Rumpelstiltskin- TL

Rumpelstiltskin was recorded by The Brothers Grimm. My version is in The Random House Book of Fairy Tales adapted by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by Diane Goode. It was published by Random House in 1991. I like this fairy tale because it's just kind of weird. It's quirky and no other one is like it. This little man has a name no one knows, so he prides himself for that and uses it to his advantage. When the girl finally figures it out, he loses the deal for her child and tears himself in two.

For this activity, each child should write a story about someone from a fairy tale, but they cannot mention the name of the character in the story. They will read it to the class, and everyone else has to guess who it is.

A few short examples are below:
http://www.ks1resources.co.uk/lit58.pdf

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3.a
Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3.b
Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

Rapunzel- TL

Rapunzel is an old fairy tale that was recorded by The Brothers Grimm. The version I have was incorporated into The Random House Book of Fairy Tales adapted by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by Diane Goode. It was published by Random House in 1991.

A short summary of Rapunzel from http://www.myfreshplans.com/2010/07/rapunzel-lesson-plans/

"In the story, a pregnant woman is desperate for the taste of rapunzel, a root vegetable. Her husband steals some from a witch’s garden, and when he is caught, he has to give the baby to the witch. The witch names the baby Rapunzel and shuts her up in a tower. The witch goes to Rapunzel every day and says “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair, that I may climb the golden stair,” whereupon Rapunzel throws down her hair and the witch climbs up it. A prince hears Rapunzel singing, falls in love with her, and overhears the bizarre hair ritual. He does the same thing the witch does, climbs up to Rapunzel, and they make a plan to get Rapunzel out of the tower. Through Rapunzel’s foolishness (or, in some versions, because she becomes pregnant), the witch finds out. She cuts off Rapunzel’s hair, sends Rapunzel into the wilderness, and hangs the hair out the window. When the prince next climbs up, he finds the witch. Either he jumps from the tower in horror, or she cuts the hair he’s climbing on so that the prince falls. Either way, he lands in a thicket of thorns and is blinded. He wanders around, and is eventually found by Rapunzel, whose tears fall onto his eyes and cure him of blindness. They live happily ever after."

"There is just no way to tell this story simply. Have students draw this story as a comic strip, make a  timeline showing all the events, or retell it in separate episodes."

RL1.2. Retell stories including key details and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

Yoon and the Christmas Mitten- Picture book

Yoon and the Christmas Mitten was written by Helen Recorvits and illustrated by Gabi Swiatkowska. It was published by Frances Foster Books in 2006. As a contemporary realistic fiction/picture book, this book tells a story of a little Korean girl that comes to America and finds out about the American Santa Clause. She wants to celebrate Christmas too, but her parents adamantly refuse until the end when they bring her gifts as Santa.

I think this is a good source of literature because it brings to light the differences between American and Korean customs. A lot of children don't realize that some things we celebrate are not celebrated by other cultures.

Have the students write about their holiday traditions. Let them share their story to the class, so everyone can learn about the similarities and difference amongst other kids they know.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.3
Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach- TL

Martina the Beautiful Cockroach a Cuban folktale retold by Carmen Agra Deedy and illustrated by Michael Austin. It won a Pura Belpre Honor Award and is considered a picture book. This book was published by Peachtree Publishers in 2007. This is a good source of literature because it includes Spanish words and cultural values that may not be familiar to all children. The illustrations fit well with the tone of the book.

 

 

RL 3.3. Describe characters in a story (e.g. their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

 

 



Let the students use a chart like this to compare Martina with one or more of the other characters in the story. This will help students differentiate between how they compare and contrast with Martina. I would then let them write about how each character's personality impacted their final outcome in this story.

The Real Princess (The Princess and the Pea)- Fantasy

The Real Princess and the Pea

The Real Princess and the Pea was written by Hans Christian Anderson. This version was included in The Random House Book of Fairy Tales adapted by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by Diane Goode. It was published by Random House in 1991. Out of all the fairy tales I've grown up with, this is my least favorite. I never understood why a pea was what determined who a princess was.

