Students at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools' Albemarle Road Elementary School were treated to a morning of traditional oral storytelling from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library on Thursday — voice-only, with no screens, no pictures, not even a book. Part of the Storyvine Festival, it’s happening in 45 elementary schools across CMS in an effort to promote the library’s summer reading program.
Rene Kimray tells students the old Appalachian folktale known as “Sody Sallyratus,” a story about a squirrel who saves his family from a hungry bear. Kimray and the children act out the roar of the bear, the sounds of the squirrel and sing a song about Sody Sallyratus, an archaic word for baking soda.
It’s one of three traditional stories she’s sharing, with no book, no paper — just the ancient art of oral storytelling.
“Traditional storytelling is one of my favorite things because it is just really human-to-human, kid-to-kid, teacher-to-kid, sharing stories directly with one another,” Kimray said.
It’s part of the library’s Storyvine program, and more than 5,900 CMS elementary schoolers got the experience this week. An associate with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library, Kimray says it gives kids a chance to hear traditional stories in a more interactive way.
“And all the while you are teaching them about the parts of a story, you’re developing their listening skills, their comprehension skills, and hopefully we’re inspiring the next generation of storytellers,” Kimray said.
The program also helps promote the library’s summer reading program. Kids get a reading tracker to mark each day they read and can earn prizes. It doesn’t matter how much they read in a day — even if they only read a little. As long as they try to read every day.
And by visiting students this week, the hope is that hearing a good story will help inspire them to seek out more.
