LITERACY ALIVE

LITERACY ALIVE

June 6, 2004, Holiday Inn – Alton (9-3 o’clock)

The following is an outline of the all day workshop I did for day-care providers. It can be altered to present to teachers and interested parents who want to learn how to develop a storytime.

For the hand-out, click on CHASI handout.

A five-hour workshop for CHASI on how to present literature in lively and entertaining ways to Pre-K children.

The overall goal of this workshop is to bring literacy alive with some tried and true techniques used by storytellers and librarians that can be easily adapted for use by early childhood teachers, day-care providers, and at-home parents. These techniques will include:

-The Basics of Storytelling

-Development of a Story Area and Story Manners

-Development of a Story Time

-Bibliographies and References

These techniques will be learned by achieving the following goals:

Storytelling/Reading – The participants will hear a storyteller tell a story, the importance of reading and storytelling, and “secrets” on how to tell a story. Then, after the participants are divided into groups, they will use the information to develop their own story to tell.
Story area – the storyteller will give some ideas on ways to modify areas to make them more suitable to listening and a handout on manners during storytime.
Development of a Story Time – the participants will work in 4 groups (10 each) to develop a story time with the story extensions they made during the make-it-and-take-it session – monkey mitt, flannel board, puppets, and crafts. Each group will present their story time. Each group will list the books, story extensions, and references they used to share with the other groups.
Bibliography and References on website

OUTLINE

( Parts I, II, III appox. 1 hour)

Give each participant an Index card as they enter. Ask for their name, address, phone, email and permission to send them my free storytelling newsletter. Also, ask them to write down anything they wanted to learn in this workshop or any question they have.

SESSION ONE: (2 ½ hours) ( Parts I, II, III apprx. 1 hour)

I. Announcements, Introductions – ask for each participants name and the title of their favorite story as a child or their favorite book to read to children. Read a very short, lively book – elicit from the group what literacy skills they used in listening to a story read.

II. Affirmations on the importance of reading based on Jim Trelease’s “Read Aloud Handbook” and other reference materials. (very short)

III. Techniques on Reading to Children

A. Story Selection – earmarks of a good story for PreS – K - transparency

B. The Story Corner – P. 5 & PP 8- 9 in “Winter Whimsy”

C. Handling the Book

D. Expression

E. Storytime Manners – transparency on overhead

F. Building a Story time with Story Extensions

1. Telling a Story

2. Puppetry

3. Monkey Mitt

4. Craft

5. Flannelboard

6. Flip Stories, Acetate Stories. Prop Stories, Pocket Stories, Story Apron to demonstrate only

7. Filing and storage

(10-Minute Break)

As the participants return from break, start reading and answering some of the questions and comments on Index cards.

IV. Telling a Story –Chit-Chat: (Part IV – 1 ½ hours) Tell “Chit –Chat” – elicit from the group what added literacy skills and other skills did they use while listening to a story told. Using “Chit-Chat” as a model discuss:

A. Finding the Story to Tell with Resources, References, and Websites

B. Getting to the Bones of the Story

C. Building a Story Path

D. Fleshing the Story and adding Participation

E. Telling Techniques

Divide into story buddies if they want to tell their own story or into groups of 3 or 4 to present as a group. Distribute the short stories that are already broken down into the bones. Give them time to find the story path, flesh up the story, add participation, and then tell the story to their buddy, and then to the group - as many as possible before lunch.

Leave time to distribute books by Mary Jo Huff. Emphasize that participants from the same facility should try to separate and be in different groups. This will allow them to have more books and story extensions for the facility. Select one person from each of the 4 groups to act as “the organizer.” Have these 4 stay behind and place them in the Summer/Fall/Winter/or Spring Group. Give them the book (to be read or told) that they will use to “linchpin” the storytime and give them special instructions on how to do facilitate the tables and to pull it all together for the storytime, culminating activity.

LUNCH BREAK (set up tables for make-it-take it) (Lunch – 1 hour)

SESSION TWO – (2 ½ hours)

I. Finish telling stories. (Time?)

Advise that if they want a break at any time to feel free to leave anytime during Part II

II. Make-it-and-take-it (1 hour)

The room will be set up with four big tables. Each table will have the materials needed for each participant to make a milk jug puppet, a craft, a monkey mitt and a flannel board. The designated “organizer” will demonstrate what they are to do at each table. Besides the basic supplies at each table there will be a marked folder (summer, fall winter, spring) for each group with special materials they are to use in making their extensions. Materials in the folders are marked with an * below. The participants stay in their groups and work at one of the four tables. After 15 minutes, they will switch to another table until they visit all four tables. (See list of supplies at the end of the outline)

Supplies for each table: scissors, markers, googlie eyes, glue, glitter glue, markers

1. Monkey Mitt table: (directions taped on the table)

40 gloves

Velcro pre-cut into 200 pieces

*Lines of pictures (or maybe even stickers) (5 of each for 10 group members = 50) ex. – monkeys, fruit, fish, stars, etc.

Construction paper for backings (scraps are fine for this project)

2. Puppet Table: (directions taped on the table)

Paper Bag Puppets

3. Craft Table: (directions taped on the table)

Paper Plates

Yarn

*ditto sheets used for crafts

4. Flannel Board Table (directions taped on the table)

*Ditto sheets with characters from a story already mounted on a piece of construction paper. They are now ready to color and cut

Pieces of sand paper

III. Present 4 Storytimes: As individual or small group, present – story, puppets, monkey mitt and flannel board.

Each Participant will bring home:

Paper Bag Puppet

Flannel Board Story

Craft

Monkey Mitt with Finger play

A Story to Tell

The Book they used in their group by Mary Jo Huff

Four storytimes – one ready-made

Handout (s) by Storyteller

Materials to Bring, Gather or Purchase: (* Marilyn will bring or purchase)

*Handout of outline for each participant

*Transparencies of Bibliographies, websites, earmarks of a good story, and the manners’ page from my website

*A few xerox copies of these for participants with no computer access

*Flannel Board

*Prop Story, Storytelling Apron, Flip story, Acetate Story, Monkey Mitt with Finger play and a flannel board story

*Books and Reference Materials

*Package of Index Cards (Purchase)

*40 old gloves (Shari will check to see if any left over from last time)

*Velcro (purchase)

*Stickers (?) It may be easier to find stickers for monkey mitts than Xerox, color and paste onto construction paper (Purchase)

*Sandpaper (Purchase)

*Mary Jo Huff’s books (Purchase)

Supplies:

Craft Supplies at each table – scissors (glue – including craft glue for puppet table, markers, fabric glitter glue, googlie eyes (a bag of different sizes for each table), paper plates, yarn, folders (plain manila or any other type) paper lunch bags, plastic baggies (for monkey mitt pieces), construction paper (any color– they will only be used as backing for flannel board and monkey mitt pieces), box of brads, hole puncher (2 or 3)

Overhead projector

*Large, freestanding poster paper (I’ll bring this)