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Contents

Welcome

Safety

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Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs.

A print and keep sensory resource to support teaching and learning with pupils achieving at P levels 1-8.

An Akan storyAdapted by Joanna Grace

In conjunction with Worldstories.

An Introduction to Sensory Learning 4

Guidance notes for Delivery 7

Resources 10

How to make an Anansi shield 13

Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs, A Sensory Story 16

Lesson Plan 18

Assessment Ladder 23

Additional Learning Activities 24

Movement Sequence 26

Key Signs 27

Key Symbols 30

Worldstories Symbols 31

Display 33

Feedback Target 34

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Welcome

Welcome to Worldstories’ sensory learning resource for the Akan story ‘Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs.’ This pack is designed to help you enable your students to get as much enjoyment and understanding out of the story as they can.

This pack contains everything you will need to teach an outstanding lesson. Extra material is included for teaching a

Safety

Be aware of your students when working with sensory stimuli, and any

allergies etc they may have.

Choose stimuli that is safe for your students.

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Welcome

Welcome to Worldstories’ sensory learning resource for the Akan story ‘Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs.’ This pack is designed to help you enable your students to get as much enjoyment and understanding out of the story as they can.

This pack contains everything you will need to teach an outstanding lesson. Extra material is included for teaching a

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An introduction to Sensory Learning.

Stimulating the senses whilst learning means that more areas of the brain get involved, which is a great aid to memory.

Having a life that is rich in sensory experiences is important to everyone. Our senses operate on a ‘use it or lose it’ agenda, and for most of us we use our senses all the time. However some of our students may need support to access the kinds of stimulation most of us get in daily life.

We all know how vital sensory stimulation is to learning, from giving babies interesting toys to play with as their brains develop, to the devastating effect of being sat looking at the wall in a care home in later life. We implicitly understand the importance of sensory stimulation.

As teachers we can use sensory stimulation to support learning in our students at various levels. Some students may also have particular need of sensory learning, for example autistic students who find day to day life over stimulating can have their anxieties reduced by being introduced in a predictable manner to a range of sensory experiences, as afforded by a sensory story.

This resource is aimed at students operating at P levels 1-8 so it is learning at these levels which is discussed here. However there is great scope for using sensory learning at all levels, so do sniff the shampoo to remind yourself that you need to buy some later, and tell your GCSE student to revise using multi coloured pens to get all of their brain involved.

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An introduction to Sensory Learning at the P levels

At P6-8 adding a sensory element to story telling can generate interest in the activity of reading and encourage students to develop their vocabulary as they find words to describe that sound, or that sensation or smell. In the same way it can extend their writing as they add sensory inspired adjectives to their sentences.

At P4-7 using sensory stimulus when story telling can help elicit responses from students, encouraging them to combine concepts together e.g. “wet spider” or “hot food.” Having the sensory elements available to students can help them re-tell the story, especially where spoken communication is difficult, students will be able to demonstrate their knowledge of what comes next by indicating the correct sensory resource. Having sensory stimulus also generates curiosity and may motivate students to take part in group work.

Sensory learning is vital at P1-3. Encountering a wide range of experiences enriches students lives and stimulates their minds. Providing students with diverse experiences gives them more to react to, for example a student may show a dislike of cold water, by moving their hand away, or a like of a certain smell by turning their head towards the smell, where as if all they had experienced was a sequence of pictures they would not have been given the opportunity to express themselves in this way.

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An introduction to Sensory Learning, continued.

By working with one sensory story on several occasions students are giving the opportunity to develop consistent responses to the events in the story. Their confidence at experiencing the different sensations will improve and they may become more proactive in their exploration of the experiences.

If the story is presented in a consistent manner then students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of the story. For example, if on the first telling of the story the student hears: “Anansi dragged himself to the river and jumped in” and then experiences their hand being plunged into cold water – and dislikes this. Then maybe on the third or fourth time they hear the story, and hear those words they will show that they know what is about to happen by withdrawing their hand. For a student with PMLD this can be their way of answering the question “What comes next?” Reactions of preference can be developed into responding to options and choices. Having a range of stimulus available to use with a story gives students a whole sensory world to explore as they explore the story with you.

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Guidance notes for delivery

Arrange the stimuli so that they will be within easy reach as your deliver the story.

