May Storytime Briefly 2015

I have conflicting feelings about the month of May.  First, I am counting down the days until school lets out.  I look forward to summer days with no homework, no school projects, and no bell schedule.  Summer is the time when I get to decide what to do with my children, and I love it.  On the other hand, it also the last month of storytime at school, and I know I will miss the students I have come to know this year.

I decided to wrap up the year with fables, folktales, and biographies.

Among all the biographical stories we read this year, there was not a single one about a woman, so we took a week to look at a couple of amazing women.  We read

• Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909 by Michelle Markel, illustrated by Melissa Sweet and
• The Tree Lady: The True Story of How One Tree-Loving Woman Changed a City Forever by H. Joseph Hopkins, illustrated by Jill McElmurry.

We talked about Aesop's Fables with the following stories:

• "The Fox and the Crow" retold with puppets and
• Mouse & Lion by Rand Burkert, illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert.

We talked about flattery and about morals.  The students did a great job of articulating the lessons that could be learned from Mouse & Lion.

We finished the year with these folktales from Africa:

• Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile by Won-Ldy Paye, illustrated by Margaret H. Lippert and
• "The Girl who Loved Danger" told using Steve Light's story box.

I cannot recommend Steve Light's story boxes enough.  They making storytelling fun for kids and adults alike.  And I think it was the perfect way to end the year.