By Chloe 2nd May 2005
Once there was a cat named Mrs Cat, and she was the Queens cat. The King
was in the story and so was the beanstalk. They all packed their bags and
then they went down to the park.
They went for a walk and then they saw Mrs Snake. Mrs Snake invited them
for dinner. They had roast pork, and peas, and broccoli. Mrs Snake didn’t
drink her coffee, so the cat did! They all had desert and ice cream and jelly
and cake. They were all full up and they went back home.
The King and Queen went to bed and the cat went too, and so the beanstalk
went home.
The end.
By Chloe
11th May 2005-05-11
The queen lived in a castle. And the king came. Mrs Cat was
drinking the coffee! It was the Queens coffee, and she wasn’t
very happy, she said, “Stop drinking my coffee again!” Then the
beanstalk popped up and the queen and the king and their cat
packed their lunch and went down the beanstalk and went to the
park.
And then when they packed their lunch and went back up the
beanstalk, they couldn’t cross the river because there were no
rails on the bridge! Then they heard a sound, and it was the troll!
He popped up and said, “You cant cross over my bridge!”
The queen and the king were mad. The Queen said, “We need to
get across the bridge. Let us cross or we will get dragon.”
And then when they packed their lunch and went back up the
beanstalk, they couldn’t cross the river because there were no
rails on the bridge! Then they heard a sound, and it was the troll!
He popped up and said, “You cant cross over my bridge!”
The queen and the king were mad. The Queen said, “We need to
get across the bridge. Let us cross or we will get dragon.”
So the king yelled out, “DRAGON, DRAGON, DRAGON!” and the
dragon came flying to them. The dragon went
“WOOOOSSSSSSHHHHHH” and the troll fell in it the water. Then
the Dragon lifted the rails with his tail and put them on the
bridge for them to cross.
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When they got home they put their bag down and they went for
a walk. The Queen, the King, the Cat, the rabbit and the Dragon.
And then they went in the bushes and they saw a brown skinny
thing. It popped out and it was the Gruffalo!
Snake came, and owl came, and Owl said to the king, “What are
you doing here? This is our home and it’s a secret bush! You’re
not allowed in here! Only me and Snake, and Gruffalo” Then
Gruffalo said, “Everyone is allowed in here, ok?” But then they
went back home. When they got home they saw that the
beanstalk had given the birds the kings coffee because he had
not drunk it!
-3-
Mrs Snake and Two Bears.
Mrs Snake was at home and then the two bears came along and
they knocked on Mrs Snake’s door and then Mrs Snake said,
“please come in,” but then Mrs Snake’s cat drinked her coffee.
Then that was the end.
Chloe, 16/05/05
-4-
There was me inside with Mummy doing some drawings and then I went
outside and picked some flowers. I got a jar from the cupboard and put
some water in it and then I put the flowers in it.
The End
Written and Illustrated by Chloe
20.5.05
-5-
There was an old woman who lived in a house and they had two girls. One was called
little red riding hood and the other one was called little red riding hood too. And their
mum made cake, a big chocolate cake and muffins, they all had one each with two
cherries on the top. Then they knocked on the Grandma’s door and grandma couldn’t
hop out of bed because she was sick. So Grandpa had to open the door because he wasn’t
sick and then they went inside but they had to take their shoes off first, so they put the
baskets down and they took their shoes off. Then they had to go outside to pick some red
roses and then went back inside and then one little red riding hood said to Grandpa, “lets
go to play on the park”. So they all went with Grandpa and then when they got there was
no one there and then they went inside and then they had a play and then they went back
home because they were a little bit tired. So they went back home and Grandpa said,
“Would you like to stay for dinner and for a sleep over?” So they did but when the little
red riding said, “We forgot to pack our bags with clothes and pyjamas.” So they did and
that was the end.
Chloe 25/05/05
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There was a mother bear who had lots of children and they always used to
go to the park and why and then they did go to the park. And then they went
out the door and it wasn’t far away to go and then it was raining and they
had to wait in the bus stop and then they saw the right number for their bus
so they hopped on. But some one got left out, it was daddy bear, and mum
had all the children. Then they had to drive back to get daddy bear and then
they all went back home because daddy bear really got left out and he was
sad. Then they couldn’t go to the park because it was raining.
Then the other day they could go to the park and then they couldn’t go but
they looked outside and it was still raining so they couldn’t go but they were
really sad that they couldn’t go and they know they couldn’t go because it
was still raining and there was hail and lightening. Then the other day they
said they could go to their friends house.
Then they went after school and had lunch and then they had dinner and then
they went back home and little snake took bear home and then they were all
safe inside. They played cards together and then they went to bed. Then the
other day they had to stay home because it was a holiday, then they went to
the beach and that was the end.
By Chloe
2/06/05
-7-
Chloe has been telling some amazing stories while one of the teachers writes
them down for her on the laptop. To extend this further I wondered about
using a microphone to record her story directly onto the laptop. I discussed
this idea with Chloe and she was very keen to give it a try. We had to go
into the office to record as the kindergarten was very noisy and the
microphone picked up all of the other children’s chatter and it made it hard
to hear Chloe. Chloe always has to think about her story, before telling it,
it is as if she has to get the whole story complete in her head before she
shares it with others, as she sits and thinks she tells me, “I’ve got the
second part, I haven’t got all of it in yet.” She thinks a bit longer saying,
“O.K, I’m just going to think about it some more.” She thinks some more and
says, “O.K, I’ve got it, I’ve got it.”
