New Term - Session 2

New Term - Session 2

Last week I was concerned that working in the main classroom lost that magical sense of special occasion - and subjected BumbleBee to too much love, chaos and attention.

I needn't have worried.

This time, as soon as we arrived all the children quickly stopped whatever they were doing and went to sit quietly in the storytelling area - no instructions were given - they just wanted to hear stories.

We started with The Singers of Bremen... I am getting better at handling so many props at once and at making all the animal noises. The story worked well, even for the youngest ones. I had found a lovely, large, vicious looking doll as the chief robber plus a couple of Sponge Bobs as his accomplices. these were recognised at once, but the children accepted that they could play the part of robber's assistants. These additions certainly helped to make the final mayhem more visual and dramatic.

Then came the two linked stories... SuLi and the Sky, and SuLi and the Dragon. The youngest ones found the concept of the sky lying too close to the earth too difficult to follow but they enjoyed watching the props. A few of the children had been in the previous group and had heard these stories once before. They told me what props I needed to find to tell the Dragon tale. They were all eager to see SuLi cut off the dragon's head! I had found a new dog for the story - a very funny looking deerhound - just his appearance made them all laugh

By this time the youngest ones had had enough and moved away. but the older ones wanted more. So I told The Empty Pot, using SuLi's cauldron as the flower pot and adding some silk flowers. As I started one child discovered another hole in a cushion and started pulling all the stuffing out. Then the others joined in. This time I simply stopped talking and waited. The staff stepped in, removed the cushion and gathered up all the stuffing. When they had settled down again, I continued with the story. I think I need to find a boy doll for this story - it seems that this age range needs the visual element.

As I was leaving there was a sudden thump on my back as a child hurtled into me and shouted, 'I love you, Storyteller!'

New Term - New Day - New Group

New Term - New Day - New Group

Session 1

This is a larger group, 11 children present, and a wider age range with more very young ones.

The staff asked me to tell in the main classroom, as I had done at the end of last term, because they thought the children were more relaxed in the familiar surroundings.

They certainly were more relaxed, though I am not sure that was a good thing. I like the sense of special occasion created when they have to enter a different space. In their own space they felt relaxed enough to ask questions, demand snacks, play with BumbleBee and remove the stuffing from a cushion to balance little fluffy white clouds on their heads!

All part of my learning curve.

The older ones were paying attention throughout and I must learn not to be distracted by the babies.

I started with Chanticleer & Pertelot because it has lots of appealing soft-toy characters and a bit of drama and animal noises... but the ending is  weak. I must work on that before the next group that I will be meeting after half-term.

Then I told Father Mouse (see my video extract on YouTube http://tinyurl.com/2f9q7bd ) because the puppet works so well... but not, apparently, with very young children. They cannot yet understand the concept of 'puppet' and are not impressed.

I ended the session with Mighty Mouse, using a new, larger and more flexible soft-toy mouse. This worked quite well... partly because the most distracted children had wandered off, but also because the new prop is funnier and more expressive.

Then came a general demand for dinosaur stories next time! I don't know any dinosaur stories... are there any? I will do some research. But I think they will accept a dragon story instead. At least I know they are looking forward to our next session.