The Huntsville Festival of the Arts (HFA) is supporting a literacy project next week involving elementary students in three local schools: Spruce Glen, Pine Glen and VK Greer.
Students at all grade levels in the schools will be encouraged to expand their literacy skills by exploring their own stories and writing about them. This exercise will culminate in an exciting activity where a compilation of stories will be bound into a book form for all to read.
In order to kick-start this initiative, two gurus of the storytelling genre will be on hand to work with the schools on Sept. 18 and 19. Bob Barton of the Storytellers’ School of Toronto and Larry Swartz, a teacher and consultant with the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto, will be travelling to Muskoka to spend time with students and their teachers in order to work through the nitty gritty of the storytelling genre.
The two champions of literacy will be hosting a workshop at Pine Glen on Thursday, Sept. 18, between 4 and 5 p.m. which is open to all teachers. Those who plan to attend should contact organizers Mary Spring or Terri Howell.
This initiative is a pilot project which will no doubt open up similar opportunities in the future for other elementary schools in the area.
