Fairy Tales

Once upon a time there was a first grade that loved fairy tales....

Presently, we are examining a genre of literature that most children adore: fairy tales. We have listed the elements of fairy tales (once upon a time, magic, love, princes, princesses, talking animals, happily ever after, etc.) and have read two so far: The Frog Prince (by Edith Tarcov) and Jack and the Beanstalk (retold by Stella Williams Nathan). Soon we will be reading other versions of the stories and compare and contrast them using a Venn diagram (you can print this one out to compare two stories). We will also explore author's message: What was the author trying to teach us or tell us about by writing this story. This is sometimes difficult for students to grasp. Often, they want to describe an actual event from the story rather than a "general message" or "moral". For instance, in The Frog Prince, a student may say that the author wanted to tell us not to drop a ball in the well or that the king wanted her to keep her promise. Sometimes when asked why the author wrote the story, a child will say that the author just wanted to tell a story or s/he wanted to teach us about frogs (in the case of The Frog Prince). When asking your child a question about the author's message, delve deeper. Discuss (as in The Frog Prince) that the author was teaching that it was not good to lie or that promises should be kept by asking questions about what the characters learned (i.e. What do you think the princess learned in this story?). Then relate that to the author writing the story to teach others about lying and keeping promises. This is a higher order thinking skill and will take some practice. This skill is something we are going to begin next week. If you would like to begin working on 'author's message', read this online version of The Frog Prince. Ask how it is like the version we read in school and how it is different. Then gradually move to the questions about what the characters learned and ultimately to the questions about why the author wrote the story (linking the character's learning to the author's message). This online version also comes with print outs so you can create your own book or have your child retell the story (there are character print outs as well). For a prize in class, have your child post a comment about the author's message in The Frog Prince or examine another fairy tale of your choice (there are several online versions as well as books that you have in your personal collection). Have fun learning with your child!