Karen Chace - Catch the Story Bug!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Writer, Poet, Paper Artist: Hans Christian Andersen

Paper Cutting
by Hans Christian Andersen

“Life itself is the most
wonderful fairytale of all.”
~ Hans Christian Andersen

Today is the birthday of famous Danish author, poet and fairy tale writer, Hans Christian Andersen. His poetry and stories have been translated into more than 150 languages.

“Shortly before his death, he consulted a composer about the music for his funeral, saying: "Most of the people who will walk after me will be children, so make the beat keep time with little steps." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Christian_Andersen

I always think of Hans Christian Andersen as a writer of fairytales, but he was also an amazingly talented paper cutter. He also carried a bag with paper and a large pair of scissors which he used to cut out the gorgeous figures like this one to the left.

As a child, one of my favorite movies was the 1952 film Hans Christian Anderson with Danny Kaye in the title role. It includes many of Andersen’s famous children's stories: Thumbelina, The Emperor’s New Clothes, and The Little Mermaid. With my bright red hair and freckles I empathized with the young boy in the film where he shares the story of The Ugly Duckling.

Hans Christian Andersen's Life and Works - Research, texts and information. http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/index_e.html

STORIES

Wonder Stories Told for Children by Hans Christian Andersen.

https://www.gatewaytotheclassics.com/browse/display.php?author=andersen&book=wonder&story=_contents

The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen – This book is now a free download from Project Gutenberg.
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/27200

CRAFTS AND ACTIVITIES

Hans Christian Anderson Crafts – From the Dundee Library in the United Kingdom four fun items to celebrate the day. Try your hand at a Little Mermaid mobile, The Princess and the Pea maze, or the Ugly Ducking and Swan Craft.

Coloring Page:
http://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/sites/default/files/frogprincecolour.pdf

Little Mermaid Mobile

http://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/sites/default/files/mermaid.pdf

Ugly Duckling and Swan Craft

http://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/sites/default/files/swan.pdf

The Princess and the Pea Maze
http://www.leisureandculturedundee.com/sites/default/files/princessmaze.pdf

LESSON PLANS

Edsitement – Lesson plans and extensions for five of Hans Christian Andersen’s stories.
http://tinyurl.com/86a97mc

Lesson Planet – A wide variety of lesson plans related to Hans Christian Andersen from K-8. There is a free trial for this site and a subscription fee afterwards.

http://www.lessonplanet.com/lesson-plans/hans-christian-andersen

JUST FOR FUN

Andersen Fairy Tales – Stories and interactive games for children.
http://www.andersenfairytales.com/en/main

SOMETHING EXTRA

National Association of Writers in Education: Andersen’s scissors: Cutting his own shape
“This article, which focuses on an interpretation and rereading of a well-known children’s tale by Hans Christian Andersen and his lesser known paper cut outs, developed initially out of a series of talks focusing on early narratives and fairy stories…”
https://www.nawe.co.uk/DB/wip-editions/articles/andersens-scissors-cutting-his-own-shape.html

Myth and Moor – Hans Christian Andersen: Father of the Modern Fairy Tale
https://www.terriwindling.com/mythic-arts/hca.html

Please note, websites change at a rapid pace and weblinks may change or break without notice. I cannot be responsible for redirected or broken links. At the time of this posting all links were in working order. Thank you for understanding.

Karen Chace 2012 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Water, Water Everywhere...

Water Babies by Jessie Willcox Smith, 1916

"When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.”

~ Benjamin Franklin

Today is World Water Day and here in the United States most of us enjoy it with simple a turn of the faucet. However, sadly that not the case is many parts of the world. Here are just a few facts:

Worldwide, 790 million people do not have access to an improved water source.
An estimated 2.5 billion people lack access to improved sanitation (more than 35% of the world’s population).
In 2006, 7 out of 10 people without access to improved sanitation were rural inhabitants.
Today, women around the world will spend a collective 200 million hours collecting water.

Perhaps the next time turn on the tap you might remember those who are not so lucky and find a few ways to conserve this priceless gift in your own home.

