Running Head: Storytelling Experience

Storytelling Experience Kendra Elyse Bondy Curriculum Development 1- ECS 2050-0102 Carol Reid Thursday November 3, 2011

Storytelling Experience Preplanning

The Brown Bear book by Bill Martin Jr. and pictures by Eric Carle was chosen for its concept of colours and the use of simple words through repetition and rhythm, which create a flow for the young reader. In order to bring the story to life for the children in the classroom, felt finger puppets were made. The felt finger puppets were made by sewing two pieces of felt together to make the body. Then later the animals heads were cut out of felt and pompoms and googly eyes were added. The finger puppets allow the children to interact with the various animals within the story. I chose felt as the base of my puppets because the material is durable and soft. The children will be able to hold the puppets and use them to make their own stories. To ensure the circle is developmentally appropriate I researched cognitive and gross motor skill levels for children of this age. I practiced the planned material on family and friends in order to make sure the circle was proper length. Learning Experience: Small group storytelling experience (6-8 children) Age Group: 3-5 Purpose: A child noticed the beautiful colours of the fall leaves so I decided to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? a book on colours. Objectives The children will: 1. enhance their expressive language skills as they use repetition to memorize simple words. i.e. brown, duck, cat, black, sheep 2. improve colour recognition as they label the coloured animal characters 3. begin to demonstrate understanding of simple text as they retell the story

Storytelling Experience

Materials/Props Finger puppets-in basket (one set for teacher, One set for hands on play with children) Brown bear x2 Read bird x2 Yellow duck x2 Blue horse x2 Green frog x2 Purple cat x2 White dog x2 Black sheep x2 An orange goldfish x2 Teacher x2 The Brown bear, Brown bear book Opening (Introduction) Step 1: Sing, Come on everybody its time for circle time for circle time for circle Come on everybody its time for circle time for circle now Step 2: hands in the air, hands behind your back, give them a clap and put them in your lap modeling Step 3: Explain the circle expectations. Tell the children that we expect them to remain quiet and raise their hand to speak. Step 4: What are some of the colours you can see in the room? Hold up the front cover and ask the children what they expect the book to be about? Ask the children what they expect brown bear to see? - questions Body (Content) 1. Open book get brown bear puppet out of basket and put of finger -Modeling 2. Read first page of book 3. Ask a child to come up and get redbird-sensory engagement 4. Read second page 5. Read third page of book 6. Ask the children what they expect redbird to see? 7. Take brown bear of your hand and put back in basket 8. Ask child come get yellow duck- sensory engagement 9. Read the fourth page 10. Read fifth page 11. Ask child to get blue horse out of basket-sensory engagement

Storytelling Experience

12. Read sixth page 13. Read Seventh page 14. Ask child to get green frog out of basket-sensory engagement 15. Read eighth page 16. Read ninth page 17. Ask child to get purple cat out of basket- sensory engagement 18. Read tenth page 19. Read eleventh page 20. Ask child to get white dog out of basket-sensory engagement 21. Read twelfth page 22. Read thirteenth page 23. Ask child to get black sheep out of basket-sensory engagement 24. Read fourteenth page 25. Read fifteenth page 26. Ask child to get goldfish out of basket-sensory engagement 27. Read sixteenth page 28. Read seventeenth page 29. Get teacher out of basket and put on finger 30. Read eighteenth page 31. Read nineteenth page 32. Read twentieth page 33. Read the twenty-first page 34. Then flip to twenty-second page 35. Get children one at a time to stand up when their puppet is read out by the teacher on the twenty-second page- sensory engagement 36. Close book 37. Collect finger puppets and put them back in basket Closing (Ending) Action song (children standing) Sing colour song (tune: London bridge) (Modeling the Actions of the song as they appear) Brown is the colour of a big mud puddle (jump) big mud puddle (Jump) big mud puddle (Jump) Brown is the colour of a big mud puddle (Jump) I squish it all the time Red is the colour of my comfy bed (head resting on hands) comfy bed (head resting on hands) comfy bed (head resting on hands) Red is the colour of my comfy bed (head resting on hands) I sleep there every night

