Making Folktales Come Alive with Storyteller Len Cabral!
Help me give my students a visit with storyteller Len Cabral! A recipient of the National Storytelling Network's Circle of Excellence, Len retells African, Cape Verdean, and Caribbean folktales as well tales from around the world.
Our students come from may different backgrounds and socioeconomic situations. A number of students have plenty of literature in their homes and the library will become a place to find new topics of interest and new series to enjoy. A growing percentage of our local population is not as fortunate. Regardless of which background is home to our students, we are constantly seeking new ways to share a broad assortment of literature with them.
There is nothing more refreshing than the sight of a kindergarten student entering the school library for the first time.
Their eyes dart all over the space, taking in the thousands of books waiting to be read, the comfortable seating arrangements, the computers, robots, and other technologies. For many kindergarten students this will be their first time inside of a library of any kind. They are full of excitement and desire to explore this special space in our school.
My Project
Our first grade students study folktales from the United States and around the world. We read traditional stories such as Anasi and Lon Po Po, but in recent years we have been able to discover so many other incredible tales with the help of the Circle Round podcast. Hearing stories told aloud - without a book and pictures as accompaniment - allows students to experience storytelling in its original form. This year, I hope to bring a live storyteller to our school via Zoom to complete our storytelling unit in library class!
Internationally acclaimed storyteller Len Cabral retells African, Cape Verdean, and Caribbean folktales as well as original stories and tales from around the world.
One of his stories - How the Rabbit Lost its Tail - is a Haitian folktale that happens to be featured during our classes. Additionally, a number of our students and families have a strong Cape Verdean heritage. We would love to have our students experience more folktales from a master storyteller who specializes in this exact area - and what better way than through a live performance!
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