Bedtime Stories

Storytelling should always be made exciting and fun so that children want to read themselves. Bright and big pictures keep children enthused and into the story being told. The tone of voice used to tell a story is very important. The person reading the story needs to be dramatic and use different voices if needed. This will help children to pay attention better and also create a picture in their minds of what is happening. Each story usually has a purpose and a moral at the end of the story. As a teacher it is important to make sure students are getting the message of the story being told. The pictures in the story help children to create their own pictures in their mind and build their imagination. When having to recap about the story the pictures help children remember what happened in the story. If a child doesn't remember than the teacher can give the child a hint and point out a specific point in the story, that may have stood out to the child. The climax in the story helps children wonder whats going to happen and the possibilities of something bad happening. Which is very good for their cause and effect mechanisms. Stories are a lot like real life in the aspect that things don't always go as planned but do eventually work out in one way or another. Reading should be a lot like a movie playing in ones mind. Closure to reading a story is almost as important as making sure the proper message was received from the story. It is crucial for a teacher to go over important events that took place and the five "W's". This helps the children who didn't understand fully, now have a chance to clear up their misunderstandings.

While watching the videos of Bedtime stories, in Russian as well as English the tone of voice is very important. Even though I am not able to understand Russian, I am able to tell by the rhythm of voice when something dramatic is happening. This tone of voice helps get children involved and intrigued to the story being told. It is important as a teacher to not just speak in a monotone voice.

The Russian bedtime story is about a bunch of animals living in a forest. The animals all get along and nurture each other. The "larger" animals seem to be more inferior, they show off a motherly figure, taking care of the other animals and protecting them. When a man comes and captures the turtle, the animals all come together to think of a plan. They want to get their turtle back and help protect them. They come up with sneaky ways to attack the man. The animals scare off the man and get their turtle friend back. The animals all worked together to form a plan and stick together. The animals made sure nothing would happen to their turtle friend.

Bedtime stories are very common in the middle class household because reading prepairs children for school. Reading prepairs children for school because in school children need to be able to comprehend information correctly and understand what they are reading. When reading to children at a young age this allows for children to be interested in books and works on their attention span. When children listen to someone read they are also listening to how proper reading is supposed to sound. Children are taught from reading that there are negative and positive events that always take place in life. Being able to ask questions about books and what is happening in the story gets children ready for school. They learn how to take meaning from books and how to talk about it aloud. Reading also helps build vocabulary making children aware of different terms used. Children should know different homophones, antonyms and hyperbole's. Children will be able to take what they have read and apply it to "real life". When a situation occurs a child who reads a lot may know how to respond to it better than a child whom does not read a lot. Based on the fact that their outside knowledge is a little broader.