Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs.
A sensory resource to support teaching and learning with pupils achieving at P levels 1-8.
An Akan story
Adapted by Joanna Grace
In conjunction with Worldstories.

Contents

Welcome
Safety / 3
An Introduction to Sensory Learning / 4
Guidance notes for Delivery / 6
Resources / 8
How to make an Anansi shield / 10
Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs, A Sensory Story / 12
Lesson Plan / 14
Extras / 16
Assessment Ladder / 17
Additional Learning Activities / 18
Movement Sequence / 20
Key Signs / 22
Key Symbols / 24
Worldstories Symbols / 25
Display / 27
Feedback Target / 28

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.

The pack contains everything you will need to teach an outstanding lesson. Extra material is included for teaching a sequence of lessons or developing learning in other curriculum areas.

You don’t have to do everything, but everything is here if you need it!

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 their brain involved.

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.

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[1] 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.

Guidance notes for delivery.

Organisation for all

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.

Working with students achieving at P levels 1-3

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.

Repetition

The 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.

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.

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

Tupaware with food inside, [Gravy granules, stock cubes, herbal tea, or ....]

A washing up bowl, water, and cotton or cooked spaghetti

Two metal items

A balloon

Optional resources:

Anansi animation

Balloon pump

Ribbon and elastic band

Instrument to ‘twang’

Extra resources for role play and exploration of the story:

(You do not need these resources to tell the sensory story)

Cooking pot for each student

Animal toys to represent the different creatures in the story.

Animal sounds for each of the creatures in the story.

Description of resources:

Anansi shield – See page

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 tupaware, 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 tupaware) 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 have things like gravy granules or stock cubes.

Clank of cooking pot. – Any 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 noise – The 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.

A bowl of water with cotton threads or cooked spaghetti. Having 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

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.

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.

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.

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.

If working with students operating around P levels 1-3 try to use elastic as the sudden expansion of all the legs at once will be a stronger visual experience.

Alternatives.

If you aren’t able to make an Anansi shield you can easily substitute a different experience into it’s place, for instance simply having a piece of black ribbon poking out of the top of your fist, to indicate a short stubby leg and then pulling it to reveal a longer length of ribbon, could illustrate the lengthening of Anansi’s legs. You could also use the Anansi animation on the 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.

Why Anansi has Eight Skinny Legs

A Sensory Story

Anansi was a greedy spider

Use 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.

Option:

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

Visual of legs being connected to cooking potson the Anansi shield, and sound of pot clanking.

Or continue the story in full, adding each of the following animals into the blank space: Tortoise, Hare, Squirrel, Hog, Mouse, Fox, Hog.

Anansi’s friend ______said, “Wait and help, and you can have some dinner.”