Lord of the Animals
15 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in Fables and legends, Stories for 6-9 year olds
Happy New Year. I’m looking forward to a great 2012 full of storytelling and I started this storytelling year with “Lord of the Animals” a great book by Fiona French. I do love her illustrations and have told many of her other titles including; Pepi and the Secret Names, The Smallest Samurai, Jamil’s Clever Cat: A Folk Tale from Bengal and Snow White in New York.
Coyote has created the world and its creatures, and now he gathers a council to decide how they will make the being who will rule over them all. As the animals start to disagree fur and feathers begin to fly – until Coyote suggests they each make a clay model and then choose the best. Unknown to all of them, however, crafty Coyote has a plan of his own… Fiona French’s boldly-illustrated retelling of a Native American Miwok myth gives an intriguing explanation of how human beings began. (Product Description from Amazon)
The children really enjoyed the story and afterward we played the game
What am I?
The children had to identify the animals from their silhouettes. It was a great activity and the children got very involved. Here is the worksheet I used; animals_great_creator.
In the first session of the afternoon we ran out of time to make some animal models in plasticine but here are some photos of what we made in the second session.
See you next time!
We’re Riding on a Caravan
20 Dec 2011 Leave a Comment
in Asian stories, Stories for 6-9 year olds
In December at the library I told the story of The Silk Road. I used the Barefoot Book “We’re Riding on a Caravan” It is a beautifully illustrated book which includes a map of the Silk Road in China, The Story of Silk and Places Along the Chinese Silk Road.
After the story we played a game. The children played in pairs and each pair had a different item which they could trade with the other pairs. They had silk, jewels, animals, spices, paper and fruit. They went from town to town by throwing a dice.
Each time they where able to exchange an item with another pair they were able to get a stamp on their Passport and then use their map to find their next destination.
Travelers exchanged many goods across Asia, from shimmering silks to exotic spices. They also shared their music, art, and religions. We had a great time on our journey and if you would like to read to some more stories from the Silk Road click here and if you would like to listen to some traditional music click here.
Sant Pol Library, Saturday 12th November 2011
13 Nov 2011 Leave a Comment
in Events, Picture Books, Stories for 6-9 year olds
Yesterday at the library in Sant Pol de Mar we started off on our storytelling journey around the world. 
Our first stop was Ancient Eygpt and we started off talking about Gods and Goddess. We commented on the appearence of them and noticed that some have heads of animals. This is because often there is a connection between the god and goddess and the action of the animal. For example, the goddess of war named Sekhmet was shown with the head of a lion to demonstrate that she was ferocious. 
We also had a look at the Eygptian hieroglyphics
I then told the story of Pepi and the Secret Names. “Prince Dhutmose has ordered a splendid tomb to be built for his final journey to the Land of the Dead. Pepi’s father is to decorate it, but how can he paint the unimaginable: the terrible gods Horus the Hawk, Sebek the Crocodile, and Mertseger the Winged Cobra? Pepi knows he can help. Armed only with his quick wits and knowledge of secret names, the resourceful boy sets out into the wild to bring back real-life models for his father. This enthralling, magically illustrated story transports readers back in time to the mysterious world of ancient Egypt and a hieroglyphics key at the back of the book helps them decipher the secret names.” from the book description @ amazon.com. You can find the book here.
You can see the cat from the story on his very own coffin, which is now in the Cario musuem. Click here to find out more about The Coffin of the She-Cat of Crown Prince Thutmose
Sarcophagus of Prince Thutmose’s cat
Afterwards the children wrote there names in hieroglyphics. Below are some examples and if you want to see your name in hieroglyphics click here at The Hieroglyphic Name Translator.
HAVE A GREAT SUMMER AND SEE YOU IN THE AUTUMN
29 Jun 2011 Leave a Comment
in Photos, Story Time
Thank you to everyone who has made this the best storytelling year ever. I’ve told an amazing number of 150 STORY TIME stories to over 3, 500 children in and around Barcelona. And here are the things I’m LOOKING forward to this summer.
1. Having a rest.
2. Looking for new material for STORY TIME.
3. Writing new plays for LOOKOUT! Theatre Company.
4. Painting a new back drop for our new show for Pre-school.
5. The beach.
HAVE A GREAT SUMMER AND SEE YOU IN THE AUTUMN.
SERENA X
The Smallest Samurai
22 May 2011 Leave a Comment
in Picture Books, Stories for 6-9 year olds
For my last session in the library I decided to have a look at all the stories I had told in the last seven months.
We remembered where the stories came from with the help of some flashcards of people dressed in national costume and a map.
And then it was time to tell the last story for 2010/2011.
The Smallest Samurai by Fiona French.
Then it was time to draw some national costumes;
MEXICO
INDIA
INDIA
MEXICO
INDIA
INDIA
The pictures above were drawn free hand, but some decided to trace theirs.
JAPAN
SCOTLAND
SPAIN
Well done to everyone! And a big thanks to Lali, Eugeni and everyone for coming to the library to listen to the stories this year. Have a great summer!
The Snail and the Whale
22 Apr 2011 Leave a Comment
This month we looked at another fantastic tale from Julia Donaldson with great illustrations from Axel Scheffler; The Snail and the Whale. It’s seems very fitting to tell stories about the sea, as you can see by the photo below, is taken from the window of the library.
Here are some more photos of the session and also some pictures that the children illustrated.
The sea snail slithered all over the rock.
And gazed at the sea and the ships in the dock.
And as she gazed she sniffed and sighed.
“The sea is deep and the world is wide!
How I long to sail!”
Said the tiny snail.
from The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson.
Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book
20 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Folktales, Picture Books, Story Time, Traditional Fairy Tales
Charlie Cook is reading a book about a pirate captain, who is reading a book about Goldilocks, who is reading about a knight, who is reading about a frog . . . From kings and queens to aliens and ghosts, there’s something for everyone in Charlie’s amazing book!
Entertaining, original and it is the book we read yesterday in the library in Sant Pol de Mar. Afterwards we did some work about our favourite books and stories and here are the results.
Top Three Favourite Stories in Sant Pol Story Time.
Number Three: Tina Superbruixa
Number Two: Bat Pat
Number One: Geronimo Stilton
Click on the titles to go to their web pages. The Geronimo Stilton one is in English and has some great activities.
Other favourite stories were St George and the Dragon, Puss in Boots and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Click on these stories and you can listen to an audio version at the Storynory website. A great web to learn English through stories.
Let me know your favourite stories!
Lazy Jack
09 Mar 2011 Leave a Comment
in Folktales, Picture Books, Stories for 6-9 year olds, Story Time
Jack was probably the laziest person in the whole world,…
The Contest Between The Sun and The Wind
26 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in Fables and legends, Picture Books, Stories for 6-9 year olds, Story Time
Click here for the story of The Contest Between The Sun and The Wind and below are some pictures that the children drew, after listening to the story, in Sant Pol library in February.
