Cabrini Immigrant Services (CIS), Dobbs Ferry, NY, held a program for children in Grades 3-10. Sharing Stories! Making Movies! was piloted in the Summer of 2023. It was such a success that we decided to offer the program in the Fall and the Spring.
Anne Marie Santoro created Sharing Stories! Making Movies! Through her company, From the Heart Communications, she designs educational media that nourishes the best in the human spirit.
The purpose of this program is to help children strengthen and expand their imagination and creativity and to deepen their enjoyment of reading, writing, and collaborating. As the students tell, write, storyboard and film their own stories, their confidence grows. On the last day of the program, the parents were invited to join the children at the ‘premiere’ of their movies. Each child stood up and welcomed everyone and then explained the story they wrote and filmed. Their movies were shown on the ‘large screen’ Smart Board. Some students filmed their stories with pictures and words, others used only pictures and sound effects, and some had all three components. After watching the movie, each child responded to audience questions and comments.
The parents were thrilled to experience the joy their children had sharing their creative expression. We have watched the children mature over this time as they became more confident in their writing, presentation and collaboration skills,
Thank you to the Carvel Foundation for their generous grant which has allowed us to offer this program.