Place the text somewhere where it will be in clear view as you read the story.

Decide ahead of delivery when you will share the stimuli with students, will it be as you read, or after?

The text has been distilled into just 10 sentences, read the original story yourself prior to delivery so that you will be able to add appropriate feeling

and emphasis to the simple phrases in the sensory version of the story.

Consistency

Ensuring consistency of delivery is paramount when working with students achieving at P levels 1 – 3.

Make notes, or better still have someone watch you and make notes, about how you deliver the story when you first share it with the students. This will help you to ensure consistency when you next tell the story. Keeping notes on delivery with the resource will also mean that if someone else is going to be delivering the story when the students next encounter it, they will stand a chance at delivering it in the same way as you. Similarly if you are able to keep all the resources related to the story in a single box or bag this will further help ensure consistency.

Extra guidance for those working with students achieving at P levels 1-3

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RepetitionThe P level descriptors for levels 1 – 3 contain phrases such as

‘remembered responses’ and ‘consistent reactions.’ These sorts of achievements cannot be attained without repetition. Aim to deliver the story in the same way on at least four consecutive occasions.

Time and clarity

Allow students time to react to experiences. Don’t be tempted to fill this time with words. You are aiming for a clear crisp delivery of the story and the experiences. Consider: if the first time the student encounters the story they hear “Anansi jumped into the river” and experiences their hand being plunged into water, but the next time they share the story they hear “Anansi ran and jumped into the cold river and, gosh wasn’t that a surprise, it will be your turn next, wait whilst,...could you pass me...” and then their hand goes in water it will be hard for them to learn and remember a response to this. If delivery is clear and consistent, then perhaps on the third or fourth time of sharing the story, when they hear “Anansi jumped into the river” they will know that their hand is about to go into water, and will be able to demonstrate that learning to you, for instance by moving their hand away or towards the water, or by making a facial expression. This can be a very hard skill to master, and if you are asking other members of staff to deliver the story try to choose people who won’t feel the need to ‘fill’ as experiences are delivered.

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Logistics

Give some thought to how you will go about delivering the experiences. What you will do will depend on the number of students you are working with, and their particular needs.

Ideally you would be delivering this story to one or two students, this would mean you could say the sentence, and then deliver the experience to each student within reasonable time.

You may be working with a larger group of students, but have the support of teaching assistants or volunteers who can deliver the experiences as you tell the story. Consider whether you are all going to deliver the experience in the same way, or whether you will be able to ensure that the same staff members work with the same students each time.

If you are delivering to a group alone then you have to choose whether to repeat the sentence for each student, and share the experience with them personally, or whether you are going to say the sentence and then deliver the experience to each student in turn. If you opt for the latter you may want to note down which student you deliver the experience to first, second, etc. Order of delivery can be important, imagine you are student, and on the first telling of the story you hear “Anansi jumped into the river” and instantly your hand is plunged into water, then there is a pause as those around you have their hands plunged into water, and then you hear the next sentence. This is a very different experience from hearing “Anansi jumped into the river” and then experiencing a pause as those around you have their hands plunged into water, then yours is plunged into water and you hear the next sentence.

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Don’t worry!

Consistency isn’t as complicated to carry out as it is to describe, with a little forethought and planning you can optimise your students’ opportunities to learn.

Of course, once students are achieving at higher levels then embellishing the story, even using the original wording is entirely appropriate.

Resources

Ensure the story is told using the same stimulus each time. Collecting these resources together in a bag or box can be a good way of maintaining consistency. For perishable resources – such as the food – keep a note of what you used so that you will be able to use the same thing next time.

You will need:

Anansi shield or suitable alternativeTupaware with food inside, [Gravy granules, stock cubes, herbal tea, or similar].A washing up bowl, water, and cotton or cooked spaghettiTwo metal itemsA balloon

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Optional resources:o Anansi animationo Balloon pumpo Ribbon and elastic bando Instrument to ‘twang’

Extra resources for role play and exploration of the story:(You do not need these resources to tell the sensory story)

o Cooking pot for each studento Animal toys to represent the different creatures in the story.o Animal sounds for each of the creatures in the story.

Smell of food You may be able to source food smells that match those in the original story, or you may want to choose food you know will have a strong smell.

