32: Oh, The Places You'll Go!
“Places tell stories, and these stories are adventures one must explore. Nature, the people, and the smell of a new land screams adventure. The world is humongous, and a lifetime wouldn’t be enough to explore it.”
A story always starts with a blank canvas -- an empty space of many possibilities. It comes to life when the storyteller fills it with wondrous worlds or foreign lands where the characters move and tell their narrative. It is a principal element of a story, one where the reader can escape to and take unprecedented adventures that only happen in one's imagination.
This week, the kindergarteners learned about the setting of a story, and how it shapes the characters that move around it.
The kindergarteners also had an opportunity to unlock the word 'setting' and to share some examples of their favorite places where stories happen.
A setting can be:
a castle
unicorn land
candy land
the beach
rainbow land
Lego land
What I love about the places the children shared is how they come from their own imagination or the adventures that they want to take.
A lover of art, I shared with the children another medium that takes me to many worlds while staying exactly where I am. We took a pretend field trip to an imaginary museum that houses artworks from different renowned artists throughout time. I gave the children a chance to do what we could never do in real museums: to touch the paintings and use the places depicted to create their own stories within them.
Have a look at their masterpieces:
The Scream
Painting by Edvard Munch
Story by Tamaki
Fainycorn is a girl with a unicorn horn.
One day, she went to the swimming pool during sunset.
She was wearing a swimsuit.
She loves swimming and diving under the water to see the fish.
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Painting by Camille Pissarro
Story by Suzu
There was a horse named Pony.
Pony ate a lot of chocolates.
He walked in the garden and pooped.
The people said, "Don't poop here."
Pony said, "Sorry, it was an accident."
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Starry Night Over the Rhone
Painting by Vincent van Gogh
Story by Emma
Cafe Terrace at Night
Nai and Pix are friends.
They went to the beach one night because they wanted to see the stars and the moon.
It was a hot night during spring, so they swam by the beach to see the dolphins.
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Painting by Vincent van Gogh
Story by Amaru
Strawberry is a girl.
This is DonkeyKong.
He ate at the restaurant with his mommy and daddy.
He had hamburger.
On his way home, he saw his friend, Banana.
They played.
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Water Lily Pond
Painting by Claude Monet
Story by Lucky
She was swimming at the pond with flowers.
Then it rained.
She went home.
She still wanted to swim.
She swam in the bathtub.
She was happy.
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Bridge Over a Pond of Water Lilies
Painting by Claude Monet
Story by Kai
This is McQueen. He is a race car.
Courage is a girl who walked on a bridge.
Courage saw an alacorn.
Courage said, "Hello!"
The alacorn said, "Hello, let's play!"
They played tag on the bridge.
The alacorn has magic and it made Courage fly.
They saw beautiful things like a rainbow and another unicorn.
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View of Collioure at The Tower
Painting by Henri Matisse
Story by Louis
This is a cat named Pete.
He went to the restaurant.
Pete met his friend, Vanilla.
They ate 100 soups and 100 chocolates.
After eating, they went to Vanilla's house to swim.
After swimming, Pete and Vanilla went to Pete's house to play.
They were happy.
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View of Collioure
Painting by Henri Matisse
Story by Mamoru
McQueen is driving to his home after going to the racing center.
He saw a restaurant on the way and he felt hungry.
He wanted to eat some fish.
When he parked at the restaurant, he saw the fish jumping in the sky.
He didn't want to eat there anymore.
He drove and he saw a dangerous bee.
He sped up and raced on the street to escape the bee.
When he reached home, he realized that he was still hungry.
He ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
He was happy.
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Bedroom in Arles
Painting by Vincent van Gogh
Story by Veronica
This is Pink and her pet unicorn named Red.
They played a lot.
It was already late so they got ready to go to bed.
They read a book together about a little unicorn.
They fell asleep.
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Hyde Park, London
Painting by Camille Pissarro
Story by Shuyao
This is Banana.
She is a girl.
She has no hair.
She is playing under the tree.
She is happy.
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Italian Garden
Painting by Gustav Klimt
Story by Luna
This is Flora.
She is a girl.
She likes flowers.
She has a friend named Cupcake.
They are looking at flowers outside their house.
Flora planted the flowers.
She likes them because they are beautiful.
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Impression, Sunrise
Painting by Claude Monet
Story by Mai
These are two friends.
They are a boy and a girl.
Their names are Amaru and Emma.
They are fishing because they are hungry.
They caught five fish.
They will wash them and cook them for dinner.
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Wheat Field with Cypresses
Painting by Vincent van Gogh
Story by Daniel
He is a superhero.
He is sleeping on the field.
He forgot to go back home because it was so far away.
He was tired.
He just wanted to go to bed.
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The Open Window
Painting by Henri Matisse
Story by Luca
They are eating pasta.
They are drinking water.
They are at their house.
They are happy.
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Great Wave Off Kanagawa
Painting by Hokusai
Story by YiChen
They are five friends.
They are riding a boat.
They are going to the beach.
A big wave came.
They all got wet.
They were safe.
They got to the beach and had fun.
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The Persistence of Memory
Painting by Salvador Dali
Story by Ms. Harumi
The children had the opportunity to ask Ms. Harumi questions about her story:
Who is the character? - Luna
Is she good or bad? - Veronica
What are the things in your story? - Kai
Why didn't she go to the restaurant if there's no food at home? - Mamoru
What happened to her family? - Mai
Why is the witch strong? - Emma
Can she make the people move again? - Kai
*Please ask your children to retell Ms. Harumi's story as it truly was a joy to listen see the children so engaged with the character that Ms. Harumi.
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What do you think would the artists think of the stories that took place in their paintings?
We also had an opportunity to discover more settings that can be found in the stories of Studio Ghibli through the eyes of Nizo Yamamoto.
The children truly enjoyed visiting the museum and finding more about the power of settings in making a story and its character come alive.
Stories take us us to far off lands that we have never been to, or worlds that come only from our wildest imagination. The places we can visit are endless without ever leaving the comfort of our home. This is the magic of stories.
Have a wonderful weekend, everyone.
May your adventures with your family be spectacular.
Your Kindergarten teacher,
Pam
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Upcoming Events
May 15th - K2 Field Trip to Arima Toy Museum
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