January 2011

1-21-11 5th grade students play their game, The Troll Troubles, based on the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Friends:

Today was Day 9 of my 10-day “Stories on Board: Creating Board Games from Favorite Tales” residency at Strehle Elementary School in Avondale, LA. The first class I visited was Ms. Hervey’s first grade class. Because the class was on a field trip yesterday, we have to rearrange my schedule to fit them in today. I told the story of “The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza” and then they played the game based on the story. When I left their class, they were as quiet as can be. Great job, Ms. Hervey’s class!

1-21-11 Students in Ms. Hervey's first grade class play The Little Red Hen's Pizza Party

After Ms. Hervey’s class, I visited Ms. Giroir’s Pre-K class. The children were so excited to see me and I was bombarded with hugs from the moment I walked into the classroom. I told the story of “The Gingerbread Man” and they played the game, “The Gingerbread Jam.”

1-21-11 Students in Ms. Giroir's PK class play Gingerbread Jam

Next, I headed to fifth grade. Most of the students in this class were finished designing and coloring their boards. This particular class was assigned the story, “Little Red Riding Hood,” and they did such an amazing job with their board games! Look at this!

1-21-11 Little Red's Escape, a game created by 5th grade students, based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood

This next game is absolutely amazing. It’s called “Little Red’s Caper,” and I love the play on words and how they used Little Red’s cape as the game board. I also LOVE her adorable face! Great job on the face, Antonio!

1-21-11 Students in 5th grade play their game, Little Red's Caper, based on the story, Little Red Riding Hood

My next class was also a fifth grade class. This class was less organized than the previous class and were not as far along on their board games. They worked for most of the class plotting their spaces, outlining, and coloring their boards. They were assigned the story, “The Lion and the Mouse.” Still, many of the boards came out great although they ran out of time to play.

1-21-11 The Lion Escapes, a game created by 5th grade students, based on the story of The Lion and the Mouse

I also loved the concept of the zig zag board used in this game called “The Hunter’s Trap. It was well-executed and look like a lot of fun to play.

1-21-11 The Hunter's Trap, a game created by 5th grade students, based on the story of The Lion and the Mouse

Next, it was time to visit special ed Pre-K. We had a great time with my new book, There’s a Dragon in the Library. We made dragon roaring sounds and sang a song. It was fun and they were very responsive. I just love working with Ms. Pat, Ms. Tina, and Ms. Katie!

1-21-11 Dianne de Las Casas with Special Ed PK

My last class of the day was my final fifth grade class. The class was assigned the story, The Three Billy Goats Gruff. This class worked so well together that I had the opportunity to play a game: The Troll Troubles. We had a fantastic time and I loved seeing their games come to life!

1-21-11 5th grade students with their game, The Billy Goats Trippity Trap, based on the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff

There was so much creativity and the students were so inventive, using both the left and right sides of their brains. I truly enjoy seeing them delight in their accomplishments. I also love seeing their reaction to other students playing and enjoying their games. It’s a terrific process and I can’t wait until Monday, when we have Gradewide Game Day for all the grades. Classes in each grade will exchange games and play each others’ games.

1-21-11 5th grade students with their game, The 3 Billy G's, based on the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff

Monday is going to be a total blast and I can’t wait!! Fantastic job, Strehle students!

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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1-18-11 Students from Ms. Avist's first grade class play Gingerbread Jam

Friends:

Today was Day 6 of my “Stories on Board: Creating Board Games from Favorite Tales” residency at Strehle Elementary in Avondale, Louisiana. This will be a short blog because, like a goofball, I forgot to take pictures of my awesome fifth grade classes! I was so involved in the first part of my lesson that I totally neglected to take pictures of their works in progress.

Anyway, my day began with a second visit to Ms. Avist’s first grade class. The students were so happy to see me when I walked in the room that they started running up to hug me. After they settled down, I shared the story of “The Gingerbread Man” and taught them how to play “The Gingerbread Jam.” They really enjoyed the game.

There was a scheduling snafu and I had to do some class switching. I made my second visit to Ms. Robinson’s kindergarten room. I told them the story of “The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza” and they loved playing the game, “The Little Red Hen’s Pizza Party.” Because they were kindergarteners, they needed a little more help moving their game pieces around the pizza-shaped board and the spaces that were pizza slices. But they did a good job playing together.

1-18-11 Students from Ms. Robinson's Kindergarten class play The Little Red Hen's Pizza Party

In Ms. Robinson’s class, I found out that one of my professional books, Scared Silly: 25 Tales to Tickle and Thrill, won a 2011 Storytelling World Award. How exciting!

Scared Silly: 25 Tales to Tickle and Thrill wins a 2011 Storytelling World Award!

