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Kindergarten Grade  Project 10 weeks

Stories Shape Me and My World

Kahana C
Updated
TH:Cr1.K.b
TH:Cn11.2.K.a
TH:Pr5.K.b
TH:Cn11.2.K.b
TH:Cn11.1.K.a
+ 11 more
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Purpose

Children use multicultural fairytales and folktales, dramatic play, and puppet theatre to explore how stories help them understand themselves and other people. Through retelling beginning, middle, and end, comparing two versions of a tale, and creating puppets, sets, and simple scripts, they build voice, collaboration, and storytelling skills in concrete, playful ways. The work helps every child contribute through acting, building, artmaking, singing, or speaking while noticing that characters can think and feel differently in the same story. The project leads to a community-facing puppet showcase where students share not only a performance, but also what their story taught them about perspective, identity, and the world around them.

Learning goals

Students will retell folktales with a clear beginning, middle, and end using pictures, movement, and dramatic play. They will compare two versions of a story and notice how characters can see the same events in different ways. Students will make and revise puppets, props, and simple sets, then work together to perform with voice, sound, and movement. They will also share what stories teach them about themselves and others.

Standards
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Cr1.K.b - With prompting and support, use nonrepresentational materials to create props, puppets, and costume pieces for dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Cn11.2.K.a - With prompting and support, identify stories that are different from one another in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Pr5.K.b - With prompting and support, explore and experiment with various technical elements in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Cn11.2.K.b - With prompting and support, tell a short story in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Cn11.1.K.a - With prompting and support, identify skills and knowledge from other areas in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Cr2.K.a - With prompting and support, interact with peers and contribute to dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Pr5.K.a - With prompting and support, understand that voice and sound are fundamental to dramatic play and guided drama experiences (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Pr6.K.a - With prompting and support, use voice and sound in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Cn10.K.a - With prompting and support, identify similarities between characters and oneself in dramatic play or a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama).
  • [National Core Arts Standards] TH:Re8.K.a - With prompting and support, identify preferences in dramatic play, a guided drama experience (e.g., process drama, story drama, creative drama), or age-appropriate theatre performance.
Competencies
  • Effective Communication - Students practice listening to understand, communicating with empathy, and share their learning through exhibiting, presenting and reflecting on their work.
  • Collaboration - Students co-design projects with peers, exercise shared-decision making, strengthen relational agency, resolve conflict, and assume leadership roles.
  • Critical Thinking & Problem Solving - Students consider a variety of innovative approaches to address and understand complex questions that are authentic and important to their communities.
  • Content Expertise - Students develop key competencies, skills, and dispositions with ample opportunities to apply knowledge and engage in work that matters to them.
  • Self Directed Learning - Students use teacher and peer feedback and self-reflection to monitor and direct their own learning while building self knowledge both in and out of the classroom.
  • Academic Mindset - Students establish a sense of place, identity, and belonging to increase self-efficacy while engaging in critical reflection and action.

Products

Students will create story maps, picture retells, puppet and set prototypes, simple script drafts, and reflection drawings as they study folktales. In small groups, they will make handmade puppets, simple sets, and rehearsal plans that show characters, setting, and different perspectives. By the end, each group will perform a puppet show with a clear beginning, middle, and end that shows what the story teaches about themselves and others. The final showcase will also include partner retells and a gallery walk with puppets, drafts, photos, and other process work.

Launch

Start with a Two-Tales Tasting by reading and acting out two versions of the same folktale with movement, picture cards, and simple puppets. Invite children to join by repeating lines, making character movements, helping tell the story, or building a quick backdrop so everyone can participate. Then have partners share what stayed the same, what changed, and how different characters saw the story in different ways. End by inviting small groups to create puppets, sets, and a puppet show that teaches something about themselves and others through stories.

Exhibition

Host a Little Storytellers Festival where small groups perform puppet shows for classmates, families, and school staff. After the show, guests visit a gallery walk of puppets, sets, story maps, script drafts, and reflection drawings. This gives children a simple, joyful way to share what they learned about stories, themselves, and others.