Hansel and Gretel to teach Fairy Tales in the Classroom

 

Title: Hansel and Gretel

Citation: Randall, R. (2013). Hansel and gretel. New York, NY: Parragon Inc.

Summary:

Hansel and Gretel is retold as the classic fairy tale and nursery rhyme. Hansel and Gretel, brother and sister, are to follow their father and stepmother into the forest. When left to fend for themselves they find comfort in each other and stumble upon a house made of candy and goodies, things they were far too poor for. The wicked witch invites them in and plans to feed them to fatten them. Will the children outsmart the witch and make it home to their beloved father?

 Classification:

Nursery Rhyme, Fairy Tale, Children’s Fiction

 Grade Level:

Pre-k through 5^th grade

 Mentor Text:

As a mentor text I would use the story of Hansel and Gretel as a classic nursery rhyme. The fairy tale can be used for writing fairy tales in creative writing. In the older grades students can use pivotal points in the book to problem solve. For example, when Hansel and Gretel wake up in the woods and their father has not returned what can they do?

• Brainstorm the options:

o   Return home

o   Follow the breadcrumbs

o   Yell for help

o   Stay here until their father returns

Then continue reading on to see what actually happens in the story. The other points in the story can be used as well, such as, Hansel being put in the cage and the end, will they stay at the new candy home or find their way back to their father. Once they have picked a way to solve Hansel and Gretel’s problem they can rewrite their own fairy tale.

To use this text for writing fairy tales the students can rewrite the story from a different point of view, or write a story of their own that shares the same points as a fairy tale. Fairy tales usually include;

• “Once upon a time”
• Witches
• Evil Stepmothers
• Poverty/Riches

They would first brainstorm their new idea including all their parts of a fairy tale. They will follow the rest of the steps in the writing process (i.e. brainstorm, draft, revise, review, final draft) to finish their own personal fairy tale.

This book can also be used as a mentor text to show dialogue and descriptive line writing. Words do not have to be written in a traditional line format and can be scattered in such a way and written in bold to evoke emotion and feeling. 

Eight Days: A Story of Haiti –> Teaching Personal Narratives through Voice

Alyssa Valentino

Mentor Text #4

 

Eight Days: A Story of Haiti

Danticat, E. (2010). Eight days: A story of Haiti. New York, New York: Scholastic, Inc.

Summary: In this memoir, the author talks about the 8 days he was stuck after an earthquake hit his home in Haiti. Instead of being scared, he imagined himself playing with his friends and family. Each day, he played a different game.

Genre: Memoir or Personal Narrative

Grade 2

Eight Days: A Story of Haiti can be used as a mentor text to teach students how to write personal narratives. The way this one is set up is day by day. I think it would be a fun activity for students to imagine their lives day by day and what they do on a daily basis. The students could maybe write about their lives in school and how they feel about school. Instead of writing a short piece, they can create a book with illustrations. The words in this story are powerful so this book can teach students that the amount of writing doesn’t matter in a story sometimes. The words are moving and give a reader a sense of being there with the author. Students will learn to give short descriptions of what they are doing and how they are feeling at one moment in time. They learn to use a voice in their writing.

 

Five Little Monkeys Reading in Bed to teach graphic novels

Allison Fitzgerald

Mentor Text #3

 

