Myths and Legends of the Local Area.

Grades: 7-8

Subject Areas: Language Arts, Arts

Author: Jimi Emery, Josiah Bartlett Elementary School

Email: jemery@jbartlett.k12.nh.us

Language Arts Standards:

Students will write effectively for a variety of purposes and audiences.
Students will speak purposefully and articulately.
Students will listen and view attentively and critically.
Students will use reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing to gather and organize information; communicate effectively; and succeed in educational, occupational, civic, social, and everyday settings.

Art Standards

Students will relate various types of arts knowledge and skills within and across the arts and other disciplines.
Students will use technology as ways to create, perform or respond in various arts disciplines.

This particular unit was presented as an elective for our Middle School students (grades 7 and 8). To entice the students to sign up the following was given to the students. (Each block our Unified Arts team presents from 5 – 7 choices for students to choose from. They are then put into the elective in mixed groups of 7^th and 8^th graders)

Legends and Myths. Are you an illustrator? Or a writer? Maybe someone who likes to talk? If you said yes to one of these questions, you’ll want to sign up for this elective. We will create several books from local myths and legends—maybe Nancy Brook, the Willey House Slide or Dr. Eudy. We need people to design the cover of the book, others to write the myth into a story and someone to narrate. Any book on tape sounds better with background music—how about you selecting the music? The books you create will be added to the library’s collection of Books on Tape!

Here is a quick overview of the five days we spent together:

Day One

Guest Storyteller

Two groups – create two separate stories

Choose a story from the storyteller

Job Overview

Brainstorm

Day Two

Inspiration Software

Create storyboard

Create Cover

Illustration for first chapter

Day Three

Begin Writing

Specific Illustrations

Music Selection

Practice Narration

Day Four

Final Drafts Due

Do Narration

Day Five

Put book together

The first class we went back to the original way to tell a story – straight from the storyteller. One of the teachers who has been doing this for years sat with the students and shared three stories of the Valley. Each student sat in silence they were so enthralled with the tale. As you can see from our schedule we were already behind, but it was so worth it!

Day Two students broke into two groups. Each picked one story from those shared by the storyteller. Jobs were selected and work began. The writers had most of their stories written by the end of the day. They could not remember a few facts so they were going to check with the storyteller to fill in the blanks. The illustrators selected the tools they would work with – colored pencils, chalk, oil pastels or watercolors. They each had a good start by the end of the day. The bookbinders reviewed the book Cover to Cover Creative techniques for Making Beautiful Books, Journals & Albums by Shereen LaPlantz to select their favorite style then read the directions to get a feel of how difficult it would be to complete. They realized they only had a few days. The narrators helped others until they had some words to practice with.

Each learned how important it was to work as a team as the book binder needed to know the size of the paper the illustrators were using; the writers needed to know if the illustrators wanted their pictures on the page or separate, which would involve leaving space; and the illustrators reciprocally had to coordinate with the writers.

Day Three was filled with activity. Students were busy with illustrations, deciding which paper to use for the binding and what design to create. Others were working on the written pieces, creating borders for the pages, finding the right background music, practicing speaking for the narration and getting the creators names together to be placed in the book.

The fourth day we met in two groups, according to which story you were writing, to share where everyone was in the process. A draft book was reviewed to see what changes needed to take place, where the illustrations should be placed, how text boxes should be moved so all the data would print, and how the borders should be layered to be best viewed. The narrator got a draft copy to practice ‘putting action’ into the words and make it exciting for the listeners. She would do two sides of the tape; one would be with a sound for turning the page and one without.

The last day was wonderful. All the loose ends were being tied together and everyone was excited. We had all the illustrations finished, the book cover was done, and the writers and narrators were incorporating last minute changes.

Four students volunteered to come in on their free time to finish – the narrators and the writers. The writers finished all the last item details and gave the narrators the final copy. The narrators then read their pieces and then it was finished! We now have two wonderful, local myths to share through our library.