SAI Angan students from classes KG I – III participated in our annual International Storytelling Week from February 7-14. This year we have picked books from USA, Switzerland and India. We were joined by our partners schools Churchdown Village Infants School, UK and Scooby – Doo Nursary & Day Care, Uganda.
Books are selected from Time Magazine ‘100 Best Children’s Books’ list as usual. To date we have completed 18 of the 100 listed books adding a few from Indian authors as well. After procuring the books they are added to the school’s library so students can check them out and read them at home with their parents.
THIS YEARS BOOKS!!!! Each class was given a different book with graded activities including, skits, art and craft, worksheets, poster making and writing poems in the form of Spoonerisms.
SKYPE call with UK
We started International Storytelling Week with a Skype call exchanging books with our partner school in UK. SAI Angan students participated in a 20 min Skype call with students from Churchdown Village Infant School, UK. Mrs. Rashmi Sahoo, class I teacher, read ‘Amma Tell Me About Ganesha’ to a classroom full of CVIS Class I Students. In reciprocation CVIS teacher Mr Kristian Rouse told the story of Farmer Duck. Students laugh and enjoy both stories. Students from CVIS loves the part of the Indian story when the elephant sacrifices his life and gave his head to save Ganesha. SAI Angan students enjoyed going the actions that went along with UK story. Everyone giggled when they had to quack like a duck with their hand.
KG I & KG II students read the Bear Snores On (America) by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman. Her books have received numerous state and national awards and translated into many languages, and made it to the New York Times Bestsellers list many times. In the book a whole host of different animals and birds find their way out of the cold and into Bear’s cave to warm up. But even after the tea has been brewed and the corn has been popped, Bear just snores on!
KG I had a wonderful storytelling session with acting out the story in real time. The story goes through a range of emotions and students had a blast acting out each one. Teachers used puppets of the main characters to bring the story to life and you can tell by the smiles on the students faces that they truly enjoyed this storytelling session. KG II students made masks using common classroom items after they finished with their story telling session.
Class I – II students read the Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister (Switzerland) author and illustrator of children’s picture books. His Rainbow Fish series of children’s picture books, published since 1992, has been a worldwide success. All of class I completed their Storytelling session of the Rainbow Fish and created their very own Fish to display on the Bulletin Boards this week in SAI Angan. Students loved the story, it focused on the pursuit of happiness by a fish who ultimately comes to the conclusion that it is better to share the things you love the most with friends then hoard them and have no friends at all. The Rainbow Fish book is a clever take on the saying “money cant by happiness”.
Class II students completed their worksheets designed around the story of the “Rainbow Fish”. As the book spoke about sharing and how it feels to be left out the worksheet also touched on this simply but common challenge face by all while growing up. Students answered several questions including “Have you ever been left out? How did it feel? and Have you ever been bad to a friend? After filling in the answers students had to draw a picture of someone being a good friend and narrate what is happening in the picture below in a few short sentences. Often as teachers we do not get a good glimpse of our students on friendship and empathy towards others this activity gave us a true picture.
The Runny Babbit by Shel Silverstien (Amersica) Cartoonist, Musician and Children’s Book Writer. Academy, Golden Globe award nominations and 2 time Grammy Award Winner.
Class III completed the funny and innovative book by Shel Silverstien called “Runny Babbit” which is based on the concept of Spoonerisms which are a mistake made when speaking in which the first sounds of two words are exchanged with each other to produce a not intended and usually funny meaning. for instance instead of saying “a troop of boy scouts” one would say ” a scoop of boy trouts”. This play on words was the focal point of the activities done by the class III students. Students first had to read an entire poem in spoonerism format. Then they had to translate the poem into normal flowing sentences. After wards in groups they had to create their own spoonerism poems and writings. With lots of laughter and many smiles each team came up with wonderful creative works that they proudly showed to their teachers. Identifying Spoonerisms in speech patterns is considered a good tool to control stuttering and other speech impediments. Practicing switching words accurately and maintaining concentration helps a child with speech problems, to re-train their speech system. Students found this activity to be humorous while teachers enjoyed watching students break down words in order to decipher the writings and the use that knowledge to create their own spoonerism poetry and stories.
Global Dimension 