1. Christelow, Eileen. (2011). Five little monkeys reading in bed. New York, New York: Clarion Books.
2. A variation on the nursery rhyme of the five little monkeys jumping on the bed. The text uses features such as rhyming, illustrations, point of view and descriptive language to tell the story of the five little monkeys who don’t want to go to sleep.
3. Nursery Rhymes, Bedtime story, Comedy
4. K-1
5. This text is a great example of a variation on the genre of nursery rhymes and bedtime stories. It could serve as a mentor text for several ideas involved in writing due to its use of point of view, character development, descriptive language and illustrations. In my classroom, I would use it as a mentor text to introduce the concept of the graphic novel, providing the students with a lower level text that uses illustrations and word bubbles to tell the story. The text itself provides the reader with additional information about the characters, point of view and story development, “The monkeys start reading. The story is sad. One monkey is weeping, she’s feeling so bad. The out come the tissues. They all start to bawl. They sob and they cry till the last page of all.” This is a great example of the description of the monkeys, and the illustrations give students just as much information as the words. The word bubbles on the page include “That puppy is lost!” “Oh, no!,” and the last monkey with tears pouring out of its eyes exclaiming, “What happens next?” Each page provides the reader with a modicum of rhyming and descriptive text accompanied by various text bubbles, graphic text and vivid illustrations describing the feelings and thoughts of the characters.

 

Using the book, There was an old lady who swallowed a rose to have students mimic rhyme/repetition writing style.

 

Title: There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Rose

Book Citation : Colandro,L. (2012). There was an old lady who swallowed a rose! New York, NY:

Scholastic Inc.

Genera: Fantasy/ Science –Fiction/ Fiction

Summary: The old lady who swallowed a rose is the perfect book to share during Valentine’s Day. This old lady swallows a rose, some lace, some glitter, candy, a jewel, some hearts, and a card. The reader may wonder why the old lady is swallowing all of these item. These items made the old lady so happy, that she began to smile and laugh. Then, she blew a kiss. The kiss was followed by all of the items that the old lady swallowed, which became a big pile of Valentine’s Day treats and a card from the Old Lady.

Grade Level: This book is designed for student in Pre-K to grade 2. I would use this book with students in first grade. This repetitive book is filled with attention grabbing pictures that make the reader wonder why the old lady is swallowing all of these items. I think that that this book appeals to young readers and motivates them to not only listen to why she is swallowing so many strange items, but will motivate them to want to write the same type of stories. This is why I chose this book as my mentor text.

How I would use this book:

I would use There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Rose! by Lucille Colandro as a mentor text to have my students mimic writing a repetitive/ rhyme story of their own. I would begin the lesson as a shared reading during whole group instruction. Since this book is related to Valentine’s Day, I would share this book during the month of February.

First, I would read the story and stop along the way to ask the students why they thought the old lady was swallowing the following items: a rose, some lace, some glitter, candy, a jewel, some hearts, and finally a card. I would also ask the student to identify the rhyming words that were presented on each page of the text. For example, the text starts out by stating the following:

“There was an old lady who swallowed a rose. I don’t know why she swallowed the rose, but that’s how it goes.” I would assist the students in identifying that rose and goes are rhyming words. As the story continues, we might work on identifying the rhyming words on the following page:

“There was an old lady who swallowed a jewel. She wasn’t a fool to swallow that jewel.” On this page, I would again ask the students to identify the rhyming words (jewel and fool).

As we read through the text, I would identify how repetitive the story was. For example, I might make reference to the following page:

“There was an old lady who swallowed a jewel. She wasn’t a fool to swallow that jewel.

She swallowed the jewel to brighten the candy. She swallowed the candy to garnish the glitter. She swallowed the glitter to trim the lace. She swallowed the lace to tie to the rose. I don’t know why she swallowed the rose, but that’s how it goes.”

Since the story is so repetitive, it also helps the students remember the sequence of the story.

Once we completed reading the text, identifying the repetition, and rhyming words within the text, I would have the class create their own books. I would provide them with the following worksheet to help them get started:

There was a boy/girl (named) _______________, who swallowed a/an______________________!

I would remind the students to follow the rhyming/ repetitive pattern within There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Rose! I would also provide them with other books within the There Was An Old Lady series. Most likely by being provided with this book and other sample texts within the series, students would mimic the rhyme and repetition within this story.

Once the students finished working on their books, they would be given opportunities to share them with the class. Depending on the time allotted, I might even have them type up their stories and scan their illustrations. Then, I would be able to post their stories on the Smart Board for everyone to read.

