From Our Classroom 2 Yours: Fairy-tales and folktales

Folktales and fairy-tales are a big part of the way I teach story elements and from their we learn how to write stories. By reading several stories the children learn how they can be a reader and and an author. It is also a great way to introduce fiction stories.

Below you will find several books and examples of how I used them. I am also attaching a journal that we wrote in daily. I copy the 2nd page about 7 times for each child and I let them design their own cover once we have read a few stories. The 2nd journal has a cover included. Journal Word Doc, PDF

Introduction- Show them several books that you collect that are folktales, fairy-tales and even tall tales. * Pull many versions of the same story for the children to see that these stories can be told in many ways.

Books-

These are just a few---- pull whatever your school library has or what you have in your own collection. I usually read 1-2 books each day. If I read a second book I make sure it is the same story but a different version. We always go over the characters, setting, conflict and solution. It is a great way to talk about beginning, middle and end as well.

Journal- After reading we journal

1. Model writing & illustrating the first few times - I model the writing on chart paper and I make mistakes. That way they can help me find my mistakes-- capitals, punctuation, spacing, spelling of word wall words etc. Draw a detailed picture. 10 minutes

2. Independent writing time- In my class we play soft music and dim the lights. They love this and it is a reminder that it is writing time... they MUST stay in their seat. Writers are never done! 10-20 minutes depending on your class, including their picture.

3. Sharing- Sometimes we all share and other times I pick 2-3 students to read. The kids always complement each other- "You did a good job on your finger spaces" etc.

We read two versions of The Three Little Pigs... The pigs version and the wolf's version. Then we talked about who we believed. They paired up and told their partner who they believed and why. Next I modeled each one on the board based off of what they told me. They wrote in their journal and finally I allowed a few to share their entries. I posted examples for you to see student work. Along with this a Venn Diagram could be used. There is also a version of the story on Bookflix

Journal examples:

Journal Topics: Of course this is up to you!
* Who is your favorite character and why?
* Which version of the story did you like
* Who do you believe? The wolf's version or the pigs...why
* Did you like or dislike the story?
* Did you like the ending of the story?

Other options for discussing the stories-

chart out the story elements
have them do the elements-PDF
Venn Diagram
Act out the story
Chart out beg, mid, and end
Have them do the beg, mid, and end PDF.
Beg, mid, end 2 BME2