Lesson Plan for the Elements of Folktales

The following is a lesson plan on the elements of folktales. It comes from the following website:
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2212/

Lesson Overview:

Students will explore the common elements of folktales and tall tales, while learning how these tales built the spirit of American people. Students will identify the tall tale elements. Students will read traditional folktales and view filmed versions of those stories. They will discuss the differences between the literary and media versions by comparing, contrasting, and analyzing the elements of each.

Length of Lesson:

Five 45-minute periods

Instructional Objectives:

Students will:

• activate prior knowledge and relate it to the reading selection.
• construct, extend, and examine meaning using strategic behaviors while reading for literary experience.
• demonstrate grade-level proficiency to use strategic reading behaviors before, during, and after reading.
• identify meanings of terms unique to literary language.
• identify the structure of literary or narrative text.
• read for literary experience.
• respond to literature through writing and discussion.
• use strategic reading behaviors to construct, extend, and examine meaning for a variety of texts.

Supplies:

• Collections of familiar folktales that include some of the following:
  • Beauty and the Beast
  • Cinderella
  • Hansel and Gretel
  • Rapunzel
  • The Three Billy Goats Gruff
• Copies of The Deer Thief (See Sources section for bibliographic information.)
• Copies of The Fox and the Crow (optional)
• Paper
• Pens or Pencils
• Videos or films of some the folktales above. (See Sources section for suggestions and bibliographic information.)

Instructional Plan:

For a warm up, have students work in small groups, scanning the collections of familiar folktales to find some of their favorites. Have each student choose a favorite tale and share with the group why he/she selected it. Each student should then write a very brief summary of the tale, explaining the characters, setting, problem, and events of his/her favorite tale. Reporters from each group should share with the whole class the group's lists and summaries. Have the students listen for elements (motifs) that appear regularly in many of the tales.

Explain to the class that folktales from all around the world frequently use familiar motifs and elements, such as these:

• the youngest and smallest of siblings is successful after others in the family fail
• wishes are granted
• magic objects (rings, beans, or tablecloths) are standard props
• animals talk
• monsters often appear
• use of trickery
• the number three is significant (however, in Native American folktales, four is the magic number)
• use of a variety of tools
• a poor person becomes rich

Talk about The Three Billy Goats Gruff as an example of a tale that uses some of these recurring motifs. Animals talk. There is a monster (the troll). The goats use trickery, and the number three is significant. Have the students review their favorite folktale and identify motifs.

Share with the students the fact that folktales are usually about ordinary people and everyday life. Other general characteristics that identify a story as a folktale include these elements:

• The stories begin quickly.
• Characters are uncomplicated (flat, not round; or one-sided, not multi-sided).
• Plots move swiftly along well-trod paths.
• All questions are answered before the story ends, but there is plenty of room for flexibility within the plot, from beginning to happy ending.

These characteristics comprise the folktale formula. Have students revisit the collection of familiar folktales to see if their lists of favorite folktales fit the folktale formula. Have the students share their findings in small groups, and then lead the whole class in developing a chart of how the various stories fit the formula.

While folktales share motifs and a common formula, they can be grouped according to certain types of tales. Listed below are groups of stories distinguished by an overarching motif.

• tales of talking animals
• tales that tell why (Pourquoi tales)
• tales of magic (fairy tales)
• cumulative tales
• tales of exaggeration (silly folk and legendary figures)

Have students return to their small groups and identify as many tales as possible under each type listed above.

Distribute copies of The Deer Thief. In this tale, a hunter turns into a detective when his deer is stolen. Read the tale to see what the clues tell the hunter-detective about the thief who stole his deer.

This story fits the definition of folktale because it is about ordinary people and everyday life. Does the story meet other criteria of the folktale formula? Are most of characters one-sided or flat? What quality does the hunter stand for? What about the Justice of Peace and the thief? Do these characters stand for qualities, or do they serve mainly to move the tale along?

