Storytelling and Other Magical Moments

Adding bright colored fabric on a hot sunny day created something unique for each child.  There were dresses, princesses, dens, long hair and blankets for stuffed animals in taxis! Quick and easy opened ended play. Rapunzel adjusting her hair. Off they go to the animal hospital.

While visiting my in-laws, my sons decided to draw with chalk to pass time outside on a hot summer evening. I arrived to see multi-colored roads swirling around the patio and "For Mom, Chalk City" at the top! I decided to surprise them with some loose parts I just bought that day at the dollar store. I am planning on using them in my class next school year, but thought I should let them give it a go.  Below are the boys in action.  Focused, Deliberate. And chatting the entire time about their city, about their patterns, while counting and complimenting each other on each of their neighborhoods.  Furthermore, sharing, organizing and quietly adding detail to their picture with loose parts. "Chalk Town" with a bit of a humorous misspelling! New Loose Parts, Jewels, wooden mini blocks, old cars and a fruit platter container

A detailed pencil drawing by one student left all students (and some teachers) interested in the perspective and the ideas involved in this one page (of a 4 page story) about the deep sea. I enlarged the picture for my three different groups. We added speech to the sharks, story details and added color through paint to tell three the different stories.  Collaboration was seen negotiating with paint colors  and also when deciding the ideas throughout the stories.

Discussions in our unit, Sharing the Planet , took a turn into the deep, dark, sea.  Below are short stories created about deep sea animals and other interests the children found as we inquired into the Abyss.     Just learned how to use this today - Adobe Spark Video. Simple and sweet. Still working on quality control, but can produce something nice in a very short time with young children.

The light table has become the newest venue for storytelling. Asking children to explain their "light table stories" provides and opportunity for them to tell about their creation from a different lens. Not only do they use descriptive words, but words from story telling engagments move in and out of their descriptions. "One day there was a crab princess castle. It was beautiful. There was a beautiful sun inside and many happy crab princesses." "This is a story about a car with lots of wheels.  It is shooting blue fire and fireballs. There is a purple minecraft piece floating in the top and the villages are there with it. They are safe because they are not getting shot." "This is a shark, a beautiful shark. There are so may many bubbles around the shark. This shark is swimming inthe beaufitul beautiful ocean. Let's add shells. Because oceans have shells and blue waves at the top."

Just a touch of color in the sandbox made cooking just a bit more fun!   Loose parts creations are my favorite thing to observe process and product.  

An eager student kindly borrowed a storybox to take outside and retell the story in the sun with some friends. I wasn't in class when she returned it and this is what I found. " I brang the story box back." Authentic Writing! A sneaky pictures of some students borrowing a box for a storytelling session during their outdoor time.