Tag Archives: storytelling

Springtime NEWS!

Spike here. . . Spring arrived in Dallas in March! And I’m happy to update you on all my grrrrreat happenings!

March 26 – 27:Here I am buckled in for the cross country drive going from Dallas to the Dogwood Trails Book Festival in Palestine, Texas! Here we come Mrs. Jamie King!

Guess who else traveled with us? Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear! Looking for an opportunity to perform!

Wow! I got to give out my good advice on Friday, March 27^th. We visited Northside Primary, home of the Wildcats in the morning. After lunch we traveled to Westwood Primary, home of the Panthers. I felt right at home with all those Cool Cats! Plus everyone made us feel real welcomed.

I now have more than a thousand new friends in Palestine, Texas!

On Saturday some of my new friends came to the Dogwood Trails Book Festival at Palestine Public Library. Thanks, Parents!

Me in my wig. Goldilocks – Wa-lah! And that would be Papa Bear in the red running suit!

Thanks for coming out to the Palestine Public Library and listening to our stories!

March 12-15: The 30^th Texas Storytelling Festival was in Denton! It was a SMASH-UP! Lots of friends, Lots of stories, Lots of grrrrrrrreat Tellers! I know if you were there, you would agree. If you weren’t, plan for next year. Some Smash-Up tellers are coming!

News May and June!

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I have a healthy respect for all the folks who keep up with their Blogs, Tweets, and Facebook postings as I am a here again, gone again visitor to my own Blog pages.

Coming events – May and June: Travels and lots of gardening are on my calendar. Those are two items I love and devote time to along with my storytelling. In Dallas as part of the annual Dallas Water Wise Garden tour you can visit our gardens the 1^st Saturday in June. Here are some pictures of our gardens. Contact me for more information. You can see the flowers and trees have certainly benefited from all those Spring rains I’ve mentioned in my recent posts.

News Updates:

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Look at all our new friends!

March: Again, special thanks to Ms. Jamie King, youth librarian at the Palestine Public Library and all the staff and volunteers for all the hard work to put on the first Dogwood Trails Book Festival on March 29th. As part of the Festival events on Friday the 28th Spike and I told stories to more than 1,160 students at two primary schools!

Early March: We Texans are happy to talk about the rain and late chilly weather that lasted into March here in the Dallas area. At the 30th Annual Texas Storytelling Festival folks sloshed out into the storms and joined me for my “On Your Feet and Telling”, a 101 storytelling workshop. They were all willing to jump right in and land on their feet and tell like the pros. Spike and I had a great time on

March 4 with the preschoolers at Westminster Presbyterian Preschool in Dallas. Spike wore his blonde wig and insisted on being Goldilocks and we had three children volunteer to hold a bear while I narrated the story. They were wonderful! Sorry, we can only post photos of the Bears and Spike here!

February: Amid reports of possible snow showers and icy roads in late February I traveled to Harpool Middle School, Denton ISD, for two days to tell Texas History Tales to 7th graders. What a lovely group of young people. I hope they don’t mind me saying that. I know their principal and teachers would be proud. Thanks, Mrs. Sherry Brandt, librarian, and Tejas Storytelling Tellers in the Schools Program.

Happy New Year – 2015! And now it is February! Happy Valentines Day!

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Round-up of 2014 Events:

December 19 Spike and I visited The Montessori Academy in Arlington, Texas for performances with the Lower Elementary classes and Upper Elementary classes. The Upper Elementary classes also participated with me in a Telling/Writing Workshop. I had a great time watching and listening to these students interact creatively! Thanks TMA Teachers!

December 10 Spike and I spent a wonderful day at the Godley Intermediate School telling holiday stories. Thank you, Mrs. Vicki Kattner and all the students and teachers at Godley.

December 6 Lantern Light at the Heritage Farmstead Museum in Plano, Texas is an annual event celebrating the beginning of the Holiday Season. I participated with other North 40 Storytellers Guild telling stories.

November 20-23 104th National Council of English Teachers Convention What a great group of people! All these English and Language Arts teachers gathered in Maryland across the Potomac River from Washington, D. C. I got to present at the Saturday early morning Poster Session. Here I am in front of my poster with some of the wonderful librarians I met!

The 2nd graders at The Covenant School in Dallas listened to myths and fables as part of their Ancient Greeks Living History Day. 11/7/14 ~ Click on a picture!

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Spike’s newest NEWS TO YOU!

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NOVEMBER is already here! Are you planning some great Thanksgiving Trips? We are heading to WASHINGTON, D.C. on November 19th. I’ll have some great photos to post when we get home!

I hope you had a great OCTOBER! I got to see all these kids telling stories and solving problems in Texas in the towns of Kilgore, Nacogdoches, and Tyler.

I even picked up some tips to add to my Kidz Advize Lizt. I hope they help!

“Don’t ever go to the bathroom and forget to lock your diary with your brother home!” Jennifer, 9.

