HAT STORIES
(excerpts from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)

After the assembly, students will be making their own imaginative hats. Can anyone recommend hat stories or songs?

1) The first one that comes to mind is Caps Amazon.com: Books: Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business - for sale, but copyright would be an issue.

How about the story of The Thrifty Tailor? One of the things he makes is a hat.
THE THRIFTY TAILOR Once there was a tailor and a very fine tailor he was. He was also very thrifty. He wasted nothing! A rich landowner came to him with a roll of the finest cloth. “Make me suit of this materialâ€*, he said, “and I will pay you well! . The tailor sat up all night and he cut and he sewed and he snipped and he stitched. And in the morning he had made the suit. And a very fine suit it was! He took it to the rich landowner, who was very pleased. When the tailor returned to his workshop, he looked at the material that was left and thought to himself, “Just a minute – there’s enough material to make something else!â€* So being a thrifty tailor, he sat up all night and he cut and he sewed and he snipped and he stitched. And in the morning he had made a very smart top coat. And a very smart top coat it was! He put it on and he wore it every day, and he wore it every day and he wore it every day until it was all worn out! And he was just about to throw it away, when he thought to himself, “Just a minute – there’s enough material to make something else! So being a thrifty tailor, he sat up all night and he cut and he sewed and he snipped and he stitched. And in the morning he had made a very smart jacket. And a very smart jacket it was! He put it on and he wore it every day and he wore it every day and he wore it every day, until it was all worn out! And he was just about to throw it away, when he thought to himself, “Just a minute – there’s enough material to make something else!. So being a thrifty tailor, he sat up all night and he cut and he sewed and he snipped and he stitched. And in the morning he had made a very smart waistcoat. And a very smart waistcoat it was! He put it on and he wore it every day and he wore it every day and he wore it every day, until it was all worn out! And he was just about to throw it away, when he thought to himself, “Just a minute! There's enough material to make something else! So being a thrifty tailor, he sat up all night and he cut and he sewed and he snipped and he stitched. And in the morning he had made a very smart cap. And a very smart cap it was! He put it on and he wore it every day and he wore it every day and he wore it every day, until it was all worn out! And he was just about to throw it away, when he thought to himself. Just a minute. If there's enough material to make something else! So being a thrifty tailor, he sat up all night and he cut and he sewed and he snipped and he stitched. And in the morning he had made a very smart tie. And a very smart tie it was! He put it on and he wore it every day and he wore it every day and he wore it every day, until it was all worn out! And he was just about to throw it away, when he thought to himself, Just aminute, there's enough material to make something else! So being a thrifty tailor, he sat up all night and he cut and he sewed and he snipped and he stitched. And in the morning he had made a very smart button. And a very smart button it was! He sewed it to his shirt and he wore it every day and he wore it every day and he wore it every day until it was all worn out! And he was just about to throw it away, when he thought to himself, Just a minute! There's enough material to make a story!" And he told the story to me and I've just told it to you!

There is also a story about Anansi the trickster, Anansi's Hat Shaking Dance Courlander, Harold, & Prempeh, A.K. The Hat-shaking Dance and Other Tales from the Gold Coast. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1957. but it can also be found in Easy to Tell Tales by Annette Harrison I believe.

Preschool Education Music & Songs: Hats
http://www.preschooleducation.com/shat.shtml

2) What about the story of the two farmers whose fields were across the road from each other. One day, as they worked in their fields, a man passed by wearing a hat. After he passed, one farmer said to the other, "what an unusual red hat he was wearing." The other responded, "Are you crazy? Are you blind? He was wearing a blue hat!" They quarreled all day until they refused to speak to each other ever again - and then as evening approached, the man in the hat returned. Each farmer felt his jaw drop as the one who had seen a red hat saw blue, and the one who had seen a blue hat saw red, and they both realized how foolish their quarrel had been, since the hat was clearly red on one side, blue on the other. This West African story was included in one of Ruth Stotter's Storytelling Calendars, and she attributes it to a Herskovits' collection, Dahomean Narrative. I love "point of view" stories.
Response: I've heard this as an Anansi story from Africa, and he had a whole outfit on - and he did it deliberately to cause trouble of course!
Response: I read this as Red Coat/Blue Coat but a hat will do just as well.

3) I love to use Hats for Sale with the early elementary classes. I get the teachers or principal to be "The monkeys" in the story, and the kids absolutely love it.
Response: Caps for Sale is a wonderful story, or Heather Forrest tells of a hat that is red on one side and black on another. Don't worry about permissions as this is an Indian folktale too. The hats or caps are topis and the seller is the topiwallah.

There is also the song: "'My hat it has three corners' I can't remmerber the original version very well, but I have an adapted version from Bingo Lingo - Supporting Language Development with Songs and Rhymes by Helen MacGregor ( A & C Black London) That version goes like this:
My hat it is too spotty
Too spotty is my hat
Because it is too spotty I will not wear my hat
Other verses are : too stripy and too fluffy. The idea is to get the children to suggest other adjectives to make up additional verses.
Response:
My Hat, It Has Three Corners
My hat has three corners (touch head)
My hat, it has three corners (touch each elbow on corners)
Three corners has my hat (touch each elbow on corners)
And if it hadn’t had three corners
It wouldn't be my hat.
Response:
My hat it has three corners
Three corners has my hat
And had it not three corners
Then it would not be my hat!
You can use this rhyme to demonstrate the kind of hat called a tricorne. The name literally means "three horns", being constructed from Latin bits (cornua are horns). Dick Turpin (and every other highwayman worth his salt) would likely be seen wearing one. Me too, sometimes. A unicorn, however, would have trouble fitting a tricorne onto his head. I don't know where the rhyme comes from. I learned it years ago, before I ever owned a tricorne.