The above information was gathered from https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/wash_statistics.html and https://water.org/

STORIES

The Boat That Went on Land and on Water – French

http://www.mordent.com/folktales/french/boat/

Crocodile’s Treason – South Africa
https://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/saft/sft18.htm

The Dance for Water or Rabbit’s Triumph – South Africa
https://www.sacred-texts.com/afr/saft/sft20.htm

The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird – Italy |https://fairytalez.com/dancing-water-singing-apple-speaking-bird/

The Drop of Water -Danish
http://hca.gilead.org.il/drop_wat.html

The Fish and the Leopard’s Wife – Nigeria
http://www.fairytalenight.com/2019/01/13/the-fish-and-the-leopards-wife-or-why-the-fish-lives-in-the-water-folk-stories-from-southern-nigeria-west-africa-1910-by-elphinstone-dayrell/

The Hare and the Water – Africa
https://www.peacecorps.gov/educators/resources/hare-and-water/?_ga=2.87504216.1932906224.1613432072-164032501.1613432072 NEW

How Water Lilies Came to Be – Wales

This site will lead you to the story and also an educational packet with lessons plan connected to this story. You will find the story within the lesson plan.

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/external/read_write_think/folktales.pdf

The New Water – Sufi

http://www.rodneyohebsion.com/sufi-folktales.htm

Tortoise Finds Water - South Africa
https://tambani.co.za/venda-folktales/folktales-in-english/tortoise-finds-water-2/

The Water of Life – Italy
https://fairytalez.com/water-life-catalan-fairy-tale/

The Water Fairies – Native American/Mic Mac Nation
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TheWaterFairies-Micmac.html

The Water of Life - German

http://www.authorama.com/grimms-fairy-tales-51.html

The Water Spirit – German
https://www.worldoftales.com/European_folktales/German_folktale_5.html#gsc.tab=0

Water Spirit Legends

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/water.html

Why the Fish has Scales
http://folktales.webmanila.com/folktales/water/?fish-scales

Why the Hippo Lives in the Water – Nigeria

https://folkli.com/why-the-hippo-lives-in-the-water-a-efik-folktale

Why the Sea is Salty – Philippines

http://folktales.webmanila.com/folktales/water/?saltysea

Why the Sun and Move Live Up in the Sky – Africa

http://worldoftales.com/African_folktales/African_Folktale_10.html

Water Mythology – Background on a number of mythological creatures associated with water.
http://www.lenntech.com/water-mythology.htm

STORY COLLECTION

SEED (Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development) – An Ocean of Stories
https://web.archive.org/web/20111129022623/http://www.planetseed.com/node/22911 (Note this link is from the Wayback machine as the original link is no longer active. You may still access the stories via the link) from Algeria to Yemen, adapted and retold by renowned storyteller Laura Simms. There are also seven activities to complement the stories, but registration is required.

ACTIVITIES

4 Easy Ways to Celebrate World Water Day with Kids of All Ages|
https://www.heifer.org/blog/cheers-to-clean-water-easy-ways-to-celebrate-world-water-day-with-kids.html

6 Easy Ways to Teach your Kids About World Water Day
https://worldhelp.net/6-easy-ways-to-teach-your-kids-about-world-water-day/

BOOKS

10 Children’s Books That Celebrate World Water Day
https://blog.leeandlow.com/2017/03/21/10-childrens-books-that-celebrate-world-water-day/

CURRICULUM

6 Fun Classroom Ideas To Celebrate World Water Day
https://www.trueeducationpartnerships.com/schools/classroom-ideas-to-celebrate-world-water-day/

From Learning to Give

Measure It Up!
http://learningtogive.org/lessons/unit370/lesson3.html
Save That Water!
http://learningtogive.org/lessons/unit370/lesson4.html
Water, Glorious Water
http://learningtogive.org/lessons/unit370/lesson1.html
Where Does Our Water Come From?
http://learningtogive.org/lessons/unit370/lesson2.html

Earth’s Water: A Drop In Your Cup – Grade 3 – 5
https://www.calacademy.org/educators/lesson-plans/earths-water-a-drop-in-your-cup

Geology.com – Lots of lesson plans and activities.
http://geology.com/teacher/water.shtml

Water: A Never Ending Story
http://www-k12.atmos.washington.edu/k12/pilot/water_cycle/teacherpage.html

Water Cycle Poster
http://trcabcwww.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/Water-Cycle_color.pdf

Water Mythology – Background on several mythological creatures associated with water.
http://www.lenntech.com/water-mythology.htm

MUSIC

Sit back, relax, and listen to the enchanting music of Patrick Ball: Song of the Water Kelpie.

SOMETHING EXTRA

100 Ways to Conserve Water

http://www.wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/index.php

10 Health Benefits of Waterhttp://www.top10homeremedies.com/kitchen-ingredients/10-health-benefits-of-drinking-water.html

Water Mythology
https://www.lenntech.com/water-mythology.htm

Karen Chace 2012 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission, please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.

Karen Chace 2012 ©

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Celebrating Akira Yoshizawa - The Grandfather of Origami

Princess Badoura by
Edmund Dulac, 1913

Today, the Google Doodle honors Akira Yoshizawa “considered to be the grandmaster of origami. He is credited with raising origami from a craft to a living art.

