New Term Session 5

New Term  Session 5

Much better!

This time the staff had obviously recognised some of the problems and made improvements. The story corner was arranged more formally, with some chairs and cushions arranged in rows. Most of the toys had been cleared from the area and the children had just spent half an hour or so outside playing 'assault courses' and were tired and relaxed - and ready to listen.

BumbleBee, though still very keen to come with me, made haste to hide herself under my chair, safe from most of the continuous and overwhelming petting.

In my research during the week I had found 'The Turtle of Koka' in Margaret Read MacDonald's 'Start Up' book. It is very simple, repetitive and fun - and I just happened to have a lovely, expressive turtle in my prop cupboard.

The story worked perfectly! Everybody was involved - though I am not sure that they understood the plot, simple though it was. they just loved the turtle, dancing and singing and fooling the villagers.

Then I moved on to Papa Joe's 'The Magical Blue Feather' - again pared down to little more than bare bones. This is a longer and more complex tale, with lots of dramatic tension. The older children were totally absorbed but the younger ones began to drift away from me, though staying close at hand.

The third tale was 'The Sun Sisters' - again, very simple and I have some good props: a moon, a friendly sun, some delicate embroidery and a pad full of needles. The thought of needles being thrown into people's eyes really caught their attention!

Fortunately I had put some spare stories into the basket as the older children would not let me finish without just one more tale. So I picked 'The Cracked Pot'. It has no visuals except for the pot itself, but by now I was able to maintain eye contact with all but the youngest children - and so they listened.