Welcome to Storytelling for the Young and Young at Heart (recommended for grades K-5)
These full length programs (approx. 45 minutes) were conceptualized, written, and hosted by Judith Black for the Massachusetts Corporation for Educational Telecommunication's "Mass LearnPike," a satellite-based network commissioned to "explore the use of distance-learning in K-12 schools." The shows originally aired between 1994 and 1998 as semi-interactive video programming, consisting of a one-way video broadcast accompanied by a two-way audio channel. In this way, the students watching the programs from elementary school classrooms all over Massachusetts were able to simultaneously participate in them. Please, invite your children/students to join them.

Throughout the shows, students are often asked to send in originals stories pictures, and riddles based on the tales they have heard. You are welcomed to translate these assignments to your home or classroom, and use the accompanying curriculum guides. The guides suggest ways to use the stories to build cognitive skills and address social/emotional issues and pursue curricular objectives.

The first four recordings contain folklore and contemporary stories reflecting the theme Kids Who Save the Day. The first program in the series is a compilation of stories about children who save themselves from dire situations through combinations of wit, heart, and elbow grease. In the second program, an extension of the first, children become heroes by saving their families from desperate or hopeless situations; in the third, they save the world. The fourth show follows the Trickster, a character omnipresent in world folklore, and a favorite of children and underdogs all over this planet. Each program in the Kids Who Save the Day and Tricksters collection is accompanied by a curriculum guide, available in the 'Stories in Education' section of this website. A fifth and sixth recording, Wake Up Sun, offers a compilation of science and mythology surrounding the winter solstice.