According to his own estimation made in 1989, he created more than 50,000 models, of which only a few hundred designs were presented as diagrams in his 18 books. Yoshizawa acted as an international cultural ambassador for Japan throughout his career.

In 1983, Japanese emperor Hirohito named him to the Order of the Rising Sun, one of the highest honors that can be given to a Japanese citizen.”

Origami or the art of paper folding started in the 17th century AD
The best known origami model is probably the Japanese paper crane.
Traditional Japanese origami has been practiced since the Edo era (1603–1867),
The principles of origami are also being used in stents, packaging and other engineering structures today.
In China, traditional funerals include burning folded paper, most often representations of gold nuggets.
The paper folding has typically been of objects like dishes, hats or boats rather than animals or flowers.
There is also evidence of a cut and folded paper box from 1440.
It is probable paperfolding in the west originated with the Moors.
In Japan, Origami butterflies were used during the celebration of Shinto weddings to represent the bride and groom, a significant aspect of Japanese ceremony by the Heian period (794–1185) of Japanese history.

The information above was found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origami

Joseph Wu’s Origami Web Page -Origami is the art of paper folding. The word is Japanese, literally meaning "to fold" (oru) "paper" (kami). This site includes the history or origami, articles, diagrams and links. http://www.origami.as/home.html

Origami Fun – Wonderful pieces for both children and adults. Of course my favorite is the ladybug!http://www.origami-fun.com/index.html

Origami Instructions.com - From basic origami folds to more elaborate offerings, this site has an array of designs, complete with easy to follow pictorial instructions.http://www.origami-instructions.com/

Origami Resource Center – Many more projects, including special holiday pieces.

http://www.origami-resource-center.com/

Robert J Lang Origami – You will be astounding by the amazing pieces of art work Robert Lang creates out of paper!
http://www.langorigami.com/

Origami Butterfly - So easy even I can do it!

STORIES

Tales of Japan : Sharing Their Stories – This is a blog post I wrote after the devastating earthquake in Japan one year ago. You will find wonderful stories and more.

http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/03/tales-of-japan-sharing-their-stories.html

Folding Cranes: Finding Peace – Another blog post written in December 2010. The story of the peace crane and other resources.

http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2010/12/folding-cranes-finding-peace.html

BOOKS

The Complete Book of Origami: Step-by Step Instructions in Over 1000 Diagrams By Robert J. Lang. http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Origami-Step-Instructions/dp/0486258378

Easy Origami for Kids by John Montroll

http://tinyurl.com/7omlo5b

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Craneshttp://www.amazon.com/Sadako-thousand-paper-cranes-Eleanor/dp/0698118022

CURRICULUM

Arts of Asia - 1000 Cranes Lesson Plan
http://www.oberlin.edu/amam/asia/crane/Default.html

The Educational Benefits of Origami
http://www.informeddemocracy.com/sadako/fold/edbens.html

Education World: Fun with Origami – Grades 3 – 12.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/01-1/lp235_03.shtml

Karen Chace 2012 ©

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Spring Forward! Stories of Sleep and Light

Sleeping Beauty by
Edmund Dulac

“Spring forward, fall back.” That is the mantra we learned as young children to remember when we turn our clocks ahead, and then back as the darkness of winter sets upon us.

Although we lost an hour of sleep today, turning our clocks ahead is our delightful teaser that spring is just around the corner. As the days move forward we will continue to enjoy more hours of light in the coming months. What will you do with your extra time in the sun?

Here are some stories of light from around the world.

STORIES

The Abode of the Gods: Time and the King of the Elements - Slavic
http://tinyurl.com/6nrxju9
The Blue Light – Germany
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0562.html#grimm
The Buried Moon - England
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/meft/meft24.htm

Light Makes Prosperity - India
http://tinyurl.com/7c4crnt
Crow Brings Daylight – Native American – Inuit
http://tinyurl.com/7zyzudr
The Origin of Light – Native American
http://tinyurl.com/85x6uhg
Raven Steals the Light – Native American
http://tinyurl.com/5lnq26

And of course, some stories to help you regain that lost hour of sleep!

