Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Different Strokes For Different Folktales

For Teachers K - 1st
Young readers use graphic organizers, such as Venn diagrams and story maps, to analyze a variety of folktales and the elements of a story. They use writing, sequencing activities, and creative art to identify the morals learned from a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Helpful Animals and Compassionate Humans in Folklore

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students define elements of stories from around the world that include helpful animals. They explore animal character motivations and use graphic organizers to compare and contrast animal stories from different cultures.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

African Folktales

For Teachers 6th - 7th
Students study the elements of folktales. They write, perform and produce their own African folktales using camcorders and movie software.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Hare and the Water: A Tanzanian Folk Tale

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
"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...
Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

Analyzing Story Elements

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Lesson ideas to teach students how to analyze story elements through visual representation.
Organizer
National Endowment for the Humanities

Elements of the Epic Hero Cycle

For Students 9th - 12th
Here's a handy worksheet applicable to any study of epic heroes, including those in epic poetry. Readers record examples from their text that identify the quest, the tests, helpers and companions, as well as the low point, the...
Unit Plan
Pearson

Unlocking and Exploring Folktales

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Designed with many of the Common Core standards in mind, this 10-lesson unit is brimming with ELL strategies, teacher's notes, and the best of core instructional methods for teaching the common elements of folktales, and exploring...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Weave of Woods

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Focus on vocabulary, comprehension, and analysis while reading A Weave of Woods, a colorful picture book by Robert D. San Souci. Young learners use worksheets to preview, predict, practice paraphrasing, and make comparisons. The...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Folktales and Ecology: Animals and Humans in Cooperation and Conflict

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Story elements such as conflict, character analysis, resolution, and moral are discussed and charted as elementary children read folktales involving animals. An element of science is also introduced as learners discover what a keystone...
Activity
Weekly Story Book

Folk Tales and Fables

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
Pages and pages of engaging activities, worksheets, and writing projects on teaching folktales and fables await you! You don't want to miss this incredible resource that not only includes a wide range of topics and graphic...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

African Folktales

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Students examine the art of storytelling. In groups, they write their own African folktales, design costumes, props and scenery, and videotape folktale presented in dramatic form.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Magical World of Russian Fairy Tales

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students read several fairy tales of Russian origin. They brainstorm common elements of a fairy tale and identify those elements in several examples. They retell a favorite fairy tale through a skit, oral storytelling, a sketch, or a...
Lesson Plan
Pennsylvania Department of Education

Drawing Conclusions Based on Literary Elements

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students compare versions of Cinderella and draw conclusions based on the story elements identified. In this literacy comprehension and story elements lesson, students read several versions of Cinderella, complete a "Comparing Folklore"...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

One Story, Many Tales

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students compare and contrast various versions of the fairytale Cinderella. In this folktale lesson, students read The Korean Cinderella and The Egyptian Cinderella and analyze the differences between the two stories. Students identify...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Mayan Myths/Folktales

For Teachers 5th - 8th
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...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Secret Stories: Exploring the Elements of Folktales and Fables

For Teachers 1st - 3rd
Students are introduced to the characteristics of fables and folktales. In groups, they read and identify the various elements in the stories they read from around the world. For each story, they analyze the setting and the various...
PPT
Curated OER

Elements of the Oral Tradition

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Various genres of oral tradition are outlined and defined in these slides. Give your class examples of folk tales, fairy tales, parables, fables, legends, and myths before reading an example of one of these stories. This overview acts as...
Lesson Plan
Scholastic

Tell Us a Tale: Teaching Students to Be Storytellers

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Encourage scholars to retell their favorite short story or folktale, adding personal details to make it their own. After reading their book of choice several times, story tellers retell a tale verbally to their classmates. 
Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

When We Are A Story

For Teachers 4th
Drama and story elements go hand-in-hand. Have the class dive into a dramatic play to show character intention, conflict resolution, main events, and the dialogue in a Hawaiian folk tale. They read the story, then group-up to...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Writing Folktales

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers consider the structure of folktales. In this writing skills lesson, students list the attributes of folktales that they read in class. High schoolers then complete handouts based on the elements of the tales as well as...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Let's Retell This Story

For Teachers 4th
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.
Lesson Plan
August House

How Tiger Got His Stripes

For Teachers K Standards
How did the tiger get its stripes? Kindergartners read a Vietnamese folk tale, "How the Tiger Got His Stripes," retold by Rob Cleveland, and work through several reading comprehension and literary analysis activities.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush

For Teachers 3rd
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...