cats in the Cradle, Cat's Whiskers, Witch's Broom?  Grab a piece of yard, approximately 34 - 38 inches, tie a knot to create your loop and you are ready to go. David Titus was a featured storyteller a while back at our Tejas Storytelling Festival and shared how we could use ancient string figures found in cultures around the world in our storytelling - what fun! Creating string figures does take practice but your listeners  will be mesmerized by your string expertise and storytelling magic!

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Jacob's Ladder
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Eiffel Tower (from Jacob's Ladder)
Let master storyteller, David Novak, string you along while performing his version of Jack and the Beanstalk. Be prepared to laugh!

String Resources

String Figure Websites
Storytelling String Figure Bibliography 
String Figure of the Month
A Study on String Stories
Kids Guide to String Figures
Lost! A Story in String by Paul Fleischman
Storyteller David Titus telling with his string figures - YouTube
Amazing Brazilian String Figure of Bats - I know a few tales that I could use this in! - YouTube
String Figure - Running Dog - YouTube
The Monkey and the Crocodile- YouTube
Mosquito - YouTube
Running Dog- YouTube
​Witches Broom- YouTube
I can't wait to hear from you! What string figures do you know? Try creating a story around your string figures!
3 Comments

Radio: Storytelling in a Box

4/21/2014

14 Comments

 
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Radio is the artifact for today. Not sure what a stand-alone, real radio looks like? I'm sure you're not alone if you're under the age of 20. We now have podcasts to subscribe to, online radio such as Pandora or iRadio, Satellite radio -Sirius XM, and our car radios. Having grown up in the 60's, primarily overseas, the radio was our television and our storyteller on Sunday nights.

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We certainly had black and white television while living in Japan but the only shows that were in English were The Johnny Carson show and Saturday morning with "Hey, Hey, We're the Monkeys." (Actually, the Japanese dubbed over their songs in Japanese but not their funny skits, thank goodness)

Sunday nights were sacred for my sister and I. We were in our P.J.'s in our trundle beds  first listening to Sgt. Friday and his partner on  Dragnet at 8:00p.m., then Scary Tales at 9:00p.m., and finally, music from Waikiki Beach @ 9:30p.m. As a side note, I was totally disappointed when I watched the show Dragnet on TV for the first time when we moved to Hawaii in 1969 - Jack Webb was not the Sgt. Friday I imagined. Ah well.

Our imaginations worked overtime when it came to those scary tales.  Carol and I would take turns kicking our feet on our mattresses, under the covers, making enough noise to block out any horrifying scenes in our heads after the radio was turned off. Those mattresses took a mighty beating for three years. Our imaginations  grew immensely - those stories were as vivid as the stories told by my favorite storytellers today:)  

Truth is, it's easier for me to learn stories by listening to them told than by reading them (but since I'm a newly retired librarian, we better keep this news a secret.)  I do know several kids who are auditory listeners and would appreciate the stories on CD, DVD, or some other form of digital ears rather than reading them from books or scripts.


Storytellers of yesterday and today are our radios! Listen and you too will see more clearly than you ever have before. The only device needed is your imagination!
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Quilts: Life's Memories

4/18/2014

7 Comments

 
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My artifact for today is Quilt. I remember one of our Tejas Storytelling Festival Themes was "Quilts" and we each wore a colorful swatch next to our name tags reminding us that stories are the fabric of our lives. There are wonderful picture books that depict the importance of memories lovingly sewn into each quilt.

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A CRAZY QUILT 
And what is life? A crazy quilt;
Sorrow and joy, and grace and guilt,
With here and there a square of blue
For some old happiness we knew;
And so the hand of time will take
The fragments of our lives and make, 
Out of life's remnants, as they fall, 
A thing of beauty, after all.

By Douglas Malloch


Storytelling Activity:  
1. Students can create creative crazy quilts on square, white paper (8 x 8 or 10 x 10) using any art medium such as markers, crayons, oil pastels.  Each section of their quilt must present pieces of who they are. For example, favorite sport, family, favorite genre of books, favorite subject in school, favorite music, etc. 
2. Bring in real quilts and the quilt maker if possible to tell the story behind the quilt made or share quilt pictures like the ones above.
3. When completed, create a class quilt by placing the squares strategically on colored butcher paper.  
4.  The ideas generated by each student are the fabric of stories to come!
Quilt Map

My grandma stitches swatches
matching patches blue and red.
She's making me a crazy quilt
to snuggle with in bed.

I help her sort the batches
into stacks of every size
I watch her sew. i watch it grow.
I can't believe my eyes.