“Never ever play football in the house on a rainy day.” Ryan, 7.

“Never ever attempt to teach your cat to swim in your new vinyl pool!” Caitlyn, 9.

On our travels we got to meet and chat with these two really smart East Texas Educators.

Here we are with East Texas educator, Ms. Sherry Morton.

And here we are with East Texas educator, Ms. LaTonya Whitaker.

UPDATES

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OCTOBER 2014 is already history!

Spike and I traveled to East Texas. We participated in Region 7’s Imagination Fair. We had a great time. A special thanks to Ms. Donna Ashby, Ms. Rhonda Baird, and Ms. Janice Baker for all their hard work!

Here I am with Kathryn Madigan, one of the amazing storytellers we met in Nacogdoches.

Kathryn Madigan did an amazing job telling, “Rapunzel”.

Here I am telling stories in East Texas at Region 7 Imagination Fair.

Each year 1st – 3rd grade GT students learn stories to tell.

We heard wonderful storytellers, and we got to share some stories, too.

October 22

On the way home from the 4th day of Imagination Fair in East Texas I stopped in Lindale and did a workshop with 4th graders. They all participated in the storytelling activities and worked on solving riddle tales. They were smart as they could be! Thank you, Ms. Lisa Vader! And thank you, students, for your good work! (see more photos in the photo gallery)

4th grade students at E. J. Moss Intermediate School, Lindale, Te

NOVEMBER 2014

Living History Day – November 7

Every year the students, faculty, and parents at The Covenant School in Dallas create a living history day. The 2nd graders studied the Ancient Greeks. Then they celebrated with Greek foods, costumes, and activities at Cottonwood Park in Richardson, Texas. I told Greek tales and fables for the event. (see more photos in the photo gallery)

Here I am telling ancient Greek tales.

Washington, D.C.

Later this month I am traveling to Washington, D. C. I get to present a poster session at the yearly conference of the National Council of Teachers of English. I’m pretty happy that Spike has insisted on going along to see the sites!

September 2014 UPDATE

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Hello everyone, Spike and I had a good summer. In mid-June we traveled to the Panhandle of Texas and visited the Lovett Memorial Library in Pampa. Later in the summer we worked with students at the A+ Prep School in Plano and told stories to the children attending summer camp at the Westminster Presbyterian Preschool in Dallas. We also got to work with preschool teachers in Plano and Dallas, too.

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Here I am having a lovely time telling stories with all these good people at the library in Pampa . You can see more pics in the photo gallery.

Of course, we’ve been swimming and catching up on our reading every chance we get. Richard Peck is still one our favorite authors. If you are a cat lover (as we certainly are) and haven’t read his Secrets at Sea, go get a copy. It is about a family of mice, and Mr. Peck makes funny references to cats all through the book.

If you have a favorite book, you think we need to read, please send us the information and email us at jiaanpowers@jiaanpowers.com.

We are excited about our upcoming trips planned for storytelling this fall.

This Saturday, the 19th of September, we will be at Kids on the Hill Creative Arts Festival in Cedar Hill. Check out all the info at the official website: www.cedarhilltx.com/1547/Kids-on-the-Hill-Creative-Arts-Festival.

Spike and I are going to be inviting kids to participate and to tell stories with us. Come on out and join us there!

In October we will be in Kilgore, Nacogdoches, and Tyler telling stories for students who are attending Region 7’s Imagination Fair and hearing great student tellers.

In November we are excited that we are presenting at the National Council of English Teachers’ Conference in Washington, D.C..

In December we will be close to home doing performances and a workshop for students at The Montessori Academy of Arlington.

Check back for pictures and updates.

Pampa, Texas: Spike reports on storytelling at the Lovett Memorial Library

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Hey, it’s me Spike! Can you find me? I love it when everyone lines up so I can say hello.

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I loved meeting this little girl and her friends.

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Here I am reporting good advice from kids, such as, “Never let your cat guard your tuna fish sandwich!”

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Here we are with our new friend.

Hey, what's the kid in the orange shirt saying?

I really wanted to know what the kid in the orange shirt was saying??

September 2014

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In June a great group of people joined us for storytelling at the Lovett Memorial Library in Pampa, Texas! Look at all the stars! That would be all of us plus the ones hanging from the ceiling!

Hey, hey, hey! I hope school is going great for everyone! I had a great summer. I have to say I’m still chillin’ by the pool every chance I get! That’s one good thing about all this Texas HEAT.

I had a fine summer with reading, traveling, and did I mention, chillin’ by the pool?

Check out our photos from the Lovett Memorial Library in Pampa. Those folks are wonderful. And I got some good ideas from the kids. I’ll be passing those on in our performances.

In August we did 2 Storytelling and Puppetry workshops for about 50 preschool teachers at Isaacs Early Education School in Plano, TX and Skillman Development Center in Dallas, TX. Those teachers were GOOD.

And by the way, check out my newest video . . . it’s me, chillin’ by the pool with my friend, Anna.