The fourth unit to be reviewed, "Famous Fairy Tales," was
developed by a student teacher, Carol Sanchez (pseudonym), for a
second-grade class in a small, rural, central coast school district in
California. Ms. Sanchez's class had 28 students, was 93 percent
White American; most of the students came from families who were middle-
and lower-middle class (N = 25 out of 28 students), and there were few
special learners. One child was designated limited English
proficient (LEP), and another student was non-English proficient (NEP);
both were Mexican Americans. Three students in the class
participated in the school's free or partially subsidized lunch program.
The LEP and NEP learners were pulled out of class five days a week (30
minutes per session) to participate in a second-grade ESL (English as a
Second Language) class, in which they were taught English by a
Spanish/English teacher. The classroom teachers in the second
grade had little input into the content of the ESL class, and there was
little effort to create continuity between the curricula in the school's
three second-grade classrooms and the curriculum of the ESL classroom.
Although there was little dialogue and continuity, relationships among
all teachers in the setting were quite good, and the potential for more
curriculum dialogue and exchange was favorable.
Listed below are several key components of Ms. Sanchez's unit from which
you can form your own preliminary opinions about the content:
1.
Introductory statement
2.
Categorization of activities by content area
3.
Main ideas
4.
General objectives
5.
Key questions
6.
Introductory, closing, and selected developmental activities
7.
Statement of multicultural perspective
8.
Evaluation procedures
9.
Unit evaluation
10.
Bibliography
Introductory
Statement
This is a literature-based unit featuring well-known fairy tales and
folktales. Such stories as "Jack and the Beanstalk,"
"Strega Nona," "The Frog Prince," "Little Red
Riding Hood," "The Three Little Pigs," "Goldilocks,
and the Three Bears," "Cinderella," and "The
Gingerbread Man" will be read, compared, acted out, and written
about. This unit is to be incorporated into a four-week period for
a second-grade class. The students will be engaged in exciting and
interesting activities that will make these well-loved stories even more
important to them.
Categorization
of Activities by Content Area
Language
Arts
Beginning,
Middle, End
Sequencing
Events
Changing
Endings
Oral
Language
Charades
Drama
Similarities/Differences
Point
of View
Characters
Setting
Create
Own Fairy Tale
Magic
Bean Writing
Science
Senses
Growth
of Plants
Wolf
Information
Bear
Information
Life
Cycle of Frogs
Cooking
Gingerbread
Men/Women
Porridge
Making
Cookie
Making
Math
Counting
Graphing
Estimating
Map
Reading
Sequencing
Measuring
Pumpkin
Activities (Estimating/Graphing)
Time
Lines (Cinderella's Day)
Jellybean
Activities
Pasta
Activities (Classification)
Social
Studies
Italy-Map
Reading
Reading
Maps
Native
Americans
Appalachian
Mountains (Location)
Folktale
Homes
Creating
Fairy-Tale Maps
Art
Fairy-Tale
Quilt
Gingerbread
Men/Women
Making
Pigs (Basket Making)
Main
Ideas
1.
Fairy tales and folktales differ from culture to culture.
2.
There are similarities and differences between popular childhood fairy
tales folktales.
3.
Fairy tales and folktales may be communicated in many different forms.
General
Objectives
1.
Students will gain awareness of fairy tales and folktales from other
parts of the world.
2.
Students will become aware of the similarities and differences between
some fairy tales and folktales.
3.
Students will gain knowledge in sequencing events of a story by using
pictures and words.
4.
Students will be able to compare and contrast two similar fairy tales or
folktales.
5.
Students will gain knowledge in estimating and graphing their results.
6.
Students will understand the different components of a fairy tale and a
folktale: plot, characters, and setting.
7.
Students will be able to explore their sense of taste, smell, and touch.
8.
Students will be able to determine the difference between fantasy and
reality.
Key
Questions
1.
What differences lie between familiar fairy tales and those of different
cultures?
2.
What is point of view?
3.
What does the term main characters mean?
4.
What is setting?
5.
What is the difference between fantasy and reality?
6.
How does our sense of smell affect our sense of taste?
7.
Where is Italy located?
8.
How do we sequence a story?
9.
Are there differences between the same fairy tale or folktale told by
different authors?
10.
Are wolves that we read about in fairy tales and folktales the same
wolves that are in the forest?
