Tuesday, June 08, 2010

"I'm Going To Tell A Submarine Story"

After yesterday's post, which while honest, was a bit of a downer, I thought I'd get back to transcribing the final batch of stories the kids told this year. If you're interested in how we go about storytelling at Woodland Park, you might want to check out this little primer: How We Tell Stories.

Often when I share our stories with you, I group them by theme or technique or story arc. This time, I'm presenting the results of two separate storytelling sessions in the order in which they were told. Since there is often a knot of kids around me listening to one another tell as they tell their stories, it's inevitable that they will influence one another. It's interesting how these influences morph from child-to-child, creating, in a way, a single narrative.

Session one:

I'm going to tell a submarine story. Then there was a emergency submarine. Then the boat was sinking. then the tow boat came out. Then another boat was sinking. then the other tow boat came out.  --Peter
Once there was one friend and another friend and another and there was 1000 friends. And then there was a big rocket that puts fire on them. And then a new kind of bonky wonky (that's the kind of thing that saves 1000 friends). --Jack
Once there was a bat. And then there was a big rocket and it burned all the bats up. And then there was 100 of friends standing in line. And then a pirate took them. And then there was another big rocket with fire. And then the end. --Lachlan
Somebody did a movie about tractors and trucks. I do! --Peter
It's about T-Whitey. He's a skeleton. Every day he goes away. And every night he comes to play. And then he rides to my house on a airplane to play. --Max
Once there was a monster truck. It crashed into the cars. And then the cars drived into the monster truck. And then the car got on the wrong sidewalk. But the monster truck was on the road. The trucks got on the wrong sidewalk too. --Isak
A Monsters, Inc. Then a monster ran into a pirate ship. Then a rain went right on a baby. And then a monster went on a blanket. And the a vacuum came and cleaned him up. Then a kid wants a toy. --Charlie B.
The truck hit the taco and then Freddie pushed iCarley out of the way. Same tells Spencer and then Carley in school. Everybody tells what is the hero. The hero means he got it. --Finn V.
Forklift nothing. The the goo goo gaa (that's that thing that always tries to push a toy on a tire). Then the Bobcat and the forklift have lunch together. Then they both have dinner together. Then they go to bed in their snuggley wood chips. Then the cat grabbed the paint brush and painted the wood chips brown and blue and yellow. And then the forklift and the Bobcat went crazy loco together digging snow. And the excavator was digging snow too. And then the penguins were building a building. Bam! Bam! Bam! Then the screwdriver danced along and poked holes in the snow. And then all that stuff pile. Then they went crazy loco together and made a big snow ball. Then the forklift and Bobcat have with the excavator a very nice birthday cake. --Thomas
iCarley. One episode of iCarley was . . . So iCarley and his friend walked along and her friend was allergic to bees and a bee was close to him. So he broke into his ugly teacher's class. Then he accidentally stepped on a instrument an dgot all the air out. Then the ugly teacher saw and sid, "you guys get out of my house right now!" --Katherine
A truck bump.  --Ariya
There once was a kitty that was black like the night. And she wandered through the forest. And then he found a ghost and made friends with that ghost. And he loved to play with that friend. And then the kitty cat said, "Goodbye." And they both went home.  --Josephine

Second session, some days later:

Haunted house. Enchanted haunted house is really scarey. Then the government came and shot the monsters. --Finn V.
About a silly dog. Then he found the water and fell down the water. And then he found some paint brushes and he ate the paint brushes. And then he ate 2 pairs of circle dogs. And then he wanted to eat some food. And then he forgotted he didn't want to eat any more. And then he wanted to eat a big book, but he couldn't. --Sarah
Kate
Once upon a time there was a Katherine named Kate Late. And there was a mouse. And he scared me away. And there was a haunted house. So I goed inside and I saw 10 monsters. And then I ran away. And I scared the monster, so I could hide in the haunted house. And then I saw a nice owl. --Katherine
The Forklift
The forklift ate some bats. And then he ate some paint brushes. Then he ate some screwdrivers. Then the forklift ate a forklift. Then he turned into another forklift. And then there was a "J" and he ate the "J." Then the duckies came and shot cannons at him. And then the forklift rode a bomb. And the it exploded into the air and killed a ducky. And then the winter and there was a ice storm. And then it blasted up like a forklift. And then it went to nowhere. And then the forklift had dinner with a Bobcat with a front-end loader. --Thomas
There once was a ducky swimming in the water. Then he found a kitty cat to play with and they threw balls. Then they played with each other on the monkey bars. And then they jumped along and swimmed through the water again. And they they played almost a week together. And they after a long time they went home. --Josephine
A baby and a baby found another baby. And then they were friends. And then they loved each other. Then a monster came and scared the babies. Then the babies were playing again. And then the babies scared the bad guy. Then a ghost came and scared the babies. Then babies found a best friend. And then a big baby came and hugged them. Then the babies love everybody. --Luna
If you're interested in other stories from the kids, here they are in the order in which I've transcribed them:



Bookmark and Share

4 comments:

Scott said...

My favorite phrase: "They went crazy loco together." I think I've done that a time or two.

Unknown said...

: ) I am just glad the forklift ate the bats. That is all I know! Phew!

Unknown said...

"The government came and shot the monsters"-hahahaha!!! I love how children hear words in their environment and put them into their own stories! Thank you for sharing all these wonderful stories. :)

Let the Children Play said...

I hope you are not the ugly teacher Katharine was referring to in her story :)

We don't do nearly enough of this kind of thing at preschool - thanks for getting me thinking.