September/October 2010

"That night was the turning point in the season. We had gone to bed in summer, and we awoke in autumn."
~ Henry David Thoreau

Hello friends,

I hope you have all enjoyed a wonderful summer in this part of the hemisphere. The crisp, clean feel of fall is already dancing around the trees in New England and some of them are already beginning to change into their colorful autumn coats. This is definitely one of my favorite seasons!

The passing of summer means a return to school here in Massachusetts so this newsletter offers curriculum connections to fill our classrooms with the magic of folktales and fairy tales. September is also library sign-up month; look for an adorable bookmark in the craft section for the children to make and use with their favorite reading choice. We can’t forget the beautiful Chinese Moon Festival celebration so there are stories, lesson plans and more as well.

September will be extra special this year as it brings my friend and colleague Dale Jarvis from Newfoundland to Massachusetts. Dale will be the featured performer the evening of September 18 for the Story Café at ArtWorks in New Bedford, MA. He will also offer his amazingly informative Historical Interpretation workshop during the day as well. This is a rare opportunity to learn from his vast experience and hear the rich folktales of Newfoundland. Registration is required for the workshop. Click on this link for the workshop information and here for the evening performance at the Story Cafe.

October brings us All Hallows Eve, Polish American History Month and on a personal note, my wonderful son's wedding! Also, our feature for the October 16 Story Café will be the talented storyteller and musician Tim Van Egmond. It will be our last Story Café for 2010. I hope you can join us and help us finish our second full year of stories and songs.

My sincere apologies for the being a wee bit late with the newsletter this month. I was away on vacation the last week of August in the mountains of New Hampshire and Internet access was limited and very, very slow! I know, I know, I should have been more organized and finished it before I left but I hope you will forgive me. The next newsletter will arrive with the frost of November and don't forget, you can always visit the newsletter archives for seasonal links. Until then, be well and happy, and as always, if you have any suggestions, comments or questions, I would love to hear from you. Just drop me a note at storybug@aol.com.

Warmest wishes,
Karen Chace
Storyteller/Teaching Artist/Producer
http://www.storybug.net/


STORIES

September 22 begins the celebration of the Chinese Moon Festival.

Storybug.net -  I have put together some stories, crafts and more about this wonderful Mid-Autumn Chinese festival at my blog post for you to enjoy.
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2010/08/by-light-of-silvery-moon.html

October is Polish American History Month. Here are some stories to pomoże świętują! (help you celebrate)

Sixty Folktales from Slavonic Sources - A delightful mix of tales from Bohemia, Moravia, Serbia, Hungary and more. http://tinyurl.com/26w5v35

Cossack Fairy Tales and Folktales by Robert Nisbet Bain, 1902 – Bain collected these folktales from Ruthenian, the language of the Cossacks, a language intermediate between Russian and Polish.
http://tinyurl.com/2uklns8

It wouldn’t be October without some tales to terrify!

Crabtree Books – Well, this book doesn’t fall into the category of terrifying but it is full of fun for Halloween, offering stories, rhymes, costume ideas, recipes and more. It is a free pdf file and downloads quickly. http://www.crabtreebooks.com/download/ebook/halloweenebook.pdf

Story-Lovers.com - Halloween Bare Bones for Storytellers with 100 years of story skeletons from around the world! http://www.story-lovers.com/barebonesstories.html

Russian Folk-tales by William Ralston Shedden Ralston - Just in time for All Hallow’s Eve. Download this book from 1880, full of myths, legends, and folktales of demons, witches, vampires and ghouls if you dare! http://tinyurl.com/28t449c


"A folktale is the poetic text that carries some of its cultural contexts within it; it is also a traveling metaphor that finds a new meaning with every telling."    ~ A.K. Ramanujan

 
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

Character and Action Identification -Language Arts and Storytelling for K-2.
http://tinyurl.com/36lz8bj

Fable Writing-Interdisciplinary Approach To Social Sciences – For grades 3 – 8
http://tinyurl.com/24snytv

Fairy Tale Journey - Language Arts/Writing  “In this creative writing process, the student will assume the role of the main character in the fairy tale. The student will use fantasy to change the ending of a familiar fairy tale.” Grade 3-4 http://tinyurl.com/2b4ttgr

