A Fairy Tale Genre Study Unit Plan

Amy Weekes

10068477

University of Calgary

October 24, 2018

 A Fairy Tale Genre Study Unit Plan

A. Unit Title, Subject Area, and Topic

I would call this unit “Once Upon a Fairy Tale” because it explains what the unit is going

to be about and uses a fairy tale element (“once upon a time”). I have seen this title used a lot

while looking on the Internet for ideas, but I think it is very creative, fun, and the students would

get excited for this unit by the title alone. I planned this unit as an English Language Arts unit

with a focus on Writing, Listening, and Representing. This unit could take three to four weeks

depending on where the students are at, what extra skills need to be taught, what the students

want their final project to be, etc.

B. Alberta Education Standards

This unit touches on many aspects of the Alberta Program of Studies in English

Language Arts.

General Outcome 2: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to
comprehend and respond personally and critically to oral, print and other media texts.
2.1 Use Strategies and Cues
Use prior knowledge
 use knowledge of the organizational structures of print and stories, such as book covers,
titles, pictures and typical beginnings, to construct and confirm meaning
Use comprehension strategies
 apply a variety of strategies, such as asking questions, making predictions, recognizing
relationships among story elements and drawing conclusions
 identify the main idea or topic and supporting details of simple narrative and expository
texts
 read aloud with fluency, accuracy and expression
Use textual cues
 preview book covers and titles; look for familiar words, phrases and story patterns to
assist with constructing and confirming meaning
 use predictable phrases and sentence patterns, and attend to capital letters, periods,
question marks and exclamation marks to read accurately, fluently and with
comprehension during oral and silent reading
Use phonics and structural analysis
 apply phonic rules and generalizations to read unfamiliar words in context
 apply knowledge of long and short vowel sounds to read unfamiliar words in context
2.2 Respond to Texts
Experience various texts
 engage in a variety of shared and independent listening, reading and viewing experiences,
using oral, print and other media texts from a variety of cultural traditions and genres,
such as legends, video programs, puppet plays, songs, riddles and informational texts
 identify favourite kinds of oral, print and other media texts
Construct meaning from texts
 retell the events portrayed in oral, print and other media texts in sequence
 discuss, represent or write about interesting or important aspects of oral, print and other
media texts
Appreciate the artistry of texts
 identify and use words and sentences that have particular emotional effects
2.3 Understand Forms, Elements and Techniques
Understand forms and genres
 recognize that ideas and information can be expressed in a variety of oral, print and other
media texts
Understand techniques and elements
 identify main characters, places and events in a variety of oral, print and other media
texts
 identify how pictures, illustrations and special fonts relate to and enhance print and other
media texts
2.4 Create Original Text
Elaborate on the expression of ideas
 add descriptive words to elaborate on ideas and create particular effects in oral, print and
other media texts
Structure texts
 create narratives that have beginnings, middles and ends; settings; and main characters
that perform actions
 use traditional story beginnings, patterns and stock characters in own oral, print and other
media texts
General Outcome 4: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to enhance
the clarity and artistry of communication.
4.1 Enhance and Improve
Revise and edit
 revise words and sentences to improve sequence or add missing information
 check for capital letters, punctuation at the end of sentences and errors in spelling
Enhance legibility
 print legibly and efficiently, forming letters of consistent size and shape, and spacing
words appropriately
 use margins and spacing appropriately
 explore and use the keyboard to compose and revise text
Expand knowledge of language
 develop categories of words associated with experiences and topics of interest
 use knowledge of word patterns, word combinations and parts of words to learn new
words
Enhance artistry
 choose words, language patterns, illustrations or sounds to create a variety of effects in
oral, print and other media texts
4.2 Attend to Conventions
Attend to grammar and usage
 write complete sentences, using capital letters and periods
 use connecting words to join related ideas in a sentence
 identify nouns and verbs, and use in own writing
 identify adjectives and adverbs that add interest and detail to stories
Attend to spelling
 use phonic knowledge and skills and visual memory to spell words of more than one
syllable, high frequency irregular words and regular plurals in own writing
 use phonic knowledge and skills and visual memory to attempt spelling of unfamiliar
words in own writing
 use the conventional spelling of common words necessary for the efficient
communication of ideas in writing
Attend to capitalization and punctuation
 use capital letters for proper nouns and at the beginning of sentences in own writing
 use periods and question marks, appropriately, as end punctuation in own writing
 use commas after greetings and closures in friendly letters and to separate words in a
series in own writing
 identify commas and apostrophes when reading, and use them to assist comprehension
4.3 Present and Share
Present information
 present ideas and information by combining illustrations and written texts
Demonstrate attentive listening and viewing
 ask relevant questions to clarify understanding and to have information explained
 show enjoyment and appreciation during listening and viewing activities
General Outcome 5: Students will listen, speak, read, write, view and represent to respect,
support and collaborate with others.
Relate texts to culture
 discuss similarities and differences in settings, characters and events in oral, print and
other media texts from various communities
5.2 Work within a Group
Cooperate with others
 work in a variety of partnerships and group structures
Work in groups
 contribute relevant information and questions to extend group understanding of topics
and tasks
 stay on topic during class and group discussions