Have students write a paragraph to explain how this tale fits the folktale formula.

Analyze the medium of film as a way to tell a folktale. Show some videos of familiar folktales. Ask students to discuss how the medium of film or video affected the way they experienced the story. Did it take away the imagination or creativity in their minds, or did it enhance their vision of the story? Were the stories altered in the film version (in comparison to the print version)? If so, why were these alterations made?

Assessment:

Students will be evaluated through their participation in and completion of the activities. Teachers should develop an observation checklist for assessment purposes. Paragraphs will be evaluated on students' understanding of the folktale formula.

Extensions:

Suggest that students read The Fox and the Crow. Ask students to define the quality that the hunter in The Deer Thief and the fox in The Fox and the Crow share in common (cleverness). Then direct them to write a paragraph explaining who they think is more clever. Students should follow these instructions:

Prewriting: For your prewriting notes, explain what you think cleverness involves. Does it have more to do with getting others to do what you want or with solving difficult problems? (The fox is clever because he knows that flattering the crow will make her drop the cheese. The hunter is clever because he knows how to look for clues and put them together to find the thief.)

Drafting: In drafting your paragraph, be sure to give reasons for your opinion. As you write, you may find that your reasons support another idea of cleverness. You may begin your paragraph by stating who you think is more clever—the fox or the hunter. Remember to refer to your prewriting notes as you write.

Revising: After completing your draft, share it with another student. Ask your partner for comments about the development of your ideas. Use these comments from your peer editor as guidelines for revising your draft.

Proofreading: Check for correct spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and word usage.

Have students read the following directions and retell The Deer Thief from a different perspective.

Point of View: Some stories are written as if a character in the story is telling the events. The reader experiences the story from the point of view of that character. Rewrite The Deer Thief from the point of view of either the hunter or the Justice of the Peace. Imagine that one of them is telling someone else what happened. Complete each of the steps in the writing process: prewriting, drafting, revising and proofreading.

THE MITTEN

The story begins when he wants a new pair of white mittens. He grandmother tells him he will lose one in the snow, but she makes them for him anyway. The little boy goes out and climbs a tree and looses one of his mittens; just like his grandmother had warned him. A mole came and crawled in the mitten and then a rabbit. Then a hedgehog, an owl, a badger, a fox, a bear, and a mouse climbed into the mitten. The animals all made room for the other animals because each was bigger and more dangerous. Then the bear sneezed and the mitten flew up in the air and all the animals fell out. The little boy spotted his mitten in the air and went and grabbed it. His grandmother checked to make sure he still had both pairs of his mittens. Little did she know he actually lost it and found it again.

As the story continues you can see which animal is going to come into the mitten next. It shows that little boys will lose things they should not and will get lucky and find them before they get in trouble.

THE VELVETEEN RABBIT

This is a story of a toy rabbit made of velveteen. He envied the mechanical toys very much because the little boy always played with them. He wished to be "real" and learned what made a toy real from the skin horse. One day the rabbit was placed in bed with the boy and the boy began to play with him. The boy took him everywhere he went and one day he even called the rabbit "real". This made the rabbit feel very special until one day when he meet two wild rabbits and they told him he was not "real". Then the little boy became very sick with scarlet fever and the rabbit stayed by the boys' side until he was taken away to be burned. This made the little rabbit so sad he cried. From his tear grew a flower with a fairy in it. The fairy transformed the velveteen rabbit into a real rabbit that lived amongst other toys that had once been real to other little boys and girls. One day the little boy saw the rabbit in the woods and thought to himself that it looked like the rabbit he had lost when he had scarlet fever.

This story teaches children not to envy what others have. What you have will someday be enough to make someone really happy. You will have many rewards if you wait patiently for them. It also presents eternal life, the toy rabbit is transformed into a real rabbit to live forever.