Keep the food in sealed tupperware, this will prevent the smell from escaping when you don’t want it to, but also, especially with hot food, the air within the container will take on the scent of the food and be there to waft around when you open the lid, for this reason you may choose to store the food in containers that are bigger than the food needs them to be.

Suggestions for smelly food: egg, tomato soup – heat in the microwave prior to use, curry, bacon, smelly crisps, melted chocolate, mint tea.

Handy tip: Buying herbal teas and keeping the tea bags (and suitable tupperware) with the resources for the story can be a simple way of ensuring the same scents are used each time the story is told. To have savoury flavours source things like gravy granules or stock cubes.

Resource suggestions & tips.

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Clank of cooking potAny metallic clank: a spoon banged against a pan, two metal bars from a glockenspiel.

Leg tug Use your hand to gently tug on a student’s leg, or have an elastic band tied onto the end of a piece of ribbon – in the story when Anansi ties himself to the cooking pot slip the elastic band around a student’s ankle or wrist – be sure the band is not too tight – when it comes to the ‘tug’ section of the story you can pull on the ribbon and the student will feel what Anansi feels when his friends tug on the web attached to his leg.

Twang noiseThe physical tug stimulus may not be appropriate for every student, create a twang sound using an instrument from the music cupboard, a low note of a guitar would be suitable, or create your own instrument: a large elastic band stretched around a shoe box, with a hole cut in it’s lid, will make a good twang noise. If you are using this stimulus play it when you say ‘Tug’ when Anansi feels the first tug and then when you say ‘another’ when Anansi feels the other tugs – this will help let students know that ‘another’ refers to the same thing as ‘tug’ referred to.

Balloon stretching This stimulus is intended to really give students an experience of something stretching. Have students, or assist students to, rest their hand on top of a balloon as you inflate it. Using a balloon pump will make this easier for you, and choosing black modelling balloons will emulate spiders’ legs well.

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Take an old pair of socks, chop the tops off and cut into four slices. Stuff one sock foot with the other, add more fabric, or stuffing to make a fatter spider body. Glue

on googly eyes.

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A bowl of water with cotton threads or cooked spaghettiHaving a pot with a lid can keep this resource safe whilst you tell the rest of the story, when facilitating the experience with a student find a container that is big enough for them to easily plunge their hand/foot into – an ordinary washing up bowl should do it.

How to make the Anansi shield

This is one option, others are available.

Fold the strips of sock over on themselves and stitch or glue to form legs. Choose a sturdy piece of card to be the shield. Cut four holes in the centre. Pair the legs and

attach them to ribbon.

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Thread the ribbon through the holes and tie together at the back. In this way all the legs can be pulled at once. Tie Anansi’s body to the front of the card.

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When all the legs are pulled Anansi will have eight short stubby legs. Now attach the other ends of Anansi’s legs to the outer edges of the card, you can use ribbon for this also, or elastic. Elastic will be easier, as when you cease pulling the legs

from the back of the card all will spring forth to give Anansi his eight skinny legs. If you use ribbon you will have to pull them yourself, or you might be able to get

students to pull them gently.

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This photo shows everything I needed for a test run of the story: I have a mug with a rubber band over it for the ‘twang;’ my Anansi shield made out of a pair of socks and a piece of cardboard; some tupperware with noodles (for webs in the water); vanilla essence; stock cubes and herbal teas for the smells of the various cooking pots. You can use simpler resources or more elaborate ones, the most important thing is to be consistent in what you use.

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Alternatives to making the shield: A piece of black ribbon. Let it poke out the top of your fist to indicate a

short leg, pull it to reveal a longer length. The Anansi animation on Worldstories website.

The resources listed here are suggestions only, they are not prescriptive. You are best placed to choose what to use with your students.

If you are able to gather a collection of resources together to use with the story and use these consistently, then your students will have a great time learning with you.

Note

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Why Anansi has Eight Skinny LegsA Sensory Story

Anansi was a greedy spiderUse this sentence as a auditory warm up to ready students for listening. Show students the Anansi shield.

One day Anansi’s friend Rabbit said, “Wait and help, and you can have some dinner.”Smell of food.

