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Animated storytelling by David Novak



They Came From Land and Sky
stories from nature
Grades K-8An active Audience at Family Night Storytelling, Morehead School, Greensboro, NC
Did we get stories from stones? Writing from birds? Composition from caterpillars? This program explains how people learned to tell stories from observations in the natural world.


Your students will learn about...
    * story structures in nature
    * methods for applying nature to composition
David connects stories with nature using personal experience, folk tales, myth, and history. A Seneca legend explains how the people learned stories from Grandfather Stone.  The caterpillar's metamorphosis is demonstrated as an framework for familiar stories such as Cinderella. An ibis pressing its beak in mud flats is connected with the Egyptian, god, Thoth, inventor of writing.

With entertaining gestures, characters, voices, and original renditions of familiar tales, students learn new strategies for identifying and creating stories.