Up and down her needle flies
turning clothes into a map.
I try to read where I have been
to flannel patterns on her lap.

A shirt I wore until it tore
is now a country, soft and new.
And jeans I ran in yesterday
have turned to seas of faded blue.

My grandma stitches snatches
of my past into a quilted land
so I can sleep with memories…
made by Grandma
all by hand.

By Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
Are there heirloom quilts in your family? Are there stories sewn into each square or swatch?
7 Comments

Primary Resources for Storytellers/Writers/Educators

4/17/2014

5 Comments

 
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Artifact for today is the use of Primary Resources in your writing and storytelling. As you can tell from some of my other posts, photographs speak volumes when it comes to telling a story. Letters and diaries lead us personally into stories from times past. With access to digital resources, we have rich databases to research from. Dig in!

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Library of Congress http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html
The Dust Bowl Era has always perked my interest, probably because my grandparents lived through these hard times and shared so many stories with me. I teach a workshop entitled "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words" and concentrate on photographs from that time period (from the Library of Congress archives). I share the photograph above and ask my participants to jot down any factual observations they can make. No inferencing is allowed at this time. I guide them into deeper observations through questions about their observations. Finally, I allow inferences to be made which allows emotions into the picture. What happens often is my participants don't always see the baby Florence Thompson (Migrant Mother) is holding in her lap. The observations, guiding questions always leads into more questions, awwww's, and "where can I find out more?"

Primary Resources that I have found to be quite valuable!
National Archives
Library of Congress
Digital Vaultshttp://www.digitalvaults.org
Making Sense of Documents - this includes historical songs
Authentic History Center - great place to locate pictures, documents, videos, audio productionsStories from the Smithsonian Institute
The Portal to Texas History - I have to put this resource in since I'm a Texan. I'm sure if you do a google search for your city, state, country, you'll be able to find fantastic sites.
Lone Star History Links
Historical Photographs and Documents from the Smithsonian
Dust Bowl Photographs
Dust Bowl Audio Files, Maps, Photographs- Listening to families tell about their hardships is amazing and insightful!
What are some time periods in history that you are interested in?
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ODD/OMINOUS/ORDINARY Objects

4/17/2014

17 Comments

 
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O is for OBJECTS you speak of in your writing and tell in your storytelling . Description is EVERYTHING! Readers and listeners alike must be able to see your characters and what they are up to. Utilizing the five senses to describe objects in your story is imperative. 


Read More
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Nail-Biting Stories

4/16/2014

7 Comments

 
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Finding an artifact for the letter "N" was no easy task since I wrote of notebooks in my "J" blog for journals,  but then, a novel idea came to me (with the help of my librarian friend Cari Young). Why not have fun with my favorite nail wraps (fingernail wraps) and storytelling?  Cari introduced these nail wraps to many of us in education and friends on facebook and we are hooked! Jamberry Nails were meant for us storytellers, writers, anyone with personality but no time for manicures/pedicures - mix and match these wraps on your fingers and your toes and you're ready for your themed gigs! (Apologizing for all the male readers out there but the storytelling activity is fun for all!)

Activity:  Below you'll find an array of various storytelling nail wraps. Choose any 4 nail wrap pictures in a row and create a story. I "mustache" you to have fun and create your own tale. (the mustache is my favorite right now) 

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Here's some pictures of my friends' creations made from some of these whimsical Jamberry Nail Wraps. If you're interested in purchasing, please visit Cari Young's website. Cari is a fantastic elementary school librarian  as you can see from her library website! The kids (preK - college) LOVE these nails. Wouldn't it be cool if we had a story to go with them?!
I've included a video sharing how easy it is to apply the nail wraps. The wraps cost $15.00 a set (enough for 3 manicures)
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Museum Artifacts: Tell Their Stories!

4/14/2014

3 Comments

 
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Blogging A - Z Challenge has allowed me to not only share several of the activities I participate in with my storytelling students and writing students but also to learn so much myself. This post is near and dear to me because I worked with my 4th grade class for about six weeks to accomplish a STORYTELLING Museum for the entire school to visit. We had a blast and the students enjoyed telling their stories based on the artifact they chose.

