McGraw Hill
Study Guide for Tuck Everlasting
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt is a classic novel that readers have enjoyed for years. Resources within the study guide such as discussion and guided reading questions, extension activities, and graphic organizers aid...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Folklore in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God
Learners define folklore, folk groups, tradition, and oral narrative. They identify traditional elements in Their Eyes Were Watching God Analyze and understand the role of traditional folkways and folk speech in the overall literary...
Curated OER
Folktales around the World (Middle, Reading/Writing)
Students analyze, synthesize, and use the elements of various US cultural folk tales to describe the elements of fiction in general and in folk tales specifically.
Curated OER
Johnny Appleseed, An American Folk Hero
Learners explore American folktales. They review the elements of folktales. Students read the folktale of Johnny Appleseed together. They discuss the vocabulary words from the story. Learners discuss the differences between the real...
Curated OER
Fate vs. Mind: A Macedonian Folk Tale
High schoolers examine the work of Carla Bachechi as a Peace Corp volunteer in Macedonia. Individually, they read various folktales from the country and break into groups to discuss how it is different than a novel. To end the lesson,...
Curated OER
African Folktales Lesson
Students explore what a folktale consists of as it relates to oral tradition. In this folktale lesson, students are told the African folktale, Why the Sun is Lives in the Sky and make personal inferences about what the folktale is...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Tall Tales: Larger Than Life Stories
Review the elements of tall tales with your class. Take a look at their genesis and purpose. Different types of figurative language found in tall tales are included such as hyperbole, simile, and metaphor. Before reading an American tall...
Curated OER
Southeast Asian Folktales
Fifth graders locate and identify the countries of Southeast Asia on a map. In groups, they compare and contrast photographs and artifacts from their own lives with those living in Asia. They write their own folktales based off of...
Curated OER
How Does Ancestry Affect Folklore?
Students break into groups of 4 or 5 and choose an option to demonstrate a different cultural perspective in a fairy tale or other folklore that they are familiar. Possible choices are: PowerPoint presentation, video, digital...
Pennsylvania Department of Education
Using Literary Elements to Compare Fiction Texts
Students explore language arts by reading and reflecting on literary examples. In this fiction writing lesson, students read several different cultural versions of the story "Cinderella" and discuss their interaction with the story and...
Curated OER
The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush
Third graders complete activities for the book The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, by Tomie dePaola. In this literature lesson, the students read the story and summarize the main events. They look for story elements focusing on the...
Curated OER
Stories of Hope: Dragonfly and Mosquito
Students identify and interpret the value of the dragonfly as a predator of the mosquito. They create their own folktales using the dragonfly or a creature of their choice to solve the malaria problem or another issue. Students also...
Curated OER
Lively Read of the Tale of Despereaux
Students create a character map of the main characters in The Tale of Despereaux. After reading the text, students create a character chart based on information they gleaned from the story. They use this information to write a letter...
Curated OER
A Togolese Tale: The Big Fire
Students identify common elements found in folk tales and read a Togolese folk tale told by Fred Koehler. They analyze the folk tale for its elements and compare and contrast it with well-known Western folk tales.
Curated OER
Exploring American Tall Tales
Students explore elements of American folktales and tall tales. For this literature lesson, students read examples of American folktales and tall tales and prepare a monologue or news report to present to the class based on their readings.
Curated OER
Folktales: Fables
Students access a variety of resources on the Internet regarding folktales, fables, tall tales, and fairy tales. They read and compare/contrast the elements of fables, and complete various handouts.
Curated OER
Coyote and Anansi
Young scholars explore the structure of folktales. In this coyote and Anansi lesson, students discuss the attributes of folktales as they read versions of tales featuring coyote and Anansi. Young scholars collaborate to write and perform...
Curated OER
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.
Curated OER
Horatio's Drive
Students assess the literary quality and elements of Jackson's journey to write a ballad about his automobile adventure.
Curated OER
Once Upon A Time...
Students discuss elements of fairy tales, examine selected piece of Robert Harris' art, and compose fairy tales based on what they see and imagine. Students then view homes in Harris' artwork collection, create home in which they would...
Curated OER
Playing with Language: Tall Tales and Codes
Students interpret and identify the elements of folktales, with an emphasis on tall tales, in this lesson. Students utilize brainstorming techniques to list ways people communicate. Students also read and create a time line and present...
Curated OER
Chinese Folktales
Students examine Chinese folktales. In this literature and philanthropy instructional activity, students read Chinese folktales and analyze their literary elements. Students consider the effects of generosity in the tales and in their...
Curated OER
Fairy Tales as a Genre of Literature
Students examine the literary elements of fairy tales. After reading the fairy tale "Rapunzel" and discussing the elements of fairy tales that occur as they read, they use a story web to help plan and create an original fairy tale. ...