A Journey Through Stories: Mythology and Folklore

"Hans Christian Andersen 'The Little Mermaid'"   by  Natalia Akimova. Web source: Creative Commons.  Far out in the ocean, there were waters deeper than you could imagine. The water was very blue and very deep. While we might imagine that there is nothing but sand at the bottom of the ocean, there was a whole sea kingdom. The castle was huge and made of shells. The Sea King lived in the castle with his six children, as he was a widower. All of the mermaid sisters were beautiful and had their own space to play. The youngest mermaid was a bit different. She was more interested in learning about the world that existed beyond the sea. As each of the sisters had their fifteenth birthday, they had their chance to travel to the surface. The five oldest did so, and they all came back with incredible stories. This section of the story ended without the littlest mermaid making her journey.  My thoughts: The Little Mermaid was one of my topic ideas for my storyb

The Prince and the Pea by Cristina De Liso. Web source: Web source: Creative Commons.  The Princess and the Pea There once was a prince who was set on marrying a princess. It was very important to him that he married a real princess though (as opposed to a fake one, I guess?). In order to find this princess, the prince travelled all over the world. He met many princesses during his journeys, but he was not sure if they were the real thing. There was something off about each of the princesses that he met. So he returned home, disappointed that he did not find a suitable girl to marry.  One night there was a terrible storm. There was rain, thunder, and lightning. There was a knock at the front gates, so the king went to see who it was. It was a girl, drenched from the storm, claiming to be a princess.  The queen claimed that she knew how to tell if the girl was actually a princess. She set a pea underneath 20 mattresses. If the girl could feel the pea, then she was a prince

Alice by Manja Ciric. Web source: Creative Commons.  It was barely lunchtime, but Alice already wished that the day was over. She was sick of spending day after day hanging out with her sister, Nancy, trying to fill what felt like an endless summer. Alice and Nancy used to have so much fun together during school vacations. They would use their imaginations to travel to faraway lands, slay dragons, and fly over the mountains. These days, all Nancy did was stare at her phone. Scrolling and scrolling. Swiping and swiping. Tapping and tapping. Not only did Alice miss playing with her best friend, she missed the adventures that they once went on so often. Alice found no enjoyment staring at her phone for hours and hours, so she eventually decided to do something else. "I'm going outside to play. Do you want to come with me?" Alice asked Nancy. Nancy looked up, rolled her eyes and just shook her head. Alice stomped outside and started trying to imagine things on

Alice in Wonderland by Yulia Avgustinovish. Web source: Creative Commons.  A Mad Tea Party (Part 1) This story moves further into the future than my earlier notes, so Alice and her eclectic group of friends are already in Wonderland. The Mad Hatter has joined us and the Hare is also present at the party. There is a giant table at the party, but it still somehow seems very crowded. There was a ton a different teas on the table, but that's all there was: tea. Alice apologizes for taking a seat at the Hare's table without being invited. The Hatter finally speaks to Alice and says that her hair needs cutting, to which Alice is surprised and a little uncomfortable. The Mad Hatter begins telling riddles to Alice and she is thrilled that they are finally going to have some fun. The Hatter and Hare are definitely entertaining to Alice, but she realizes that she doesn't completely understand them, even though they seems to be speaking English like her. There are so many

Alice in Wonderland by Julia Valeeva. Web source: Creative Commons.  Down The Rabbit-Hole (part 1) This is the story of how Alice began fall into Wonderland. I've always been interested in this topic. In fact, I almost used it for my storybook project. It was fun to get to read these stories this week. My notes: Alice was getting bored of spending time with her sister. She was reading a book, but did not find it interesting because there weren't any pictures of conversations. I definitely can relate with this idea because I love reading dialogue in stories and checking out pictures. Alice thought she might make a chain of daises, but didn't know if she wanted to take the time to pick the flowers. A rabbit ran by Alice, which wouldn't normally be an out of the ordinary occurrence, but she heard the rabbit speak. The White Rabbit was late, and he even had his own stopwatch that was kept in his waistcoat pocket. Alice was completely intrigued by the ra

Brain from the Twemoji Project. Web source: Wikimedia Commons.  A New Theory of Human Intelligence This video was a TED Talk by Scott Barry Kaufman. He began his talk by challenging the audience to think more broadly about intelligence, in a way that accounts for a person's full being. Kaufman showed examples of two school children and their behavior and success, as defined by the adults in their lives (parents, teachers, etc.). What was surprising about this demonstration was that he actually talking about the same child even though the characteristics of each student were drastically different. One was described as overactive and attention deficit while the other was described as engaged and successful in a school setting. This plays into the idea of what Kaufman explains as the "Twice-Exceptional Child," which is a child who has various strengths, but also struggles with other things that might hold them back. Kaufman spoke a lot about schools making sur