Today’s guest post comes from Barbara in Robbinsdale
It sounds like Husband is mumbling something to me from the front room, but no… as I approach I realize that he is just rehearsing again. Tomorrow his volunteer group will present two stories at our regional library, and he has one of the leads – Little Beaver – in one; he will be Narrator in the other.
Michael is part of a group called Story Theater, a collection of Senior (and I don’t mean high school) volunteers in the Robbinsdale School District, who act out tales from books for elementary school kids. (I’m aware of at least one other district that also has Story Theater.) During the school year S. T. members rehearse every other Monday, and then travel to a different school almost weekly, in their Story Theater t-shirts and headgear, with their props and script stands, and to promote a love of reading for 1st – 5th graders.
They’re really pretty good – adopting different characters’ voices and inflection, projecting their voices, and engaging the kids whenever possible. The group used to read the script standing behind their stands, till George Lillquist – a former middle school drama director, among other things – came on board as Director a few years ago. Now there is more memorization of lines, and therefore more eye contact and communication with the other players and the audience.
Costumes are an amazing array of headgear (and have become more elaborate and sophisticated over the years), fashioned by the Props Committee. For instance, Little Beaver’s hat is brown plush with white trim for teeth, and has a beaver’s tail/paddle at the back.
As I see it, Story Theater serves several purposes. It shows the kids how reading can be fun, and that older folks can have fun volunteering. It keeps alive the art of oral storytelling, and each story has a moral for the kids to take with them.
But the most fun for me is seeing Husband and his colleagues out there, stretching their skills, having a ball as they make a bunch of little kids laugh.
What children’s story would you include in Story Theater’s repertoire?
Trail Baboon 
Good morning. Thanks for telling us about Story Theatre, BiR. I found that one of the best things to do as a substitute teacher was to read from story books and be a little dramatic about it if I could.
The first story book or series of books that I can think of to recommend for Story Theatre is the Madeline books. It is one of the most loved childrens’ book series at our house. It might take a little work to adapt them for a Story Theatre presentation. The parts, other than that of Madeline, aren’t very big. The Madeline books are not very long. Several of them could be done at one time to give a longer presentation.
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It was one of my favorites things about teaching kdgn, too, Jim – reading to them.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmv6VqllsKI
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That’s great, Holly. And it takes me back. I had an outfit identical to that!
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Always wondered who it was who did that song!
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I used to wear stuff like the girl in the red top and yellow shorts and it looked that good. Well, that’s over.
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Lovely story, BiR. I have a more conventional story to recommend, but I’d like to start with my daughter’s favorite story. It was, in fact, her favorite story for several years. And it is only four sentences long. When I would tell stories to my daughter to help her fall asleep, she would almost always ask me to “do The Ant.” Pardon me if I blogged this once before.
An ant was crawling along a blade of grass.
Along came a cow, and it ate the grass.
Inside the cow it was dark and warm, so the ant fell asleep.
When it woke up . . . the cow was gone.
And there you have it, a tiny gem that features a life-or-death drama, humor and (best of all) cow poop. I can’t wait to tell Liam “The Ant” when I see him this fall.
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I’d love to be a “mouse in the corner” when you tell it to him for the first time, Steve.
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The Three Billy Goats Gruff is a favorite of mine from my youth – goats, a troll, drama, humor. Maybe a little scary for the very young, but a great opportunity for playing with different voices. East of the Sun and West of the Moon is another that would adapt well to oral story telling with its prince that switches from human to animal and back. For more modern stuff, you could try something from the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie series, though those are generally only two character stories. A couple less known ones that Daughter liked as a kid are Too Loud Lily about a very dramatic hippo finding a good use for her talents (there is an opportunity for polka dot undies if you follow the pictures from the book), or Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon about a little girl with a lot of positive attitude (and an ability to balance pennies on her front teeth).
Sorry I missed yesterday’s food discussion – fun reading!
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Morning all. I had two early childhood favorites that would be fun for Story Theatre. Peter Rabbit and The Pokey Little Puppy, I’m sure the hats for the bunny siblings and Farmer McGregor would be a hoot!
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Ditto for Peter Rabbit–I know fill the role of Farmer McGregor at home.
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One of my daughter’s favorites (and mine too, since it invited me to read dramatically) was a Steven Kellogg book called The Island of the Skog. A bunch of mice living in London sets said across the sea to a strange island. They are terrified to learn that there is another living creature on the island, The Skog. But they don’t know anything about the Skog. They fire cannons wildly in their panic. They later meet the Skog, who is small and gentle. Molly used to forbid me to use a dramatic voice when reading this book (even when she had memorized it and knew how it would come out). But she really wanted me to read it in a scary way. And I did.
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Acch! “sets sail,” I meant.
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Dr. Doolittle was a favorite of mine. It could present some costuming challenges, though.
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I almost forgot a children’s story that would be one of the top ones to consider for the Story Theatre’s repertoire, Winnie the Pooh.
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Good Night, Good Night Construction Site, Catwings, Wind in the Willows, Mike Mulliagan and his Steam Shovel, The Jolly Postman, Ten in a Bed. I could to on and on.
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Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel was always a favorite.
