Story Stick Medallions

Make up your own story or tell one you already know by illustrating it on recycled CDs! Create a traditional Sioux story stick with an environmentally friendly twist!

• 1.

  Think of a story/legend you know or make up one. What are the three most important events, one each in the beginning, middle, and end of the story? Figure out how you will illustrate these three events on recycled CDs. For example, you may want to show the sun in the morning when the story begins, in the afternoon when something else happens, and then the moon shining as the day ends. This is one way to create a prop-- much like a Sioux story stick--to retell your story.

• 2.

  Choose your Crayola Premier™ Tempera Paint colors. Consider how one or more Crayola Tempera Mixing Mediums (Texture It!, Pearl It!, Glitter It!) would enhance the scene. Glitter might add sparkle to the sun or moon while soil or rocks would look great with texture.

• 3.

  Cover your painting area with newspaper. On a small paper plate or other palette, use a brush to mix small amounts of the paint with the mediums you chose. Dab your paint on the CDs for a thick, dimensional look! Air-dry the CDs overnight.

• 4.

  To add details, gently scratch off designs with the end of a paintbrush if you like. Cut yarn with Crayola Scissors into 3 different lengths. Tape yarn on the back of each CD with masking tape. Tie CDs in the correct sequence to hang down from a stick, either one you have found or a dowel stick.

• 5.

  Retell your story by explaining what is happening in each picture. Be sure to give lots of extra details about in-between events that only your words can express!

Benefits

• Students identify and visually represent important events in the beginning, middle, and end of a story.
• Students arrange the pictures in sequential order.
• Students verbalize details while they retell their story idea to friends and family with the aid of a story stick similar to those used by the Sioux.

Adaptations

• Work in small groups to illustrate a common story. Use more than three CDs if needed.
• Identify the titles and authors of each other’s stories by reviewing the major events in the story.
• Perform at least one story in a mini-play for your class and families.
• Create mobiles in a similar manner—for almost any project in science, geography, or math, for example. Sandwich two CDs together so you can decorate both sides.
• Learn more about people from the Lakhota/Nokota/Dakota tribes, part of the Great Sioux Nation, who live on the Northern Plains of North American. What other traditions do they observe? What is their language?
• Assessment: Students will be successful if they identify three major events from a story, one each at the beginning, middle, and end; illustrate these events in their paintings; and retell the story in sequence.