Jenn Gati

Using the book, Frozen to teach students to mimic their own fairy tales through drawings/ writing.

 

Title: Frozen

Book Citation: Scollon, B.(2013). Frozen. New York, NY: Random House, Inc.

Genre:  Fairy Tale/ Fantasy/ Fiction

Summary: This Disney Fairy Tale is about two sisters named Anna and Queen Elsa. These two sisters live in the magical kingdom of Arendelle. Elsa is the oldest and has magical powers that can cause everything she touches to turn to ice and snow. Over the years, Elsa struggles to keep her magical powers under control. On her coronation day, Elsa and Anna have an argument. During this argument, Anna accidentally takes off Elsa’s gloves. This caused everything to turn to ice. Queen Elsa becomes frightened by her inability to control her magical powers and decided to leave her kingdom. Anna immediately goes off to search for her. Along the way while looking for her sister the Snow Queen, Anna teams up with a mountain man named Kristoff and his reindeer Sven. They embarked on a magical and dangerous adventure to put an end to Queen Elsa’s magical icy spell. They meet magical trolls and a funny snowman named Olaf while on their journey. When Anna finally finds her sister, she is accidently struck with a fallen piece of ice and knocked unconscious. She learns that true love is the only way to break the icy spell she has fallen under. Queen Elsa is eventually captured and brought back to Arendelle. However, her life is now in danger too. As Hans, a not so kind prince is about to strike Elsa, Anna throws herself in front of her sister and saves her. In return, Anna becomes frozen. In the end the two sisters learn that an act of love can melt any frozen heart.

Grade Level: This magical fairy tale appeals to children ages two to eight years old. This book is filled with attention grabbing pictures, magical creatures, and action packed adventures between two sisters and their kingdom. I would recommend using this book with students in kindergarten. I think that the children at this grade level enjoy listening to magical fairy tales and would be motivated to learn how to mimic this form of writing style. This is why I chose this book as my mentor text.

 

How I Would Use This Book:

Before I began reading this story, I would explain to the students that one characteristic of a fairy tale is that they usually begin and end the same way. Usually, they begin with the phrase, “Once upon a time.” This phrase introduces the reader to the main character and/or setting of the story. I would also explain that fairy tales have happy ending and in the end, the story ends in a happy way for the main character.  These would be some of the characteristics that I would write on an anchor chart to assist students in identifying a fairy tale genre. Another trait we would discuss is that fairy tales also include a good character and an evil character.

The fairy tale Frozen, does not begin with the usual “Once upon a time….”  However, it does begin by introducing the reader to the main characters and the place in which they live. This book, ends with “It was a happy place once again”, rather than the typical “And they all lived happily ever after.” I would explain these differences to my students’, while explaining that this book is still a fairy tale.

As I read the book, I would stop along the way to point out that the words within the text become bold or are written in a different text to express feeling, identify places, or to convey a point that one of the sisters might be trying to make.

For example, some of the bold faced words within the text are: Magical Secret, Winter Wonderland, shivering, Summer, “I can’t” “Monster”, “Crashed”, True Love, Ice Palace, Alone, Pretending, Strike, Thaw, or “Happy once more.” I would chart these and other bold face words and phrases on chart paper as I read the book. Once we finished reading the story, I would ask how these words or phrases made them feel and ask them why they thought the author might have made them “stand out” within the story.  We would also discuss which words we felt described the “good characters” or the “evil characters.”

To assist the students with mimicking the text, I would have them break up into small groups to create their own fairy tales. I would have the students draw pictures and label their drawings with short paragraphs to tell their own stories. I would remind the students that fairy tales often begin by identifying the main character and setting and end with a happy ending. I would have students refer to our anchor charts of Fairy Tale Characteristics and our bold face chart of words to assist them with drawing and writing their stories. Students would share their fairy tales when they have finished working on them.