“No,” said Anansi. He used some web to tie his leg to Rabbit’s cooking pot. “Pull my leg when dinner is done.”Clank of cooking pot, watch leg being hooked onto first pot on the Anansi shield.

Anansi’s friend Monkey said, “Wait and help, and you can have some dinner.”Smell of food.

“No,” said Anansi, and tied his leg to Monkey’s cooking pot. “Pull my leg when dinner is done.”Clank of cooking pot. Visual of leg being connected to next pot on the Anansi shield.

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Options: Anansi tied each of his eight legs to a friend’s cooking pot.

Visual of legs being connected to cooking pots on the Anansi shield and the sound of pot clanking.Or continue the story in full, adding each of the following animals into the blank space: Tortoise, Hare, Squirrel, Mouse, Fox, Hog.Anansi’s friend ________ said, “Wait and help, and you can have some dinner.”Smell of food.“No,” said Anansi, and tied his leg to ________’s cooking pot. “Pull my leg when dinner is done.” Clank of cooking pot. Visual of leg being connected to next pot on the Anansi shield.

At dinner time Anansi felt a tug on one of his legs. ‘Mmm, dinner’s ready!’ thought Anansi, ‘and I didn’t have to wait or help!’

Tug on student’s leg – this can be done gently by hand, or by using the ribbon and elastic resource.

Option : Twang noise.

Anansi felt another tug, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another!

Repeat tug multiple times. Repeat twang noise each time you say ‘another’.

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Anansi’s legs began to stretch and stretch.

Touch the surface of a balloon as it stretches.

Visual of Anansi stretching on his shield.

Anansi dragged himself to the river and jumped in.

Plunge hand (or other body part) into bowl of water with cotton or cooked spaghetti floating in it.

Option: spritz water onto student’s face.

The webs washed away. Anansi had no dinner...but he did have eight skinny legs!

Use this sentence to lead you out of the story, so that the sharing of the story begins and ends with just your voice.

Worldstories objective:

To share a story that helps us to understand more about other people.

Lesson Plan

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Possible objectives for literacy learning at different levels:

Choose and tailor objectives to suit individual student’s needs and provide them with a learning challenge.P1 To encounter sensory experiences relating to the story of Anansi.P2 To react to sensory experiences relating to the story of Anansi.P3 To participate in sharing the story of Anansi, concentrating on aspects of the story for short periods.P4 To use single words, signs or symbols in relating to the story of Anansi, e.g. “Wet,” “Spider.”P5 To respond to the story of Anansi by combining two key ideas or concepts together, e.g. “Spider dinner,” “leg pull.”P6 To initiate and maintain a short conversation with a peer or adult about the story of Anansi.P7 To contribute appropriately to a discussion about the story of Anansi.P8 To link four key words, signs or symbols together when talking about the story of Anansi, e.g. “Spider hungry, no wait.” or “Water washed the webs away.”

Sign ‘more’

If you want to explain to your students what greedy means the sign for more will be helpful.

To sign more make a fist with one hand and cover it with the palm of the other hand, allowing the fingers of the hand covering the fist to curl down over the fist.

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Lesson cue

Objects of reference and/or music.

Choose one of the stimuli to act as your object of reference.

Youtube has ‘Anansi’s music’, or you could try ‘The Spider Dance,’ there is even some violin music played on spiderweb strings.http://www.rmc.edu/academics/sociology/ghana%20website/

akanwebsites/akanindex.aspxhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcWvLsB18Es

Circle

“Today we are going to share a story which will help us understand more about other people.This is a traditional Akan story.”

You may want to show photos to explain who the Akan are. Share the sensory story.

Moving activity“We can remember the story using our heads, or using our bodies.

Let’s try remembering the story using our bodies.”Students can act out the story as you re-tell it, or they can join you

in performing the movement sequence which accompanies this story.

Ideas for objects of reference can be found after this lesson plan

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Focus activityOptions:

o Re-explore the sensory story in a small group.o Order symbols relating to the story.o Re-tell the story to a peer or adult, use the sensory stimulus if

you want.o Record the story; tell the story to a video camera or vocal

recording device.o Identify what happens in the start, middle and end of the story.