If I were to do an activity for this story, I would do story sequencing with small groups. Specific concepts would be put on sentence strips and the students would have to tell the story using each strip.

RL 1.2. Retell stories including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

 

The Emperor's New Clothes- Fantasy

The Emperor's New Clothes was written by Hans Christian Anderson. This version was published by Random House in 1991. I think this is a good piece of children's literature because there is nothing else like this story. It's humorous and realistic to an extent. People will let others walk around embarrassed before they say something. I always liked this story as a kid and still do.

For this story, I would ask the discussion questions below:

RL 2.1. Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.
RL 2.2. Retell stories, including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

Thumbelina- Fantasy

 

 

Thumbelina was written by Hans Christian Anderson. This version is part of The Random House Book of Fairy Tales adapted by Amy Ehrlich and illustrated by Diane Goode. This was published by Random House in 1991. Because Hans Christian Anderson wrote these stories, they are not considered traditional literature. They are modern fantasy. I think this is good literature because it's unique and deviates from the normal princess stories.

For this story, I would sequence the main events by using sentence strips. On each sentence strip, put a main event from the story. You could divide the class into small groups or do it as a whole. They will have to put each strip in order from the beginning of the story until the end.

RL 1.2. Retell stories including key details, and demonstrate understanding of their central message or lesson.

The Horned Toad Prince -TL

 

 

The Horned Toad Prince was written by Jackie Mims Hopkins and illustrated by Michael Austin. Published by Peachtree Publishers in 2000, this story is a retelling of the original "The Frog Prince." This is a good source of traditional literature because it still takes the basic concept of the original and make it more modern. It also incorporates a country feel to the story and its characters.

 

 

After reading this story aloud, use the information below for discussion, vocabulary, and essay ideas.

 

Common Core ELA Standards: RL.4.1, RL.4.2, RL.4.3, RL.4.4, RL 4.10; RF.4.3, RF.4.4; W.4.2, W.4.4, SL.4.1, SL.4.2, L.4.1, L.4.2, L.4.4, L.4.5