I had gathered several art pictures from our art curriculum for the students to choose from. Many of the pictures chosen were Norman Rockwell paintings which suited my students to a tee. I told a baseball story based on one of Norman Rockwell paintings as a model of what I wanted my students to accomplish at the end of our museum collection development.  The students worked in groups of two or three and some even went it alone and did a fantastic job. It was February and our writing abilities had grown by leaps and bounds by this time so the writing process was intact.  The kids worked in their groups developing their own tales based on the picture itself. I asked the kids not to read the artist notes on the back of the posters mainly because I wanted their ideas to be fresh and their own. The main idea was to make ANY connections to the art itself. Above are some prints from Metropolitan Museum of Art and some wonderful websites/blogs dedicated to Norman Rockwell are below.
Norman Rockwell Websites/blogs: Share his pictures on a large screen or the students could use iPads/computers showing the painting as they tell their connecting stories:

1. Petapixal Norman Rockwell

2. Word Press - Norman Rockwell

PictureSoap Bubbles Jean Simeon Chardin French, Paris 1699-1779 www.metmuseum.org
The Metropolitan Museum of Art offers pictures online to use for educational purposes for free. I chose a few that I hope to use with my storytellers real soon. If you can't find any pictures from printed art calendars or schools, these museum paintings and artifacts from museums are perfect!

I loved this activity. To conclude, I've included other museums that provide public domain or fair use images for educational purposes.  Linking from LibGuide: University of Dayton





3 Comments

Luggage: What to Pack?

4/14/2014

15 Comments

 
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Artifact for Monday is Luggage. Often times, stories present themselves when images and/or prompts are reflected upon. I'd like to present a choice of two quick-writes to all of you. Try one or both of them out and please share them with all of us.

1.  Write a seven word sentence  connected in any way to luggage.

2.  You were just told that you and your family have to leave the country. Each family member will be allowed one  medium sized piece of luggage. What will you pack in your luggage  and why?

15 Comments

Kamishibai Storytelling

4/12/2014

6 Comments

 
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Artifact: Kamishibai Storytelling Theater
My mom was a 3rd grade teacher at our DOD elementary school outside of Tokyo, Japan. She utilized her Kamishibai Storytelling often and, of course, as her child, I was fortunate to watch her tell many Japanese tales such as Peach Boy and Momotaro. I remember I illustrated and performed Four Fur Feet by Margaret Wise Brown in front of my 2nd grade class. Wow, I guess that was my first official storytelling gig - ha! Let me tell you briefly what a Kamishibai Storytelling Theater is.

(Kah-mee-she-bye) or “paper-theater,” began in the late 1920's in Japan. The wooden stages used in the 1920's were easily transportable by bicycles. Times were hard in the 1920's so the Kamishibai offered folks a way to make a living with minimal money to get started. The kamishibai storyteller would ride his/her bike from village to village calling the kids with wooden clappers, called hyoshigi. Now adays, you would also see them hitting a drum - any kind of noise maker to draw the kids' attention. Candy was offered to these kids which was crutial to the tellers - it was their only money maker. The kids who bought the candy got the best seats in the house.  Typically, the Kamishibai wooden theater would sit on the back of the bicycle. There would be approximately 12-16 card board illustrated cards that would move the story forward as the storyteller told the story. On the back of each card was the text for the illustrated card showing toward the children who were sitting. It certainly took some practice to use these cards. I read directly from the cards I created but as you can see from the videos below, the stories were told orally as the illustrations moved.
The kamishibai storytelling cards and theaters are available on line and would be a wonderful vehicle to engage young and older students in storytelling with visuals. The students would need to read and understand the story - vocabulary, conflicts, character traits, etc.. They would need to practice retelling the story without looking at the back side of the cards so their eyes and facial expressions are on the audience. That would take some time but if taught from the beginning through modeling, the end result would be a celebration of success and confidence!
Resources:

Kamishibai Wooden Theater
Japanese Story Cards
Kamishibai Man - picture book by Allen Say
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Jacks, Jump ropes, and Journals

4/11/2014

8 Comments

 
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Artifacts for today are jacks, jump ropes, and journals. My favorite games to play with others were jacks and singing the jump rope jingles while jumping in and out of the two man rope turning. Awww, those were the days. I'm still pretty good at jacks, as long as I use a golf ball instead of that puny red ball that barely bounces.  Jacks was reserved for the weekends when I could visit my friends down the street from where I lived and have tournaments. Jump rope was pretty much every day at recess, along with four square with the kickball. Hey, I should be writing this down in my journal so the details will push through those cobwebs of memory. I'm an educator so am always thinking kids but EVERYONE really needs a journal to write in. The earlier we begin, the better!

image url: http://www.fungameskidsplay.com/jacksgame.htm
My journal is a storehouse, a treasury for everything in my daily life: the stories I hear, the people I meet, the quotations I like, and even the subtle signs and symbols I encounter that speak to me indirectly.
                 -Dorothy U. Seyler from Patterns of Reflection: A Reader

Keep your journal close to you at all times. Be ready to write anything and everything - words, pictures, lists, stories, anecdotes, quick writes, poetry, dreams, nightmares, and yes, even jump rope jingles:
Jump Rope Jingles:


Cinderella, dressed in yellow
Went upstairs to kiss her fellow
Made a mistake
And kissed a snake
How many doctors
Did it take?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5. . . .


