Animal Zodiac
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.
Animal Zodiac
(for Asian new year: this was Year of the Dog).
There are many picturebook versions that explain how Rat got ahead of Ox/Cow, …ten more animals… why cat got left out. Fujita-san’s version is the only one I know in which sub-plots make it easy to remember the sequence of all 12.
I brought masks of the 13 animals that I had made by coloring on paper plates. I showed these while telling, lining them up in order.
After plot review, I shuffled the plates and handed them out to volunteers who then re-enacted the story while I narrated. They did some good animal mimicry! We did it a second time so that everyone had a turn.
I gave Mr C a supply of blank paper plates to make their own masks.
I talked with the students about how in traditional times, not just the year but also the day and hour of your birth was thought to control your character! Experts could tell you what date/time would be good luck for a journey (direction also influenced by the animals). So it was important to know the order.
Mr C found videos showing Chinese new year celebrations, dragon dance, etc.
STEM lessons: vertebrate animals of different families.
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