Our Reading and Storytelling Program at Creative Minds Charter School in DC
During Spring of 2015, the 2nd and 4th graders at Creative Minds Public Charter School enjoyed a Global Sleepover journey to the World Cup in Brazil, Rwanda and Kenya! That’s a lot of travel during school, we know! Which is why they took the journey through storytelling, reading and writing.
Over a course of 6 weeks, the students worked with a Global Sleepover Storyteller and:
1. Read about Brazil, the importance of friendship and community, how the sport of soccer brings people from all over the world together and did some samba dancing on an interactive and multi-media storybook on the iPad. They also got to see real pictures of Brazil.
2. Read about sunsets in Rwanda, met a girl in the story named Amani who is from Rwanda, and read about her graduation. They learned about the importance of education and how Amani wanted everyone in her country to also get the chance to go to school.
3. Learned about safari in Kenya by doing their own puppet show. The main characters were zebras, lions, giraffes and a huge elephant named Luigi! The setting was a safari jungle in Africa!
4. Wrote their own stories and became better storytellers, writers and readers as a result! Some of the creative stories they wrote were about an action figure having a Sleepover at Spiderman’s home, a Sleepover in Spain with main characters from China, and a Sleepover at the Spelling Bee in Germany!
5. Did arts and crafts, illustrated their stories, drew their own country flags and made their own Brazil carnaval masks.
We had a wonderful time working with the kids, talking to them, hearing about how they viewed the world, watching them learn about the world and learning about the world from them. The most memorable afternoon was on the day of Passover when one student decorated her Brazilian Carnaval masks with “Happy Passover” and other Passover drawings. It wonderfully captured the spirit of Global Sleepover and of our readers – bringing the world and cultures together and promoting tolerance, imagination and diversity.
