Fairy Tales

Fairy tales used to be (and actually still are!!!) my favorite genre to read. Fairy tales often feature fairies or characters that have magical properties; goblins; elves; trolls; dwarves; giants; gnomes; and princesses, princes, kings and queens; fictional animals such as dragons, and animals that talk. Magic and enchantment is often incorporated into a fairy tale story. The story line in fairy tales are all virtually the same: there is a problem, which often revolves around a villain, and the problem needs to be solved, usually with the help of some magic.

I grew up watching the Disney channel, but it wasn't until I was older that I realized all fairy tale stories are much much older than Disney. As I got older I heard different versions of fairy tales I grew up enjoying. The best example to use is the story of Cinderella. Cultures all over the world tell the story of Cinderella, where the story line is the same, with similar characters. However, the setting, certain phrases, etc is catered to the particular culture. As a teacher, it is a goal of mine to broaden my students' exposure to fairy tales. Here are several examples of Cinderella around the world:

An Indonesian Cinderella Story

Mexican Cinderella

A Hmong Cinderella

Persian Cinderella

Caribbean Cinderella

A few other fine fairy tail twists, seen below, are Rapunzel, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Take a look at the differences between these two renditions:

And.......

Baby goats are called "Kids"!! Love it!

And......

The Inuit "Goldilocks", Aloo-ki.

Goldilocks

The traditional Papa Bear

Papa Bear dressed in original Inuit designed clothes. This bear family lives in an igloo!

Over the next few weeks, we will be reading lots of fairy tales (and different versions of most of them). There will be a variety of projects along the way to help children recognize and have fun with characteristics of fairy tales. The unit will culminate with each kindergartner writing their very own fairy tale. I am SO excited for this unit! The children always astound me with their creativity as they create their own fairy tales. Stay tuned....

After reading our first version of Cinderella, I asked the students to complete this worksheet during Writer's Workshop:

Identifying features of a fairy tale

We read a version of The Three Little Pigs this morning.

Then the children drew a picture and wrote about how they would make a sturdy house.