Tiny Toy Tales: Storytelling and Early Childhood Literacy – 'Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock' with Kassie Misiewicz
9 a.m.-12 p.m. Saturday,
October 3, 2026
| SMSD Center for Academic Achievement
Part of the KS/MO Kennedy Center Partners in Education program
Free; pre-reservation required
Pre-K-2
Tired of the same old read alouds? Ready to put the arts back into language arts? Tiny Toy Tales are well-known books that have been adapted for interactive storytelling and integrate multiple curricular objectives.
Stories come alive as they are told using tiny toys and props. In this workshop, participants will observe a Tiny Toy Tale, receive the materials to make their own, and have time to assemble it! Kassie Misiewicz, drama educator and Focus 5 arts integration consultant, leads this workshop that is sure to bring excitement and participation to the language arts curriculum.
Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock is a classic West African trickster tale (based on the book by Eric A. Kimmel) about Anansi the Spider, who discovers a magical moss-covered rock that causes anyone who says a special phrase to fall asleep. Using his cleverness, Anansi tricks three different animals to steal their fruit until a watchful Turtle outsmarts him and helps the animals recover what was taken.
Kassie Misiewicz (mih-SHEV-ich) is a professional Theatre for Youth director, actor and national Teaching Artist. She received her Masters of Fine Arts degree in Theatre for Young Audiences from the Arizona State University and her BA in Theatre from the University of Notre Dame.
Kassie is the founder, and former artistic director, of Trike Theatre: Northwest Arkansas’ professional theatre for youth and families and TheatreSquared the region’s professional adult theatre company. For the past 30 years, she has been implementing arts integration residencies with PreK-8th grade students, coaching teachers, training teaching artists and building cooperative, creative, kinesthetic classrooms wherever she goes.
Kassie lives in Bentonville, Arkansas, and loves to travel with her family and have spontaneous dance parties in the kitchen.