Fairy Tale Checklist
Understanding the Structure of a Fairy Tale (Virtual Tour)
Stage of Literacy Development:
Stage 2: Consolidation / FluencyStage 3: Literacy for Growth
Ages:
7-10
Grade Range:
1st 2nd 3rd 4thFood Groups:
Primary: Text Structures & Genres
Transcript
So this is my Fairy Tale Checklist. I find that students often don't quite understand what a fairy tale is, and we often need to think about elements of a fairy tale when were reading fairy tales, when they're listening to fairy tales read aloud to them and when they're writing fairy tale stories. So I worked with the children after having read a number of fairy tales, to list the number of the elements that we found that were in common with these, in this type of story. Of course, fairy tales begin with Once upon a time, and They lived happily ever after. But we also generated a number of other elements that sometimes are in the stories and sometimes are not in the stories. First, we came up with royalty, that there are queens, and kings, and princes, and princesses, that animals will act like humans often, that they will talk, that they will wear clothing, elements such as giants, ogres, trolls, and witches, are present in many fairy tales, magic objects like magic beans for example are often present. Magic helpers, fairy godmothers, or a genie perhaps, and then often we notice that things come in sets of three. Whether they're three bears, three pigs, or three wishes, they often see factors of three.
Related References
Activity Objective
The goal of Fairy Tale Checklist: Understanding the Structure of a Fairy Tale (Virtual Tour) is to help students develop an understanding of how fairy tales are structured and provide students with exposure to a new and interesting genre.
Quick Tips
Additional Comments:
- Read aloud a variety of fairy tales to help students develop a greater understanding of the elements of a fairy tale. - Working with the students when brainstorming items for the Fairy Tale Checklist will help them take ownership for their learning. - Display this chart in the classroom and refer to is during related tasks. - Add new items to the list during the unit of study.
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