Storytelling Experience

Yellow is the colour of my favourite jello (wiggle) favourite jello (wiggle) favourite jello (wiggle) Yellow is the colour of my favourite jello (wiggle) I eat it everyday Blue is the colour of my favourite shoes (right foot out) favourite shoes (left foot out) favourite shoes (right foot out) Blue is the colour of my favourite shoes (left foot out) I wear them all the time Green is the colour of the grass on the lawn grass on the lawn grass on the lawn Green is the colour of the grass on the lawn I run through it everyday (run on the spot) Purple is colour of my favourite juice (hand to mouth in a cup formation) favourite juice (hand to mouth in a cup formation) favourite juice (hand to mouth in a cup formation) Purple is colour of my favourite juice (hand to mouth in a cup formation) I drink it everyday White is the colour of the kite I fly (hands in the air) kite I fly (hands in the air) kite I fly (hands in the air) White is the colour of the kite I fly (hands in the air) I fly it really high Black is the colour of my daddys car (hands on pretend steering wheel) daddys car (hands on pretend steering wheel) daddys car (hands on pretend steering wheel) Black is the colour of my daddys car (hands on pretend steering wheel) He drives it everywhere Gold is the colour of the setting sun (hands in a circle above head, go to one side) setting sun (hands in a circle above head, go to one side) setting sun (hands in a circle above head, go to one side) Gold is the colour of the setting sun (hands in a circle above head, go to one side) I see it every night Transition Step 1: Sing the circle is over, over, over circle is over its time to go and Play Fill in blank with what the children will be doing next

Storytelling Experience

Analysis 1. The brown bear, brown bear book shows quality literature for a variety of reasons. The characterization introduces animals with colours that are natural to the environment. An example is a yellow duck, a familiar animal for the intended audience. Now that the author has the childrens interest, the author and illustrator introduce colour as a focal point in the story. The colours used are fictional for real animals in order to further relate to the books theme of colour. An example of a fictional colour is a blue horse. Then the author goes back to the natural colours for animals and then once again introduces a fictional coloured animal. All the characters have the same setting. The story has a beginning, middle and end. The beginning of the book starts with the brown bear asking what he sees. Then in the middle of the book the teacher states what she sees. For the end of the book the children see all of the characters within the book. The theme of the book progresses and shows various colours. The style of the words is designed to engage the young audience. The use of repetition and rhythm creates a simple flow for the reader. It holds the readers interest as the children can successfully participate in repeating simple and familiar words. The illustrations by Eric Carle show exposure to fine artwork. The images are simple and eye-catching to young children as there is one image per page with one color encouraging picture word connection. The illustrations demonstrates to the reader a unique way to use various art supplies as the illustrator, Eric Carle, uses tissue paper to create all of his illustrations.

Storytelling Experience 2. I chose my objectives as I hope to teach various skills that the children can learn from

the brown bear book. The first objective was chosen to engage the children in the love of reading and literature through predictable repetition. This objective will facilitate the development of new skills such as learning to use picture cue for simple words through repetition. The simple and consistent rhythm used by the author will also encourage the audience to appreciate the poetic element of literature. The second objective of colour recognition is demonstrated on each and every page of the book. The labeling of the coloured puppetry display in conjunction with the coloured illustrations of the book will support the acquisition of the new skill; color recognition. This objective is intended to gain the childrens interest in colours as they appear in their surroundings. Now the children are more aware of colour in their surroundings, they are encouraged to transfer this knowledge to their everyday life; for example they will now notice the color of their friends clothing or the colour of the carpet they are sitting on. The last objective will encourage the children to demonstrate their understanding of the story by retelling it to their friends by using their own vocabulary and paintings completed during the child directed activity.

