1. Emergent literacy: an envolving process -- Reading and preschool children -- Reading and school-aged children -- Promoting lifelong reading -- Storytelling versus story reading -- Benefits of storytelling -- Authentic assessment of literacy -- 2. The use of storytelling to foster emergent literacy skills: incorporating brain-based learning -- Meaning and comprehension -- Imagination, emotion, memory and learning -- Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences -- Storytelling and learning -- 3. How to tell a story: ten exciting approaches -- 4. January: Winter wonders -- The purple hat (Chant) -- The Chinese New Year: how the animals were chosen -- A riddle for winter (Chant/Traditional) -- I have a dream (Puppetry) -- 5. February: Presents and presidents -- I like you the best (Chant) -- Abe Lincoln and the bullies -- George Washington's lifeguard: The legend of Simeon Simons -- The frog prince (Chant/Pantomime) -- 6. March: Magic and make-believe -- Daniel O'Rourke and the Pooka's Tower -- Finn and Cuchulainn (Group role-play) -- The three wishes -- The pot that would not stop boiling (Character imagery/Chant) -- 7. April: Spring into the great outdoors -- Bojabi (Felt board/Chant) -- Kibungo: beast of the rainforest (Musical/Group role-play) -- Jack and the beanstalk (Felt board/ Chant) -- The lion and the mouse (balloon) -- 8. May: Families are special -- The city mouse and the country mouse (Puppetry/Chant) -- Why not call it cow juice? (Draw talk) -- The little bunny who wished for red wings (Chant) -- The brownies and the tailor (Chant). 9. June: Music and poetry -- Rattlin' Bog (Balloon/Musical) -- Little bunny Foo Foo (Puppetry/Musical) -- It could be worse! (Group role-play/Musical) -- The unicorn (Musical) -- 10. July: America and Americans -- Johnny Appleseed (Group role-play/Character imagery/Chant) -- Ida Lewis: keeper of the light (Adapted pantomime/Musical) -- A Yankee Doodle legend (Character imagery/Musical/Chant) -- The fourth of July (Chant) -- 11. August: Oceans of fun -- Magic fish in the sea (Musical/Chant) -- The fairies, the people and the sea (Puppetry) -- The crab and the lobster (Group role-play/Pantomime) -- The war between the Sandpipers and the Whales: a tale from the Marshall Islands (Chant) -- 12. September: Making new friends -- The three billy goats gruff (Puppetry) -- Pigs...bears (Chant) -- The most beautiful thing in the world (Draw talk) -- How the leaves got their colors (Chant) -- 13. October: Shivers and quivers -- Old rattle bones (Musical) -- Red lips (Chant/Adapted Pantomime) -- No kids in the gallery! (Character imagery) -- Skinny as a spider's waist (Felt board/Chant) -- 14. November: Food for thought -- The little red hen (Group role-play) -- Stone soup (Adapted pantomime) -- Old man Rabbit's Thanksgiving dinner (Draw talk) -- The strawberry Thanksgiving -- 15. December: Holidays around the world -- Saint Lucia Day: a Swedish tradition -- The Kwanzaa story (Chant) -- A baker's dozen -- A stranger's gift (Puppetry).