Jenn Gati

 

Using the text, Moon to teach students how to mimic the format of writing an informative text.

Using the text, Moon to teach students how to mimic the format of writing an informative text.

Holly Sloat Mentor text 5

Citation: Connell, D. (2010). Moon. New York, New York: Scholastic, Inc.

 

Genre: Informational text/ Non- Fiction

Summary: In this simplified text, the reader is able to see large pictures and diagrams of the moon. It contains words in large print and the sight words “Look up at the” are in bold print to help the early reader. Most pages have a “Fast Fact” box that explains interesting facts about the moon. There is also a “Sight Word Review” and a “Sight Word Fill-ins” page towards the back of the book. The last page is entitled “All About the Moon” and contains a summary about the moon.

Grade Level: kindergarten, first grade

How I would use this book:

I would use this book in the classroom to teach students how to write an informational text. I would give students a choice of topics they are fairly familiar with that are connected with outer space, or they could choose their own (ex. Earth, stars, the sun, etc.). I would have students research some facts about them using texts I will provide and the internet. I would then have them create their own book individually. I would give students “peer editing partners” and they would edit each other’s first drafts. They would also have students practice giving each other appropriate feedback on their work. When they were finished with this, I would meet with them individually and give them suggestions for editing further (sentence structure, grammar, using synonyms to find more descriptive words). Students would use the book Moon as their mentor text to show them an example of how to format the book. When the class was finished with the book, I would have students display their work at a book gallery where they would be able to look at their peers books and write comments to them, giving them constructive feedback on their work.

Using the text The Gingerbread Bear to teach students how to write a fairy tale.

Using the text The Gingerbread Bear to teach students how to write a fairy tale.
By Holly Sloat Mentor text #4
Citation: Dennis, R. (2012). The gingerbread bear. New York, New York: Scholastic, Inc.

Genre: Fractured fairy tale/Rhyming poetry

Summary: This text is a fractured fairy tale version of The Gingerbread Man. It revolves around a national park. It begins with the phrase “Once upon a time”. It has large bold print and colorful pictures. It has rhyming poetry and the reoccurring rhyme, “Run, run, try if you dare. You can’t catch me I’m the Gingerbread Bear!” There is a wolf in the story and the reader automatically thinks the wolf will eat the bear cookie in the end, but the park ranger ends up eating him.
Grade Level: kindergarten, first grade
How I would use this book:
I would use this book to teach students how to write a fractured fairy tale. We would first read a traditional version of The Gingerbread Man. We would then read this story. I would have the students count off from number 1- 4 and have students get into groups according to their number. I would have students brainstorm ideas of different ways they could make a fractured fairy tale out of The Gingerbread Man. This would be explained as changing original fairy tales to make the characters or situation different than the original, but still having similar elements. They would be able to change the characters or setting, but still convey the same idea. Students could use the phrase “Once upon a time” to begin their stories. In the groups, I would have each student choose a job (illustrator, writer, manager, and reader). Students would present these stories to the class when they were finished writing them. They would need to explain, when they were finished presenting, why they chose to make the changes to the original fairy tale and what audience their story would appeal to.

Using “Mirror Mirror” as a Mentor Text in Grades 2-5

Singer, M. (2010). Mirror mirror. New York, NY. The Penguin Group.

Summary: “Mirror Mirror” is a collection of poetry based on well-known fairy tales. However, these poems are unique in the fact that they can be read in two ways – up and down. The poems are mirrored, which means they have one meaning when read down the page and a different meaning when read up the page.

Genre: Poetry (Reverso Poems)/ Fairy Tales

Grade Level: 2-5

Use as a Mentor Text:

         “Mirror Mirror” is a must-have book for classroom libraries. “Mirror Mirror” is appropriate for students in grades 2-5. For younger students, this book can serve as a mentor text for teaching perspective. Each poem can be read down the page and up the page, offering a different perspective.