Introductory,
Closing, and Selected Developmental Activities
Introductory
Activity This unit focuses on many different stories,
and the introductory activity I have selected has something to do with
all of them. The students will be involved in a lesson that asks
them to differentiate between statements of reality and fantasy.
This activity, in turn, will lead into a discussion about fairy and
folktales and whether they are reality or fantasy. I will then
read one of my favorite fairy tales from my childhood, "The
Princess and the Pea," and will ask the students to guess why this
tale was one of my favorites.
Closing
Activity The students will present to their parents the
work they have completed in this four-week unit. They will also
present several of the stories we read in a play version for their
parents to enjoy. Refreshments will be served to the parents and
students.
Selected
Developmental Activities
1.
Opening lesson. Students differentiate between fantasy and
reality. I will read "The Princess and the Pea." (The
students will learn about the difference between fantasy and reality.)
2.
Introduce vocabulary for "Jack and the Beanstalk." Show
students vocabulary cards, which have words and pictures. I will
read the story and students will use the vocabulary words in sentences.
(The students will be able to use the new vocabulary words in sentences
of their own.)
3.
Students will sequence the story "Jack and the Beanstalk" by
coloring pictures about the story and placing them in correct order.
they then have their own story. (After reading "Jack and the
Beanstalk," the students will color six pictures based on the story
and be able to sequence them in the correct order.)
4.
Students will plant beans in cups and measure their progress over the
next few weeks. We will talk about the different parts of the
plant. (The students will take part in planting their own
"beanstalk" an then measure the progress of its growth.
they will also be able to identify the different parts of a plant.)
5.
I will read "Strega Nona." The students will complete a
map activity of Italy. (After reading "Strega Nona," the
students will be able to find Strega Nona's hometown on their map of
Italy; then they will color Italy.)
6.
I will read "The Magic Porridge Pot" and the students will
compare and contrast the two stories. (After reading "Strega
Nona" and "The Magic Porridge Pot," the students will be
able to describe the differences and similarities between the two
stories.)
7.
I will read "The Frog Prince"-students will learn about the
life cycle of the frog and sequence the different phases in
illustrations.
8.
I will read "Little Red Riding Hood" in several versions.
(The students will develop their sense of hearing and comprehension.)
9.
I will read "Lon Po Po," a Chinese version of "Little Red
Riding Hood," and we will discuss the differences and similarities
between the stories. (The students will learn how storytellers n
China narrate the story we know in a different form.)
10.
Students will create their favorite scene in an illustration and then
cut the picture into three panels, similar to the panel art found in
"Lon Po Po." (The students will learn about the Chinese
art form of panel pictures.)
11.
"Little Red Riding Hood" tells about eye color, so students
will create a graph to discover which eye color is the most prevalent in
our classroom. (The students will gain knowledge in predicting eye
color, graphing their results, counting their results, interpreting
data, and comparing their data.)
12.
I will read "The Three Little Pigs" in several versions.
(Students will listen attentively to the story and will be able to
answer questions when it is completed.)
13.
The students will act out the story "The Three Little Pigs" as
I read it again. (The students will be able to show their
comprehension of the story by acting it out. They will also
understand what a "part," or character, is.)
14.
I will read "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!" which
is told from the wolf's point of view. We will then discuss point
of view. (The students will understand what point of view means after
reading "The True Story of the three Little Pigs.")
15.
I will read "Goldilocks and the Three Bears"; the students
will learn about their sense of taste and smell, senses that Goldilocks
used in finding and tasting the bears' porridge. (The students
will be able to label items given to them to taste as sweet, sour,
bitter, or salty. They will complete the assigned activity in
groups of four.)
16.
I will read "Cinderella." (The students will be able to listen
attentively.)
17.
The students will become more familiar with telling time and will be
able to sequence Cinderella's day based on time; they will also sequence
their daily events. (The students will be able to match times
written out with the corresponding times on clocks.)
18.
I will read "The Indian Cinderella" and the students will
compare and contrast the events in the story with the more familiar
"Cinderella." (The students will be able to compare and
contrast different and similar elements in the two Cinderella stories.)
19.
I will read "Yeh Shen," a Chinese version of
"Cinderella," and will compare this story to the version we
know best. (The students will be able to compare and contrast the
similar and different elements in the two stories.)
20.
As wrap-up activities the students will survey 10 classmates to learn
which of the fairy tales we read during the unit was their favorite.
We will collect the information and compose a class graph showing the
results. (The students will be able to collect data, graph the
finding, and make an inference.)
21.
