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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Retell the "Tail" of the Tale

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Students explore story structure. In this multicultural literacy lesson, students discuss common elements of folk tales and then listen to the story Tiger and the Big Wind: A Tale from Africa. Students identify the problem and solution...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cherokeee Myth: Origin of Strawberries

For Teachers 4th
Fourth graders read a Cherokee myth about the origin of strawberries. After reading the story, they add another chapter to it and read their additions to the class. Or, as a group activity, they each write a few sentences and then pass...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Folklore in Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students read Zora Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God and explore her life history as well as novel analysis activities. In this novel analysis lesson plan, students identify elements in the novel and its overall literary impact....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Transforming Anansi Folktales Into Storyboards

For Teachers 2nd - 5th
Students work in small groups to illustrate a story board of a folktale. They develop the meaning of a trickster as a humor device in folktales by listening to several about Leprechauns and the Coyote of Native American tales. They then...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

African Folktales Lesson

For Teachers 2nd - 3rd
Students explore what a folktale consists of as it relates to oral tradition. In this folktale lesson plan, students are told the African folktale, Why the Sun is Lives in the Sky and make personal inferences about what the folktale is...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Connecting Families through Folk Stories and Fairy Tales

For Teachers K - 5th
Students engage their families to write down a folk story from their primary language. In this family literacy lesson, students rewrite the story or fairy tales in English. Parents and students are invited to present the stories in both...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

I'm Thinking Of A Story

For Teachers K
In this literature lesson, students listen to folk tales and then discuss the main ideas and plot of the story. Additionally, students guess what story is being talked about when their teacher describes the main idea and plot. Good...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Cinderella Folk Tales: Variations in Plot and Setting

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students examine plot and setting of Cinderella, and how it changes as it is translated into different cultures, discuss universal literary elements of the Cinderella story, and write narratives with original settings and plots...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Splendid China: Chinese Folktales

For Teachers 3rd - 7th
Students investigate Chinese culture by reading their folk tales.  In this creative writing lesson, students practice identifying the different elements in a folk tale and examine the related vocabulary.  Students organize thoughts for a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Johnny Appleseed, An American Folk Hero

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Students explore American folktales. They review the elements of folktales. Students read the folktale of Johnny Appleseed together. They discuss the vocabulary words from the story. Students discuss the differences between the real...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Playing with Language: Tall Tales and Codes

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students interpret and identify the elements of folktales, with an emphasis on tall tales, in this lesson. Students utilize brainstorming techniques to list ways people communicate. Students also read and create a time line and present...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring American Tall Tales

For Teachers 6th - 10th
Young scholars explore elements of American folktales and tall tales. In this literature instructional activity, students read examples of American folktales and tall tales and prepare a monologue or news report to present to the class...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Johnny Appleseed & Miss Rumphius

For Teachers 3rd - 6th
Learners read American folktales. They explore and discuss the characteristics of a folktale. Students construct a Venn Diagram to compare/contrast Lupine Lady and Johnny Appleseed. Class diagrams will be displayed.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Horse and Toad

For Teachers 1st
First graders identify key elements of folktales and the countries in which they are told. They compare and contrast folktales they have previously heard with the Haitian folktale Horse and Toad. Reading materials and maps are included.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Common Theme in Folktale: 900 Versions of Cinderella

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders examine various stories that have a Cinderella theme.  In this Language Arts lesson, 7th graders compare and contrast stories.  Students write various journal assignments in regards to the stories. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Folktale Improvisation

For Teachers 6th
Sixth graders present reader's theatre by improvising folktales from different countries. In groups, they produce an improvisation of a folktale story from an assigned reading of a folktale.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Fairy Tales as a Genre of Literature

For Teachers 7th - 8th
Students examine the literary elements of fairy tales. After reading the fairy tale "Rapunzel" and discussing the elements of fairy tales that occur as they read, they use a story web to help plan and create an original fairy tale. ...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Coyote and Anansi

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars explore the structure of folktales. For this coyote and Anansi lesson, students discuss the attributes of folktales as they read versions of tales featuring coyote and Anansi. Young scholars collaborate to write and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Shadow Puppetry in South India

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students read a variety of literature from India, including folktales and fables. They then select a scene or story to script, work together to design and craft shadow puppets of characters and scenery, narrate a story, manipulate the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Write Your Own Folk or Fairy Tale

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Students analyze folk and fairy tales. In this language arts lesson, students discuss the elements of a tale determining what the differences are between folk and fairy tales. Students then write their own tales using the graphic...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Haitian Folktales

For Teachers 7th
Seventh graders identify parts of Haitian culture through folktales. They compare and contrast a Haitian folktale with an African American folktale. They read "Bye-Bye" a Haitian folktale. They create and write their own folktale. They...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Elements of African Oral Literature

For Teachers 9th
Ninth graders examine the importance of family history.  In this Language Arts lesson, 9th graders read and discuss African oral literature with a focus on the roles of griots.  Students compare /contrast the elements of African oral...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Integrating Japanese Folk Tales into the Classroom Using Japanese Kamishibai

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Young scholars study Japanese folk tales focusing on the traditional values and key elements. They compare the Japanese values with their own. They discuss Japanese art before designing a set of kamishibai on which they write a summary...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Children's Book Creations

For Teachers 10th - 12th
Students create a children's book version of the Japanese folk story "Momotaro Boy of the Peach" and present the story to elementary students. In this children's book lesson, students design their book to explain Japanese culture to...