Horizon's First Storytelling Festival!

It's storytelling time! Our school Storytelling Festival starts next week. Watch for the kickoff assembly on the 18th.  After-school workshops will be held on April 19, 21, and 25 from 3:30-4:30pm.  This year, stories will be handed out at the first workshop unless you and your child would like to find a folktale and start working on it now.  We are focusing on cultural folktales.  These are some guidelines the students will follow as they experiment and work on their stories.

Guidelines:

·   Stories are not to be read or memorized from books, but may be retold from books.

·   Stories may be fairy or folk tales. Please try to stay away from jokes disguised as stories.

·  Recommended length for stories: 3-5 minutes.

How Children Benefit from telling stories

·    Storytelling improves self-esteem, and builds confidence and poise when speaking.

·   Storytelling improves expressive language skills and stimulates inventive thinking.

·   Storytelling improves class cooperation.

·   Storytelling requires use of the 5 senses.

·   Choosing, learning, and telling a story is a process in which students are learning every step.

·   The teacher will learn a great deal about the students by listening to them tell stories.

All students who participate will receive a certificate and treat. While we all know the real prize is what the students gain, a bit of incentive goes a long way. We hope the storytelling
experience will influence the future of our students. When they sit in Scholar interviews, job
interviews, or wherever their dreams take them, their storytelling training can only help.

We will have lots of class participation and many opportunities for our students to shine. Not every child who enters will participate in the evening performance. PLEASE NOTE: Those participating in the evening performance will receive a written invitation to perform there. A few Grade Representatives will be invited to tell their stories at an evening performance the families of our school.

Have Fun! If you have any questions please email Holly Robison at robhollyb@gmail.com.