Lucky for us (and lucky for her students), my sister-in-law Beth was teaching summer school in Minneapolis.  We had a great morning recreating the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  Once again the favorite character to add was the enchanted monkey, followed closely by the wizard.  Luckily we had lots of animal hats and masks so all students could take part.  I think adding characters to a familiar story or changing the setting is a good way to help kids understand how the elements of a story interact.

Note to storytellers:  a wolf costume, hat or puppet is a great addition to your box of tricks, not to mention a few capes and animal ears.