The elephant’ s wedding

The children create a made-up story using the Rodari’s method «The Stone in the Pond»

Kindergarten Konia, class A1 January 2016, Marianna Kitsiou

Inspired by the technique of Gianni Rodari “The Stone in the Pond»

“

The Italian writer Gianni Rodari was not only the author of many beloved children's books who was awarded the prestigious Andersen Prize, he was also an educator and activist who truly understood the power of the imaginative life. In this delightful classic -- now translated into English for the first time -- Rodari presents numerous and wonderful techniques for creating stories. He discusses these specific techniques in the context of the imagination, fairy tales, folk tales, children's stories, cognitive development, and compassionate education. Gianni Rodari was one of the founders of the innovative educational approach that began in Reggio Emilia, Italy, and is now making itself felt throughout the U.S. The Grammar of Fantasy grew out of a series of informal workshops that Rodari conducted for the teachers of Reggio Emilia.

Gianni Rodari gave free reign to his

imagination, with inspired panache and gleeful lightness.” —

Italo Calvino

The Grammar of FantasyWonderful magical book about playing with the imagination,

dreaming up stories and ideas. Written for educators of children

but of interest to any creative person. By Italian writer and educator from Reggio Emilia,

Gianni Rodari.

Introduct How we created this fairy tale ...

• The children come up with words, which begin with the first letter of the acrostic “WINTER” (ΧΕΙΜΩΝΑΣ)

• They choose the ones that they are going to use in order to create an impromptu story

• They draw the heroes and scenes of their story

• They devise a title for their impromptu story.

• Χ χαλί, χιόνι, χιονάνθρωπος, χελώνα

• Ε ελέφαντας, ελάφι, ένα, ενώνω, έξι

• Ι Ιανουάριος, Ιάσωνας, Ινδιάνος ιπποπόταμος

• Μ μήλο, Μιχάλης, μηχάνημα, μηλόπιτα, μάγος

• Ω ώρα, ωραίο, ώμος, ωμό• Ν Νίκος, νάνος, νύχτα, νύφη,

νυχτερίδα, νύχια• Α αυτοκίνητο, άλογο, αγελάδα,

αεροπλάνο, αυλή, αυγό• Σ σαΐτα, σαλιγκάρι, σκύλος,

σπίτι, σάλτσα, σαλάτα

• The chosen words were correlated with a picture...

elephantελέφαντας

Wizardμάγος

brideνύφη

Snowmanχιονάνθρωπος

Yardαυλή

paper airplaneσαΐτα

snowχιόνι

Beautifulωραίο

Red IndianΙνδιάνος

machineμηχάνημα

shoulderώμος

…and based on the pictures and with the assistance of our imagination, we write our own story

Once upon a time, in a beautiful village, there was a wizard. The wizard was too kind, that’s why he did only good magic tricks. One day, an elephant came to his house to ask him to do his magic tricks and give him wings. He wanted to go to a faraway land and meet the people there.

The wizard accepted at once and said: “Abracadabra, the elephant gets wings!” Indeed, wings grew on his back and happily he started flying. He was so happy he couldn’t see ahead, so he crashed into a tree. Dazed he fell down and got a bump on his forehead. Now he looked like a fat unicorn with large ears and a trunk.

The wizard then wiggled his stick and a huge paper airplane appeared. He placed the elephant on the paper airplane and he sent him to the vet. The vet was a Red Indian medicine man and he was called Kostas. The Red Indian put a bandage on him and gave him an injection on his shoulder, and that’s how he cured the elephant. Then, the elephant finally started his trip.

He found the faraway land where he met a really pretty female elephant. She was called Marianna and he was so dazzled by her beauty that he wanted to marry her and make her his bride. Before the wedding the Red Indian came with a machine to fix the yard of the church. It was perfect!

On the wedding day many elephants arrived in the church. Suddenly, it started snowing and everybody came out in the yard. The snow fell on the elephant’s nose. All the other elephants started laughing and making snowmen. However, the cold was so intense that everybody froze. They all looked like frozen statues.

Finally the spring came, melted the snow and that’s how the wedding celebrations came to an end!

Once upon a time, in a beautiful village, there was a wizard. The wizard was too kind, that’s why he did only good magic tricks. One day, an elephant came to his house to ask him to do his magic tricks and give him wings. He wanted to go to a faraway land and meet the people there.

The wizard accepted at once and said: “Abracadabra, the elephant gets wings!” Indeed, wings grew on his back and happily he started flying. He was so happy he couldn’t see ahead, so he

crashed into a tree. Dazed he fell down and got a bump on his forehead. Now he looked like a fat unicorn with large ears and a trunk.

The wizard then wiggled his stick and a huge paper airplane appeared. He placed the elephant on the paper airplane and he sent him to the vet. The vet was a Red Indian medicine man and he

was called Kostas. The Red Indian put a bandage on him and gave him an injection on his shoulder, and that’s how he cured the elephant. Then, the elephant finally started his trip.

He found the faraway land where he met a really pretty female elephant. She was called Marianna and he was so dazzled by her beauty that he wanted to marry her and make her his bride. Before the wedding the Red Indian came with a machine to fix the yard of the church. It

was perfect!

On the wedding day many elephants arrived in the church.

Suddenly, it started snowing and everybody came out in the yard. The snow fell on the elephant’s nose. All the other elephants started laughing and making snowmen.

However, the cold was so intense that everybody froze. They all looked like frozen statues.

Finally the spring came, melted the snow and that’s how the wedding celebrations came to an end!

The authors and illustrators ...

The authors and illustrators ...

APPENDIXA look at the way

we worked!

A look at the way we worked!

After the selection of the word “WINTER”, we proceeded with a phonetic recognition of

each letter, then we said words beginning with these letters and finally we draw these

words …

Creativity

Based on the chosen pictures, we worked together to imagine and create our own fairytale.

Once upon a time…

A look at the way we worked!

The children draw scenes of their improvised fairytale ...

Additional activities the next day ... ..

Children put the letters in the correct to order to make the word " WINTER " ...

…and match the pictures they had drawn with the first letter of their word.

Finally, based on the graph portrayed, the children discuss their findings and conclusions.