Local Students Develop Gift Of The Tall Tale

By JEANNETTE SHAMBAUGH

Moapa Valley Progress

Some people just have a knack for telling a great story. And last week, a group of local students who had that very talent got a chance to really shine.

The Bristlecone Regional Storytelling Festival was held on Wednesday, April 24 at the Hughes Middle School in Mesquite. Finalists chosen from schools throughout the communities of northeastern Clark County converged on the event spin their yarns at the regional level of the festival. A total of ten students, from the fourth and fifth grade classes at Grant M Bowler Elementary in Logandale and Ute V Perkins Elementary in Moapa all worked very hard to earn their place in regionals at the Festival.

Every year the CCSD sponsors the Bristlecone Storytelling Festival bringing students from grades 4-12 together, throughout the entire district, to show off their very best storytelling skills. By telling stories students become both learners and teachers. Storytelling can be used as a motivational tool and the festival gives students the magical quality of storytelling to entertain, educate and preserve culture.

Students prepare for the festival by selecting entertaining stories, memorizing them and then performing them. They first compete in individual classroom mini festivals. They practice their storytelling craft, working to improve their skills in their classrooms. At the end of the week, based on classroom votes, stories are selected from each class. Those students perform them in front of their entire school in a competition to get the top three spots.

As they are telling their stories the youngsters are judged by their peers in a variety of categories: everything from how well they know their story, hand gestures, speaking clearly to overall enjoyment. The scores are finally tallied up and the top scores from each school move on to the regional round. That is the event that happened last week.

This year Grant M Bowler Elementary sent Avary Jolley and Hannah Rowley from 4th grade. These two performed “Stephanie’s Ponytail.” Fourth grader Jaxon Holmes performed “The King and the Wrestler.”

Another 4th grade team-up of Ella Johnson and Alexa Reese performed “Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake.” Finally, Michelle Sheely and Sarah Moss, 4th grade, performed “The King and the Wrestler.”

From Ute V Perkins Marco Ramirez, 5th grade, performed “The Barking Mouse.” Ariana Rubio, 4th grade, performed “Seven Foolish Fisherman.” Finally, “Three Wishes” was performed by Nateya Rider, 4th grade.

Students, teachers, families and friends enjoyed an evening full of the time-honored tradition of storytelling fun.
“All of the 4th and 5th grade students who participated did a fantastic job,” said Bryce Hardy, librarian at Grant M Bowler Elementary. “It has been a very fun experience and we are already looking forward to next year’s festival.”