Text Dependent Questions

Text Dependent Questions	Answers
Page 94 How did Reba Jo entertain herself on the lonesome prairie?	She loved to twang her guitar, sing in the wind, and amuse herself by racing her horse, Flash.  Her favorite thing to do was to lasso cacti, water buckets, fence posts and critters. Reba Jo entertained herself by finding things that she found fun such as lassoing creatures that unfortunately crossed her path.
Page 94 Describe the setting and use details from the text in order to do so.	Teacher should ensure that students know that “arroyo” is a creek in addition to describing the setting.
Page 95 Why did Reba Jo know she should turn back but didn’t?	Her daddy had warned her that straying away from the arroyos could be dangerous due to flash floods.  She didn’t turn back however because she spied a vulture daring her to toss her lasso around his neck. She knew that water may wash her away because her father had warned her but she didn’t turn back because she wanted to rope the vulture.
Page 96 Commence means to begin or start.  In many schools, recess commences after lunch.  Why did Reba Jo commence to crying?	She commenced to crying because her new cowgirl hat blew off and fell to the bottom of the old well.
Page 97 Due to her crying, we know Reba Jo feels sad in some way about loosing her hat.  Based on the illustration on pg 97, how else does Reba feel about losing her hat?	We can tell that Reba is mad about losing her hat because it looks like she is kicking the dirt, and her face is all scrunched up making her look angry.
Page 97 What did Reba Jo mean when she said she thought the wind was “fooling” her ears?   How do you know that the wind blowing through the arroyo was not fooling Reba Jo’s ears?	She thought that she was hearing things.     It was not fooling her ears because there really was a voice asking her a question.  The voice was a horned toad.
Page 98 What deal did Reba Jo and the horned toad make?	Reba Jo would feed the horned toad chili, play the guitar for him and let him take a nap in her sombrero if he agreed not to tell her daddy that she lost her cowgirl hat in the well and get it out for her.
Page 99 Ask students to identify how Reba Jo reacted after the toad retrieved her hat. For example, the words muchas gracias means thank you. The author writes that ‘without so much as a thank you, Reba Jo snatched her hat from the horned toad and galloped home.’ The word snatched means to grab quickly and when a horse gallops it moves along quickly. Based on these definitions, how did Reba Jo react after the toad got her hat out of the well?	Reba Jo is ungrateful and rushes off without saying thank you or holding up her end of the bargain.
Page 100 What brought the horned toad to Reba Jo’s door?	He went to her door because she didn’t keep her end of the bargain. He went to her door because she didn’t even say thank you to him for retrieving her hat but ran away not keeping her end of the deal. He went to her door because she didn’t feed him chili, sing him a song on her guitar or let him take a nap in her sombrero.
Page 101 Reba Jo’s daddy said, “if you strike a bargain in these parts, a deal’s a deal”.  What impact do these words have on her?	After her daddy said this she shared her chili with the horned toad. She sang him a song with her guitar and let him sleep in her hat. Even though she didn’t want to, she kept her promise.  She kept her end of the bargain.
Page 102 Based on the text and illustration found on page 102, describe Reba Jo’s behavior as she plays her guitar for the toad.	Responses should include the words “stomped”, “grabbed”, and “belted”.  Responses should reference the meaning of these words and how they relate to Reba Jo’s behavior.
Page 105 One of the meanings of spell is something of magic that keeps a person or thing in a state of enchantment.  In Cinderella the Fairy Godmother casts a spell on a pumpkin and some mice turning them into a carriage and drivers to take Cinderella to the Ball, the big dance.  Many tales include magic such as spells.  What spell do we learn about here?	We learn that the horned toad had offended the great spirit of the riverbed and as a result the spirit cast a spell on him and made him a horned toad.  The only way to break the spell was to have a cowgirl kiss him.  The horned toad convinced Reba Jo to kiss him and when the spell was broken, he kept his end of the bargain and went away forever even though Reba Jo now thought he maybe should stay!
Page 105 What evidence supports the claim that the toad a plan all along?	The author says he looks at Reba Jo “slyly” before striking a deal with her, and he goes on to call him “clever” when he is reminding her that a deal is a deal right before he asks for the kiss.

	KEY WORDS ESSENTIAL TO UNDERSTANDING	WORDS WORTH KNOWING General teaching suggestions are provided in the Introduction
TEACHER PROVIDES DEFINITION not enough contextual clues provided in the text	Page 118 - lassoe, Prairie Page 119 - arroyo, blustery Page 122 - slyly Page 129 - offend	Page 118 - whistled (as in the wind whistled), pastime, critter Page 120 - whirl, scramble Page 127 - shriek Page 128 - amazement



·         Write one well-developed paragraph about how Reba Jo both breaks and eventually keeps up her end of the deal. Be sure to include why she broke and kept up her end of the deal. Be sure to use evidence from the text to support your ideas. Then, write a second paragraph that, again, uses examples from the text to show what the Horned Toad’s motives were for making a deal with Reba Jo. You must use at least 3 details or examples from the story in each of your paragraphs.

(All information above taken from www.pps.k12.or.us)

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge- Picture book

 

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partidge was written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas. It's first American publication was by Kane/Miller Book Publishers in 1985. It's a picture book with very unique and beautiful illustrations. The illustrations were created with watercolor paint and placed on much negative space giving each page a focus on each character in the story.

I personally love this story. It's about a young boy that lives beside a home for the elderly; he makes friends with the people who live there and when he finds out his favorite person has lost her memory, he tries his hardest to bring it back. And by the end of the story, he actually does.

 

I think this is a good source of children's literature because the story is very different from the typical. It also shows kindness, caring, and a willingness to help people that can't help themselves.

 

In the story, Wilfrid Gordon collects things like a shell, a medal, and a puppet to help his friend, Miss Nancy, get her memory back. As a follow-up activity, assign the students to write about something they own that reminds them of a special memory from their life.

