Essential Aspects Of Story Sack Teaching Resources For Young Children
Posted By arafatrust on November 26, 2010
If you have anything to do with the education of early years children then it will not be long before you find yourself enlisting the help of a considerable number of story books. You will need a considerable quota of additional resources to put to work alongside the story books so you will almost certainly save a considerable amount of time if you use thoughtfully compiled key stage 1 teaching resources. It is possible to find complete story sacks but you can put together your own without much trouble using story resources.
The most important resource for a story sack is the main book. Most story sacks are made from a strong fabric that is durable enough to hold all the resources. The contents of a story sack might include soft toys, puppets,games,photographs, a CD and activities that will promote language development based around the main book. The CD or a tape With the story on can be played over and over again to help the children learn the story and become confident with the story structure. The main book, on which the story sack is based, should be of high quality with accompanying books based on the same subject. Having a factual book associated with the topic in the story sack promotes an interest and knowledge of the world.
Story sacks are now used in many schools and pre-school settings. Some childminders and parents are beginning to see the excellent opportunities that story sacks provide for developing young children’s language skills. The activities and props are designed to bring the story to life and for the young children to interact with the story. This involvement of the children brings the reading to life and helps young children to become confident with books and reading.
Since the 1990′s story sacks have become more widely available. They can be purchased on line, and may be available to borrow from libraries and centres that cater for the development of families with young children. There are increasingly more volunteer groups being asked to help towards creating resources to support story sacks. There are a wide variety of story sacks available so act wisely when researching the best resources.
The best story sacks have interactive materials for children to use and also come with a guide and activities for the adults. The activities give many more ideas as to how the story can be used and link the story with other areas of learning. A good story can be used creatively not just in learning to enjoy books and literacy skills but also with art and craft ideas, learning about the world, cooking, early number concepts and in using technology.
Story sacks are a fun way for carers and children to share stories together. They were developed by Neil Griffiths, a Head Teacher from Swindon, as a popular, non-threatening way of encouraging carers to start to share stories with their children in a way that is positive, theatrical, special, interactive and fun.
Story sacks are now increasingly being used by other groups such as libraries, health visitors, speech therapists, social workers, children’s hospitals and family centres. Story sacks are also a great resource to use when working with children with autism and other learning difficulties.
One of the most positive sides to story sacks are the opportunities that they give to young children to use them independently and in small groups. Once the child is familiar with the story and the contents of the sack they are able to explore the story and re-tell it using the supporting props. This helps to develop their independence, sharing, taking turns, and will help develop their confidence and language skills.
The best suppliers of story sacks also supply a selection of materials that teachers and practitioners can use for display purposes. Colourful labels showing key words and phrases with titles and illustrations ensure that rooms are colourful and stimulating. Some story sacks also have activities for children to colour and sheets for tracing, writing and early maths activities. Photographs are also an additional resource that enhance story sacks.
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