Once Upon A Time - Language Arts/Writing  “Story Starters initiate an idea from which an exposition flows. This variation requires students to "think in reverse"; to reconstruct the missing elements of a story so that they make sense, or "fit into" what has been provided." For grades 4 - 6.
http://tinyurl.com/33hs92o

Chinese Moon Festival Lesson Plan – Expose your students to the Chinese Festival and learn about its history and culture. For grades 1-4. http://tinyurl.com/2vakv3l

Chinese Moon Festival Worksheets -" Teach about the moon legends, like how the Moon Goddess came to be with her husband, the archer; about the Jade Rabbit and Moon Cakes! The Chinese Moon Festival Worksheets are great for a Chinese Moon Festival Theme Unit!"
http://tinyurl.com/2faa2d2

When Tortoise Wins the Day: Using International Folktales to Teach Language Arts - There is nothing slow about this resource! An amazing 44 page document filled with valuable information on using storytelling in the classroom for grade K – 8. Folktales, lesson plans, activities, and links, all you need to introduce storytelling to your students. http://tinyurl.com/lna2ec


"It ought to be the rule, rather than the exception, that young children listen to, read, act out, and discuss fairy tales, myths, legends, folklore, heroic adventures, biographies, and stories from history."      ~ Ravitch


CRAFTS

Bookworm Bookmark – An easy and adorable craft to celebrate Library Month!
http://tinyurl.com/2f26sl4

Chinese Moon Festival Coloring Pages – From the Moon Goddess to moon cakes, many choices to choose from. http://tinyurl.com/3yyorka

Polish Gwiazdy – Beautiful paper cuttings that look like snowflakes but they have eight sides not six.
http://tinyurl.com/22jo2gd

Story Sack – ‘This is a fun way for parents and children to read stories together. Grandparents, teachers, childcare providers, babysitters and anyone else who spends time with children will also find these useful!”
http://tinyurl.com/27pwh8j

Teacher’s Survival Kit – School is in session and the teachers in your child’s life will love you for thinking of them. Put together this easy and charming “survival kit” and add a smile to their year!
http://tinyurl.com/2frdeng


BUSY BLOGS

Tales I Tell – This is the wonderfully eclectic blog of my storytelling colleague and friend, Mabel Kaplan of Australia.  http://belka37.blogspot.com/


BUSINESS NOTES

Three Ways to Take Control and Grow Your Small Business in Any Economy by Stacy Karacostas
http://tinyurl.com/32ou24d

5 Top Tips for Using Social Media to Help Launch Your New Business by Rick Mathieson http://tinyurl.com/33696ul

Ten Tips to Ignore When Starting a Business by Cathy Goodwin 
http://tinyurl.com/3xx2mqp


EDUCATION HIGHWAY

September 5 - 6, 2010 Fort Edmonton Park, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - TALES (The Alberta League Encouraging Storytelling) is hosting its 22 annual festival. There are workshops for tellers in the morning, storytelling sets in the afternoon, and a concert Sunday evening. http://www.talesstorytelling.com/  or email talesedmonton@hotmail.com  Phone: 780-932-4409
* Because the newsletter was late this month the festival has already passed. However, it is never too late to make plans for next year!

September 11, 2010 Portland, ME The Center for Grieving Children - Workshop with Regina Carpenter- Diving and Emerging: A workshop for anyone interested in helping children heal from grief and loss through storytelling. http://www.cgcmaine.org/  or 207-775-5216.

September 18, 2010 – New Bedford, MA Historical Interpretation Workshop with Newfoundland storyteller, author and presenter Dale Jarvis from 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. A light lunch is included.  For all of the information go to: http://tinyurl.com/39a5p5t .

September 19-25, 2010 Door County, WI – A week of storytelling workshops with Kevin McMullin at Lawrence University’s famous Bjorklunden campus. For more information visit: http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/bjork/bjorkseminars/  or http://www.kevinmcmullin.com/ .

September, last full weekend in Ripon, Wisconsin - WISGET (Wisconsin Get Together) This is a time to share stories and ideas with Wisconsin (and those from other states) tellers. http://www.wistory.org/  or email midge.miles@att.net .