C. Grade Level(s): Grade 2

D. Unit Rationale:

I love fairy tales and I loved them even more as a child. I think they are so fun, interesting, and

creative. Using fairy tales to help teach the Language Arts is a fun and exciting way to get the

students involved. They are easy to read, they are familiar to most students (most students have

heard them before), and they are low risk depending on which version is used. This unit can

introduce students to a new genre and genres in general depending on when the unit is started. It

introduces students to the elements of a story, in this case a specific story. This unit also gives

the students a chance to be creative and play around with writing.

E. Learning Outcomes:

Students will:

 understand/learn/recognize elements of a story

 be able to explain why they like certain books

 work in small groups reading fairy tales and being creative

 work on conventions – capital letters, punctuation, spelling, grammar

F. Key Instructional Practices Procedures:

 Whole class discussions

 Read alouds

 Small and large groups

 Individual work

 Modelling

 Activities:
 o Start with immersion – bring in a bunch of fairy tales for the students to look at,

read, and experience

o Talk about/teach what makes a fairy tale/story elements (“once upon a time,”

good versus evil, magic, talking animals) and what they mean/look like and in

different stories

o Read alouds of different fairy tales to see if they can pick out the different story

elements – make a chart for the students to refer back to

o Talk about the sequence of events in fairy tales (the order) – have the students

draw the events of a story in groups, then have them put the events in the correct

order (why do they have to go in that order?)

o Look at the different characters in fairy tales – how are they the same? how are

they different? Talk about the differences between characters and character traits

(good versus evil, etc)

o Write a letter to a character in a fairy tale of their choice (letter writing: Sincerely

Yours: Writing Your Own Letter)

o Compare and contrast different versions of the same fairy tale (perspective of

characters, author perspective and rendition)

 Final Project ideas – write their own fairy tale (could handwrite, type, present orally,

graphic novel type), re-enact a part of a fairy tale or the whole thing (Reader’s Theater?

For fluency), draw/design a house (or something else) for a fairy tale character (STEM if

they want to actually construct/build it)

 Assessments – Formative: class discussions, teacher observations, charts

G. List of Sources:

Alberta Learning. (2000). English Language Art K-9 [Program of Studies]. Edmonton, Canada:

Alberta Learning. Retrieved from https://education.alberta.ca/media/160360/ela-pos-k-

9.pdf

Braun, H. (2017, December 04). Why teach fairy tales? Retrieved October 23, 2018, from

https://www.theclassroomkey.com/2014/12/why-teach-fairy-tales.html

Fairytale Freebies. (2017, September 23). Retrieved October 22, 2018, from

https://smittenwithfirstblog.com/fairytale-freebies/

Fairy Tales. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2018, from

http://www.teacherplanet.com/content/fairy-tales

H. List of Materials:

 Once Upon a Time: Writing Your Own Fairy Tale by Nancy Loewen

 Little Red Riding Hood

 Hansel and Gretel

 The Princess and the Pea

 Rumpelstiltskin

 The Ugly Duckling

 Jack and the Beanstalk

 Sincerely Yours: Writing Your Own Letter by Nancy Loewen (need to teach letter writing

for the activity or do a review)

 Lon Po Po: A Little Red Riding Hood Story From China by Ed Young (and other fairy

tales from different countries for new-to-Canada and ELL students)

J. Learner Differentiation:

 Groups – large and small

 Let them choose what they want to read and how they want to read it (do they sit and

listen, or do they follow along with a copy?)

 Multiple copies of fairy tales for students to follow along with if they want

 Different fairy tales for different interests (not the typical “princess ones for girls,

dragons for boys”)

 Fairy tales from different cultures/countries for those students who would like them

 Draw, present orally, digitally present instead of writing if they want

 ELL students with non ELL students

 Struggling readers with stronger readers

 Options for final project to show their learning

K. Creativity and Innovation:

 Uses many forms of teaching (direct, individual work time, group time)

 One option for final project could be to design a house for a fairy tale character – to make

it interdisciplinary/STEM could mean building it and going through that process