3. One of the teaching strategies chosen is questions. This strategy helps the children become active participants in the story. Through this teaching strategy I am helping the children develop their sense of observation and prediction by asking them what some of the animals might see next. This strategy will be implemented at the beginning of the book. The next teaching strategy is sensory engagement. This strategy will be

Storytelling Experience implemented through the finger puppets. As the children interact with the puppets they will use their senses to feel, see and recognize the characters from the book. The final teaching strategy that will be implemented during this circle time activity is modeling.

Modeling will be implemented when the teacher models how to use the finger puppets as they appear throughout the book. Children have a chance to come up and get a finger puppet to practice their recall and repetition of word selection and patterning. I will introduce hands in the air, hands behind your back, give them a clap and put them in your lap as a way to model and demonstrate the expectation for listening behaviour.

4. The book is developmentally appropriate because children around the ages of 3 and 4 have some familiarity with common colours. Thus, the Brown Bear book will enhance their colour recognition. The Brown Bear book takes a familiar concept and expands it to the children (Hanford country public library). Books that clearly cover the concept that is being portrayed are perfect for the preschool age (Mayesky, 2012). Brown Bear is a book that easily conveys the concept of colours. This concept can be seen simply through the pictures that are revealed throughout the book. The children during the preschool years need a book that has clear and easy to read text (Mayesky, 2012). Bill Martin Jr.s book, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? has simple and clear words and through the use of repetition and rhythm, the book becomes intriguing for the children to read. The interactive song that is sung at the conclusion of the circle was created to add an element of fun and physical activity to reinforce the colour concept.

Storytelling Experience Preschoolers enjoy musical activities and many learn with the help of music. The concluding song has several versus which is appropriate for this age group and again reinforces the colours of the story. The versus were planned in coordination with the order of the colours presented in the book. The children Participate in the circle by answering the questions at the beginning of the story and throughout the storybook are each asked to participate. The number of finger puppets correlates

with the colours in the book and the number of children in the circle. In this fashion each and every child is afforded the opportunity to participate creating an inclusive circle environment.

5. One child-directed activity that can be created as an extension of the book is painting. Put out 8 colours that are mentioned in the book on two separate tables. This means 4 colours to a table. Using environmental cues put four chairs at each table. This tells the children that only four children are allowed at this station at a time. Put out both large and small paper and paintbrushes of various sizes giving the children a variety. Using these colours the children will be allowed to direct their own play by painting whatever they like. This activity is used to extend the learning of colours from the book. A second child-directed activity that will extend the learning from the book is a table of mirrors. The Teacher creates a sign saying, What do you see? and tapes it to a table. Then below this sign puts a variety of non-breakable mirrors. Some can be taped and others placed on the table. This will extend the demonstration of reading comprehension as children tell each other what they see in these mirrors, using the

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same simple language they learned in the book. Children may also take the mirrors and move around the room to see other objects within the room and they may retell their own version of the story as they perform this activity.

I would expect the circle and circle activities to take 20 minutes, as this is an appropriate length of time for 6-8 children in the preschool years. The childdirected activities following the circle will allow the children to extrapolate and further explore the concepts introduced in the carefully planned circle.

Storytelling Experience References

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H a n f o r d c o u n t r y p u b l i c l i b r a r y. ( n . d. ) . C h o o s i n g a g e a p p r o p r i a t e b o o k s . R e tr i e v e d f r o m h t tp : / / w i k i . c a r r. o r g / d b / a t ta c h m e n ts / e m e r g e n t l i t e r a c y / 3 8 / 1 / a g eap p rop ri a teb oo ks . p df M a r t i n J r, B . ( 1 9 6 7 ) . B r o w n b e a r , b r o w n b e a r , w h a t do y o u see?. New york: Holt , Rinehart and W inston inc. M a y e s k y, M . ( 2 0 1 2 ) . C r e a t i v e a c t i v i t e s f o r y o u n g c h i ld r e n . ( 1 0 e d. , p . 4 3 7 ) . B e l m o n t , C a l i f o r n i a : C a n g a g e le a r n i n g .