I visited two fifth grade classes next. It was my first visit and The classes were assigned the stories, “Little Red Riding Hood” and “The Lion and the Mouse.” Some of the titles they came up with for “Little Red Riding Hood” were: “Little Red’s Caper” and “Off to Granny’s We Go.” For “The Lion and the Mouse,” some of the titles created were: “The Hunter’s Trap” and “The Lion’s Escape.”

After lunch, I visited Ms. Clausing’s Pre-K class. I told the story of “The Little Red Hen” and they learned how to play “The Little Red Hen’s Pizza Party.” Because of their young age, the children had to be closely coached on how to move their game pieces around the board. They did well taking turns and counting the dots on the die.

1-18-11 Ms. Clausing's Pre-K class plays The Little Red Hen's Pizza Party

I visited another 5th grade class. They were assigned the story of “The Three Billy Goats Gruff.” There were a lot of creative titles bandied. The winners include, “The Three Billy Goat Gs,” “The Goats’ Trippity Trap,” “Across the Bridge,” and “The Troll’s Troubles.” I was really impressed with how each group came up with inventive titles independently of the other students.

My last class of the day was Ms. Royster’s third grade class. It was my first visit to their class and they had to learn the first step of the “Stories on Board” process. After the story mapping activity, learning the game board perils and triumphs, and seeing all the game board shapes, they began work planning their games. They were assigned the story of “Henny Penny” and came up with some fun titles: “Killer Fox,” “Run to the King,” “The Sneaky Fox,” “The Ferocious Fox,” and “The Fox’s Lair.”

1-18-11 The start of a game board by students in Ms. Royster's third grade class

I can’t wait to see how this week’s board games come out! It will be fun to see them progress.

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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1-14-11 Ms. King's Kindergarten Class sings Happy Birthday to Dianne, crowned with a tiara from Ms. Robinson's class!

Friends:

Friday was the fifth day of my “Stories on Board” residency at Strehle Elementary in Avondale, Louisiana. My morning was full of kindergarten classes. First, I visited Ms. Clausing’s class for the first time. After I told the story of “The Gingerbread Man,” the students played the game, “The Gingerbread Jam.” They had fun learning how to move their game pieces around the board with addition and subtraction.

1-14-11 Ms. Clausing's Kindergarten class plays Gingerbread Jam

Next, I went to Ms. Robinson’s Kindergarten class. It was my first visit to Ms. Robinson’s class and I told them the story of “The Gingerbread Man.” I taught them how to play “The Gingerbread Jam” and they played the game, learning how to move around the board and how to count spaces. I got a birthday tiara to wear! Woo hoo!

1-14-11 Ms. Robinson's Kindergarten class plays Gingerbread Jam

Then it was time to move on to Ms. King’s class. It was my second visit to the class so I told the story of “The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza.” Then I taught them how to play “The Little Red Hen’s Pizza’s Party,” on a circular board with pizza slices as the game spaces.

1-14-11 Ms. King's class plays The Little Red Hen's Pizza Party

Then I went to Special Ed Pre-K. The class was awesome. They listened to a story and three songs! The students were very participatory and having a blast.

1-14-11 Pre-K Special Ed

After lunch, I headed to Ms. Lankard’s second grade class. It was my second and final visit to the class. I told them the story of “The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza” and they played “The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza.” They were overly excited to have me in the class and Ms. Lankard had to settle them down. They had a great time playing the game.

1-14-11 Ms. Lankard's second grade class playing The Little Red Hen's Pizza Party

Then it was on to Ms. Glass’ third grade class. It was my third and final visit to the class and they had to finish their board games and play them. Their class was assigned “The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf.” They had some great games!

1-14-11 Students from Ms. Glass' third grade class play their game, The Big Ravenous Wolf

I also liked the game, “Wolf on the Loose!” Very creative! I even got to eat Bavarian cream king cake in their class – it was my “birthday” cake!

1-14-11 Students from Ms. Glass' third grade play their game, The Wolf on the Loose!

My final class of the day was Ms. Landry’s fourth grade class. It was my third and final visit to the class. They finished their game boards and played their games. I had the opportunity to play “Hen-Opoly” with chance cards! It was a brilliantly executed game and tons of fun to play with the boys that created it.

1-14-11 Hen-Opoly game from Ms. Landry's fourth grade students

“Chicken Path” was also a cute game that used the same concept of the square board.

1-14-11 Chicken Path game from Ms. Landry's fourth grade students

Ms. Landry’s class sang “Happy Birthday” to me, a perfect ending to a great day at Strehle. Thank you so much for making my birthday celebration special!

Week 1 down! One more week (5 days) to go…

Until next time…

Warmly, Dianne

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