Storytelling in an Early Childhood Setting
by John Perlich, graduate student and early childhood educator.

The following journal entries were written and developed as part of TEED 528: Storytelling for Children at Bank Street College.

Storytelling is an important part of our day; we read stories frequently during the day. Sometimes the teachers are asked to read a favorite or a new story to a small group. At other times, a child finds an interesting book, gets comfortable in the Book Nook and reads. Sometimes, several friends read together, sharing the same book or sharing favorite parts with others. We also end our school day with a story.

A story is “something you tell,” as a child in the fours class remarked. As a teacher of fours and fives, I began with two stories, Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky and “The Boy Who Turned Himself into a Peanut.” These are key story examples that Nina Jaffe presented to model oral narrative.

I told the first story at the end of the day in the fours class and the next day in the threes class. As we had learned in class, I began with the African story beginning, “We do not mean, we do not really mean, that everything you are about to hear is the truth. A story, a story, let it come and let it go.” Both groups listened and watched closely. Their interest in the story was reflected in the stories that they "wrote" by dictating to teachers later in the week.

On Monday, I told both classes the story of Ananse’s Feast. The story revolves in part around washing hands before eating, a routine that the children are familiar with. I asked the children to help me invite a story into our room. We rubbed our hands together and stories flew into the room. We each grabbed one and put it into our pockets. I pulled mine out of my pocket and told it to the children. I began Ananse’s Feast with the African opening and the children joined in.

In both classes, the children appear to enjoy hearing stories told as well as having stories read to them.

“Hey, Baba re Bear” in 4A

In our classroom, space and materials are provided to foster and promote literary development through reading, storytelling, story writing, and acting out stories. In one of our planning meetings, we talked about how we could follow up on the children’s interest in the story of the three bears. The children are directors of the story experiences. The teachers listen to the children and repeat or clarify ideas that might lead to further activity. We act as the children’s memory, helping make their ideas visible and allowing them to revisit and reflect on their ideas again and again. Offering the children’s words back to the group often extends the activity, restimulates the group, and helps children communicate their thinking to others.

The children had learned a chant about the three bears early in October and had realized that this was another way to tell a story. We also read a version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears from a book from the school library. The children began to express ideas of what else they could do with the theme and suggested acting it out or making it a puppet show.

Some of the children began to “write” about Goldilocks, asking teachers to take down their versions of the events. “Someone’s been eating my porridge” was a favorite line, so we explored what porridge was during a cooking session.

Early in November, one of the children folded and stapled a piece of paper on which she had made a drawing, slipped it over her hand and said, “It’s a puppet.” She and friends worked on this new idea, and puppet making became contagious.

This was a moment when we could support and extend the children’s thinking. We elaborated on their ideas and made a chart of the Goldilocks puppet show, representing the children’s thinking.

Two groups of children did versions of the Goldilocks puppet show with paper puppets. Then, with the teachers’ support, they made more elaborate puppets out of fabric and other materials. They painted a mural for the set. The children decided to present a show using the new sets, and, after the characters were ready, they crouched down behind a round table so that only the puppets showed. The curtain went up, and the magic began.

“Let Me Tell You . . .” in 5B

The actors are all in their places waiting for their cues. The audience, seated at the opposite end of the rug, is ready. The storyteller/director sits next to the teacher and anticipation fills the room. “Curtain up!” says the teacher, raising the imaginary curtain that marks the line between audience and actors. The teacher begins the narrative, “The mom and daddy were in the kitchen cooking dinner for the daddy.” The actors playing those parts walk out on the center of the rug, our stage in 5B, and the magic of story begins. The story reveals the imagination and experience of the author. As it ends, the actors take their bows and return to be part of the audience, ready to play another part in someone else’s story.

In this form and many others, story fills our classroom and our lives. It is a tool that helps us build a strong community. Story can help unite a group and enhance a sense of solidarity among its members while it also appeals to the individual. Through story we can explore social themes — friendship, family, gender, and identity. We can also tap into that essential human need to be creative and to belong.

Story also helps build skills. Listening is an important skill, which is developed through story. Stories challenge the memory. Stories can be filled with tension, but in the end most traditional folk and fairy tales resolve the situation in a safe way. Stories often contain repetitive phrases, and by experiencing the patterns over and over again, children internalize language for their own use.

Storytelling is genuinely communicative; the hearers tune in to the message. Storytelling is also linguistically honest, containing all the ingredients of spoken language, and exposes the listener to the actual process of language encoding.

Most of all, storytelling is pleasurable; the experience of hearing and telling stories is a joyful way of sharing for everyone.

About the Author

John Perlich, M. S., is a teacher at All Souls School in Manhattan. A particular interest of his is helping children use story to both express their ideas about the world and develop their imagination.