Fairy Tales

We are loving reading and learning about fairy tales.  Every day at read aloud we have been discovering a new tale and having lively discussions about the literary elements.  First,  though the children have to discover the day's fairy tale.  We have a mystery box with an artifact from a particular tale.  The students have to ask questions about the object in the box to solve the riddle.  For instance, of the tale Cinderella, there was a glass slipper in the box.  The students asked questions like, "Can you wear it?" and "Is it breakable?"  In the mystery box we have found The Three Bear's bowl, Jack's magic beans, Rumpelstiltskin's golden thread, Cinderella's shoe, the Emperor's invisible suit, and Rapunzel's long hair.

In our fairy tale study, we have learned about the elements of a fairy tale.  For instance, in fairy tales there is usually magic and the numbers 3 or 7 are important.  We have also learned about the protagonist and and the antagonist.  After we read the story, we chart the different elements in the fairy tale.  The discussions have been so interesting.  We had a lengthy debate about Jack and the Beanstalk and whether or not Jack was really a "good" character.  Some students thought he shouldn't be the hero because he stole from the giant and became greedy.

Through the discussions, the children are learning to share their opinions, justify their thoughts using text evidence, and respectfully agree and disagree with their classmates different points of view.  We  also, by making an fairy tale elements chart, have been able to compare and contrast the different fairy tales.  The children are enjoying the fairy tales so much, they have no idea how many language arts objectives they are learning.

If you are interested in keeping these discussions going, there are some great digital resources available. In class, we have also been listening to different fairy tales on the ipads.  We have a subscription to an app called Speakaboos.  The app is free and you can try out 3 stories.  If you purchase a subscription to Speakaboos for $4.99 a month you have access to hundreds of animated ebooks.  The subscription includes not only fairy tales, but nursery rhymes, songs, and other stories.  As an early reading teacher, I love that the books highlight the words as it is read aloud.  Check it out!