Storytelling
Storytelling is one of my favourite activities in Fontenebro school. As a child I loved being read bedtime stories and I still read stories to my ten year old son. Storytelling provides an opportunity to develop different skills, to encourage independent reading and a passion for books and it’s a great way to bond with children.
It makes me so happy when I walk into the classroom and the children shout ‘Today is library day’. Storytelling is a magical moment.
We start the activity with the story book covered up with just a tiny part of the front cover revealed and I ask the children what they think the story is going to be about. Their ideas are always creative, interesting and funny. Then we look at the title and the front cover and think about if their ideas could be right.
The children listen to the story, sometimes raising their hands to make comments or ask questions. Sometimes we stop and we think about what is going to happen next. Listening to the stories as a group brings the children together, it creates a community of people listening to the same story and sharing similar emotions. Stories inspire and motivate.
At the end of the story we talk about if we liked the story or not and why. We think about the message of the story and how we can relate that message to our own lives. The children always have great ideas and they love to share their ideas with their classmates.
Storytelling is fun, it improves vocabulary, it sparks imagination, it creates conversation and encourages children to read themselves and to love books.
Storytelling is universal, we use it to entertain, to inform and to pass on shared beliefs and values and the message of this ‘story’ is that we are never too old to listen to stories.
Rachael Walley
Primary Teacher