In class, we read the book The Last Cuentista. The book is about passing on family traditions and telling stories. The main character, Petra learns who she is – her parents are scientists but her grandmother, Lita is a storyteller. Did I mention that she and her family had to leave Earth forever? Without Lita. To keep stories going, you must know them well and be able to retell them. But, you should also be able to tweak them a little like how Petra did when she was living in space. Create alternative endings and use your creativity to make the story fit the moment. 

Also, in class we wrote about our ideal worlds and what they would look like. In my ideal world, plants are different colors and taste like sugar. The water would be able to turn into any drink you were thinking of. On my planet, everyone would get along. School would only be one hour long, and there would be plenty of time to talk to your friends. In my ideal world there would be no poverty. It is a great place to visit. 

A few weeks ago, we made books based on our ideal world and stories that were passed down in our family, called Cuentos. You could look through a “window” in our books and see what they were about through a collage. At the beginning of the unit we used Akua ink to make designs which we used later in our actual books. We pasted the stories to the insides and Ta-Da! A book formed. We worked with a professional artist, Peg Gignoux. It was so fun! 

This year had so many fun units! From reading books to making books, the whole year was very engaging. To think about a world that was perfect was hard, because many things came from flaws. I’m so glad Mrs. Donnelly made time to let us paint and create books. I hope we do more fun things like this next year.