Your gift to Spellbinders is a boost to children's literacy skills, imagination, visualization skills, and builds character by providing positive role models both in the stories and in the volunteer. All while working with older adults to assist them to continue to be productive members of society.
"Students often have questions after the stories. They want to clarity if the stories are "real" or "true" which provides us opportunities to talk about how stories were used to help explain the world around people. They enjoy talking about the stories and I believe they enjoyed writing stories even more after hearing stories that Julie told." Tamara Martinez, WestRidge Elementary
"Listening to stories artfully told in a vivid and gripping manner not only improves the children's listening skills but also gives flight to the children's own imaginations. Spellbinders' volunteers show these children that elders in their community care about them, and that elders are a vital and vibrant component of the community," emphasizes Dr. Diana Sirko, former Superintendent of Schools, Roaring Fork School District RE-1
"It is helpful for children to hear oral storytelling (especially in early childhood) to improve comprehension, identify parts of the story, help retell the story in sequence, allow for engagement of the audience, improve speaking, listening and vocabulary" -- Debbie Connell, Coyote Ridge Elementary, Broomfield CO, Kindergarten teacher
"Times are tough and you see that reflected in the kids. Beyond literacy and vocabulary, stories teach kids to dream, to hope and to strive. Those are the lessons kids really need right now." Julie Zats, Aspen Elementary School
Spellbinders mission is to enhance literacy, encourage character development, and build intergenerational community through the art of oral storytelling.
We, the members of Spellbinders, are volunteers who love storytelling and embrace the joy and power of stories. We believe that oral storytelling:
- Is a natural avenue to help children develop literacy skills by engendering a love of stories, both oral and written;
- Fosters awareness of the importance of virtues such as mutual respect, integrity, perseverance, empathy and cooperation;
- Builds connections between generations, eye-to-eye and heart-to-heart; and
- Shares the wisdom, values, humor and sense of community embodied in stories of all cultures throughout time.
-Enables and supports older adults in continuing to be active, involved, and contributing members of their community while supporting the tenets of healthy aging.
Spellbinders began because our founder became alarmed at the growing disconnect between the generations as more and more older adults moved into retirement communities. She feared this trend would deprive elders of the sense of meaning and purpose important to their physical and emotional health, and deprive youngsters of the sources of wisdom her own relatives and neighbors had been. In 1988 Germaine Dietsch, working with professional storytellers, developed a Storytelling Training Manual and an intensive Storytelling Workshop, and trained over 50 seniors as volunteer storytellers. Within 2 years these volunteers provided more than 2,000 hours of stories in Denver Public Schools. Spellbinders Chapters soon sprang up from New York to Florida and national awards came in due to the strength of the training materials and Chapter Handbook, the demand from elders for meaningful volunteer opportunities and the need for engaging literacy and character building programs in the schools. We have a formula and program that works and is in high demand.
Organization name
Spellbinders
other names
Spellbinders National
1990
Tax id (EIN)
84-1157832
Category
Education
Organization Size
Small Organization
Address
302 Blue Creek TrailBoulder County, CO, US
Larimer County, CO, US
Denver, CO, US
Mesa County, CO, US
Pitkin County, CO, US