 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.3

Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

The Relatives Came- Picture book

The Relatives Came was written by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Stephen Gammell. It was published by Aladdin Paperbacks in 1985 as a picture book and has received a Caldecott Honor Award for it's illustrations. A basic summary of this story is how relatives come to visit from Virginia and the narrator talks about all the things they do together while they stay. This is a good source of literature because it is of good quality. It's plot is humorous and likeable, and it's not too predictable. If you're from a big southern family like mine, it's also very relatable.

 

Throughout the story, I would ask these discussion questions:

 

Beginning Who came to visit? Where do they live? What did they bring with them? What time of day did they leave at? Did they travel far? What time of year was it?

Middle What happened when the relatives arrived? What did they do during their stay? Where they happy? How could you tell? Did they stay long?

End Where did the relatives go? Did it take them a long time to get home? What did they see on their way home? What did they do when they got home?

 

A good follow-up activity to do with the class is to have them write about an experience or experiences they have had with relatives like the story. I would give them an example first of a short story about a time with my relatives.

 

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.3

Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom was written by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault and illustrated by Lois Ehlert. It was published by Simon and Schuster in 1989. It features an anthropomorphized alphabet as an early childhood book. I think this is a good source for teaching the alphabet because the story is cute and it goes through the entire alphabet twice, once in order and another time mixed up. Ehlert showed the letters in their lowercase and capitalized forms.

 

 

This book is geared towards kindergarten children and younger. After reading the book with them, I would go through each letter separately (uppercase & lowercase). The link below is for printable flashcards.

 

RF. K.1.d. Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

 

http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/ChickaChickaBlackandWhiteCards.htm

 

Another fun activity to do with your students or child is to make chicka boom boom trees and incorporate the letters of each child's name on the tree. It helps them become familiar with how their name looks and which letters are theirs.

 

 

 

 



Miss Spider's ABC

Miss Spider's ABC was written by David Kirk. The illustrations were also painted by David Kirk. It was published by Scholastic Press in 1998. The basic concepts presented in this early childhood book are the alphabet and insects. It is a good source for teaching the alphabet because it includes at least two words beginning with each letter and there is an example of both capital and lowercase letters for each.

The children should make their own alphabet book. On each page, the student will draw a big letter. Around the letter in the blank space, the child can draw pictures of things that start with that letter just like Miss Spider's ABC book. It gives the students the opportunity to be creative and become familiar with their letters and words that begin the same.


RF K.3. d. Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

Mouse Paint

Mouse Paint was written and illustrated by Ellen Stoll Walsh. It was published by Harcourt Brace & Company in 1989. The illustrations in this book are cut-paper collage. "A basic summary of this early childhood story is how three white mice discover red, blue, and yellow paint, and explore the world of color."

I would first make flashcards with each color to test the child, then I'd do a demonstration of mixing colors to bring the story alive.

RI K.1. With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

Activity:  Color & Art Appreciation - Color Mixing Activity  Ages 2.5+It is a wonderful experience for children to see and experience how colors mix and form other colors.

Purpose:  Demonstrate to children how the primary colors:  red, blue and yellow mix and form the secondary colors:  green, orange, and purple.

Use the link below as another visual.

http://www.first-school.ws/t/colorarc.htm

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? was written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Eric Carle. It was published by Henry Holt and Company in 1967 as an early childhood book.

The concepts represented in this book are colors and animals. Bill Martin Jr. also used a repetition of words as seen in the title.

There are many activity opportunities, but my favorite activity is making a Brown Bear character graph.

RL K.3. With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

"Use Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? to explore characters and reinforce graphing skills."

• Invite children to name the characters in Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Use the names to set up a bar graph.
• Cut construction paper into squares. Choose colors that match those in the book (brown, red, yellow, blue, green, purple, white, black, and gold).
• Invite students to choose a construction paper square in the color that represents their favorite character. Have them write their name on the paper and place it on the graph in the appropriate section.
• When the graph is complete, stretch students’ mathematical thinking by asking questions, such as “How many more people liked Red Bird than Purple Cat? Which character did our class like the most?”

For more from this lesson plan website, click below.

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/brown-bear-brown-bear-what-do-you-see-teaching-plan