Storytelling and STEM – Fran Stallings: Caps for Sale
Teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Fran Stallings, a storyteller based in Oklahoma, works on a weekly basis with a local 2nd grade class (7- to 8-year-old children). Their classteacher, Mr C, uses the story she tells as the basis for an amazing amount of his teaching, in particular in the STEM subjects.
Fran has posted some details of this work on the Storytell listserv. She has generously given permission for me to publish some of them here – until such time as she creates pages on her own website.
Below are some of them.
Caps for Sale
I told Caps for Sale, based on my childhood memory of Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business by Esphyr Slobodkina (Harper Collins, first published 1938).
I added participation: on a typical “good day,” students pretend to buy a cap in color of their choice, but on the day of the story they improvise excuses for why they can’t or don’t want to buy. Some were pretty creative! “I already have 300 caps.” (A collector?) “I have a headache, a cap will hurt my head.” Students also acted as the treeful of monkeys, mimicking my gestures and making monkey sounds.
Caps in all the colors of the rainbow (and stacked in rainbow order) are also my addition. The original book (thanks, Amazon’s ” Look Inside” feature!) lists just his own checkered cap, then gray, then brown, blue, and finally red. And with a nod to inflation, the caps are now $10 each instead of 50 cents!
STEM applications: prism, rainbow, color order.
Other applications: Discussion of Story Elements: Beginning (who what when where, but nothing is happening yet), Middle (“One day –“), End; Characters, Setting.
Students can act out this story taking turns as Cap Seller and Narrator. Half the remaining students can be villagers, other half can be monkeys. Then switch.
A student suggests making caps, perhaps out of paper plates or bowls.
Below are some more of Fran’s posts
They are in no particular order, but serve to show what is possible.
Visit Fran’s website
to find more about her wide range of work.
In particular, explore the Earth Teller Tales, where she shares many articles about teaching natural science through storytelling.
Fran’s article The Web of Silence: Storytelling’s Power to Hypnotize is a deep exploration of many aspects of the storytelling experience, including the storytelling trance. It also offers great insight into the whole art itself.
Fran can be contacted here.
Further resources relating to storytelling in schools
- Science teaching: Hawthorn Press
- Generally using storytelling in schools: Storytelling schools
Go here for a list of all tales included on this site
Go here to receive an e-mail notification when new tales are added
Permission to tell outlines my views on copyright
For those who are teachers: Telling stories in the classroom: basing language teaching on storytelling