Curated OER
Retelling Nursery Rhymes
Fourth graders explore language arts by reciting a famous nursery rhyme to their classroom. In this oral storytelling instructional activity, 4th graders read the story "The Three Little Pigs" and identify the characters, setting and...
Curated OER
Using the Comic the Rabbit and Bear Paws to teach
First graders read a portion of an illustrated story featuring an oral storytelling tradition in order to gain an understanding of the tradition. They recognize that Aboriginal people's relationship with place has changed over time.
Curated OER
Fun With Weaving
Fourth graders investigate the concept of weaving through the telling of a story. They follow the story to create a context for the class project. Students use templates to weave and create their own works. Upon completion of the project...
Curated OER
Great Gullah Story Telling Packet
Sixth graders examine the Creole language known as Gullah which is a form of speech comprised of a number of unrelated languages. They determine how slaves used this to communicate so that slave masters would not be able to understand...
Curated OER
The Rest of the Story Worksheet
In this oral traditions worksheet, students choose a character from 1 of the 3 poems and compose an ending for the story from that character's point of view. The characters include an American Indian orphan, a European, and an American...
Curated OER
Every Object Tells a Story
Students read the story behind objects in the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and create a story about an object in the exhibit. In this design lesson, students explore the "Design for the Other 90%" exhibition and create a...
Curated OER
Indispensable Listening Skills
Students listen to a story and orally explain the conclusion of the story, list three ways that the tigers in the story relate to themselves and clarify why they would rather someone read to them or read the material themselves.
Curated OER
Storytelling
Students explore the origins of folktales, fairytales, myths, legends, fables, and folktales in the ten lessons of this unit. A storytelling festival is held to feature the results of the variety of activities presented in the unit.
Curated OER
Theatre: Oral Traditions
Pupils investigate cultural traditions. In this multi-cultural lesson, students discuss various cultures and research their traditions.
Florida Alliance for Arts Education
Theatre Arts
What skills do storytellers employ to bring to life the characters and events in their tales? After listening to a recording of a Haitian folk tale, class members consider how tone of voice, pace, and gestures can be used to enliven a...
Teaching Tolerance
Fairness Fair
How can we create a more fair world? Chances are, class members have some ideas! After reading a text about fairness, individuals create skits around the ideas of fairness. Extend the learning and make their presentations a...
Curated OER
African Myths
Students discover the role of storytelling in the African culture. In this multicultural lesson plan, students discuss the elements of the African myth and record them on the board. Students visit an African folktale website and read...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart: Oral and Literary Strategies
Readers are first introduced to Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart by making a map of Africa. They will better understand the novel's historical and literary contexts, European and African literary traditions, and how...
Curated OER
Could You Repeat That?
High schoolers participate in an oral story telling activity designed to show how story embellishments occur. They read "Beowulf" and identify incongruities that suggest additions and embellishments over the years.
Curated OER
We of the Sea: Tribal Native American Stories
A video featuring members of Oregon’s Astoria Native American fishing community launches a study of the oral tradition of poetry, and how traditions are passed down within different cultures. Activities, assessments, extensions and...
Curated OER
Story Telling
Students, through the use of 4 different improvisational exercises, discover how to tell effective stories. They chose 2 selections and perform them, using the interesting methods they learned.
Curated OER
Chatty Cherry Stories
Young artists will respond to reading children's literature, by engaging in original storytelling and representing their own images through the visual arts. Then they orally describe details of people, places, and things in their stories...
Incredible Art Department
Story Tellers - "Passing on the Traditions"
It's important for young people to learn about their ancestry and the role of storytelling as a means of passing along traditions, information, and lessons. Based on what they already learned about Native American oral tradition,...
Curated OER
Exploring Values Towards Conservation
Students read First Nation story, identify values expressed in it and discuss how those values relate to conservation issues faced today. Students then seek out stories relevant to climate change from their own Elders and respected...
Denver Art Museum
From the Hat’s Point of View
Here is a lesson designed for pre-schoolers and kindergartners that will pique their imaginations. They study images of a very interesting ceremonial hat from China's past called a Summer Official's Hat. These hats were worn by people of...
Curated OER
Storytelling and Drawing
Students orally retell the Yosemite Miwok legends and design accompanying artistic depictions. They discover the various storytelling elements, such as plot and theme.
Curated OER
Fortunately, Unfortunately
In this oral language worksheet, students are given the first line of a story. The next student must begin the following line with the word "fortunately," and the next student begins the subsequent line with "unfortunately." The story...
Curated OER
Epic Improvisation
Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....
Curated OER
Retelling Stella Louella's Runaway Book: Point of View
Stella Louella’s Runaway Book launches a study of point of view and storytelling. After reading the tale, class members retell the story from the point of view of another character. The scripted plan, developed by a teacher candidate,...