Communications

After stories have been told and enacted, teachers provide additional opportunities for children to communicate their ideas through different media. How stories are communicated depends on classroom circumstances.

Teachers can print out the text of stories and have a child illustrate the page the next day, or wait until the end of a round of telling and have the class illustrate their stories during a whole group time. These pages may be displayed on a bulletin board, put into an ever-growing binder of classroom stories (that are read by teachers, children and visitors to the classroom), or placed in individual portfolios. Curley School K-1 teacher Laura Shea stores her children’s portfolios in the writing area for easy access. Dramatizing stories can present certain challenges. For example, it may be unclear how certain characters (e.g., wind, water) should be dramatized. Stories with multiple actors also requires careful facilitation. Union School visiting artist Sarae Pacetta helps her children gracefully dramatize such stories.

Illustrations

Left images: Curley School K1 teacher Laura Shea stores her children’s portfolios in the writing area for easy access.

Right images: Curley School K1 teacher Megan Nason prints out children’s stories, asks them to illustrate them and posts them on a storytelling bulletin board.

Collage

Children in Megan’s K-1 classroom also have the opportunity to create collages based on their stories.