CORDUROY

CORDUROY is a story of a bear named Corduroy that lived in toy section of a department store. One day a little girl, named Lisa, saw him and wanted to buy him, but her mother said no. She said she had spent enough money already and the bear looked old and was missing a button. That night Corduroy searched the store for his button. He climbed on a mattress and found several, but when he pulled on them he could not get them off. When he finally popped the button off the mattress he flew to the ground and knocked over a lamp. The security guard heard this and took Corduroy back to the toy department. The very next morning Lisa came back to the store and bought Corduroy with all the money she had been saving. She took Corduroy home and sewed on a new button for him. Both Corduroy and Lisa got what they wanted, a friend.

This story shows that good things do not always have to be new and shinny. Sometimes the best things are old and need fixing. I myself have had many old toys that were my favorites.

Study Guide for WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE BY Maurice Sendak

• frames/borders around pictures get smaller as Max moves out of the real world; pictures get larger
• 1st two pictures make reader have empathy for Max
• mom and home represent civilization
• Max rebels against mother's authority and civilization
• Max mimics his mother when he tells the wild things they must go to bed without supper
• Max is simultaneously a boy and a wolf
• sheds wild thing in the last picture when his hood is off of his head
• Max is taming the wild things inside of himself
• Maternal authority of civilization
• masculine vs. feminine
  
• women and church civilized the West
• pictures tell a lot more than the text
• images of wild things; won't give nightmares
• show what a rumpus is
• moon becomes full
• ware wolf image
• published in 1963
• 1st picture book to make conflict between parent and child the central activity
• recognizes conflict exists and resolves it in the end
• pictures get smaller as Max returns to civilization
  

THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD

THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD is a story of an engine that pulled a train that carried toys and good things to eat for the children that lived on the other side of the mountain. Then, all of the sudden, the happy engine broke down and could go no further. The toys began to panic they didn't know how they were going to get to the other side of the mountain. Then a shiny new engine passed by and the toys asked him if he would help them to the other side of the mountain. He said no, he was a passenger engine and he just carried a big train over the mountain. This made the toys very sad. Another engine came by, this one was a big engine, so the toys asked him to help them. He told them no, he was a freight engine and he just pulled a big train full of machines over the mountain. Once again all the toys were sad. Then another engine came by, it looked old and tired, but the toys asked for help anyway. The kind engine told them he must rest he was very tired, and that he was unable to pull the little train over the mountain. This made the toys very, very sad and they were ready to cry. Then a little blue engine came by and the toys asked her to help them. The little blue engine told them she had never been over the mountain before, but she decided she would try. She told herself "I think I can. I think I can." Slowly the little engine pulled the train over the mountain. Then she began saying "I thought I could. I thought I could." The toys all cheered for her and were very happy to make it across the mountain.

This story shows young children and even adults that they can do anything they put their minds to; if they try their very hardest. This book has always been very encouraging to me when I thought there was something I could not do. It proves that if you are kind and try to help people good things will come to you in the end and you will discover many things about yourself that you would have never known if you didn't try.

Background Information on Maurice Sendak

The following information about Maurice Sendak came from the website below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Sendak

Maurice Bernard Sendak (born June 10, 1928) is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature who is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963. An elementary school (from kindergarten to grade five) in North Hollywood, California is named in his honor.

Sendak was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents, and decided to become an illustrator after viewing Walt Disney's film Fantasia at the age of twelve. His illustrations were first published in 1947 in a textbook titled Atomics for the Millions. He spent much of the 1950s working as an artist for children's books, before beginning to write his own stories.

Sendak gained international acclaim after writing and illustrating Where the Wild Things Are, though the book's depictions of fanged monsters concerned parents when it was first released, as his characters were somewhat grotesque in appearance. Sendak's seeming attraction to the forbidden or nightmarish aspects of children's fantasy have made him a subject of controversy.

Sendak’s book In the Night Kitchen, first published in 1970, has often been subjected to censorship for its drawings of a young boy prancing naked through the story. The book has been challenged, and in some instances banned, in several American states including Illinois, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Texas.