You can use symbols, pictures, objects from the story to facilitate this activity.

o Identify happy/sad parts of the story. This can be done by matching symbols of the stories to the symbols for happy or sad, or by responding to the question “When was Anansi happy?”, or by drawing happy/sad faces onto pictures from the story.

o An activity from the additional learning activities suggested in this pack.

Adults working with students need to be aware of their individual objectives so that they can facilitate their achievement, as well as the achievement of the Worldstories’ objective, through these activities.

Asking questions such as “What happened in the story?” “Can you tell me the story?” “What happened next?” “What happened at the start?” etc will encourage students to focus on communicating and retelling the story.

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Circle:Share and celebrate you work. Ask students about the story.

“Which bit was your favourite part?”“Was Anansi happy or sad when he felt a tug on his leg?”

Draw out significant learning: “This is a story Akan children enjoy, did we enjoy it?” Anansi didn’t like to wait, do you like to wait? Do you think other people like to wait?

Give each student the opportunity to respond in a way appropriate to them, for some students this might be reaching for a particular object, to demonstrate their favourite part of the story, for others it could be selecting a symbol from a choice of 2 or 3, for others it may be a verbal response.

Share the sensory story again, allow greater student participation if appropriate. For example by pausing and asking “What happens next?” or “How does Anansi feel?” or “Would you like that?”

Objects of reference.

For students operating at P levels 1 – 3 you may want to use objects of reference to let them know what they will be learning about. An easy way to do this is to buy a pack of toy spiders, prior to starting the lesson hand each student a spider. This is a way of telling them through an object: “Come over to the circle, because next we’re going to be doing the Anansi story.”

For students operating at P levels 4-8 if you buy a pack of toy spiders you can use these as a way of signalling the start of the lesson and of signalling change within it. To start the lesson give each student a spider, they must then bring these and place them in a bag (or better still on a spider web) in the middle of the circle. You could add an auditory cue to this to make it more fun, e.g. everyone has to have their spiders in the bag and be sitting down before the music finishes.

You can then re-use this cue throughout the lesson to gather students back into the circle.

Assessment ladder

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P4

P3

P2

P1

P5

P6

P7

P8

Use this ladder as a guide when assessing your student’s learning. The statements in this ladder are indicative of possible learning at each

P level. Actual learning will be personal to each student.

I used four symbols to tell a section of the story: “Anansi, wet, legs, long.”

I used a possessive saying: Anansi’s legs.

I used simple phrases to tell the story, “No wait and help.”I can use ‘and’ to tell you more. “Got wet, and long legs!”

I asked a simple question about the stimuli, “What’s that?”When asked where my hand was I said “In water.”

I combined two words together, saying, “Wet hand!” in response to the water stimuli. I said it again when I wasn’t understood.

I copied the sign for ‘Wait.’I said ‘No’ when offered the water, expressing my dislike of getting wet!

I reached for the water to splash my hand into it.I explored the balloon as it stretched by focusing my attention on it.

I was happy to have help to explore the stimuli.I was interested in the Anansi puppet.

I encountered the smell of cooking.I reacted to the cold water.

Science: Stretch or Snap – What would happen if Anansi’s legs were made of ....? Paper, Elastic bands, twigs, fabric, tin foil etc – explore the properties of different materials.Dissolving – Anansi’s web washes away in water, discover what things dissolve or wash away in water.Food – Find out what the animals in the story really eat. Compare what you find to what the animals eat in the story, are there any similarities?

Art/Technology:Junk model Anansi – choose stretchy materials for legs.Model Anansi with clay – choose whether you are modelling Anansi from the start of the story, or from the end. Roll the clay for Anansi’s legs according to your choice.

Maths:Look at counting to eight. Count the number of legs on the other animals in the story. How many legs in the whole story?

Food technology:Cook the different meals featured in the story, explore the different tastes. Make Anansi biscuits – roll the dough for the legs to show whether the biscuit is Anansi before or after his adventures in the story.

PSHE:

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Additional learning activities

Look at the concepts of ‘Wait’ ‘Help’ and ‘No.’ Have students experience simple situations where they have to practise waiting – e.g. before playing with a toy. Do the same with ‘Help’ and ‘No.’ Have a student ask for help and another student say No – how does it feel? Repeat the situation but this time help. Think about the story, would Anansi’s friends have felt happier if he had waited and agreed to help?

