"How Does Your Story Start?" Inspired by Bev Bos

In 2011, when I finally made the effort to seek out and meet Bev Bos. One of the many things she told me to grab a pen and some paper and to ask the children.... "How does your story start?" Bev was very specific, Do not ask children IF they have a story.... Simply ask, "How does your story start?" and be ready to write.....

G. age 4-
"I saw the car looks like ours, but our purple car is SO BIG, but our car is purple and I saw Alex's van. I went to work with daddy and I saw a truck and a taxi. I saw the truck and I saw the police and I saw the snow plow. I saw a fire hat and the police and a pilot and a doctor and he was so mad he looked like a tiger and he was SO BIG, but I wanna be so big like my mom. Levin is my friend but Billy is my cousin. I love Grace and I shot it and is trying to get me all the time and Charlotte is a caterpillar and looks like a tiger and he's trying to get me and I saw hats outside and just went home all of the time and he is trying to get me all of the time and he is trying to get me and those are snowflakes and Delainey is my friend too and he is trying to get me."

D. age 4-
"My story is about me and all the cars and the taxi is blocking the way and all of the cars are going really fast. It was a bright day first and the great day was really hard and I went for a walk all by myself and my mom's taxi came and she was waving to me. My ring was up and then it was a really bright day and the sun was right next to me and then I burned myself and my skin got all burned up and I turned into a skeleton. That's it."

L. age 4 -
"A tree was falling down and a person was right below it and the tree was falling down (sound effects) It was in a dark scary woods. This woods was really scary. I was with my mom with Kathryn and Sally and then a monster came out and started to run at us and then another tree fell, fell, fell (sound effects). The monster was dead."

E. age 2-
"Jingle bell uhm milk. I want some milk some more uhm I am a stinker, stinker butt uhm cookie I want muffins. Momma called I want Evie and Ellie. I want Ellie. I want my baby. Ellie, Evie, uhm Ellie. my Evie.

L. age 4-
"One strange sound and I saw eyes peeking out a tree the eyes were so giant and something giant came after me. then the big arms and big hands reached out after me. That's all."

G. age 3-
"I found a deer one night and a bear didn't come though. Nope, that's it."

A. age 3-
"One of my favorite I wanna see it. Momma pick me up and dadda can come get Oliver and mom can nurse Oliver and Oliver can go all by himself and I can go all by myself."

C. age 3- 
"My car bumped into a piece of ice in my backyard and it falled BOOOM! that's silly and my sled broke all the way to the basement and my mom and dad stuck in the tree and it was 2 and was pulling right by mom and the branch and the leaves. Then my ball crashed all the way down into my door and my pants fell into my drawer and all the way into my sink the ball crashed. This is it not. (giggles)

As you can see- I write things down exactly as they are said. Let me tell you, sometimes it is really hard to keep up with the exuberant story tellers. Just do the best you can. Then, take a moment to read back what you have written and ask the child to help you fix what you may have forgotten or misquoted. When they stop, you can ask if there is anything else...  Some days your hand will feel like it is ready to fall off from writing- and then you will write some more!

The children absolutely love to have you write their stories down. Not only does it help them to understand that what they have to say is important. It also shows that words and ideas can be written down to be communicated to others, it shows in a real way that words have significance and meaning. Writing helps us to remember things that are important to us. It is real, it is meaningful language and literacy in action! Children will also be quick to follow your model-- and will spend time writing down their own stories as well.....

After prompting a few times with "How does your story start?" you will probably find that the children will come running to you saying: "I have a story" or "Write this down!"

Now, let me tell you a little bit more about meeting Bev Bos, and how this story started.....

I'm one of those early childhood professionals who spent some time living in my own little world. You see, when you work with young children, especially in your home. That is easy to do. We (home based child care providers)  work long hours with young children, often by ourselves or maybe with one or two other adults. It is easy to drift into our own little world- and do what we do best.  With the growth in social media and the availability to share information, to network, and find like minded colleagues, it is a little less secluded than it once was...

After running my home based program for quite a few years, someone remarked, "You know, you are an awful lot like Bev Bos." I think I kind of shrugged it off the first time it happened, but after hearing it a couple of times, I thought- well, I guess I aught to figure out exactly who this Bev Bos is!!!!! I did a little bit of research and watched a few videos. (This one here is my favorite... well worth the time to watch).

In 2011, I finally made the trip. It was a 6 hour drive to see Bev speak in one of the suburbs of Chicago. The day was worth every minute of travel! I didn't find myself learning or coming back with a ton of new ideas. I did have a few, but what was far more valuable to me was the validation. You see, there are so many times where the pressure is there to do things that I know in my heart are not what is best for young children. There is so much pressure to conform and to allow the push down of curricula and to place unrealistic expectations upon young children. Sometimes it is hard to do what is right-- and it seems like it is getting harder and harder to swim against the ever growing stream of developmentally inappropriate practices out there. The day was amazing, I left so energized and so ready to take on the world.....

