Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Stories to Grow by Announces Kids Art Contest! Calling all Artists!

Stories to Grow by Announces Kids Art Contest! Calling all Artists!

Stories to Grow by is looking to feature Kids Art in our new Audio Storybook series! We are looking for children ages 6-14 to submit original artwork for our Early Reader Stories: The Velveteen Rabbit, Rumpelstiltskin, Rapunzel, Beauty & the Beast, Mulan, The Snow Queen and The Emperor’s New Clothes.
We are asking for submissions by April 1st. The winning drawings (10-15 depending on story length) will be featured in our new Audio Storybooks, published on our award-winning website:www.storiestogrowby.org as well on bookcreator and Ibooks.
For a sample Audio Storybook, see our “A Spider and Robert the Bruce” version:https://www.storiestogrowby.org/a-spider-and-robert-the-bruce-audio-story-book/
Please email submissions or questions to: wdischinger@storiestogrowby.org Include child’s first name only, age, state and country. Thank you!

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

March Themed Stories are Up! GIRLS OF COURAGE


MARCH THEME: GIRLS OF COURAGE 
Stories to Grow by is proud to present our March Theme featuring many of our new "Early Reader" Classic Short Stories in English. Our March focus is on the theme of "Girls of Courage". What an important message in your classroom, specifically in this time of our history. Multicultural Stories such as Mulan, The Girl & the Chenoo, Janet & Thomalyn, and the ever popular "Snow Queen" which the Disney movie "Frozen" is based from. We hope you will find these stories inspiring to read at home as Bedtime Stories or in the classroom. Disney's Mulan is one of my sons favorite Disney movies so be assured that both girls and boys will come away from these stories having learned valuable moral lessons. Happy Storytelling! 

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

The Velveteen Rabbit Lesson Plan ~ Valentine’s Day

The Velveteen Rabbit Lesson Plan ~ February Theme of Love 
The Velveteen Rabbit Short Story for Kids
Velveteen Rabbit Lesson Plan Ideas for Valentine's Day: Creative Writing Tasks  
The Velveteen Rabbit is a beautiful, classic tale of a child's love for his stuffed animal. A motif, as also seen in the Disney movie "Toy Story", of the old toy thrown aside as new, shiny, toys with buttons and lights are received. The stuffed bunny, Velveteen Rabbit, and the Skin Horse wonder about their life as discarded toys.  But Skin Horse assures Velveteen Rabbit,"When soft toys are loved enough, we can become real." 
This story is a favorite childhood classic and our early reader version can be easily used in the classroom for grades K-3rd. It is perfect for Valentine's Day  with the theme of love which is easily accessible to all children. The love for their favorite stuffed toy.  In Kindergarten and 1st grade, the lesson could include am oral reading of the story and the children drawing a picture of their favorite stuffed animal coming to life. Meet standards by having students write a descriptive sentence "I love my ____ because_____." For 2nd and 3rd grade, it can be read for Independent Reading or Read Aloud and then include a writing task: Write a paragraph describing your own beloved stuffed animal. Extend the learning by having students be creative and write a short story about how their stuffed animal became real. Or a persuasive story about why their stuffed animal deserves to become real. Happy Valentine's Day & Happy Storytelling! 

Friday, February 9, 2018

Beauty and the Beast Classic Fairy Tale Lesson Plan

February Theme of Love: Finding Love Where You Least Expect It

February: the month of LOVE and surely there are plenty of stories which cover the “traditional” love story. Our worldly stories, however, teach us so much more about love than just that.  This month we will explore love stories, each from a different country and each with their own unique message about what it means to love and be loved in return. This week’s stories are about finding :Love Where You Least Expect It".  Below you will find suggestions for a Beauty and the Beast Love Lesson Plan for both grades 2-4 and 4-6.
beauty and the beast Beauty & the Beast Love Fairy Tale 
The classic tale from France of a beautiful, smart, young girl who finds herself entrapped with a hideous Beast to spare her father’s life; a Beast who turns out to be more than what he seems. A tale as old as time…..
A story from France, this European Folk Tale is a wonderful tale of love that builds from friendship. Much like Disney’s version, but with some differences, there is also a secondary plot regarding three sisters, Beauty being the youngest, most humble, and the one to put the love for her father above her own wants and needs. She willingly goes to take his place and live with the Beast, whilst her older sisters only care about their selfish ways, getting their riches back and finding husbands who will “suit” them. An exploration of love in many forms, this tale analyzes love between a father and daughter as well as love that comes from truly learning to value another for their heart and not their looks. Beauty finds “Love Where She Least Expects It”, a love grown from friendship and true admiration for ones’ best qualities.
We offer two versions of this story: The Classic Version suited for a 4th-6th reading level and an "Early Reader" version in simple English suited for those with a 2nd-4th reading level.  This Fairy Tale offers a wonderful opportunity to meet Common Core Standards of Comparing/Contrasting Text to Film. The animated Disney version varies from the new recent version, which more closely meets the original classic tale. Another idea is to use the text to Debate Ethics:Does the punishment meet the crime? Last, I like to use this tale to analyze Point of View and write a Fractured Fairy Tale. What would this story look like from the Beast's perspective?

