Storytelling with kids

Hello lovely people, and thank you for visiting!

My name is Olga, and I’m a storyteller.

I wasn’t even aware that I’m a storyteller. My kiddo started the first grade in September 2020, the COVID year. After a week of in-person school, his class, like the rest of the classes throughout Israel and all over the world, was sent home to online learning. Online learning of preliterate first graders is a challenging experience on many levels, but what concerned me the most was the fact that kids that just started school together have no chance to meet and to connect with each other.

To try and remedy that, I organized a daily story hour. Actually, half an hour. Or really, 45 minutes of allotted free zoom meeting time. The premise was: no lockdown without a story. We chose a book. I've divided it into 6 parts/chapters. Each workday we've read a chapter.

Reading a chapter was mostly an excuse for virtually hanging out together, day after day. But before we started reading, the kids chatted and told each other stories about their day. And after the reading, the kids discussed what they just heard and interpreted it, assimilating the story into their world.

As it turns out, the choice of a story wasn't that important. The important thing was to provide a place for the kids to share *their* stories. That's how the connections were forged.

A few months after the beginning of the first grade, the COVID restrictions were lifted. The kids were able to meet in the school and outside. Playgrounds were reopened. My kid and some of his classmates happily played on monkey bars, and I got to meet a fellow mom. We exchanged niceties, then she exclaimed: “Wait, I know you! You’re the storyteller!”

It's true, apparently. I was a storyteller. But more importantly, everyone in that class was a storyteller. We always have stories to share, and we only need a platform to share our stories.

Welcome to "Storytelling with kids - connect, engage, learn at home and in school" - a place where I share my experience of sharing stories with kids and getting kids to share their stories.

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