While jumping and chanting, the jumper must try to perform those actions

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 
Turn around.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 
Touch the ground. 
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Touch your shoe.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
That will do.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 
Go upstairs.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 
Say your prayers.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, 
Turn out the light.
Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear
Say good night!

Miss Mary Mack, Mack, Mack
All dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
All down her back, back, back
She asked her mother, mother, mother
For fifty cents, cents, cents
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant
Jump over the fence, fence, fence
He jumped so high, high, high
He touched the sky, sky, sky
And he didn’t come back, back, back
Till the Fourth of July, July, July

Our 4th graders and 7th graders in Texas just completed their STAAR writing tests. These testing days can and probably are grueling for these kids. Our teachers truly teach their hearts out using the writing process, writing craft, and writing strategies. But research shows that the best writing that our students will do is away from school - a place where there's no pressure, open thoughts allowed, no rules. Every child needs at least one journal at home, in the car, in the bathroom, or by their bed. 

Cool tip: Those small flip notebooks you can buy at Target, Walgreens, or Office Max are perfect pocket notebooks for our kids. They'll be able to catch funny phrases in the cafeteria, at home around the dinner table, at the movie theater, or on vacation.  Here's a few quotes I picked up here, there and everywhere:

1. I need to see a man about a dog! (meaning I have to go to the restroom)
2. "If everybody obeyed the 10 commandments there'd be no 10:00 news"
3. You grow too big for your britches, you'll be exposed.
4. Never trouble trouble until trouble bothers you.
5. He knew how to put the fun into dysfunctional.
6. "Our town's so small we don't even have a town drunk. We just take turns" (Doc McConnell)
7. Special memory - "Going to bed listening to voices of people who love you" - Kathryn Windham
8. "Someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it's a cha-cha." - Robert Brault
9. D.C. Cornish said "Knocked her out graveyard dead."
10. What's the difference between polititcians and vampires? Vampires only suck blood at night.
It's never too late to find a blank journal and begin your writing journey. The earlier the better because it becomes a natural, daily habit. Choose your color ink, pencil or ipad to jot, type, write, draw, color, paste, doodle, and reflect! You'll surprise yourself!
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iPad and iPhone: Digital Storytelling

4/10/2014

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Letter "I" artifact for today is iPad and iPhone use for digital storytelling. Wait! Don't leave just because you don't have either device. Many of these apps or similar apps can be found on your Androids. Digital storytelling is a creative, engaging way to develop your stories, write them down, and tell your tales. The apps are perfect for all ages. I've included some screen shots of the apps I enjoy using on my iPad. There's a brief description of my favorite apps below the screen shots. Some of these apps are free and others cost less than $5.00. My storytelling club enjoys using these  to practice the various stages of their stories.

Please click on the pictures below to enlarge.
We used the app "Tellagami" below to practice various parts of our stories. In this case, the beginning of the story was examined. The picture we used for the background was cited on the picture itself - just a bit too small. I love the avatar - you can create an avatar that looks like you, the narrator, or the character in the story. This is one of my favorite storytelling apps!
Voice Record App - I included this app to remind everyone how important it is to hear yourself tell your story. My students are hilarious the first time they hear themselves on this app. They immediately realize that they are either talking too fast, using the same transition words (then or so) over and over again, or leaving gaps in their story. It's a powerful tool to use. This app is free. I like it because it doesn't have a time limit.

iPad/iPhone Camera: Taking pictures on your iPhone/iPad is a very simple way to engage students and adults into telling stories. Connections are always made to visuals and you are just a click away from letting that happen. Here's a few of my pictures that I've used to stir up personal tales from my students. Feel free to use these pictures or take your own.
To end, I'd like to refer you to an earlier post I created on great sites you can visit to learn more about some of these apps: http://www.door2lore.com/3/post/2013/09/preparing-for-my-storytelling-workshop.html

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Hook, Line, and Sinker

4/9/2014

1 Comment

 
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Artifact for Wednesday: Hook, line, and sinker. We have two sons who have gone fishing with my husband since they were four years old and that means stories galore - some of which I wish they would keep to themselves. The bloody stories are the worst because both boys all of a sudden speak clearly and precisely to make sure I ingest each and every slow motion movie created by their words. "Mom, Philip cast his line out far into the lake but neither of us could see the line at all. I mean, you know how strong Phil is. That line should have flown out at least half a mile." 
"Well, what happened to the line Chase?" I inquired. "Philip and I both looked at each other bewildered and then turned to Dad for his thoughts on the matter. Dad's face was real contorted. Man, he was in pain. It took Phil and I a moment to figure out where that pain was originating - why that hook was launched pretty well into the back of Dad's head. Dad never screamed though. He just had that look."