The poem on the left is told from the perspective of Little Red Riding Hood, but when read in reverse (as seen on the right), the poem is now told from the Wolf’s perspective. Students will enjoy hearing pieces of their favorite fairy tales told from the perspective of different characters. Students can experiment with the idea of perspective, rewriting their favorite fairy tale from the perspective of a different character.
          For older students, “Mirror Mirror” can serve a different purpose as a mentor text. This text can be introduced during a poetry unit. Students can explore the “Reverso Poems” throughout this book, specifically observing how Marilyn Singer only changes punctuation and capitalization to alter the meaning of each poem. Students can be challenged to write a reverso poem, using the poems in this text as a guide. Although writing reverso poems definitely seems difficult, students would enjoy experimenting with this style and would feel a sense of pride and accomplishment if they were able to create their own reverso poem.

Amanda Zaccardi

Using “Slice: Juicy Moments From My Impossible Life” to teach personal narrative.

 

 

Sien Moore

1) Herrick, S. (2010). Slice: Juicy moments from my impossible life. North Sydney, N.S.W.: Random House Australia.

2)        Darcy Walker is a normal 16-year-old boy. He is well behaved and causes no issues for his parents or other parents he knows. He goes through the normal everyday emotions of being a teenage boy from having a crush on a girl, going to parties, and getting into an occasional fight every now and again. He even has a best friend named Noah. Throughout the book Noah realizes that he is burdened the problems that all teenage boys share, which is having to listen to your adults. Though he has to listen to and obey his parents, he feels he can handle anything that comes his way. That is, if only he would learn to keep his mouth closed.

3) This book is considered fictional humor.

4) I would use this in a grade 8 English classroom.

5)       This is book is a funny depiction of how a teenage boy always manages to get himself in trouble. In reality, he is actually a good kid, but he always happens to say the wrong thing to people. He states in the book, “I’m sixteen years old and my mouth runs ahead of my brain. Our friend Pele would describe it as – ahem- premature enunciation. Mum says I talk without thinking. She’s wrong. I mean what I say, I just shouldn’t say it aloud.” (Herrick, 2010, p.7)

          I would use this book to teach personal narrative. The chapters are really short, which helps keep the readings quick and easy for students, especially those with a short attention span. But the book is a great teaching tool for showing students the right way to act towards others and understand the writing pattern for a good personal narrative.

Using “The Day the Crayons Quit” to Teach Perspective and Personification

 

Daywalt, D. (2013). The day the crayons quit. New York, NY. Philomel Books.

Summary: One morning, when Duncan opens his box of crayons, he is surprised to find his crayons are on strike. In place of the crayons is a pack of letters. Each crayon has written Duncan a letter stating their complaints and reasons for quitting. What can Duncan do to get the crayons back to work?

Genre: Fantasy

Grade Level: 1-2

Use as a Mentor Text: The Day the Crayons Quit would be an excellent mentor text for teaching perspective and personification. Throughout the story, each letter reflects a different crayon’s perspective. Each crayon has their own personal reasons for quitting – Blue needs a break from coloring all that water, Beige is tired of being called “light brown,” and Black is sick of only being used to outline things. Through each letter, students will explore the crayon’s differing perspectives and how this affects the story. Aside from modeling the impact of perspective on writing, students will also be introduced to the idea of personification – giving human qualities to inanimate objects. Students will realize that these crayons can talk, write, and have their own thoughts and ideas! This text provides abundant examples of both perspective and personification, as there are thirteen letters in total. These letters can be introduced gradually and revisited to explore how the author uses perspective and personification throughout each letter.     

            After reading The Day the Crayons Quit, students can experiment with perspective and personification throughout their writing. Perhaps they can begin by following the format of this story. Students can choose a crayon and write a letter from that crayon’s perspective. Not only will students experiment with perspective and personification, but their creativity will shine. There are sure to be some interesting letters from overworked crayons.

 

Amanda Zaccardi