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

LOVE DISNEY'S FROZEN? OUR NEWEST EARLY READER IS "THE SNOW QUEEN" ADAPTED FROM HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN!

The Snow Queen: An Early Reader Version Adapted from Hans Christian Andersen. 


The Snow Queen
By Елена Ринго - www.elena-ringo.com,
CC BY 3.0,
 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28303832
The Wizard’s Mirror
Once there was an evil wizard who made a mirror that had a special dark magic.  Anything good or beautiful, when reflected back in this evil mirror, only looked rotten and gray.  
The wizard was very pleased with his evil mirror!  He laughed and laughed, and wanted to show it to the whole world.  So he flew up high into the sky, but the mirror started to shake.  It shook so much that the wizard could no longer hold on to it, and it dropped down to earth.  The mirror smashed into millions, billions, trillions of tiny sharp bits of glass that flew all over the place.
If a tiny sharp bit of that evil glass landed in anyone’s eye, from that time on, the person would see only the bad and dark in people and things, and no more see the light and good.  So it was in this land for hundreds of years.
Years later, a boy named Kai and a girl named Gerda lived next door to each other.  When they opened their bedroom windows, they could easily talk to each other.  What’s more, there was a roof gutter that ran between the two attic windows.  Inside the gutter their families had planted a garden where vegetables and roses grew.  Kai and Gerda’s families were poor and they had no toys to play with, but they did not mind.  That garden was where the two friends played, and they were happy.

When their bedroom windows were open, they were so close they could easily talk to each other.

One day, Gerda and Kai were reading a book in the garden.  All of a sudden, a gust of wind blew a bit of that sharp evil glass into Kai’s eye.  Kai threw down the book, right on top of the roses.  He yelled that he did not want to read any more.  Gerda picked up the book and set the broken roses up again.  She asked if he wanted to play a clapping game instead?  But Kai cried out “No!”  He said he never wanted to play with Gerda, ever again!  
The Snow Queen
The next day, Kai pulled his sled to town.  He wished his sled would go faster!  Then he saw a big white sleigh coming up the road.  As it passed, Kai quickly tied his sled’s rope to the back of the sleigh.  Now he could ride very fast behind the sleigh!  But what Kai did not know is that one driving the sleigh was the Snow Queen herself.  
The Snow Queen, in her white fur coat, had known that Kai was up ahead on the road.  She had slowed down her sleigh when she got closer to Kai, giving him a chance to tie his rope to her sleigh.  Then she had ridden off very fast, with Kai speeding behind her.

The one driving the sleigh was the Snow Queen herself.




Wednesday, January 10, 2018

OUR NEWEST EARLY READER: THE VELVETEEN RABBIT!

We are proud to present the newest addition to our Early Reader Collection: 



The Velveteen Rabbit-"Early Reader" English Stories for Kids


In a boy’s toy box there lived a soft and plushy Velveteen Rabbit.  For a short time, the boy played with the Velveteen Rabbit, but that was before brighter toys came along.  Some of these toys could move if you pushed a button.  Others would bounce high if thrown in the air.  
Velveteen Rabbit had no button to make it move.  If thrown in the air, Velveteen Rabbit would only fall softly to the floor.  All the other toys in the toy box talked with pride about the fine things they could do.  And with them, Velveteen Rabbit did not say much.
Only one other toy in the toy box was like Velveteen Rabbit.  Skin Horse was a soft, plushy toy.  But he was old.  Most of his hair had been worn away a long time ago, and he had only one eye left.  Skin Horse said to Velveteen Rabbit, “Soft toys like us are lucky because we can get loved the most.  And when soft toys are loved enough, we can become Real.”
“What is Real?” said Velveteen Rabbit. 

Monday, January 8, 2018

HAPPY NEW YEAR, HAPPY NEW THEME: SERVICE/HELPING/JUSTICE

Our January themed stories are up! This month's short stories focus on the Themes of Service/Helping/Justice. Such stories of a king who goes in disguise to see how his people live, a story about a poor man who entrusts his life savings to a king who steals it, and even a true tale about a rebellion in Spain against their overlord. Our Moral Stories feature positive messages and will leave a lasting impression! Look for lesson plans for these stories coming soon! 
https://www.storiestogrowby.org/free-short-stories-kids/