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The Philosopher's Stone

Exploring the world of words.

Children encounter thousands of words as they learn how to identify and define our vast, fascinating, and complicated world. In this introductory reading and writing class, we identify the magical and transformative nature of language as we enlarge our vocabularies, act expressively, and learn to identify and celebrate the diversity of character types that populate stories.

As we journey through the world of pictures and literature, and experience the sounds, sights, tastes, and tactile qualities of the world, we celebrate how authors personify the world around them. We express our stories using reader’s theatre, shadow puppets, and stop picture claymation.

This class is filled with the language of cultural picture books, photographs of brightly colored cities and houses in India, the neon colors of fish, the tastes of vanilla and unsweetened chocolate, and the textures of shark skin. Our journey includes discovering the world of heroes and even some of Superman’s flaws. Listening to and writing about heroes and villains, we unravel the DNA of what makes a well-rounded and richly described character. Join us for an expo filled with experiential learning as our literary alchemists become your teachers and assist you in transforming the world around you into a thickly described language experience.

Personalized for the Student

I learned that working a puppet was difficult. It was hard to get the puppet to move at the same pace as the reader reading the story. Practice makes perfect.

Telling a story in a different voice made me laugh. When I say the word, “rough” I shouldn’t say it with a smooth voice. 

Making eye contact, and learning how to share pictures with an audience is difficult. I think if I pre-read a book before reading it to the class, I could do a better job.

Becoming a character means I have to care about the characters as if they were real. It was a lot of fun to give the characters their own voice. 

Making the clay characters helped me get to know them. Molding the face of a villain into a rock, I thought about why they looked mean, and then put an extra bump on their nose. Even though the rock didn’t move, it was mean, and kept tripping anybody who walked by.

Knowing that round characters are more interesting than flat characters made it easy to make a villain that had some good qualities and some really bad qualities. Even heroes act poorly sometimes.

I once hurt my foot while playing soccer. The next time I went to play, I didn’t kick the ball as hard and my friends were mad. I had to over-come my fear. Maybe my hero can over-come his/her fear and succeed.

I felt really great finishing my draft neatly. When my friend read my story, they didn’t have to ask me what I meant. It was all in the story.

When I practiced at home for my mom, dad, and sister, it felt more like a party than homework. Sometimes when the teacher tells me to practice at least once at home, I know I’ll practice it more than that because it’s fun.

When I presented my work, I stumbled over a few words, but nobody cared. my teacher loves to make us say, “Perfection is for crazy people.” I calmly got back to my creative reading, and my family and friends applauded.

Reading Material
  • Peter Rabbit--Beatrix Potter
  • Clara and the Bookwagon, Nancy Smiler Levinson
  • The Adventures of Taxi Dog, by Debra & Sal Barracca
  • Brer Rabbit and the Wonderful Tar Baby
  • Nim’s Island, Wendy Orr
  • (short stories with many plot lines.)
  • practice an original story written by the instructor and a story you have written
Skills & Activities
  • active listening, active reading with puppets
  • expressive reading
  • the craft of storytelling
  • Identifying archetypical characters, round characters and flat characters.
  • personification and stories of inanimate objects using claymation
  • creation of their own characters including a hero and a villain, writing a creation myth for the hero and villain
  • writing a creation myth for the villain, and creating a conflict
  • writing a final draft 
  • practice, tone, and being expressive
  • presentation of work including listening to feedback