Geography:Find out about the Akan: Where are they from? How do they live? What do they eat? What is the same, what is different, about our lives?

PE:Warm up by moving like the different animals in the story. Retell the story using movements. Develop the movement sequence into a dance.

Literacy:Compare the story to other stories we know about Spiders: e.g. Incy Wincy Spider. Compare the story to other stories with similar themes: e.g. Kipling’s Just So Stories. What is the same? What is different? Which story do you like best? Why?

Literacy-Role play/Technology:Use a black glove to form the basis of a spider puppet, add extra legs from the other glove in the pair and stick a black pom pom or fur ball ontop to make a spider’s body. Add eight googly eyes. Now you have your own Anansi puppet use it to act out the story. The puppet could walk in turn to each animal featured in the story and then jump into a river. Have fun! Look up other Anansi stories – he got up to a lot of mischief!

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These movements have been designed to be possible to do seated. Moving whilst telling the story assists memory, it also means that students who aren’t able to express themselves verbally have the option of telling the story through movements.

You may choose to develop and embellish these movements to form a dance piece.

Anansi was a greedy spiderPlace both your hands on your belly.

One day Anansi’s friend Rabbit said, “Wait and help, and you can have some dinner.”Hold both your hands up, elbows level with shoulders, fingers straight.

“No,” said Anansi. He used some web to tie his leg to Rabbit’s cooking pot. “Pull my leg when dinner is done.”Keep your hands where they are, and shake your head vigorously.

Repeat these three movements for each animal: Belly, Hands, Head!A great way of developing this sequence of movements would be to add an

action in for each animal to distinguish these sets of movements.

At dinner time Anansi felt a tug on one of his legs. ‘Mmm, dinner’s ready!’ thought Anansi, ‘and I didn’t have to wait or help!’Extend one limb, as if it has been tugged straight.

Anansi felt another tug, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another!Extend each remaining limb in turn, ending up in a star shape. This can be done seated with legs extended forward. You can even try and lengthen your neck!

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Movement Sequence

Anansi’s legs began to stretch and stretch.Staying in your star shape stretch to reach as far as you can.

Anansi dragged himself to the river and jumped in.Drop suddenly into a small ball.

The webs washed away. Anansi had no dinner...but he did have eight skinny legs!Uncurl yourself slowly and check you limbs.

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The following descriptions are based on Makaton and British sign language and are intended as guides.

To sign more accurately please look at Makaton, or British Sign Language resources.

If you have students whose main form of communication is sign language then you may want to sign the entire story.

With students who are not using sign language as their prime mode of communication using a few key signs can highlight meaning and encourage attention on pertinent parts of the story.

Key Signs

Dinner Hold your forefinger straight against your middle finger on both hands, ball up the rest of your fingers, now mime eating using your pairs of fingers as cutlery.

Fox Hold you hand in front of your nose in the shape you would make if causing a sock puppet to have an open mouth. Move your hand away from your face, downwards, and bring your fingertips together. This indicates the fox’s pointed face.

Greedy Hold your hand in a fist, so that if you opened it the palm would face you. By twisting from the wrist graze your knuckles in small movements against your chin.

Hare Hold your forefingers straight against your middle fingers (these are the hare’s ears). Hold your hands near your head (but not touching) and, keeping your fingers straight, move your fingers back and forth.

Help Hold you fist on a plate made by your other hand and raise both hands together, towards you.

Hog You could finger spell Hog, or use the sign for pig.To sign pig, hold a fist in front of your nose and make small circles, brushing your nose with your fist on each loop.To finger spell hog, hold your flat palms together at 90 degrees from one another and slide the upper hand along and off the fingers of the lower hand – HHold all five fingers on your left hand open and straight, use your right hand to point to your ring finger – OMake two fists and move them so that they touch (in the manner of one potato two potato – if you are familiar with this playground rhyme). – G

Jumped Stand two fingers on the palm of one hand and ‘jump’ them off.

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Monkey Mime monkey by curling your arms under each other as if to scratch your own arm pits!

Mouse Point with your forefinger, hold the tip of the finger against your nostril at 90 degrees to the upright of your nose, twist your finger in the movement it would make were it a screwdriver screwing a screw into your nostril!