As a class, the students will create a "fairy-tale quilt."
Each student will cut out of construction paper one item that relates to
fairy tales (frog, glass, slipper, etc), and we will make a class quilt
out of their construction paper items to hang on the wall. (The
students will be able to create one object related to fairy tales or
folktales, cut it out, and mount it on paper. They will be able to
use their creativity for this lesson.)
22.
Students will present to their parents what they have done in their
fairy-tale unit and will perform several plays based on the fairy tales
and folktales we have read n class. (The student will be able to
use the knowledge they have acquired throughout the unit to perform
works informed by that knowledge.)
Statement
of Multicultural Perspective
Educational
Equity I hope that each student achieves success in my
classroom. To help to ensure this, during the presentation and
implementation of my unit I will incorporate appropriate teaching
strategies that enable each student to acquire the necessary
information. I have incorporated heterogeneous seating groups, set
up to ensure that each student has an equal opportunity to learn in my
classroom. These groups will also enhance peer involvement,
support, and teamwork.
To present vocabulary for the fairy tales that I will read during this
unit, I have made vocabulary cards that have the word and a picture to
illustrate the word. The pictures will give all students,
including my non-English proficient student, a visual reference to
associate with vocabulary words.
Intergroup
Harmony In forming the groups in which students will
work cooperatively, I will group them by gender, ability, and capability
to work effectively together. I will also talk with the students
to make sure we know what it means to work as a team. My bilingual
student will be placed next to my non-English proficient student so as
to increase both students' self-confidence and opportunity for success.
As students are placed in groups, some may not get along. Students
will understand that in life they do not always have to like someone but
may have to work side by side with this person, and teamwork should help
them learn cooperation.
Valuing
Diversity I value and encourage all the opinions of the
children in my classroom. Through modeling, the students will
learn that even when they disagree with someone, that person's opinion
is also important. Diversity should be encouraged. I will
point out diversity among classmates when we discuss the versions of
fairy tales we each know best. Also, diversity will be addressed
when we examine the same fairy tale as told in different cultures.
All people are important, and that is what will be stressed.
Knowledge
of Other Cultures A large portion of this unit
focuses on the students' examining the similarities and differences
between versions of fairy tales from our country and from other
countries and cultures. We will then talk about those cultures and
why their fairy tales are different from the versions we know.
This exercise will help student see that our knowledge of other cultures
helps us to understand why their fairy tales are different.
Evaluation
Procedures
During this unit on fairy tales and folktales, I will evaluate
students' progress in learning the material on an ongoing basis.
The students will be evaluated on participation, both in the large group
and in their teams of four. Also being evaluated will be their
completed assignments. By the end of the unit, each child should
have completed four sequenced picture books based on what we read in
class. The students' final presentation for parents, classmates,
and staff members will be evaluated and will also allow the students to
share the work they complete during this unit. I hope that this
unit will be a positive experience for the students and that they will
be excited about participating and completing assignments.
Unit
Evaluation
For my initiating activity I tried to incorporate something that
would be useful for all the fairy tales and folktales we would be
reading. The students participated very well in our discussion of
what was reality and what was fantasy. They showed great
imagination!
Overall, I feel that the entire unit went very well. With
unexpected things that occur in school days, I found that I had planned
too many activities for the amount of time allotted. Writing
lessons, for example, tended to take a few days. We incorporated
math concepts such as graphing, estimating, classifying, and counting.
In language arts we spent a great deal of time sequencing and
distinguishing characters, setting, and point of view in the story.
The students grasped the concept of point of view much better than I had
anticipated. Hearing "The True Story of the Three Little
Pigs!" really made the concept clear to them. The students
were also introduced to different versions of fairy tales and folktales,
which we compared and contrasted. They seemed ot enjoy hearing
versions from different countries.
If I were to do this unit again with second an, perhaps, third graders,
I would use some fairy tales and folktales that they did not know,
especially those form other counties. I think I might also read
fewer stories and go into greater depth with the stories we studied.
With second graders I felt as if I needed to keep their interest high by
using many stories, but I think that older students could do much more
with the overall topic without as much stimulation.
Bibliography
Children's
Stories Utilized in Unit
1.
"Cinderella," ed. Marcia Brown (New York: Scribner, 1954).
2.
"Goldilocks and the Three Bears," by Jan Brett (New York:
Putnam, 1987).
3.
"Jack and the Bean Tree," by Gail Haley (New York: Crown,
1986).
4.
