In addition to a reading specialist, we have a storytelling specialist on staff. She works primarily in the lower grades, visiting classrooms regularly and recounting world folk tales, fables and legends from a variety of cultures. She weaves imaginative and fantastic stories, often related to themes and concepts that the children are studying, such as community-building and problem solving. Studies have shown that when children actively “picture” a story coming to life in their minds’ eye, it helps to build literacy.