Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Story Box

I have, in my personal collection, some excellent story props. Story props, if you are unfamiliar, are items that have been collected to use while acting out a particular story. Story props can be puppets, masks, items of clothing or objects.
I have made many of my own story props and I had an outstandingly creative Educational Assistant who made the story props for The Mitten by Jan Brett and Thomas' Snowsuit by Robert Munsch.

After I use the story props and we are finished with the story I put them in the Story Box. This box holds 3 to 5 stories and is intended for student use during independent work time. So, one student gets to choose the story box and practice retelling favorite stories. This helps with comprehension skills and vocabulary development (which is key for the English Language Learner).
These are clothing outlines for Robert Munsch's book Thomas' Snowsuit. This book is about a little boy and his refusal to wear his snowsuit and where that refusal takes him.

These are retell puppetts for Jan Brett's version of The Mitten. The large and small mitten are made of felt. All the animal puppets fit inside it and fall out readily when the bear sneezes.


No comments: