Storytelling and Story Acting

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The creativity is alive and well in our classroom!  At the EL National Conference in San Diego, I learned how important it is for our young learners to be involved in story telling and story acting.  On Fridays, I have gently introduced storytelling by modeling stories and giving my crew time to explore the art of storytelling.

This month, students were given an hour of Learning Lab time each Friday, in which they collaborated together.

One week, I introduced Research Lab so students could build or improve their schema on a chosen topic.  Students used non-fiction resources to learn and then recorded their new learnings to share with the crew.

Another week, we did Create Lab in which students worked alone, in partners or in small groups to create a story.  This week, the stage was created in our classroom (blue taped lines) and students enjoyed presenting their stories.

This past week, we were introduced to Imagination Lab.  Students used props such as scarves and capes to help the reader imagine their story.  Wow did the creativity come out in our crew!






Although this all just sounds like fun (which we agree), it really helped me asses the students understanding of stories and story elements.  Through creativity, students showed me if they understood characters, setting, beginning, middle and end.  As a crew, we analyzed each performance looking and listening for high quality presentation skills.  In addition, we evaluated each performance to see if the performers used the story elements.  A large part of 1st grade standards is being able to clearly communicate and to listen to others and ask questions.

 How can you support this learning?
~we are in need of homemade capes and small scarves such as these
~tell stories at home (stories of your childhood, make believe stories) during meal time or bed time
~have elderly family members or friends tell stories of their childhood
***you do not need to be an expert, just give it a try***