The Dragon After His Winter Sleep - China

http://tinyurl.com/7qhhf6q
The Dreaming Tree - Brazil
http://spiritoftrees.org/the-dreaming-tree
Sleeping Beauty - France
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0410.html#perrault
Sleepy John – Czechoslovakian
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/kog/kog08.htm

BOOK

Go To Sleep Gecko by Margaret Read MacDonald
http://www.amazon.com/Go-Sleep-Gecko-Balinese-Folktale/dp/0874837804

CRAFTS

Alphamom.com – Cute crafts for the young ones.
http://alphamom.com/family-fun/crafts/daylight-savings-crafts/

Enchanted Learning – Time and calendar activities.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/themes/calendar.shtml

CURRICULUM

Animated Tales of the World – Lesson plan for Raven Steals Daylight
http://www.libraryvideo.com/guides/V6941.pdf

National Geographic – Get the Facts on daylight savings time!
http://tinyurl.com/849wwuv

Karen Chace 2012 ©

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Take a Leap Into Leap Year With Stories!

Maiden Song by
Emma Florence Harrison, 1910

2012 is a Leap Year and I for one am delighted to have an extra day! We can thank Julius Caesar for the extra 24 hours. In some cultures Leap Year is also a time when a woman may turn the tables and propose to the man she wishes to marry. Here are just a few of the interesting customs around the world.

In the British Isles, it is a tradition that women may propose marriage only on leap years.
A 1288 law by Queen Margaret of Scotland required that fines be levied if a marriage proposal was refused by the man; compensation ranged from a kiss to a silk gown, in order to soften the blow.
Later, women looking to take advantage of their opportunity to proposal marriage were expected to wear a scarlet petticoat as fair warning.
In Denmark, the tradition is that women may propose on the bissextile leap day, February 24, and that refusal must be compensated with 12 pairs of gloves.
In Finland, the tradition is that if a man refuses a woman's proposal on leap day, he should buy her the fabric for a skirt.
In Greece, marriage in a leap year is considered unlucky.

The information above was found at the following links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year http://inventors.about.com/cs/inventionsalphabet/a/leap_year.htm

STORIES

Below are some stories that will hopefully make you “leap” for joy!

Two Feasts and a Leap Day – Ukraine

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/two-feasts-and-a-leap-day/

The Death Leap of Tikawe – Maori

http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Pom01Lege-t1-body2-d1.html

The Leap – Aesop

http://www.pitara.com/talespin/folktales/online.asp?story=86

The Leap-Frog – Danish

http://www.classicreader.com/book/109/7/

Leap the Elk and Princess Tuvstarr (Cottongrass) – Sweden

http://amber-vixen.livejournal.com/2623.html

And of course, if we are talking about leaping we can’t leave out our friendly frogs! Here is a blog post I wrote in April of 2010 to celebrate National Frog Month.

http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2010/04/april-is-national-frog-month-so-get.html

CRAFTS

Child Fun – Leap year crafts, songs and activities.
http://tinyurl.com/7ytovbr

Leap Year Party Games and Printables – Lots of fun things here including a frog puppet, maze and more.
http://www.tipjunkie.com/leap-year-party/

CURRICULUM

Leap Year Math Quiz
http://tinyurl.com/8yqwb2z

Lesson Plans Page.com – For grades 6 through 7.
http://tinyurl.com/7gbpzvm

Jump Rope RHYME

Leap Year, Leap Year
When will you be?
Every four years
Then you'll see.
You want more?
We do too!
How many more
can you Leap to?

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Copyright: To Steal or Not to Steal...Is that Really a Question?

As part of my mission to share my storytelling work with colleagues and educators I leave my self open to copyright infringement. Through the years, resources from my workshops, magazine columns, newsletters, blog and website have been used without attribution. Surprisingly, some of the worst offenders have been educational institutions, those who should be on the front lines, teaching their students about respecting copyright.

Happily, there are also those who respect the work of others and their professional reputation is important to them. They are the ones who take the extra step and request permission, and to them I am thankful.

Through the years I have asked a number or storytellers and visual artists to use their work, with attribution. Each one has said, "Yes" and the common thread between them all is that they were grateful to be asked.

I hope you never have to worry about your work being pirated, but if you do, here are some resources to help through the copyright maze.

Copyright Management Center
Lots of useful information on copyright, ownership, fair use, etc., from Indiana University.
http://www.iupui.edu/~webtrain/web_samples/cmc.html
* This site was last updated in 1998 so some information may be out of date.

