Sunday, May 25, 2008

Story Time.







I love to read aloud. I love having little kids about to read to but there's no getting away from it; to read aloud well one has to be something of a dork. One's audience is lost if one is too prim & proper. OK, being a dork comes easy for me. I am way past caring what anyone thinks of me at this level because generating a love of language & good books is far too important to worry about one's dignity. Self conscious one can not be.




There are no hard & fast rules when it comes to reading aloud but there are some good general guidlines it is generally wise to follow.




Choose something you like ~ chances are you will be reading it over & over till the book falls to bits.




Read with plenty of expression but don't make it too fancy; chances are ~ yep, you'll have to do it over & over the same way!




Engage your audience. This is why you need to choose books carefully. I look for simple things like repitition or sound effects. This makes it easy to get kiddies to join in & they love it. Books like Where the Wild Things Are are easy to elaborate on. "Show me your claws, give me a terrible roar ~ go on! Is that the best you can do? Gnash your teeth" & if you are very brave let them do their wild dance. Um, yeah, story time can get a bit wild at times.




Lastly, ditch the book. Some stories are great for just telling. My favourite is Greedy Guzzler. I have no idea where the origonal came from but kids love this & it is sooo simple. You need a balloon with a cat's face drawn on it & you begin like this: " Once upon a time there was a very fat cat called Greedy Guzzler who ate fish in a dish, milk in a mug & porridge in a pot but he was still hungry." For each thing you mention you blow up your ballon just a little bit more or get one of the kiddies to do it. I can no longer remember the order of what greedy guzzler ate but it does not matter as you can make up whatever you like & each time you add something the children have to recite the list in order & the balloon gets a little bigger. Finally Greedy Guzzler gobbles up the sun the moon & the stars. (If you have a child who won't scare you can let a child blow away until the balloon bursts or keep a pin in reserve.) Greedy Guzzler bursts & everything falls back into place in reverse order. This is so much fun but like I said, you've got to be something of a dork.

11 comments:

Constance said...

I think story-telling is an art which has diminished over the years. I read A LOT to my kids when they were young. One of their all-time favorites was "The Spooky Old Tree" by Stan & Jan Berenstein (Berenstein Bears series). That book literally disintegrated with time. Dave's younger brother Trace is a great story-teller, comeplete with sound effects. Our kids always loved listening to him recount stories from their youth, it was always a treat!
Connie

MamaOlive said...

So when are you gonna post a recording? You keep bragging on yourself... I wanna hear! Tell me a story, puh-lease. :-)

Ganeida said...

you can do that? but I don't know how! :(

MamaOlive said...

Excuses, excuses!
(I don't know how either. But I bet I could find out if I really wanted to.)

Ganeida said...

Off you go then... & then you can tell me how & watch while I make a botch of it. lol.

MamaOlive said...

Hey, I finally found something!
http://www.4shared.com/signup.jsp

This is the site all the CF MM people used to make recordings of their accents last year. (Those are all expired now. :-( )

Of course, you could also do youtube or something, depending on if you have video or just voice recording.

Ganeida said...

Correct me if I'm wrong but I need a mike & stuff for this? Why don't I just do you guys a tape & send it over? What sort of things do you like? Name a book & if I can get hold of a copy I'll do you a tape.(I know how those work :) ) Or shall I just choose something I like?

molytail said...

I *love* the Greedy Guzzler idea!! Way cool. :-) (and you're so right on all your points, especially the willingness to dawn a dork hat - I'm beyond caring myself and others can think me a goof if they want.. reading aloud requires silliness! )

MamaOlive said...

You think we're taking this too seriously?
Yeah, you'd have to have some way to get a recording onto the computer. SOmeone on MM used their mobile phone to do it.
Do you still have my addy?
(You know, I never got your Christmas card.) If you just want to make me a tape, I'll sure listen to it. :-)
But I do understand the concept of 'too much trouble.'

Ganeida said...

lol. We're just playing & Your Christmas card is here & I enjoy it very much! :D Any other year there are hordes of cards suitable for intenational friends. Last year ~ zip, zero, zilch, nothing. By the time I found something it was too late to send it but I bought it anyway thinking I'd send it this year so yes, I still have your address. {But it should tell you how long you might have to wait to hear fom me. :( }

Mrs. Darling said...

I love these books here. I still have littles to read to and lately I havent been doing enough. I have vowed that we will get back to it and your post of these books is helpeing me firm up that resolve. You rock!