Our latest book from IA has been a version of the wonderful Aesopian fable about friendship, helping and how even the smallest characters can do their bit for the largest. My aim for the story this month was to read the book regularly and slowly put the book down to transform the tale into one of actions. Part of the EYFS is about children accessing and enjoying stories without props so to aid me in my mission I turned to my trusty Makaton books! I love signing along with my words as much as I can in my day to day life, it brings children who have delays in speech a strong means to communicate as, one boy who didn't have access to speech with the same proficiency as others in the group always looked incredibly proud because he was always the first to recognise signs and tell me the word. I wanted to give this freedom of storytelling to as many children as possible in one fell swoop.
So, I found the sign for Lion
And the sign for Mouse
And began!
The story is now one that I am telling regularly and although some of the words have changed I have kept many of the same ones that are used in the book itself. I love highlighting the fear in the mouse when the lion first catches him and the sadness of the lion in the net, the text is highlighted in such a way that makes it simple for adults to know where to highlight key words and phrases for children, it really helped me to remember them when I first broke away from the page!
The illustrations by Nahta Nój are bright, bold and the die cuts mix and blend together to carry Jenny Broom's story along at a brilliant pace. The children love to point out different things that they notice and smile as the lion's eye becomes the pattern on a butterfly's wing and then back to a lion again!
Thanks once again IA, we can't wait for the next one
Tim (roar)