Professional storyteller visits McCormick Learning Center
McCormick County children in the First Steps, Even Start child care center and the Head Start classrooms last Friday had a special visitor last week.
Click on images for larger view. Submitted photos.
(Ed. note: The Hub welcomes stories from grantees about how you’re using your SCAC grants. Today we offer just such a story from McCormick County. Thanks to Ruth Detrick, executive director of the county’s First Steps program.)
With help from S.C. Arts Commission grants to both, professional storyteller Tim Lowry was able to captivate the children, telling animal stories that got them involved by making animal sounds and making movements like the animals.
The children and teachers all laughed at the story of the “Wide Mouth Frog” and the funny ending when he met up with a crocodile! They were horrified when the elephant ate the children in the story of “Unanana And The Elephant,” an African Folk Tale. but were relieved when miraculously there was a happy ending. Lowry kept the children interested and engaged (which isn’t always easy with pre-school children). After several more stories, the event was over but won’t be forgotten, as the children learned several new vocabulary words and experienced a professional storyteller for the first time.
First Steps partnered with the McCormick Library to share the costs of bringing Tim Lowry to McCormick. He entertained the children in the morning and did a wonderful presentation of Dickens’ “Christmas Carol” in the evening at the library. Both organizations received generous grants from the S.C. Arts Commission to cover all costs, which made the events possible. The S.C. Arts Commission receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.