October 12, 2010 -- Mercy Cares for Kids 310 S. Manning Blvd. Albany, NY Tales ‘n Tunes (Carol Connolly & Don Darmer) Teacher Workshop on Extending the Story. For information: (518) 786-1271 or talesntunes@earthlink.net .

October 15-17, 2010 Scituate, MA. Alice's House, Humarock - Jay O'Callahan will lead a 3-day Creativity Through Storytelling Workshop. Co-facilitating will be Mandi Kujawa, songwriter, singer and storyteller from Banff, Canada. Call: 800-626-5356.

October 20 - 24, 2010 - Scituate, MA Alice's House, Humarock. Jay O'Callahan will lead a 5-day Creativity Through Storytelling Workshop for those who have significant storytelling experience. Co-facilitating will be Mandi Kujawa, songwriter, singer and storyteller from Banff, Canada. Call:
800-626-5356 .

October 23, 2010 Concord, MA - Telling our Stories in New Ways (women only), with
Elisa Pearmain. For complete information go to http://www.womenswell.org/  or contact elisa@wisdomtales.com .

October 22-24, 2010 Schenectady, NY Retreat “Storytelling: Story Your Way In” with Marni Gillard. Bring a favorite story to share as well as a journal. 518-393-4169 dslcny@nycap.rr.com  details: http://www.dslcny.org/

October 30, 2010 - 10-4pm - Concord, MA. Forgiveness: Telling our Stories in New Ways with Elisa Pearmain. For complete information go to: http://www.wrighttavern.org/  or contact elisa@wisdomtales.com .


CALL FOR WORKSHOP PROPOSALS

New England Folk Festival Association - The 2011 Festival, our 67th annual Festival, will be held on April 15-17 2011 in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Festival applications are available now: http://www.neffa.org/app_chooser.html 

New England Storytelling Conference: Sharing the Fire – Warwick, RI Sponsored by the League for Advancement of New England Storytelling. The CFP instructions and form are attached to this email, and is also be posted on the LANES website http://www.lanes.org/ . The deadline for submission is September 17, 2010.

Northlands Storytelling Conference, Lake Geneva, WI - Guidelines posted at http://www.northlands.net/ . Deadline for submission is October 1, 2010.


STORYTELLING/SPOKEN WORD EVENTS

New Bedford, MA - The Story Café and Open Mic at ArtWorks. Adult storytelling venue and open mic once a month. For dates and featured performers through 2010 and complete information visit http://tinyurl.com/mjsrha . Free admission; pass the hat for the feature. Come listen, laugh and support the arts!

Rochester, NH - Storytelling in the Pantry - Catering to the Spoken Word at The Portable Pantry at 12 Hanson Street on the 2nd Friday of each month. Different theme; take part in the open mic, or just come to listen and enjoy! For information call 603-948-2035.

Lynn, MA - SPEAK UP! has A NEW HOME! Walnut Street Coffee Cafe, 157 Walnut St, Lynn, MA. Come to the Walnut Street Coffee Cafe for the best in poetry, storytelling, jive talking, etc. Sign up for the open mike starts at 7:00 P.M. with the actual talking kicking off at 7:30 P.M. Contact Tony Toledo at ToledoGoat@aol.com  or 978-921-GOAT(4628) or 781-477-0700.

Franklin, New Hampshire - Tea & Tales 120 Canal Street T.R.I.P Center. Doors open at 7:00 P.M. and stories start at 7:30 P.M. Featured teller begins at 8:10 P.M. Come and share in the refreshments and share a tale of your own. More info: Lauretta Phillips lphillipstale@comcast.net .

Portland, Maine MOOSE! Maine Organization of Storytelling Enthusiasts. Open mic/Spoken Word at 7:00 P.M. followed by a featured performer at 8:05 P.M. the 2nd Wednesday of every month at the North Star Music Café on 225 Congress Street Portland Maine. For more information visit: http://moosetellers.ning.com/ .


SOMETHING EXTRA

“Every good act is charity. A man's true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.”  ~ Moliere

The Giraffe Heroes Project – “This non-profit honours the risk-takers, people who are largely unknown, people who have the courage to stick their necks out for the common good in the United States and around the world.” http://www.giraffe.org/