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Cinderella Folk Tales: Variations in Plot and Setting
Students examine plot and setting of Cinderella, and how it changes as it is translated into different cultures, discuss universal literary elements of the Cinderella story, and write narratives with original settings and plots...
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Morality "Tails" East and West: European Fables and Buddhist Jataka Tales
Have your class explore Buddhist Jataka Tales to compare and contrast them to European fables. After defining fables, Jataka tales, and the elements of each, learners identify themes and patterns for both types of narratives and the...
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Printing and Publishing
Explore African literature and artwork in a multicultural literacy and art lesson. Begin with a read aloud of Tiger and the Big Wind: A Tale from Africa, and afterward, have kids retell the main events in the story. They identify and...
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Retell the "Tail" of the Tale
Students explore story structure. In this multicultural literacy lesson, students discuss common elements of folk tales and then listen to the story Tiger and the Big Wind: A Tale from Africa. Students identify the problem and solution...
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Identifying Structured Patterns in Folk Tales
Middle schoolers are introduced to the structure of folk tales. After working through an example, they identify as many folk tales as possible that follow the same pattern. In groups, they compare a folk tale and a fairy tale to...
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The Hare and the Water: A Tanzanian Folk Tale
"The Hare and the Water," a Tanzanian folk tale, lends a global perspective to literary analysis. Learners spend the first two days reading and storyboarding. On day three, they examine folk tale elements (worksheet included), and design...
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Tall Tales Today
Students explore the attributes of American tall tales. In this folklore instructional activity, students read several tall tales, describe the elements of tall tales, and then use hyperbole to write their own tall tales.
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Write Your Own Folk or Fairy Tale
Students analyze folk and fairy tales. In this language arts lesson, students discuss the elements of a tale determining what the differences are between folk and fairy tales. Students then write their own tales using the graphic...
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A Dash of Folk, A Pinch of Fairy Recipes for Playmaking
Students examine the importance of oral traditions while reading various fairy and folk tales. Given a piece of clay, they can mold it into any shape they want and pass it to their neighbor which keeps building the object. They use...
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Tall Tale Introduction
Students explore folk tales by completing a graphic organizer with classmates. In this tall tale lesson, students read the famous story Paul Bunyan and identify the many characteristics of a fictional tall tale story. Students complete a...
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Fairy Tales
Students explore fairy tales. In this fairy tales lesson plan, students analyze the main idea of a fairy tale and interpret it. Students then re-write the story from the point of view of another character or object in the story.
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Integrating Japanese Folk Tales into the Classroom Using Japanese Kamishibai
Young scholars study Japanese folk tales focusing on the traditional values and key elements. They compare the Japanese values with their own. They discuss Japanese art before designing a set of kamishibai on which they write a summary...
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African Folk Tales
Seventh graders listen to, recite, and research African folktales. They research African artwork to add to their original folk tales which they write.
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Fables and Trickster Tales Around the World
Students analyze fables and trickster tales from various cultural traditions. In this fable analysis lesson, students identify the elements of fables and trickster stories. Students read Aesop's fables and Ananse spider stories. Students...
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Connecting Families through Folk Stories and Fairy Tales
Students engage their families to write down a folk story from their primary language. In this family literacy lesson, students rewrite the story or fairy tales in English. Parents and students are invited to present the stories in both...
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Fate vs. Mind: A Macedonian Folk Tale
Students read examples of folk tales and describe the characteristics of fables and folk tales. They also examine the concept of fate and if it plays a part in people's lives.
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Splendid China: Chinese Folktales
Students investigate Chinese culture by reading their folk tales. In this creative writing lesson, students practice identifying the different elements in a folk tale and examine the related vocabulary. Students organize thoughts for a...
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Mayan Myths/Folktales
Middle schoolers work on summarizing a story, and they determine if it is a legend, a myth, or a fable. Working in groups to read and summarize stories, they then list evidence whether the tale is a myth, fable, or legend. They present...
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Contemporary Fairy Tales
Eighth graders listen Steven Kellog's, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Raymond Briggs, Jim and the Beanstalk. They use a Venn diagram to compare the two elements of the two stories. They write and publish an original contemporary fairy tale...
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I'm Thinking Of A Story
In this literature lesson, students listen to folk tales and then discuss the main ideas and plot of the story. Additionally, students guess what story is being talked about when their teacher describes the main idea and plot. Good...
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Let's Retell This Story
Fourth graders identify story grammar elements of "The Three Billy Goats Gruff." The elements are recorded on a chart and students use the story grammar elements from the chart to retell the story.
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A Togolese Tale: The Big Fire
Students read a Tonolese folktale and outline the elements of the story. In groups, they discuss the various morals presented in the story and if they are unique to the Tonolese culture. To end the instructional activity, they identify...
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Tantalizing Tangrams
Students identify polygons and develop spatial and fractional relationships and geometric concepts by using ancient Chinese puzzle of tangrams. They develop an appreciation of the folktale by identifying its elements and then writing...
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Exploring Folk Traditions and Folk Beliefs
Ninth graders work together to brainstorm an idea to focus on the similiarties and differences between various cultures. Individually, they interview family members using questions they created based on their topic. They use their...