A visit from a storyteller

This week we were treated with a visit from master storyteller and author Cathy Spagnoli.  Mrs. Spagnoli told of stories from her past, like the time when she caught a cookie thief by planting cookies laden with unsweetened chocolate and bacon fat, and stories from other countries, in this case a spooky story from Japan about a snow woman.  Along with her fascinating stories, Mrs. Spagnoli also shared some of her many storytelling tools.  We saw storytelling quilts from Africa, Kamishibai (story pictures) from Japan, a hand-made story board of personal stories from Mrs. Spagnoli's life, and even a way to tell stories by tearing a piece of paper.  When we went back to class we discussed the tools and stories that Mrs. Spagnoli shared with us.  We went over the six traits of writing and discussed what she did well in each trait.  We will definitely use many of these ideas in our own stories!

Next week, students will begin to work in literature circles.  Literature circles work similar to book clubs - students reading the same book meet regularly to discuss what is happening in the book.  They will also complete activities together related to the book.  Today we discussed how to choose a good book for literature circles.  We discussed strategies like looking for authors that we know, reading the summary, reading the first page to see if we understand the book, looking at reviews, and checking to see if it won any awards.  We will choose our books next week.

Posted on October 17, 2008 2:50 PM | Permalink