I love telling the story about the enormous turnip. It’s an old classic that kids enjoy. I enjoy making the story highly interactive, and the children love participating.
Just in case you’re not familiar with the story, allow me to fill you in. A farmer, his family, and their pets attempt to pull a giant turnip out of the ground. Even though working together, they can’t pull that turnip out until the wee little mouse joins the group and helps them. Then “Pop!” out comes the turnip.
One time after telling the story to a class of fifth graders, we talked about the similarities and differences between reading and listening to a story. We talked about what the children were thinking, sequencing, predicting, and what they saw in their mind’s eye while listening to the story. We just talked.
During our enjoyable chatting time (and without asking any questions about the moral of the story or any lessons learned), a rather quiet boy suddenly raised his hand and said, “No matter how little you are, you can make a difference.”
All the kids looked at the boy and nodded their heads indicating a collective “yeah.” They got it. I didn’t need to say a thing.
“Yeah.” The power of a story.
http://www.ednawaidellcravitz.com/no-matter-how-little-you-are/