Every child, and the child in every one of us, is ready to plead: Tell Me a Story! For the role of stories is to explain life, and the good stories, in their substance and in the structure of their language, become revelation. Andrew M. Greeley

Lorraine Hartin-Gelardi has partnered with Dutchess Community College Day Care Center to present Reach for the Stars: Developing a Culture of Storytelling with Early Childhood Educators and Families. Through this program teachers and parents will learn the value of oral language and develop their skills as storytellers.

A nation’s well-being depends on how it cares for and educates its children. Storytelling provides a key that opens the door to a child’s future. As storyteller and children co-create a story, a trusting relationship is built through play. Play provides the basis for higher level critical thinking while relationships are integral to a child’s self-esteem. Oral language is one of the primary ways a young child acquires information about the world and it fosters listening skills and a love of language that is at the heart of all learning.

REACH FOR THE STARS -
Encouraging Emergent Readers One Story at a Time
Discover the joy of telling stories. In this participatory workshop, Lorraine will explore the many ways to use storytelling in classrooms and daycare facilities. Participants are encouraged to play with familiar stories from the oral tradition and combine them with personal experience to develop an easy, readily available repertoire to use with children.

Verbal Scrapbooking – A Parent Workshop
Parents are “memory keepers.”A child’s earliest memories are held by her parents and it is through story that parents pass on these memories and help form a child’s identity. In this participatory workshop, we will look at everyday life and identify places and times where story can and does happen – in the car, around the dinner table, in the grocery store, during holiday celebrations and at family gatherings. Using family rituals, treasured objects, photos and recipes, we will look at what makes a family unique and help parents shape and share the stories they wish to pass on to their children.