Snails, Snipping, and Stories

Our snail, Slivers, continues to be a great fascination and inspiration; children look for it whenever they have a moment.  In the morning, we often have to encourage them to put down the magnifying glasses and hang their backpacks up before they start observing (or sharing a book with) Slivers!

Children have been honing their cutting skills by working on cutting various shapes of lines. They have been enjoying this practice a great deal.

But how does snipping with scissors relate to the snail?  Children put their cutting practice to good use when they cut some snail slime they had painted into curvy trails, like those a snail might make.

The slime has joined their beautiful painted snails and then the children were drawn to admire their amazing work!

Each child has also made a clay snail so we have a lovely snail gallery to view.  

And in other exciting business in the classroom, children have been acting out the Frog and Toad story “The Lost Button”, which has been so engaging for them!  

Children are practicing listening to the story, dramatizing it, using props, and expressing the characters’ words with their voices.  Drama helps children to build self-control (waiting their turn and listening to others) and self-confidence (speaking their lines). Telling stories contributes to language development and it builds vocabulary.  Acting stories out also gives children practice with expression: verbal expression as well as body language and facial expressions.  All of these things contribute to being a strong communicator.

Children have considered where the story takes place (the setting) and have helped to construct the set using the hollow blocks.  They think about the characters and the sequence of events in the story.  Playing different parts can give children a perspective on the story.  All of this contributes to developing a sense of how narratives work, just as reading to children does.  However, drama is a more active way of participating in the narrative, and for some children, it helps them gain a better understanding of the way stories work.  All of this knowledge and experience will later contribute to reading with understanding. 

They are really enjoying this type of storytelling!