As Chloe tells her story she asks to listen to each part and at the end she
asks if we can spiral bind it, a process Chloe has done on many occasions
when recording her story. I explain to her that we have recorded her words
and that it is not written on the computer anywhere and offer some
suggestions of what to do next. The idea of taking photos and making them
into a movie appealed to Chloe and we decided to work together on this the
next day.
The next day we found all that was needed in the containers in the block
area and then we listened to her story again and Chloe realized that she
needed some more characters and went to find them. I had found a large
sheet of green felt like material and I put this down first and Chloe set the
animals up for each scene. For each scene Chloe listened to each segment
and then when she was arranging the characters she would retell that part
of the story and then photograph it.
-8-
What learning happened for Chloe?
Chloe’s stories are rich in complexity; they involve many characters that
contribute to the story. Chloe has an interesting technique when telling her
stories, in that, she has to think through the whole story before she shares
it with an adult, her stories progress in a way that makes sense to the
listener. Chloe has a very real concept of what it means to tell a good
story.
Chloe, you are an amazing storyteller, I enjoy listening to you telling your
stories and working with you on this project gave me another opportunity to
listen. This time I didn’t have to concentrate so much on getting your story
down as your voice was being recorded onto the laptop.
Opportunities and Possibilities for Chloe.
Chloe has an obvious interest and passion for telling stories and it would be
exciting to be able to give Chloe the opportunity to explore this further.
Another strength of Chloe’s is art and I wondered about the possibility of
linking the two. Perhaps Chloe would like to tell another story and then
draw or paint pictures to support her story. These could then be
photographed and we could work together to make another movie.
What do you think Chloe?
-9-
Parents Voice - June 2005
Last term Chloe began writing stories at kindy (telling her stories to the teachers and they
would type them out) she really enjoyed this and many of them have been spiral bound
with Chloe providing illustrations. The story telling has continued this term and recently
after working on a story with Jo at kindy (recording her voice onto computer) she came
home and told us about it. Justin got out his computer and showed Chloe that he also had
the same programme. She wanted to tell another story this way so she began one that
night. She was excited at being able to record her story. She basically took control of the
situation and after each sentence would ask if she could ‘read it’ listening to what had
already been recorded and then recording some more.
We have also noticed recently that Chloe has started to:
-
add expression to the characters in her stories
show a real interest in writing the alphabet on her chalkboard and also on paper
enjoy reading stories to others as opposed to being read to
This little literacy roll that Chloe is on is also crossing over into her art work. Recently
one piece of art that came home was a large sheet of Chloe’s writing.
- 10 -
Chloe Parents Voice – 2/7/05
Looking at…
‘What is happening for children over time when they tell their stories – how is children’s
learning enhanced through story telling?
As parents we believe that Chloe is reflecting on previous experiences when she
verbalises her stories. She takes these experiences and expands on them through her story
telling. In this respect Chloe is not only learning through expressing thoughts and feelings
but she is also learning about the structures involved in story telling. Chloe is able to
focus on her interests.
Examples of Chloe’s learning incorporated into her stories have included: social skills –
going next door to a neighbours place and being asked to remove her shoes and she said
“I don’t have to”. This situation appeared a few weeks later in one of Chloe’s stories
where a character had to take their shoes off before going inside. It is quite amazing that
little things can pop into her stories which happened many weeks before hand. They
obviously stick out to her as being significant experiences.
Through story telling Chloe has also developed other literacy interests such as wanting to
write out the alphabet and also incorporating letters into her artwork. More recently we
have seen more and more words appearing in her art work and when we ask her to tell us
about what she has written the words she points to are like a brief description of what is
going on in the picture.
Chloe is more interested at the moment in reading to others as opposed to being read to
and perhaps this is linked to the story writing process. She loves the ownership idea of
telling her own stories and also likes to have ownership over the storytelling of reading a
book.
The story telling for Chloe is definitely building self-esteem as after one session in
particular at the kindergarten Chloe came home and wanted to write something down and
it was ‘my stories are great’. As an author Chloe loves the positive response she gets from
those who enjoy reading and sharing her written pieces, because of this she is continually
self motivated towards telling her stories
Story telling now incorporates ICT and Chloe is now learning about all the associated
technology. Stories can be told orally and recorded onto the computer as well as being
typed. Digital photography has also been integrated to support her story telling. She is
always keen to come home and use the digital camera or record a story or two.
Chloe has learnt that the illustrations need to match the text and when she is illustrating
her spiral bound story books she always asks me to read the text on the page (perhaps
several times) to check that she will draw appropriate illustrations.
- 11 -
What is happening over time?
• Understanding and learning
• Becoming more confident in sharing her ideas
• Learning about story writing and how stories are structured with a beginning
middle and end,
• She has started to use the skill of giving her characters different voices and varies
the tone for different situations
All these things she has learnt and continues to build on while telling her stories.
This is beneficial because she has the opportunity to share her experiences, things that
perhaps may not have come out in conversation but when given the chance to tell a story
these ideas, experiences and thoughts may come out.
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