On Monday, when I returned to my crew. I did just what Bev told us to do... and I put out the glass jars with oil and water, and I put out some table salt..... just like Bev said to do..... (You can read more about it  by clicking here....)

I also made sure to grab a pencil and some paper so that I could start recording the children's stories.

On a side note, as my story continued... In 2014, I finally made my way to Roseville to attend the Good Stuff for Kids conference spending some more time finding "my tribe" and connecting with like minded souls!

Now--- Do you collect children's stories?????

How Does Your Story Start?

A Love Of Literacy : Creating A Literacy Rich Culture In The Classroom

A LOVE OF LITERACY: 

Creating A Literacy Rich Culture In The Classroom

I remember when I first opened Discovery, I was so eager to settle in and have a culture, a way, a feeling of our school. I was, like I often am, rushing what should happen naturally. As time went on I was reminded that a culture is something that is cultivated over time, it simmers and sizzles until it boils over. As much as I wanted to dig in.. I had to allow things to happen at it's own pace. I already knew this about children and how they learn, I knew that they could not be forced to learn and develop, that it would happen naturally in an environment full of rich material and a culture that supported play.. I used this same mindset to settle down my inner voice and let the classroom culture take shape.

One thing was for sure, play would be at the center of what children experienced at our school. Why play? Well because Play develops relationships, relationships with people, spaces, materials, and ones self. We understood that these relationships would be of great importance to the classroom culture.

With relationships as a main focus, we began to closely observe the children. Through our observations we noticed the connection and closeness that was nourished while sharing stories, books and simply chatting together. We had designed the classroom with ample access to reading and writing material, but with the new knowledge of the children, we began to fill the shelves with books that supported the interests of the children in the classroom. We blurred the lines between "Centers" in the classroom by adding reading and writing materials in all areas of the classroom, by doing this it became understood that writing and reading did not happen ONLY in designated centers.

By providing books that matched the interest of the children and allowing them to read  naturally in groupings of their choosing, on the lap of a teacher or alone at any given point in the school day, we created an environment that merged the joy of reading with the joy of play.  Children could be found deep into a book as a marching band marched on by, children giggling in delight didn't even threaten to tear a child away from his book.  





We also found it important to offer ample opportunities for children to write and mark make. blank books made of folded paper then stapled along the spine, blank paper, lined paper, chalk boards, journal books, memo pads, and any other type of paper we could find is nestled in all areas of the classroom. A myriad of writing tools accompany them. Clip boards, and mini notebooks create a mobile writing device that add to play of all kinds. cardboard, scraps of wood dry erase boards were also placed thoughtfully around the room. 

Simply adding an easel and large paper to the block area encourages plans to be mocked up and sketches to be made. 

We do not do worksheets, we do not practice any writing curriculum or have any teacher directed writing sessions, it's not a chore.. or work, it's PLAY..  

Children write and mark make ALL day, children read and tell stories ALL day. Our end of the day story is an event.. We call it the book vote. Everyone meets at the rug. Small blocks are passed out as tickets, three or four books are laid out after each title is read and displayed for all to see. Then the vote begins! The children are called up a few at a time to place their vote. It's always exciting to tally up the votes at the end and see which story won. This time fosters a sense of community, a sense of democracy and a love of and excitement for reading. 


We found that there are a few key things that helped to develop our literacy rich culture. 

- We provided ample accessible books and reading material 


- We talked with and listened to the children 


- We asked " How does your story start" ( Bev Bos) 


- We provided many tools for mark making and writing 

- Plenty of play give the children to opportunity to play out ideas and events in    stories and books. 

- Reading one on one, small groups, and whole group situations naturally. 

- Never having a forced reading time or a lesson in reading. 


We dictate the words of the children reading their own words back to them and their classmates. Dictation is so much a part of our program that now the children attempt to dictate for each other, the act of dictation is showing up in play!

Never before have I seen children flock to reading and choose it when play is an option, my theory for this is;  they are never forced to sit for group "reading time" they are never punished by being sent to " go read a book" they are not worried that they will miss play time because play is not scheduled between all of the other stuff.. it is the other stuff. They have associated reading and mark making or writing with spending time with loved ones, with laughter, sharing ideas, playing and learning.  They do it for pleasure, not because they are pressured. 

Their love for books and reading continued to grow, to the point that children began asking to take favorite books home. This prompted us to create a book borrowing corner in our classroom. The children and their families check out books to enjoy together at home, this home school connection reinforces the importance of reading to children and with loved ones.  

The children have truly developed a love of literacy