Cinderella Fairy Tale Lesson

Purpose: The purpose of this lesson is to introduce the characteristics of fairy tales as a genre to the students. The class will also participate in a service learning project.

Objectives:

The learner will:

recall the story elements of the Cinderella story.
orally retell the story of Cinderella.
listen to versions of Cinderella (book and video).
discuss the universal themes and traits of fairy tales.
make a plan for a service learning project for the clothing drive.

Experiential Component:
The service learning component is a clothing drive. The class collects new or gently used clothes for children.

Materials:
Picture books of Cinderella
Video of Cinderella story
Large construction paper and crayons/pencils
Chart paper and markers

Instructional Procedure(s):

Show the video of Cinderella to the class. Ask students as they view the video to watch for the story elements of character, setting, problem, events, solution and ending. Tell them that after the movie you will be asking them to name these.

Teacher Note: Sensitivity to students who may be members of blended families should be considered when teaching these lessons. The stereotypes of "stepmothers" and "stepsisters" that are part of the Cinderella story will need to be carefully addressed by the teacher.

Show students how to fold a piece of large paper into eight squares. They illustrate (K-1) and label (second grade) the story elements in the eight squares (characters, setting, problem, events, solution and ending).

Using the story elements as a reference, the students retell the story of Cinderella. This may be done as a whole class or in small groups.

Day Two:

Tell the class that Cinderella is a fairy tale. A fairy tale is a type of story (genre) that involves magic and good and evil characters. To check for prior knowledge, start a KWL about fairy tales on chart paper.

Read the list with the students and have them highlight the words that describe Cinderella (second grade). Younger students can raise their hands when you read a word that describes Cinderella. Save this list to look at with other fairy tales.

Read aloud a book version of the Cinderella story. Discuss the choices made by the different characters and the consequences of their choices.

Hold a discussion about the difference between good and evil characters. Define selfish and selfless. Brainstorm and discuss other vocabulary related to the character traits. Discuss why Cinderella continued to be kind when the step sisters and mother were unkind. Who was acting for the common good in the story and who was acting for selfish reasons?

Students fold a piece of paper in half and draw two characters: one evil and one good. The drawings should reflect the characters and include labels from the brainstormed list.

Day Three:

Read aloud a second version of the Cinderella story. Ask the students to compare and contrast the two versions (use a Venn diagram or have students draw one difference).

Ask the students to describe Cinderella's family. Does Cinderella get from her family the things she needs? What should she be getting from her mother and stepsisters? What are the most important things about families?

Discuss Cinderella's feelings throughout the story and in response to different issues. Encourage the students to respond to each other as they discuss and compare her feelings. Ask the students how they think Cinderella felt about having only her ragged clothes to wear.

Introduce the service learning project to the students. Tell them that there are many children who-like Cinderella-don't have appropriate clothes to wear. Tell the students about holding a clothing drive.

Tell students about agencies that work for the common good by providing clothes, food and furniture for families that need help getting some basic supplies. List some of the places in your community that accept used clothing and tell the students how each agency distributes.

Send home the family letter explaining the drive and asking for volunteers. Start collecting the clothes and set a date for the end of the clothing drive.

Assessment:
Assessment is obtained though ongoing teacher observation of student participation and understanding of material through discussion, retelling, brainstorming and drawings.