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Very interesting array of books thus far! I may compile a list at end of day, compare it to their repertoire and see if there’s any overlap…
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Rise and Shine Baboons!
Pippi Longstocking would make for wonderful, irresistable headgear! Selected stories from Laura Inglalls Wilder’s bppls could be wonderful, as well. The story of the puma in the woods could safely scare the kids silly (Little House in the Big Woods).
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Pippi Longstocking would also be a top choice for me.
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I had a great time reading Roald Dahl stories aloud. My favorites were The Witches (loved the strong Germanesque accent of the Grand High Witch) and The B.F.G. (Big Friendly Giant). The B.F.G. never had any parents to teach him how to speak properly so his grammar was terrible. For a short time, my grammar-police-mind made me edit as I read but I finally decided that that was an essential part of his charm so I read it straight.
Those stories would be too long for Story Theater, though.
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Another good one by Dahl is James and the Giant Peach.
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Love love love Roald Dahl.
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Oooh – just thought of another one that’s great for voices: The Gruffalo. Lots of animals encountered by a mouse (including a snake – the snake at our house when this was read sounded like Peter Lorre) so plenty of opportunity for hats and voices and silliness. I’d suggest some of the Kate DeCamillo books like the Mercy Watson series, but they may be too long – and Bink and Gollie really only has two characters…who happen to roller skate, make pancakes, argue about socks and climb furniture mountains.
Daughter had a group of readers theater folks come into her preschool from time to time. I caught part of one of the shows – hard to know if the kids or the grown-ups were having more fun. 🙂 I can see where your husband would get a kick out of this and be good at it, too, BiR!
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Love Bink & Gollie… What school district are you in, Anna?
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We are in Minneapolis – Daughter went to a preschool/daycare in Edina which was not associated directly with a school district.
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Another sort of hilarious exercise is to think of things that would be pretty much impossible to act out. “The Mitten” comes to mind…
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Caps for Sale, The Elephant’s Child, The Story of Ferdinand, Chicken Little.
Let us vow, dear baboons, to never outgrow storytime, and be forced to walk the plank if we do.
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I remember Caps for Sale and The Story of Ferdinand fondly from my Captain Kangaroo days. Also Harry the Dirty Dog!
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and ping
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Great selection of stories, Donna. Do you think anyone who claims to have outgrown story time might get a visit from Captain Billy and boys? I’m sure the Captain would be glad to make a plank walker out of any low life who thinks they have outgrown storytime.
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Ye betcha, Jim.
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Carl Sandberg’s “Rootabaga Stories” are great read-aloud stories that our girls loved — especially “The Wedding Procession of the Rag Doll and the Broom Handle”.
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Hi Robin, good to hear from you. Are you all healed up by now?
And BiR, I love this blog. I can see why Michael would enjoy doing this; what fun for everyone involved. While I can’t think of a specific folk tale for this application, I love folk tales from all kinds of cultures, and I would think that some of them would lend themselves very nicely to Story Theater’s interpretation.
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I forgot to mention – there’s a lot more information about the group and its origins if you click on the link (in red) under the top photo.
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I checked out the link, BiR. I think the reporter did a good job of covering Story Theater.
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The Paper Bag Princess was new to me when the s&h was small. It is most excellent.
also Aesop.
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Oh yes, Paper Bag Princess. An excellent tale!
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The Paper Bag Princess was a staple at our house when Child was younger!
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When I was growing up I read all the Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books. I recently came across one in a little free library and brought it home to re-read. The stories now strike me as a little preachy, but I wasn’t bothered by that as a kid. I just thought they were fun.
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I loved those stories. I bought a couple of them when Child started reading, but she wasn’t impressed. I liked the one in which the pig has better manners than the kids.
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Yes. Lester.
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i am a jack and the beanstalk kind of guy. lots of drama. wasting the cow on some beans and you ge tthe goose who lays the golden eggs.
i have also come to enjoy amelia bedilia but im not sure how it would play. hansel and gretel was a goodie. maybe i could do a quick write up on the talking train. that was my all time bedtime favorite as a child but i think my dad made it up.
sorry to be late . busy day.
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Better late than never.
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Words to live by
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I think my favorite for acting out would be “Garth Pig and the Ice Cream Lady” by Mary Raynor. Has everything – a wolf (the ice cream lady), a Mother Pig and piglets… Wish I hadn’t let this book go.
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Search the Little Free Libraries.
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Yes, yes, to Garth Pig! My son was somewhere in New York when he came across a dog eared copy. He brought it home for me. I may now have two copies. If I do, I can pass one on to BiR. Excellent illustrations.
There was another story I loved but I can’t remember much of anything about it. I think it had some kind of automatic animal washing machine. One of the things that made the animals (pigs? rabbits?) dirty was “pond scum”. My kids heard it wrong and always referred to it as “ponds gum”.
Not necessarily good for acting out but brought to mind via this discussion was A Very Special House by Ruth Krauss w/ illustrations by Maurice Sendak. I just looked it up online and it had a wide range of ratings from readers. Some adored it as I did and some thought it was useless. À chacun son goût.
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I used to have A Very Special House memorized, Lisa.
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