What is YOUR Favorite Traditional Story?

Hello parents!

I am so thrilled to be your child's teaching this school year, and have many fun activities planned for us to do, one of which is our "reading voyage" which we will set sail upon every day around 10am! Our reading voyage will consist of a new book every week, which will serve a purpose and lesson to go along side. I have chosen my favorite 8 books that we will be covering and reading, and have provided a summary, feedback of my own, and how I plan to implement an entire lesson on each piece of literature! HOW MUCH MORE FUN CAN WE GET!!! I guarantee your child will be talking about these stories and activities all year long, so...get ready!

Here are my first favorite three traditional pieces of literature that we will be reading. Enjoy :)

1. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by: Caralyn and Mark Buehner

This classic tale is provides a colorfully illustrated retelling of this classic story about a curious girl's uninvited visit to the cozy home of a surprised family of gentle bears.

I like this story from when I was young, and always found myself in suspense every time when I read it!

I will use this book as a great moral message book, even though the moral of the story can differ as well; a general theme is that the privacy of others should be respected.
I will plan to use this story in a character lesson plan, implementing an activity with students where students will earn “respect points” throughout the unit by respecting others. By the end of the unit, if they reach 100 points the entire class will be rewarded with a special field trip, part, or prize.


2. Cinder Edna by: Ellen Jackson

This book is about a girl named Cinder Edna, whom coincidentally lives on the same black as Cinderella, and has a similar family situation of having a wicked step family.

I have always been a huge fan of Cinderella, anything Cinderella I love. When I discovered the book Cinder Edna, I found it so cute and refreshing to see another twist on such a classic story. I feel it is important to present more than one version of stories to children, so that they may see the variety of writing styles, and different views, so that they will grow into the habit of seeing all sides of a story before judging in anyway. Personally, I feel that having only one side of a story can sometimes ultimately result in unfairness, and close-mindedness.

The theme of this book is mainly dream in what you believe in, it may come true. I will portray when reading the story, that if you really want something, make sure to work really hard at it, and you will succeed. This will be a great time to introduce self-perseverance, and using school as an example, I will tell students, the harder you work in school, it will reflect in the outcome of their work, and their grades will be very good, and hopefully straight A’s at that! I will ask students the open-ended question “Is it better to give something your all, or just half of what you’ve got? Will your end result be fantastic or just okay? Which one would YOU want to do?”

3. Thumbelina by: Hans Christian Anderson/Retold by: Brian Pinkney

The classic story of Thumbelina is about a small girl who is the size of a thumb, and is very sad that she is so small. Through believing in herself though, changes are made and her self- esteem grows and grows!

Growing up I used to watch the older movie of Hans Christian Anderson all the time! In the movie, Thumbelina and The Little Mermaid were talked about, and remember him doing a song and skit about Thumbelina to a little boy who thought he was very small and an outcast. In the story, Thumbelina grows and grows into a strong and happy girl, and helps the boy with his self-image. I always loved watching it because as a little girl, I learned from the lesson too, reflecting upon any doubts I had about myself.

I will use this story in a character “self-esteem” lesson, which will teach students that even though you may physically be different, what you have inside matters the most and will get you the furthest in life. I will begin a “student of the week” bulletin board in the front of the classroom, for all to see, where the chosen student will be line leader, official class counter, class pet feeder, and will get to wear a special button all week that shows that they are the student of the week. Students will earn this privilege at random, and will get to share something new about themselves with the class everyday of their week, so student may get to know them better throughout the year, and see how everyone is individually special in their own ways.