Guest Posted July 31, 2004 Share Posted July 31, 2004 I work in a Foundation Unit, with Reception and Nursery children in it, in a small Primary school. As Part of broadening the curriculum, we have whole school topic weeks.The first week back is myths and legends and we have to base our work for that week round that theme. I am a bit stuck as all the myths and legends i can find are more for older children. I would really appreciate any ideas. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catma Posted July 31, 2004 Share Posted July 31, 2004 What fun! Classic myths: the story of daedalus and Icarus is good for young children, they like the bit where his wings melt and he crashes into the sea and it has a good moral too!! Also theseus and the minotaur; good role play creeping along corridors!! UK heritage celtic stories like Jack and the Giant Killer (stories around St. Michaels mount), Finn McCool his wife Oona and the giant Cuchullain, check this link for details of one that might be good, http://www.pickabook.co.uk/details/0711218234/display.html african/caribbean myths and legends in book form like: Anancy the spider man: lots of stories for retelling Hot Hippo: why hippos swim under water, Greedy Zebra:how zebra got his stripes, Asian: Rama and the Demon King/stories of Hanuman the monkey(Very timely in then autumn term obviously because close to Diwali) Hope these help! Cx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rea Posted July 31, 2004 Share Posted July 31, 2004 Hi Deb, all I can think of is St George and the dragon. It's a theme we do practically every year in pre-school and the children can take part even if they dont understand all of it. We tell them a simple story of a wicked dragon who wants to eat people, George comes along and kills it saving all the villagers. It gives us loads of opportunity to make things and do role play and find out things, armour, flags, saints, what do we think dragons eat? I like the idea of involving the whole school in the same topic, it's given me some ideas for a later date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catma Posted July 31, 2004 Share Posted July 31, 2004 That's another!! There's a great picture in the national gallery called "St George and the Dragon" by Paola Uccello (was also published in Child Education August 2003) which makes a great starting point. You could alsojust focus on elements of myths and legends like Dragons/Giants etc and get books to link e.g. Paperbag princess (If you think I'm a bit obsessive about this I grew up in a Cornish/Irish family so our lives were surrounded by myths and legends on a daily basis!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helen Posted July 31, 2004 Share Posted July 31, 2004 Catma, What a fantastic answer you gave...thanks so much Not obsessive at all, but it's obvious you have a wealth of knowledge here! I was thinking about Aesop's fables or the tales from Hans Christian Anderson; you can get them from http://www.pacificnet.net/~johnr/aesop/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 31, 2004 Share Posted July 31, 2004 Thanks for all those fantastic ideas, it has really helped as i was struggling to know where to start. Thanks again!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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