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url site: http://cdn-www.trails.com/imagecache/articles/295x195/own-fishing-hooks-295x195.png
It is my hope that many of you have fishing hook stories to share. My brother John would gladly show you the trihook scars he has on the bottom of his toes and you know he has a story to tell - all the way up to his tetnus shots.  Many of the fourth graders I work with in writing also have fish hook tales that are certainly work writing down and telling. This sport is cheap and reaps results, with or without the fish because they will always come come with fish tales!
Here's some great titles that will certainly make your fish grow by each telling:

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David Shannon's book was a Texas Bluebonnet book for 2013-14.
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This is one of many versions of The Magic Fish.

Here's a few links to fishing stories that will reel you in!

The Walking Catfish

Fun Fishing Jokes and Tales

Let's Swim With the Fishes - Karen Chace's Blog, full of fun songs and rhymes for kids

Fish Stories From Around the World - Karen Chace's "Catch the Story Bug!: Trolling for Tales


Any fishing tales out there?
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Gadgets and Gizmos for Storytelling

4/8/2014

14 Comments

 
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fan, wooden flute, thunder tube, woodblock and mallets, yarn ball, caterpillar (wooden slatted instrument), wood spoons, funnel, and ocarina
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I enjoy telling stories to students in the elementary school grades. Every once in a while, it's fun to pull out gadgets and gizmos that work well with some of your tales. I thought it would be fun to show you some of these items that I use and some items I wished I owned. Hopefully you'll share your artifacts that are used in stories you tell.

Here's just a handful of gadgets and gizmos artifacts I have laying around my house that I've used throughout my storytelling career.

1. plastic funnel: I have fun telling a well known folktale but I make sure I just tell the barebones and nothing more. If you were teaching the writing craft of adding details, you could read the bare bones to your students. The kids aren't at all satisfied with the story and will fill in the needed details to add depth to the tail. This is when I pull out the funnel as a visual for "vague" versus "detailed."   The top of the funnel represents the big idea (vague story) and as you add the details you get a refined, polished tale with images, actions, characters and their traits, along with a grabber lead, exciting plot, and an ending no one will forget.

2. fan - please see my "F" blog about fans

3. flute, wood block, spoons, ocarina - I love teaching the listeners how to use these in various stories, have them practice with the instruments, and then participate by guiding them at the right times in the telling.  My inspiration is Heather Forest and her wonderful musical tales. Check out her website!


4. Yarn ball - I love this artifact when teaching tales in a small group. I begin a story holding the piece of yarn with the students sitting in a small circle. As I begin telling I gently and slowly unwind the yarn ball. As I near the end of one color, I stop telling and pass the yarn ball to another child in the circle. This next child has to continue where I left off, gently and slowly unwrapping the yarn until another color appears. This child then passes the ball of yarn to another teller who was listening quite intently to the other tellers. This continues until the story has a beginning, middle, and end.  What's cool, is by the end, there's a web of yarn which I always tell the kids is our teamwork of connections made to create a story together.


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Here's Donna Ingham and Angela Lloyd with their artifacts: washboards with gizmos and gadgets all over the place. I wish I could play those!

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Airpipes on your iPhone
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Digital Ukelele for your iPhone
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Ocarina on your iPhone
Finally, what I am really excited about, are these digital gadgets for your iphone to use while storytelling. I kid you not, I have had so much fun learning how to use these relatively easy instruments on your iphone.  Try those bagpipes out for a scottish tale, the uke for a tropical tale, and ocarina for almost any tale you wish. I've included a youtube of the Ocarina.  The best part about these instruments is they are cheap, cheap, cheap!
I'd love to hear what "artifacts" you use to enrich some of your stories - a autoharp, shakers, washboard? Do tell!
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Sue Kuentz's Door to Lore Website
Kuentz Creative Consulting, LLC
151 Saur Road
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© Sue Kuentz 2018
Photos used under Creative Commons from h.koppdelaney, ken ratcliff, pellaea, a.dombrowski, steveczajka, Mellicious, Dougtone, Peter G Trimming, CraigMoulding