START
KAPOW! Whooee! How does onomatopoeia add to poetry?
Enjoying poems with onomatopoeia
Using repurposed objects to create sounds and then . . .
. . . make those sounds into our own sound words!
Tiffany taught us Stepping, a rhythmic-based dance that makes sounds with stomping and clapping.
START Haiku Exploration
We’ve Got Rhythm!
What a delightful poetry session! We learned about types of poems,
experimented with rhythm,
and even discovered rhyme patterns by putting actions to each rhyme. Thank you, START!
Introducing our START Volunteers!
What could be better than learning more about poetry with energetic, dynamic, creative Dartmouth volunteers?
Our winter volunteers are Carly, Tiffany, and Clara, and they are ready for action.
Carly is from Baltimore, Maryland, and is majoring in environmental studies and public policy. She has LOTS of pets, including two dogs, two cats, and a managerie of visitors from her mom’s science classroom such as geckos, hedgehogs, and snakes. She says, “If you love animals, talk to me!” Her favorite poem would be any poem about nature.
Tiffany, a senior geography major, comes from Maryland too. She is an education minor and just took a class on STEM along with Clara, so don’t be surprised to see some poetry STEM popping into some of the START sessions. She loves to dance, especially hip hop and urban, and she is on the street soul dance team at Dartmouth. Her favorite poetry book is Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur.
Clara is from Idaho, and she is studying psychology and education. She participates in theater on campus, and when she is home she loves to hike and read. Her favorite poem is “The Strength of Fields” by James Dickey.
These marvelous volunteers are overflowing with poetry ideas, and we can’t wait.
And They Lived Happily Ever After . . . .
Native American Tales
Tricky Native American legends were in the spotlight today during START. Autumn was able to share a bit of her own heritage for us to enjoy, and each group interpreted their tale through art. We started our Chinese storytelling masks, and here is a photo of the first bit of work on them. Stay tuned . . .
Learning is a Treasure No Thief Can Touch
This week’s storytelling adventure continued with wise sayings from India similar to these.
–“Dig your well before you are thirsty.”
–“Great anger is more destructive than the sword.”
–“A tree starts with a seed.”
–“A book is like a garden carried in the pocket.”
–“You do not stumble over a mountain, but you do over a stone.”
–“Learning is a treasure no thief can touch.”
–“Keep five yards from a carriage, ten yards from a horse, and a hundred yards from an elephant; but the distance one should keep from a wicked man cannot be measured.”
–“They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing.”
What a lot to think about! The students were challenged to create modern dramas illustrating ancient ideas. We discovered that the most hilarious fish in the world and the most creative homework excuse makers dwell right in our classroom! Many thanks to our START volunteers for this marvelous experience!
Preview of next week: Chinese mask storytelling!
King o’ the Cats
Storytelling shenanigans continue with our extraordinary START volunteers! We explored stories behind our own names, played a giant Mad Libs game to remind ourselves of the importance of creative and careful word choices in our storytelling, and then worked as a team to act out various parts of an old English fairy tale called “King o’ the Cats”. MEOW!
START Storytelling Takes Off on Dragons’ Wings
Our delightful START volunteers grabbed us immediately with their dragon tale, and we freshened our understanding of story elements such as plot, mood, character, and setting through a variety of engaging activities. The whole session was full of laughter . . . and frightful moments . . . and heartbreaking loss of ice cream . . . . and joyful dragon feasts . . . and so much more. We can’t wait for our next storytelling escapade!
