Unit Title: Exploring Story Elements Through Fairy Tales

Designed By: Jennifer Joines

Grade Level: 1st Grade
Content Area: Language Arts
Time Frame: 4 Sessions

Unit Summary:
This unit is designed to not only support curriculum standards but also encourage a love
of reading through the exploration of fairy tales. The unit is divided up into 4 teaching
sessions. On the first day, students will be introduced to the concept of fairytales as a
genre. The second and third sessions expose students to some nontraditional fairy tales.
The forth session, is the culminating lesson. Here students will use an interactive website
to write original fairy tales.

Materials Needed:
Books:
Rapunzel, The Wolf Who Cried Boy, Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story,
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, Cinderella
Technology:
SMART Board, laptops, Internet access
Art Supplies:
Paper, markers, crayons
Improvisation Game:
Paper bag, strips of paper with the names of characters printed on them

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results:

Learner Analysis: This class of 18 first graders is comprised of nine boys and nine girls.
Of these 18 students, eight are of African American heritage. All of the other students
are Caucasian. All of the students are reading on grade level; however, according to the
teacher, three of those students (all boys) complain that they don’t like to read. The
teacher is afraid that if their reading habits do not change, these students will not continue
to read on grade level. There are no gifted students in this classroom, nor are there any
students who receive special education support services. The teacher reports that all of
her students are in good health and have not been diagnosed with any learning or
behavior disabilities.

GPS Standards:
Standard: ELA1R6
Comprehension: The student uses a variety of strategies to understand and gain meaning
from grade-level text.
Elements:
a. Reads and listens to a variety of texts for information and pleasure.
b. Makes predictions using prior knowledge.
c. Asks and answers questions about essential narrative elements (e.g., beginning-
middle-end, setting, characters, problems, events, resolution) of a read-aloud or
independently read text.
 l. Recognizes plot, setting, and character within texts, and compares and contrasts these
elements among texts.

21st Century Learner Standard

4.1 Skills
4.1.1 Read, view, and listen for pleasure and personal growth.
4.1.3 Respond to literature and creative expressions of ideas in various formats
and genres.

Essential Questions:
1. What does a fairy tale tell us?
2. What are the characters in a fairy tale like?
3. Can I predict what might happen in a fairy tale?
4. Can reading be as fun as watching television or playing games?

Desired Understandings:
1. Fairy tales are form of reading for entertainment.
2. Characters in fairytales can be human or animal, boy or girl, magical or mortal.
3. Readers can predict the plot of fairytales.

What key knowledge and skills will students acquire as a result of this unit?
Students will know…
• The parts of a fairytale
• Reading is fun!
Students will be able to…
• How to predict what might happen in the plot of a fairy tale.
• How to identify the beginning, middle, and ending of a fairy tale.
• How to retell a story through drawing.
• How to talk about the characters and lessons learned from fairy tales.

Stage 2—Determine Acceptable Evidence

Performance Tasks:
• Students will demonstrate their understanding of a particular fairy tale through
participating in a improvisation game.
• Students will draw a picture of a particular scene from a shared fairy tale and
discuss how the plot or characters are reflected in their drawing.
• Students will use create their own fractured fairy tale using this site found at
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/fairytales/
Stage 3: Planning

W Where are your students headed and Why?

What is required of them?

Where and Why?

Our study of fairy tales will begin with a discussion of what are and why they are so fun to
read. We will also discuss why humans the world over find fairy tales a good place to learn
valuable life lessons. We will discuss where, besides their literature class, students might
encounter fairy tales.
What is required of me?
This unit is designed to not only support curriculum standards but also encourage a love of
reading through the exploration of fairy tales. The unit is divided up into 4 teaching
sessions. On the first day, students will be introduced to the concept of fairy tales as a
genre. The second and third sessions expose students to some nontraditional fairy tales.
The forth session, is the culminating lesson. Here students will use an interactive website to
write original fairy tales.

How will the students be hooked and held in this unit?

H
Students will participate in an improvisation/charades game. Students will reach
inside of a bag and pull out a slip of paper. On this paper is the name of a
traditional fairy tale character such as Snow White or Repunzel. The student will
then act out a small portion of the fairytale involving their character. Their
classmates will try to guess what character and/or fairy tale is being performed.

What activities, instruction, and guidance will be provided to

E enable and equip students to explore and experience the
important ideas in this unit?
In order to explore and experience fairy tales, students will:
-Become familiar with new vocabulary specific to the fairy tale.
-Read and share fairy tales.
-Produce a drawing of a fairy tale and discuss the plot.

What activities, products and performances will be designed

R to provide students with the opportunity to reflect, rethink,
and revise?
Assessments:
1. Improve game
2. drawing
3. Fractured Fairy Tale site
Reflections:
1. Self-assessment
What self-assessments and self-evaluations will students
E participate in to allow for reflection and transfer of learning?

Students will complete a self-reflection activity that is designed to help them

determine their understanding of fairy tales.

T How will instruction and activities be tailored to provide for

the various learning needs, styles, knowledge and interests of
students?
Students will have the opportunity to express what they’ve learned about
fairy tales through written and artistic expression.

How will learning experiences be

O organized/sequenced to provide for greatest
acquisition/understanding
Pretest:
Fairy tale discussion/Improvisation game
Hook:
Improvisation game
Perspective, Empathy, Self-Knowledge:
-Students will take on the role of an audience as they
listen to and respond to a reading of several fairy
tales.
Conclusion – Students write their own fractured fairy
tale.
Organization
Session One • Introduce the concept of fairy tales.
• Read a traditional fairy tale: Repunzel
• Improvisation game
TOTAL 30 minutes

Session Two •Read the fractured fairy tale entitled The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Bob
Hartman.
• Discuss how this story parallels the parable of The Boy Who Cried
Wolf.
• Discuss the lesson learned from both stories.
• Discuss the concept of character. Have students identify characters
from the story.
• Role-play: Why Lying Never Works
Divide students into groups of three. Give them a scenario involving
one person telling a lie as the conflict. Have the students plan and act
out a scene that resolves the conflict.
TOTAL 40 minutes
Session Three • Read the traditional fairy tale Cinderella
• Read the fairy tale Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story
• Compare the lesson taught in each fairy tale
• Discuss the concepts of beginning, middle, and end
• Have students draw a picture of either the beginning, middle, or end of
the story. Have students discuss their picture as it relates to the plot of
the story.
TOTAL 30 minutes
Session Four • Read the fractured fairy tale The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by
Jon Scieszka and Lane Smith.
• Pair students into groups of two. One group works with one laptop
computer.
• Students go to site and create their own fractured fairy tale.
• Share the funny tales with the class.
TOTAL 30 minutes