No Hold up a hand with the flat of the palm facing away from you, move it sharply along the horizontal plane away from your body.

Rabbit The sign for Rabbit is the same as that for Hare.

Spider Claw the fingers of one hand and hold them above the wrist of your other hand. Twisting from the wrist waggle the clawed hand whilst moving it upwards along the arm until it above the elbow.

Squirrel Hold you right hand at your hip as if it’s fingers were resting around the base of an imaginary tail, draw it upwards, arching over at shoulder height so that it ends palm up, as if stroking your tail into place.

Tortoise Make one hand into a fist, extend the forefinger but keep it slightly bent. Place the other hand over the top of this hand like a blanket. The extended finger is the tortoise’s head, the hand over the top is his shell.

Wait Hold up a hand with the palm facing away from you, as if saying stop, keep it there. You can let it move forward and backward gently in a pulsing movement.

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For students who can manage a small symbol vocabulary.

Spider. Dinner. Wait. No.

For students who can manage a larger symbol vocabulary.

Spider, - The other animals: Rabbit, Hare, Hog, Squirrel, Tortoise, Fox, Mouse, Monkey.Dinner. Wait. Help. No.

For students who can manage a more complex symbol vocabulary.

As above, but include connectives as well as symbols representing concepts e.g. stretched.

If you do not have access to a symbol bank you may choose to use photographs or the Worldstories symbols instead.

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If you have access to a symbol bank you may wish to support student’s comprehension by printing/selecting some key symbols to support the telling of this story.

You could support understanding by having a Velcro strip on display whilst you are telling the story, and velcroing on story symbols as you tell the story.

You could equip individual students with symbols relating to the story for them to order (showing their ability to re-tell the story) or use to answer questions, e.g. if you ask what comes next the student could respond by giving you the next symbol in the sequence.

Suggested symbols are given in the table below, you may wish to tailor your choice of symbols to suit the needs of particular students.

Key Symbols

Photographs – If you are able to enact the story using props, as you will when telling the story, you could take photographs of key points of the story and use these in place of symbols.

Suggested photos:

Spider Rabbit Cooking pot

Web being tied The other animals: tortoise, hare, hog, squirrel,

monkey, mouse, fox.

Stretch

River – your spider in a bucket of water!

Fat legs Skinny legs

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Worldstories symbols.

We have created a few simple symbols for you to use. You may prefer to create your own. Please don’t use these symbols if you have access to a symbol bank that students are already familiar with.

Spider (with skinny legs)

Spider (with fat legs) Tied

Cooking pot River

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Display

The Anansi shield can make a great interactive centre piece to a display. Creating a classroom display can reinforce learning and encourage students to re-tell the story to others whilst celebrating the work they have already done.

The story w ritten by students

Threads available to pullS tudent's w ork/

Photographs

W hy Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs.Pictures of the anim als and their cooking pots

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Mount the Anansi shield in the centre of a display board, you might be able to do this so that the threads were available to pull and people could interact with the display making Anansi’s legs stretch. Students could write out sections of the story, these could be added to the

shield to create a web effect. Photographs of students sharing the story and any work they have

produced could be displayed around this centre piece.

Feedback target

This activity is designed to enable your students to let you know how much they enjoyed the story of Anansi.

You can prepare the target for your students, the benefit to doing this is it will make the time spent giving feedback quicker.Or

You can prepare the target with your students, the benefit to doing this will mean students have a greater understanding of the tool.

Preparation:Place a photo of the student in the centre of the target, where the face

symbol is currently.. Select images of items the student loves, likes, knows about, and is completely disinterested in. Place these appropriately on the target.

Try to use things that are similar to the story of Anansi, e.g. books and activities in school, so that students aren’t confused into thinking items are being grouped by topic e.g. all people in the middle, all toys on the outside.

An example of a pre-prepared target has been provided.

To use:Show your students their personalized targets. Allow them time to look at it,

and talk about where things are to be placed.Give students an image representing the Anansi story or a photo of

themselves engaging with the Anansi story and ask them to stick it onto the target where it belongs.

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Feedback target

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We hope you’ve enjoyed sharing Anansi’s story.

Please let us know how you got on!

(The author’s feedback target)

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