"Johnny Cake" in English Fairy Tales, by Joseph Jacobs
(New York: Putnam, 1904).
5.
"Little Red Riding Hood," by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
(New York: Scholastic, 1986).
6.
"Lon Po Po," ed. Ed Young (New York: Putnam, 1989).
7.
"Red Riding Hood," ed. James Marshall (New York: Dial, 1987).
8.
"Strega Nona," by Tomie de Paola (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice0Hall, 1975).
9.
"The Frog Prince," by the Brothers Grimm (Mahway, N.J.: Troll,
1979).
10.
"The Frog Prince Continued," by Jon Scieszka (New York: Viking
Child Books, 1991).
11.
"The Magic Porridge Pot," by Paul Galdone (New York: Houghton
Mifflin, 1976).
12.
"The Soup Stone," by Iris VanRynbach (New York: Greenwillow,
1988).
13,
"The Teeny Tiny Woman," by Paul Galdone (New York: Ticknor and
Fields, 1986).
14.
"The Three Billy Goats Gruff," by Janet Stevens (San Diego:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987).
15.
"The Three Little Pigs," by Gavin Bishop (New York:
Scholastic, 1990).
16.
"The True Story of the Three Little Pigs!" by Alexander Wolf
and Jon Scieszka (New York: Viking Kestrel, 1989).
Teacher
Resources
1.
Fairy Tale Sequencing, by Evan Moor
2.
Project AIMS, Fall into Math and Science, Spring into Math and Science,
Glide into Winter
Analysis
of Unit
Does
the lesson content or strategy promote or impede educational equity?
Overall, Ms. Sanchez, who was in her second student teaching
assignment (11 weeks/full time) with approximately five weeks available
for unit planning prior to unit implementation, has designed and
delivered a strong unit. Among the positive attributes, several
are important for promoting educational equity for the 28 second graders
n this class. First, Ms. Sanchez employed a wide range of lessons,
activities, and teaching strategies to achieve her instructional
objectives; this diversity no doubt reinforced the learning styles and
preferences of specific learners at the same time that the variety
increased the overall level of motivation in the class. In
addition to the variety of methods and lessons, the selection of content
and activities was diverse. The specific stories selected and the
wide range of intriguing hands-on activities (cooking, map making,
basket making, quilt making, and picture making), along with the
well-developed integration of the fairy tales with math and science
activities (the eye color graph and life cycle of the frog) and the
presence of parents at the culminating experience, all promoted a high
degree of student interest and achievement in this unit.
Ms. Sanchez made good use of cooperative learning, created word/picture
flash cards for the two Spanish-speaking learners, and arranged her
seating so that the limited English proficient student could help the
non-English proficient student in her first steps toward the English
language. For a student teacher this was certainly a well-rounded
effort to promote equity. Nevertheless, as in most lessons and
units, the advantage of hindsight and reflection leads to new ideas
regarding teaching strategies and content. One idea, although
intended to increase motivation for the two Spanish-speaking students,
might also serve, in a limited way, to promote bilinguality for the
second graders in this rural heavily monolingual (English) community.
The strategy is to make available some Spanish-language translations of
selected fairy tales (such as "Caperucita Roja/Little Red Riding
Hood") for optional reading by Juan and Rosita, assuming that one
or both can read in Spanish. Ms. Sanchez might read aloud one of
the fairy tales in Spanish. Within the unit, the second graders
will hear several versions of the Cinderella story from several nations.
Why not also hear a version translated into Spanish, so the children can
experience a dramatic reading in a language other than English?
If the teacher cannot read in Spanish, perhaps an older elementary
school student, parent, bilingual aide, or another teacher can help out.
An excellent resource for locating literature available in Spanish is Recommended
Readings in Spanish Literature: Kindergarten Through Grade Eight
(Sacramento: California Department of Education, 1991). The book
can be ordered from the Bureau of Publications, Sales Unit, California
Department of education, P.O. Box 271, Sacramento CA 95802-0271.
In 1996, the book sold for $5.00 plus $3.25 for shipping. Call
916-445-1260 for current prices. Also, Group Editorial Grijalbo,
Barcelona, Spain, publishes a series of fairy tales that are available
in the United States. Series One and Two in its collection titled
Educiones Junior S.A. includes "El Mago de Oz," "Peter
Pan," "Los Viajes de Gulliver," "Las Aventuras de
Pinocho," and "Hansel y Gretel."
