Browse lesson plans

The ABCs of the Three Little Pigs

This lesson uses a familiar fairy tale to teach writing. It is designed to emphasize using varied sentence patterns in writing.

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–7 English Language Arts)

By Penny Canipe.

The big, bad, red wolf: Fact and fantasy

This lesson will explore the myths and legends surrounding wolves. We will also investigate factual information about the endangered red wolf.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Science)

By Steven Sather.

Bubba: A Cinderella story

This lesson focuses on the whimsical interpretation of the Cinderella story. Students explore the story Bubba, the Cowboy Prince, through rich text and interpretations of the story.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and English Language Development)

By Jennifer Fessler and Karen Wright.

Connecting folktales and culture in North Carolina and beyond

Students will explore connections to North Carolina culture as they engage in reading and analyzing three folktales of North Carolina Literary Festival author, William Hooks. After comparing these stories to other versions of the traditional tales, students will become authors and storytellers themselves as they rewrite a tale from a new cultural point of view. Opportunities are also included to extend this study to world cultures and folktales.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Jeanne Munoz.

European shadow puppets

Students will work in cooperative groups first to read a fairy tale by a European author. Then they will make shadow puppets to use on an overhead projector. Finally, they will present their puppet shows to their class.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 and 6 English Language Arts)

By Marsha Paisley.

Fairy tales

This lesson will begin a unit on fairy tales for young learners. It will begin with assessing what first graders know about fairy tales. Children will learn about the original version of The Three Little Pigs.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 English Language Arts and English Language Development)

By Audra Penrod and Vivian Lages.

Fairy tales: Another point of view

This lesson is on comparing and contrasting (alike and different) two different versions of The Three Little Pigs. Students will use the original fairy tale The Three Little Pigs previously learned in the lesson Fairy Tales and compare it to the story The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. This story gives the wolf's point of view.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1 Visual Arts Education, English Language Arts, English Language Development, and Theater Arts Education)

By Audra Penrod and Vivian Lages.

The Frog Prince: Compare and contrast

This lesson can be used with numerous pieces of literature, films, or sound material to develop viewing and listening skills and the students' ability to compare and contrast. One of the richest sources is in the area of fairy tales and folktales. This an especially good source if you can find a modernized version in recorded form to contrast with the more traditional written form. I have used the "Frog Prince" because of this factor and because it was part of the 4th grade language arts reading unit.

Format: lesson plan (grade 4 English Language Arts and Information Skills)

By Barbara Waters.

Getting in order: "Jack and the Beanstalk"

The students will read "Jack and the Beanstalk" as a group and create flip books to illustrate and sequence the main events.

Format: lesson plan (grade K–1 English Language Arts)

By Leslie Robinson1.

Learning literary elements through African and African American folktales

In this eighth grade lesson, students will apply their knowledge of literary elements (plot structure and archetypal characters) to the analysis and creation of African and African American folktales. Students will work in groups to read several picture book versions of African and African American folktales. Each group then creates a plot map for a story and highlights other literary elements identified within the text. Students then compare the folktales with fairy tales from other cultures and explain what they learned about African and African American culture from reading the folktales. Finally, students work independently to write their own modern-day folktale.

Format: lesson plan (grade 8–9 English Language Arts)

By Hardin Engelhardt.

Modern folk tales: Playwriting

Working in teams, students will rewrite short folk tale or fable plays, modernizing them. Then, they will present the old and new versions of the play.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts and Theater Arts Education)

By Dayle Payne.

Pigs and wolf on a map!

The students will construct a Double Bubble Map to compare and contrast two versions of a familiar fairytale.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1–4 English Language Arts)

By Cherry Randall.

Similes

"The Talking Eggs" by Robert San Souci is used to introduce and illustrate an author's use of language to paint a picture in the reader's mind. Students will draw a picture to show what this author meant, create similes to describe themselves, and finally use a simile in their next story in Writer's Workshop.

Format: lesson plan (grade 1–2 English Language Arts)

By jennifer lettieri.

Resources on the web

Cinderella folk tales: Variations in character

In this lesson from EDSITEment, students compare and contrast several versions of Cinderella stories told around the world to find differences and similarities in character traits. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provided by: EDSITEment

Cinderella folk tales: Variations in plot and setting

In this lesson from EDSITEment, students compare and contrast several versions of Cinderella stories told around the world to find differences and similarities in plot and setting. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provided by: EDSITEment

Deeper reading response: A template for teachers

Interacting with and responding to various texts is an important foundation to build in the primary years of a child's education. This lesson from ReadWriteThink details the five expressive and performative engagements for responding to text, as identified... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Fairy tale autobiographies

In this lesson from ReadWriteThink, students will work in groups to read and analyze fairy tales, brainstorm for events in their lives that could be changed into fairy tales, and develop setting, characters, and plot for their fairy tale. Students will... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 6–8 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Fairy tales around the world

This EDSITEment unit is a series of lessons in which students will become familiar with fairy tales. They will read and learn to understand fairy tales so that they can better comprehend the structures of literature as well as for the sake of the wonder,... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade K–2 English Language Arts)

Provided by: EDSITEment

Fairy tales from life

In this lesson from ReadWriteThink, students will read fairy tales and identify common elements. Choosing common situations and working in small groups, students will draw storyboards of their fairy tale and then write the fairy tale. Project will conclude... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink

Fairy tales, then and now

In this lesson, students read an old fairy tale or story and list the geographical features and characters described in the story. They'll then think about how the story might be updated to reflect their own modern setting and culture and will conclude... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provided by: Xpeditions