The art of storytelling is a human tradition which goes back centuries. We use stories to learn each other’s histories, to understand different cultures, and to express our thoughts and ideas.
We began our unit by looking at three traditional folk tales: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Stone Soup, and The Little Red Hen. To kick off our unit, the teachers all told one of these stories without using a book. We spoke the stories and encouraged the children to imagine the pictures in their minds. Over the course of the unit we read several versions of each story, including stories told from different points of you and several presented with a twist from the traditional story. We underscored the fact that there can be more than one way to tell the same story. The children paid attention to details as we encouraged them to compare and contrast the different versions of one story.
The school worked together to turn our indoor climber into a fairytale cottage. Beds, chairs and porridge bowls were made in three different sizes. Vines and fairy lights were used to finish the illusion and set the stage for a variety of dramatic story reenactments.
To wrap up the unit, the teachers introduced story stones to their classes (Stones with a single painted image). Each class used the stones as a story starter, the students worked collaboratively to create their own class story. The children were then encouraged to make their own stories using their own artwork and words.