Story Discussion: A puppet helps to clarify concepts and lead discussion regarding how our imagination and thoughts can keep us fearful. Maggie recounts real life stories about dealing with anxiety that the children can identify with. The students become part of the demonstration of how negative thoughts, about ourselves or others, weaken our bodies.

Relaxation Exercise: Finally, students are led through a relaxation exercise to help them relieve anxiety and go to “the wise part” inside themselves.

The story and follow up activities meet many of the prescribed learning outcomes for students in grades k-3 in both the Mental Well-Being Curriculum and the English Language Arts Curriculum.* The story is especially effective in:

• Helping students identify and describe feelings, especially those associated with fear.
• Identifying connections between thoughts and feelings.
• Comprehending the story and follow simple oral instructions
• Listening actively, responding verbally and non-verbally
• Predicting, retelling and sequencing events.

Learning results from this story experience also support Michelle Borba’s work with Moral Intelligence:

• Kindness and conscience are the motivating forces which help the story’s hero to face his fears.
• Self control is emphasized and demonstrated first by Myobi and then by the students as they recognize how thoughts and feelings affect behaviour. Students also learn to relax and become more consciously in control of their affective domain.
• Empathy for the story’s hero and for others when they are fearful is developed.

Teachers receive a package of activity suggestions to use in the classroom. “What Might Happen” is a marvelous stimulus for art, drama, puppetry, creative movement, and writing activities. Activities are designed to meet the prescribed learning outcomes in the language arts and personal planning curriculums.

Unique to this cultural presentation: The storytelling experience for students can be just the beginning! Why not follow up with a Jungle Adventure Evening for the whole family?

Read on for an optional and natural progression for those schools who wish to participate…

Students are the best candidates to get their parents to the school, so once we have captured student interest and enthusiasm, they’ll want to bring their parents to experience the story with them – and to show them the jungle art that they have decorated the gym with. (Co-operative art activities, and artistic impressions of the story are part of the follow up activities teachers returned to their classes with.)

The What Might Happen Storytelling Adventure becomes an opportunity to:

International speaker, Maggie Reigh B.Ed, is a published author and master storyteller. She has taught from kindergarten to University level students, and has worked intensively with individual students as well. She has helped thousands of parents and professionals improve communication, effectively discipline, reduce stress and create influential and meaningful relationships. Maggie appears weekly on CHBC television, and was CBC radio's parenting columnist for 3&1/2 years. She has recently released her first book based on her parenting course that is revolutionizing parent-child relationships.