A story vine is a creative and engaging way to tell or retell a story using objects to represent the key events. “According to Marlene story vines are based on an old African tradition of story telling and can be used to develop language and supporting reading and writing across the curriculum”(Bright 92). It helps bring the story to life by providing a visual connection to the narrative.
As stated within the text story vines:
- “develops students understanding of a story and sequence”
- “introduces students to new vocabulary “
- “links visual imagery with reading”
- “develops fluency in reading and talking ” (Bright 92).
For my story vine, I chose to represent the classic tale The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch, a story about resilience, intelligence, and self-worth. Creating this story vine helps connect to the grade 4 curricular competencies in particular:
- Access and integrate information and ideas from a variety of sources and from prior knowledge to build understanding
- Consider different purposes, audiences, and perspectives in exploring texts
- Identify how differences in context, perspectives, and voice influence meaning in texts
Content:
Story/text
- forms, functions, and genres of text
- text features
- literary elements
- literary devices
- evidence
All students had a wide variety of materials that we were able to use to create our very own story vines. Some pieces of the story were easier to represent like a simple heart, but other pieces of the story became more intricate like creating a fire breathing dragon or just a dragon. Each students used their own creativity to show how exactly they wanted to represent the story in their personalized way. I found that this is an activity I would be more than happy to introduce into a future classroom and know that students would become highly engaged while finding a new way to tell the story to others utilizing their story telling skills.
The first object on my story vine symbolizes Elizabeth and Prince Ronald, Elizabeth is deeply in love with Ronald him does not share similar feelings. They are preparing for their wedding the two of them on the story vine represents the happy beginning of the story, where Elizabeth envisions a fairytale future with her prince.
However, disaster soon strikes! The next object is fire, symbolizing the fierce flames that engulf the castle and surrounding area after a fearsome dragon attacks. The once-beautiful palace is left in ruins, and Elizabeth loses all of her belongings in the destruction including her dearest Prince Ronald.
The third object is a simple paper bag, representing the only clothing Elizabeth can find to wear after the dragon’s attack. With all her elegant dresses burned to ashes, she is left with no choice but to put on the paper bag and bravely set off on her journey to rescue Prince Ronald.
As she ventures forward, Elizabeth encounters the mighty dragon. Determined to outsmart him, she cleverly challenges him to prove his strength by flying around the world multiple times. The dragon, eager to impress, takes on the challenge and becomes increasingly exhausted laying down as he becomes drowsy.
Soon, the dragon is so completely drained that he falls into a deep slumber. Elizabeth seizes this opportunity and slips past him, making her way to Prince Ronald, ready to reunite with her so-called true love.
However, instead of being grateful or concerned for her well-being, Ronald cruelly criticizes Elizabeth’s appearance, expressing disappointment that she no longer looks like a “proper” princess. His harsh words break Elizabeth’s heart, but only for a moment—because she quickly realizes that he is not the prince she thought he was.
The final object on my story vine is a smiley face, representing Elizabeth’s newfound strength and confidence. Rather than letting Ronald’s words define her, she stands tall, recognizes her own worth, and walks away from him with her head held high. The story ends not with a fairytale wedding, but with Elizabeth’s empowering realization that she deserves better.
This story vine beautifully captures Elizabeth’s journey from love and loss to bravery and self-discovery showing that true strength comes from within.
Overall, I look forward to one day implementing this within my very own classroom as it is highly interactive and shows creativity amongst the students within your classroom environment!