4) Haven't posted Rainhat in ages, but it's a real favorite of mine.There is a pirate version of this paper folding and tearing story should be found in Nancy Shimmel's Just Enough to Make A Story, as well in one of Anne Pellowski's, and think Margaret Read McDonald has a version too. I have the Rainhat version that I used based on Batsy's terrific directions - I changed it to a story of a bit of safety story - appropriate for school telling. Almost always end up with kids over 6 or 7 years making their own hats, but I premake for younger audiences. Using newspapers it's a great recycling story too. I've had children decorate them too, so it should fit in well for you,

5) Safety Version of Rainhat with Batsy's excellent directions inserted:
Once upon a time, there was a little girl who loved the rain. (rain sounds)
(Fold a single sheet of newspaper in half.)
She woke up and folded down the sheet on her bed - she was a very neat girl.
(From folded top turn one part down like a sheet fold.)
Then she remembered her teddy bear and folded the sheet down its side of the sheet.
(Make another fold so the two meet in the middle and you have the newspaper shaped like a HOUSE with a pointed roof. Remember that the bottom part of the house should be open and NOT be folded yet.)
She went downstairs in her house to eat breakfast.
(Point out the shape of the house.)
After breakfast she and her mother went out on the porch to look at the rain.
(At this point fold up a single sheet twice from the bottom to make a sort of porch roof.)
Then she asked her mother if she could go and see Grandpa who has a surprise for her. Her mother says that she must wear her rain -
(indicate with hands- a coat - this is important for my NEW ending,)
her rain - (indicate with hands -boots,)
and then a rain - (now turn the paper over and fold up the other side and put on your head, so the listeners will respond "HAT!"
The girl follows the stream down to her grandfather's house until she hears:
MAKE thunder noises. (Elicit audience response that it is a thunder and lightning storm.)
She runs under . . . (pause and fold. This is where you move on to next step and pull out hat sides to make a square shape with folds all around the square.) .... A TREE! (Look shocked that you don't have a tree, but rather a square shape.)
(Then REMEMBER,) Of course, I told you she was a smart girl, didn't I? She knew better than to run under a tree during a thunder and lightning storm.
(THIS IS THE NEW SAFETY PART!)
She ran to stand under her grandpa's garage roof. (Indicate that this is grandpa's garage. You can then add or elicit other safe places to be in lightning storm - porch, car, inside, but NEVER under a tree!) Then she hears a (make a siren noise and elicit response from audience that it's a . .. ) fire engine.
(Time to fold up the bottom edge on one side to make a triangle on the front.)
She waved to her Uncle Jack as he rode by on the fire truck wearing his fireman's hat. (It's still big enough that you can pretend it might fit your head.)
When the rain stopped, she hurried on to her grandpa's house by the lake. Her grandpa loved water. He loved water so much that he used to be in the Navy. Folks called him, the Admiral. He loved to wear his admiral hat. (Time to fold the other bottom edge to a triangular shaped paper. It's small, but I perch it on my head.)
Grandpa said, "I have a surprise for you in the BOAT house." (Time to pull out the sides so the bottom points of the triangle come together and make the square looking boat house - mention how much smaller it is than the garage. :->)
Does anyone one want to guess what the surprise might be?
(Amazingly enough, not too many children will come up with a boat right away. I loved the other answers so much that sometimes I deliberately lead them off track. BUT, at last, really emphasize the boat part.)
You're right it's a BOAT! (Time to turn the boathouse so that the crease is running up and down. Then pull out the two points of the square which open out to make a boat.)
The girl got in her boat and started back up the stream to her own house, BUT suddenly the sail fell off. (Time to tear off some of the top triangular part of sail. I"VE Changed The Order Here From The Original Directions.)
BUT that's OK, I told you she was a smart girl, didn't I? She had a paddle in the boat so she started to paddle home. Now she was smart, but she wasn't very good at paddling and ran into the bank of the stream. The front of the boat fell off!
(Time to tear off some of the front.)
She paddled backwards, and the back of the boat fell off.
(Time to tear off some of the back.)
Then the STRANGEST thing happened as the boat began to sink.
(Time to start unfolding the paper to reveal . . . )
She wasn't sinking, no, she was floating.
(Time to complete the opening to reveal her RAINCOAT, not a shirt - this is why you need to establish earlier that she had put on a raincoat.)
BUT WAIT A MINUTE - raincoats don't make you float.
(Look very puzzled as you make her float along. Then let a look of realization come over your face. And start tearing again. Tear off the sleeves of the raincoat.)
Well, I told you she was a smart girl, didn't I? And her grandpa was a smart man too. He'd made sure that she'd put on a . . .
(see if kids recognize what she's wearing or ask what would help you float . .)
That's right, she had a LIFE JACKET on under her coat. So she floated all the way home!
The end - except that I've added Batsy great folding directions at the bottom as well as Owen's additional suggestions on the folding.
EXTRA TIPS AND BATSY'S DIRECTIONS
For me the simplest part of the folding was to remember to go to the two squares after the hats. That helped.

6) One of my favorites is A Three Hat Day, Written by Laura Geringer, Illustrated by Arnold Lobel (ISBN 0-06-443157-6 (pbk.) New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1985.)
This story is about R.R. Pottle the Third and his love of hats. He collected all sorts of hats. His father had collected canes, and his mother had collected umbrellas. R.R. Pottle loved hats so much that he would wear several at one time. When walking one day with three hats on his head, R.R. Pottle got caught in the rain and went into a hat store where he met the future Mrs. Pottle. Their child, R.R. Pottle the Fourth, loved neither hats nor canes nor umbrellas. She loved shoes.

7) Bartholomew Cubbins and the 500 hats is a *great* story. Dr. Seuss, before he went e-z reader.

8)

(This web page updated 9/13/03)