Family Storytelling, Week 2

Family Storytelling continues ... This week, we saw a few of the same kids from last week, and a whole gaggle of new folks.

We started by remembering the story of Coyote's Whiskers from last week, with the help of the drawings each of the kids made. It was such a joy to hear those who knew the story take over the role of storyteller as they related the tale to those who hadn't heard it.

Then came the new story of the week, a tale from Africa, made popular in this country by Pete Seeger and his banjo:

ABIYOYO

Now, as you can see, there is a book for this story, unlike Coyote's Whiskers. As you will see, though, this did not hinder the children's image-making once they set to their drawing.

But first, the telling! It is a wonderful story-song, in that the teller can fade in between singing and telling pretty easily, and the music provides a lovely backdrop anytime in the story. I'm working on a recording of the story, complete with illustrations by the kids, which I'll share here soon, but the gist of the story is as follows: a village throws out a magician and his ukulele-playing son for making too much magic in the town, only to be saved by them when a large giant threatens to eat up everyone and their animals. The little boy placates the giant with a pleasant little song about him: "Abiyoyo ... Abiyoyo ... Abiyoyo ..." The giant begins to dance faster and faster until he falls to the ground and the boy's father makes him disappear.

My favorite part of the day was when the story was over, and I started asking questions that the story didn't answer: What do you think Abiyoyo looked like? What kind of village do you see in your mind? What were the father and his son wearing? A flurry of voices answered all of my questions and more before everyone took their images to paper, along with a few I shared in the story.

The artists get to work - One holds up a finished product proudly: Abiyoyo's hand! "He's so big, only his hand fits on the paper!"

And now, the rest of the gallery:

Stay tuned for a "story video", in which I lay a slide show of this and more children's art over an audio recording of the story of Abiyoyo.

Family Storytelling Party!

I am so very excited to be involved with Atlantic Street Center, thinking about programs and projects to collaborate on together. Our pilot project this summer is a Family Storytelling Party, the first of which was held today (you can join us next week!). Here are some photos from the very successful event!

The premise: Supporting general literacy skills in communities of recent immigrants, whose children attend local elementary schools

The Very Hungry Caterpillar with a sock puppet that eats through one apple, two pears, three plums, four strawberries, five oranges ... goodness gracious!

Three little mice creep up, one by one, on Coyote in "Coyote's Whiskers".

ART TIME! Taking the images in our minds of "Coyote's Whiskers" and putting them to paper.

It was inspiring to see everyone's different images. One girl (upper right photo) even made a kind of storyboard for it. It looks like we'll be able to make a picture book of them as a way of remembering the story for next time.

I've enjoyed the stimulation this project has provided my thinking about connecting storytelling with literacy development. Though storytelling and literacy are two different things (oral v. written/printed word), there are so many ways they can support each other, and can support children together. This project has been a great way to understand that better through my experiences and the reactions of the kids.

We've got some things to think over for next week, but all in all, it was a success. We will see what next week brings! Hope you can come!!