Story Building and Writing from around the World!

Much of what we do in City Kids, including our City Kids Stories program, is built around our World Cultures & Geography program, the heart of City Kids Cooperative. We want our kids to grow up respecting, admiring, and maybe even loving the other cultures they learn about. We believe that you cannot just tell kids to feel these things--they have to be exposed to different cultures, religions, and perspectives in order to feel, intrinsically, respect, admiration, and love for people who may be different from them.

We are lucky to have Michael Smith, a successful children's show writer, volunteering with City Kids Stories program; every week, Michael finds a way to introduce our kids to different writing and story building techniques from around the world. This week was week two of story building with Australian Aboriginal symbols, and the kids really enjoyed the project. Michael has also introduced the kids to key writing concepts, and he has encouraged them to start thinking about the structure of their stories. And because we have a mixed age group, some of the older kids are happy to help the younger ones, which is just about the sweetest thing you ever saw!

Here at City Kids, we are lucky to have so many fantastic people and organizations in our community that have dedicated their time, resources, and spaces to our happy little cooperative project. I am touched that our kids have so many people in their lives who care about them. Maybe they will write about it someday. :)