Copyright Resources for Schools and Libraries - Lots of resources here with additional links.

http://lbstat.dpi.wi.gov/lbstat_copyres

Flowchart for Determining When U.S. Copyrights in Fixed Works Expire

http://www.sunsteinlaw.com/media/2012_01%20Copyright_Chart.pdf

Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, The Copyright Term Extension Act (S. 505) as P.L. 105-278. The full text of the Act may be found here:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:s.505.enr:

Washington State University

This site should be titled, Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Copyright and More! There is a wealth of information here at your fingertips, for artists, librarians, teachers and Internet Users:

Promotion of the Arts
Artists Exclusive Rights
How Copyright Protects
Public Domain and Duration of Copyrights
Music and Copyright
Internet and Copyright
Library and Copyright
Fair Use
Getting Permission

However, what is truly useful is that the information is dispensed using plain English, no legalese allowed if you please. There is even a Public Domain Chart that highlights all of the recent changes in copyright law. In addition, you will find a long list of other web sources should you need to investigate further. http://publishing.wsu.edu/copyright/

When Works Pass Into the Public Domain

An easy to understand chart to help answer the public domain question.
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm

It seems redundant to add a copyright notice to a blog post on the subject but nonetheless, here it is.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Celebrate Mardi Gras - Let the Good Times Roll!

Pierrot and Harlequin
by
Paul Cezzane, 1888

February 21 ushers in Mardi Gras. Laissez les bons rouler! (Let the good times roll!)

Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday” and” Shrove Tuesday” from the ancient custom of parading a fat ox through Paris on this day. The ox was to remind the people that they were not allowed to eat meat during Lent.

The Tuesday that Mardi Gras falls on is also known as Shrove Tuesday. The name comes from the custom of confessing on the day before lent. Shrove means "to be forgiven one's sins."

Mardi Gras parades happen throughout the world. Biloxi in Mississipi, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Nice in France, Binche in Belgium and Viareggio in Italy are a few examples.

Mardi Gras came to America in 1699 with the French explorer Iberville. Mardi Gras had been celebrated in Paris since the Middle Ages, where it was a major holiday

The first documented parade occurred in 1837.

A very popular custom is the making of the "King's Cake" which represents the three kings who brought gifts. A plastic baby is baked inside the King Cake, and the tradition is whoever receives the baby in their piece of cake must buy the next King Cake or throw the next party.

The cake glazed and then sprinkled with colored sugar. The three colors of the sugar are Purple (representing Justice), Green (representing Faith) and Gold (representing Power).

The above information found at the following websites:
http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/mardigras/history.htm
http://www.eastjeffersonparish.com/culture/MARDIGRA/HISTORY/history.htm

In honor of the “King’s Cake” I offer you some delicious folktales about cakes from around the world.

Earth Cakes, Sky Cakes – Vietnam

http://tinyurl.com/83nvup4

The Cake is Mine – Korea
http://tinyurl.com/7ohwqzw

Epaminondas and his Aunt – United States

http://tinyurl.com/7lg6g9h
Johnny Cake – English Folktale
http://tinyurl.com/7mr63z9

The Story of the Cake Tree – Ceylon

http://www.wisdomlib.org/south-asia/book/village-folk-tales-of-ceylon-volume-2/d/doc7036.html

The Story of Chung Cake - Vietnam

http://tinyurl.com/769kazm
The Two Cakes - Italy
http://tinyurl.com/6ras3wz

Here are some additional folktales from Louisiana to put in you a partying mood!

American Folklore: Louisiana - Meet Foolish John, a riverboat captain and opossum in these three delightful tales.

http://tinyurl.com/3us4w4

Louisiana Folk-tales - From Google books, a downloadable book of public domain folktales by Alcée Fortier shared in both French Dialect and English Translation.
http://tinyurl.com/3ttzqs

CRAFTS

Celebrate Fat Tuesday - Fun crafts, games and coloring pages.

http://www.dltk-kids.com/Crafts/mardigras/index.htm

Crayola.com

Lots of interesting crafts, coloring pages and additional lesson plans await.

http://www.crayola.com/search/?category=Everything&searchtext=mardi%20gras

Mardi Gras Coloring Pages

http://www.holidays.net/mardigras/pix.htm

Mardi Gras Masks

http://tinyurl.com/6vfl4c3

CURRICULUM

LessonPlansPage.com - Mardi Gras activities designed to help your students celebrate Mardi Gras, oriented around Pancake Day, known in many countries as "Shrove Tuesday". http://www.lessonplanspage.com/mardigras-htm#4

Folklife in Louisiana - This site offers a wide range of information on collecting local, folklore, exploring communities and traditions, adaptable lesson plans, and stories!

http://tinyurl.com/cgythp

Louisiana Voices - An Educators Guide to Exploring Our Communities and Traditions. http://tinyurl.com/crme4l

Mardi Gras - Filled with information on the traditions of Mari Gras, included the Krewes, parade, the King Cake, music and more.

http://tinyurl.com/ygmsutc

BOOK

Cajun Folktales by J.J. Reneaux – This is a must have for every storyteller’s bookshelf!

http://www.amazon.com/Cajun-Folktales-American-Storytelling-Reneaux/dp/0874832829/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329015671&sr=8-1