Does
the lesson content or structure promote cultural pluralism in society or
intergroup harmony in the classroom? With regard to
intergroup harmony, the use of heterogeneously structured cooperative
learning groups, as noted in chapter 2, is a very strong choice.
In a more limited way, the selection of fairy tales from different
nations suggests to the learners that their teacher values the countries
and cultures form which these fairy and folktales have emerged. A
teacher will rarely say this explicitly; instead, over time, from one
grade to another, students form the impression based on their teachers'
cumulative choices about which tales and nations to include. This
unit contained two lovely tales from China-="Yeh Shen" (a
Cinderella story) and 'Lon Po Po" (a Red Riding Hood story)-as well
as "Strega Nona" (Grandma Witch), a delightful story with an
Italian cast of characters. Because this story was in the unit,
the second graders learned where Italy is located and colored a map of
Italy. All this represents very good planning.
To promote appreciation and acceptance of a wider range of cultures, it
would have been appropriate for Ms. Sanchez to include one or more tales
from Africa and/or Central and South America. Teachers have a
Caldecott Honor Book available to serve this purpose: Mufaro's Beautiful
Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe (New York: Lothrop, Lee and
Shepard Books, 1987). This story incorporates several
Cinderella-like elements. Beyond the beauty of its illustrations
and its well-crafted prose, this story has other virtues, ones not
usually associated with fairy tales. For example, on the
introductory page to Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters we learn that (1) the
illustrations in the book were inspired by the ruins of an ancient city
in Zimbabwe as well as the flora and fauna in that region, (2) the names
of the characters in the story are from the Shona language, and (3) the
author dedicated this book to the children of South Africa. We now
have two more nations, Zimbabwe and South Africa, for students to
located on the map; with the addition of this tale, the unit transports
the second graders to Asia, Europe, and Africa. In addition, we
have an interesting question to share with the students: Why do you
think John Steptoe dedicated this book to the children of south Africa?
After discussing the children's opinions, the teacher could use this
question to stimulate interest in further research on South Africa.
Does
the unit allow students to expand their knowledge of other cultures and
ethnic groups? In this unit students did not really
explore different cultures as much as they experienced literature from
several different cultures. From these experiences they learned
that cultures that existed long ago and in widely separated locations
developed quite similar folktales and fairy tales. Thus these
stories allow the second graders to catch a glimpse f a common humanity
unfolding, through literature, in several different cultures. In
addition, the reading of Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, which introduces
the second graders to the idea of a beautiful and ancient African
kingdom, could be augmented by several nonfiction articles about ancient
African kingdoms. Taken together, the tale and extra readings
could serve to diminish contemporary distortions regarding African
history. Including content that pertains to Africa, along with
efforts to provide accurate information about Blacks in American
history, could promote better relationships between Blacks and Whites
and people of color in general. At the minimum, children of all
colors and cultural backgrounds deserve the opportunity to see
themselves and their ancestors sensitively portrayed in the school's
literary selections; it is the responsibility of teachers to know where
to locate such materials. An excellent resource is the videos
produced for the Reading Rainbow series, seen on Public Broadcasting
Stations (PBS) around the nation. The series, hosted by Levar
Burton, has one video that celebrates the music, dance, and literature
of Africa. On the 28 minute video, also entitled Mufaro's
Beautiful Daughters, actress Felicia Rashad reads the story, which
is accompanied by close-ups of the artwork from the book. The
reading is followed by a brief, informative discussion about drums and
other ancient African instruments made from indigenous materials, such
as gourds, bamboo, and conch shells. In the final part of the
video, several elementary school students talks about other books with
African themes. This video helps teachers integrate literature
with music, art, craft, dance, and history. Local education
agencies around the country are likely to have copies of the Reading
Rainbow series.
Finally, if we were teaching the unit, we would add at least one more
variation on the Cinderella theme; a captivating little tale named
"Atalanta," written by Betty Miles. This tale, which
does not exactly fit into the traditional Cinderella mode, adds a modern
twist that second graders would notice and enjoy. This tale
introduces primary graders to a bright and clever princess who speaks
her own mind and is determined to select her won husband. It will
demonstrate to students that in the creation of their own folktales and
fairy tales, it is appropriate to develop and incorporate new themes and
relationships. The story of "Atalanta" appears in Free
to Be You and Me (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1974), a project conceived by
Marlo Thomas and developed and edited by her, Carole Hart, Letty Cottin
Pogrebin, and Mary Rodgers.
