Fairy Tale Fun with freebies!

We just started our fairy tale unit this week. Of course all the boys started out saying, "yuck!" but they totally sit on the edge of their seat listening to the stories. Too funny! I try to choose the least "princessy" ones to begin with. :) Of course I totally started watching both Grimm and Once Upon a Time (both new shows on TV this year). Grimm is filmed here in Portland. (Can I get a Whoop, Whoop!) I love both shows and it's making my fairy tale unit much more interesting. :)

Anyway... I got totally off track there! I introduced the elements of a fairy tale and we made this castle chart to compare fairy tales. It's not the best picture, but hopefully you get the idea.

(Remember how I can't cut/draw a straight line? My poor first graders...) 

Here are the elements of a fairy tale cards that are hard to see in the castle picture.

You can download the elements of a fairy tale cards and signs here.

My students even wanted to add some categories because they noticed more trends, like "there's always poor people" and "lots of stories have step mothers".


After doing our class chart, each student was given there own comparison chart to complete throughout the week during daily 5. They needed to read 3 fairy tales during the week to fill out the chart. I have collected a bunch of fairy tales over the years. :)

 

Here's a close up of the chart:

graphics © www.thistlegirldesigns.com

You can download it here.

I highly recommend these books through Scholastic:

We have a lot more fairy tale fun coming next week so check back!

I'm also working on a mini-unit to sell. It will be ready by tonight I hope!